April Glossybox!

This is actually my very first Glossybox! I had been a subscriber to Carmine before the two merged and I had always been really impressed with their service and the products that appeared on my doorstep monthly. But I have to say, I think I love Glossybox more! Now this is only based on the first box I have received, but I absolutely love this months products.

Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum - RRP £29.00

Ok, I have to admit I haven't actually tried this product yet. First of all because it's for dehydrated skin and I wouldn't say my skin currently falls into that category at this point (in fact, at the moment it's being a bit of a nightmare!) and secondly because I've loved Caudalie products sooo much in the past but their range really is not compatible with my budget so I want to save it!

Inika Cosmetics Certified Organic Eyeliner in 05 Black Caviar - RRP £11.75
When I first saw that this was in the box I wasn't really sure what this would bring to my make-up collection as I already own quite a few black eyeliner pencils (as well as liquid, gel and that in almost sharpie form! Yes, Barry M Wink, I'm looking at you!) But when I tried this product I literally let out a little gasp of delight! It applies like butter melts. It is beautifully smooth, soooo pigmented and you get all this while applying no pressure to draw it on at all. I was quite excited to put it up against my MAC Smoulder and see how the two compare. In my opinion, Inika wins. To apply the products are almost identical, but this one doesn't smudge nearly as much as Smoulder does which is great. I'm sorry I doubted you gorgeous Inika eyeliner in 05 Black Caviar, it won't happen again!

Ayuuri Natural Body Wash in Sandlewood - RRP £4.95
I have never heard of Ayuuri before, but this body wash is really lovely. It smells great and is really nice and moisturising. It does it's job well!

Figs and Rouge Lip Balm - RRP £3.29
I can't say enough good things about this lip balm. I had to literally cut the packaging to shreds (was it just me that found it really tricky to open!?) to smell the lip balm, it smelled good, like roses (which you would imagine it would for a 'Rambling Rose' lip balm!) And then I tried it. I put my finger on the lip balm and it literally melted. MELTED on my finger. I cannot get enough of it, it feels like the smoothest kind of oil on your lips and is just absolutely gorgeous. I will definitely be buying more of these!

Kai Perfume Oil - RRP £41.00/3.60ml
No that isn't a typo , it's not supposed to be 360ml. Woahhh, there cowboy that is one hell of a lot of money for 3.60ml of perfume. That's not to say that I don't like the scent because I do. It's is a really pretty, elegant spring scent. But even if I was a millionaire, I don't think I could justify spending that much on so little perfume. Just saying.

I would rate my first Glossybox experience a success. I loved all the products, some more than others but that's to be expected. I really like that the boxes are themed, and the box in itself is really pretty. I can't wait until the March box!

Katie

Top 10 Nail Care Tips..

So I have to admit, I am a nail polish junkie. I have sooo many different colours and brands. But there is only so much that you can cover up with polish. So here are my top 10 tips for healthy, happy nails:

1) Never cut your nails. I don't mean you should let them grow so long that you could be in the Guiness Book Of World Records! Throw away your scissors, and become best friends with your nail file. Filing your nails is much better for them as it doesn't separate the nail layers.

2) Invest in a glass nail file. Glass nail files have a more even surface which will prevent chipping, peeling and splintering. Also, they never wear down, are easy to clean and look pretty as well. Of course, there is the down side that they are much more fragile and easy to break. I myself am on my third one, but I keep going back which I think says a lot!

3) Always use a base coat. Base coats will not only strengthen the nail, remove the appearance of ridges through nail polish but also stop staining. My favourite base coat is Trind Nail Repair which I first discovered through a Carmine box. This works absolute wonders. To begin with you have to put it on every day for two weeks, but then using it once a week will maintain the results. My nails are no longer week and prone to peeling thanks to this base coat (which I now have a stock of so I never have to be without!)

4) Always use a top coat. This will lengthen the time your polish stays on for which is going to mean less nail polish remover, and more money to spend on pretty nail colours! The top coat I'm using at the moment is nails inc. kensington topcoat caviar.

5) Try not to use acetone in nail polish removers. Some people find acetone nail polish removers really drying and detrimental to good nail health. To be honest, I don't really mind it. This is one to judge for yourself.

6) Have colour breaks. Constantly having nail polish on means that your nails don't ever get to see light. This often will cause a yellowing of the nail, which is not pretty! To avoid this only put your base coat on once in a while. Or, depending on your nail strength, go cold turkey on all polishes.

7) Lead a healthy life style. You've all heard to saying 'you are what you eat' and if you eat unhealthily, your nails (/hair/skin) is going to be unhealthy as well. Having said this though, chocolate and sweets make for a healthy mind, so I like to think it's important to have them once in a while!

8) Put nail polish remover in your gloopy polishes. This is less of a nail care tip and more of a nail polish tip. We all know that when you near the end of your favourite polish it goes that thick, gloopy consistency. To be honest, I've been caught out a few times thinking I could squeeze enough gloop out for one more wear and had one hand painted and the other not! The best way to revive the last bits of polish are to drop by drop but some nail polish remover in the bottle, then shake. This makes it much thinner and more useable. Don't go mad though, no one likes a watery polish!

9) Cuticle pens / creams are your friend! These will moisturise the nails and keep them healthy. My favourite is Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme (RRP £5.99) because it is insanely moisturising (with the side effect of being a tad greasy, so a little goes a long way) and it smells amaaaaaazing!

10) Treat your nails with respect! We've all done it, utilising our nails as a tool to pick off stickers and make pretty tapping noises on a table! These are sure fire ways to destroy nails, so remember: You abuse it, you lose it!

Hope these tips have been handy (get it? Do you? Do you?!) If you have any questions or tips of your own please share them in the comments section below, or feel free to email me!

Katie

Good Things

This is a brand that I haven't seen much about in the beauty world, but I am absolutely loving. My mum bought me the Total Wipe Out Cleansing Wipes and Fresh Start Creamy Cleanser ageeeeeeeees ago, and for some reason I never felt the urge to try them. But eventually I thought I would give them a go, and I am soooo glad I did.

Good Things is a brand that has been developed by award-winning beauty writer Alice Hart-Davis. I must admit, I don't recognise her name but I'm sure at some point I must have come across one of her articles. She developed Good Things mainly for young skin, which I really like the idea of because to me, there are loads of products out there aimed at teenagers and young people but I always feel they are for acne prone skin and contain some really harsh ingredients. In my opinion, the last thing you want to do to young skin is whack a load of chemicals on it. That is the next thing I love about all these products, they are free from parabens, sodium laureate sulphate, mineral oils and animal ingredients (what animal ingredients are in other beauty products!? Eeeeeeewwwww!) Currently, the line is seventeen products strong for both face and body but I'm just going to talk about the products that I have tried and tested.

Total Wipe Out Cleansing Wipes RRP. £3.49 (25 wipes per pack). Although I have never really bothered with brand name face wipes before, I love these. They contain raspberry and cranberry extracts which smells really lovely without being so heavily scented that it feels wrong to put it on your face! They feel bigger that the wipes i was using before so technically I think you get more wipe for your money. But the thing that I love most about them is that they are really wet. If you have ever tried getting makeup off with a slightly damp wipe you will know that it is virtually impossible without some serious scrubbing! And that is never fun!

Fresh Start Creamy Cleanser RRP. £4.99 (150ml). This cleanser has a really moisturising, gentle formula but it does the trick and it does it well. It has no nasty bright colours that irritate sensitive skin and smells gorgeous as it contains grape and pomegranate extracts. Although it's name indicates that it should be used in the morning, I use mine both morning and night and love it. Really, really nice product for a pretty affordable price.

Stop That Spot! Clearing Gel RRP. £4.99 (15ml). This is a product that my mum bought me and I have to say I wouldn't buy this kind of product for myself purely because I don't really find them beneficial. I think this is due to the fact that whenever I have a spot I will not leave it alone (slaps wrists). I'm not going to go into gory details but by the time I use a product like this what I really need is a plaster! Due to this I can't really tell you how effective this is, but what I can tell you is that it again smells nice with extracts of papaya and acai.

Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser RRP. £7.99 (100ml). I bought this moisturiser because I have combination skin and so I find that my T-zone gets slightly oily so I thought this moisturiser may help. I can't really say I've noticed a massive difference in the shininess of my skin but I really love this as a moisturiser. It isn't greasy at all and my skin absorbs it instantly which I love. It has a really nice thickish consistency and therefore a little goes a long way. Also, you will be surprised to hear (note the sarcasm) that it smells really good. This one has extracts of blackcurrant and goji berry and like the Fresh Start Cleanser, I use it in both the morning and at night.





Five Minute Facial Face Mask RRP. £5.99 (100ml). I haven't actually tried this yet as I had another product to use up before I wanted to move onto this but on first appearances it looks like a really good consistency and indictors show that it will be just as good as the others in this line. It has avocado and goji berry extracts which give it a subtle scent which again is really nice. I like to put a face mask on once a week to draw out impurities and hydrate my skin. I have no doubt that this product will not disappoint!




To sum up, I love this brand. I love the ethos behind it and the fact that it keeps nasties out of the products. I also think that they are really affordable, have beautiful packaging and smell phenomenal. I'm not completely sure why there hasn't been more hype around these products, but it may simply be because there hasn't been masses of advertising for this line. If you guys have tried any of these products I would love to hear your opinions on them, so leave any comments below.

Katie

Revlon Lip Butters - Peach Parfait

The Revlon Lip Butters have created quite a stir in the Beauty World and I have to say, I'm in love! I only have one colour (I'm not made of money!!) so I picked up Peach Parfait which is a beautiful pinky colour with a hint of coral and the most gorgeous gold glitter in it.

The Lip Butters are described to have "sheer to medium colour with a buttery shine". I would agree with the sheer to medium colour part but I not quite sure what a "buttery shine" is exactly?! What I would say though, is they go on a dream, the colour is beautiful and they really do feel really moisturising on your lips. Having said that, staying power isn't the best, but I think they are absolutely perfect for casual daytime wear.

The other thing I love about them is the packaging. They feel very grown up and are in lipstick form as opposed to in a pot or anything like that (having said that, I did nearly snap mine right off the packaging, Haha!) and I love that the top on the lid is clear so you can really see the colour of the Lip Butter through it. The only other thing I would tell you to watch out for is that you don't really get that much product for the size of the packaging. The photo above is all of the product you get, which compared to the tube isn't the same size. Also, as you can see from the photo, the product does seem to scrape on the sides quite a lot. I thought it was just mine that did this, but on further investigation it seems quite a few people have had this problem.

Overall,  £7.99 seems a little bit expensive to me, so hopefully one of the cheaper brands will come along with a cheaper copy but the product itself is gorgeous!

The Voice UK, BBC1 Saturday 7pm

There was a massive amount of hype around The Voice UK before it started. Not only has the American version been a massive hit in the States, and the mentors being massive names in the music industry, but also for the the battle that scheduling created when it was discovered it would go up against an old favourite Britain's Got Talent in a cross over of 20 minutes.

The Voice is a brand new spin on the music competition shows to find new singing talent that have been around for years like Pop Idol and currently The X Factor. However, having the same end point (a talented member of the British public is made a star), it is actually incredibly different. The most obvious change is the fact that the mentors do not get to see the contestant, this is created by each of the mentors being seated in what I like to think of as a glorified office chair! This means that the coaches can't see the person singing and another important thing to point is that they know nothing of the contestant about to perform. They don't know their gender, age, style, size or anything else for that matter. This really means that each contestant really really is judged on their voice.

Onto the 'Mentors'. The UK line-up consists of Danny O'Donoghue (of The Script), Sir Tom Jones (Legend), Jessie J (massive current artist) and will.i.am (the Black Eyed Peas, and incredible music producer). There is definitely no lack in talent or experience from the coaches and what is great is that they each bring something incredibly different to the table. The next stroke of genius in this show is that right from day one the coaches are up against each other to compete for the contestants that more than one of them wants on their team. This has brought endless bickering, numerous name dropping wars but most importantly a light-hearted comedic element to the programme. The other thing is that each coach only has 10 places in their team, so there is not room for being button happy. Another main difference from the other singing competition shows is that all of the people who are, quite frankly, deluded in their singing abilities or are not at an extremely high level are weeded out by producers. So if you, like me, enjoy having a giggle at the rather 'unique' voices auditioning on The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent you won't find that possible here. In the first programme, I have to admit, I missed wondering if the person walking out was going to be amazing or a singing car crash but after that I appreciated that the programme simply would not work with that in it and in fact, would be incredibly boring if there was no possibility that the mentors would ever turn their chair around for that person.

The show also lined up well known and loved presenters in Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates. In my opinion, they are wasted on the programme. Yes, they have a quick chat with the contestants before they go on stage and offer encouragement to the family back stage while the contestants are singing, but I really don't think you would miss them if they weren't there at this point in the competition. Which in a lot of ways is good, it means that the main focus is where it should be on the contestants and mentors. However, we are only just through the auditions so hopefully they will be utilised more in the later rounds.

I have to say that I am loving this programme so far. I think that the added features brought to the table have breathed a new breath of life into singing talent competitions which I was getting a little tired of. Also, I really do think that the mentors make the programme. It has proved itself in the war of the talent show contest by making Britain's Got Talent move to a later time slot to avoid viewers having to make the choice (and more viewers choosing The Voice). I hope it continues to take its own road apart from that previous programmes have forged for programmes of this sort and I really am interested to see where it is going to go from here. Next week each coach has to chose only 5 out of their 10 singers to go forward, which should be interesting when the contestants are put up against one another.

What do you guys think? Do you think The X Factor can come back and retain it's audiences or is TV only big enough for one singing competition? As always, I would love it for you to leave your thoughts below.

Keep watching

Katie

                                        images from http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s154/the-voice-uk/ No copy write intended

HOMELAND!!! Channel 4, Sunday 9pm

I Love Homeland!!

For those of you who haven't yet got to experience this amazing programme here's the low down:

Carrie Mathison is a CIA agent and we first meet her in Iraq where she pulls information out of an informant (who is about to face the death penalty) and tells her that a "Prisoner of War has been turned.." However, being wild, Carrie has gained this information though an unauthorised operation which is then incredibly frowned upon by her superiors and so she is put on probation and reassigned. Shortly after, during a Delta Force raid on a compound belonging to a really bad terrorist called Abu Nazir, an American Marine Sargent who has been missing in action for 8 years is discovered. He is looking incredibly worse for ware (see below) but scrubs up nicely and is declared a National Hero by pretty much the whole of America excluding Carrie, who now believes intently that Sargent Nicolas Brodie is now a terrorist planning an attack on America.

Well done if you managed to follow that! But that is kind of what is amazing about this programme. It is incredibly fast paced with loads of twists, turns and shocker situations which kind of come out of nowhere. But at the same time, it isn't crazily far fetched and ridiculous.  Basically it is amazing. It shows the whole picture of family life for Sargent Brodie who comes back to a family that has basically believed he was dead for 8 years. His youngest son doesn't even really remember him and his wife has started a relationship with one of Brodie's work colleagues and best friends. Carrie is also worth watching because she seems to create situations for herself where you are literally watching the programme through your fingers. She seems to have no real respect for the CIA rules and is, in general, a bit of a wild card.

If you haven't already become hooked to this programme, some of the episodes are still on 4OD but to get the first few you might have to buy them off iTunes. I personally think it would be difficult to dive into the programme now as I think we are about 8 episodes in. After incessantly telling my dad over and over again how amazing Homeland is he tried to watch one episode but firstly couldn't really follow what was going on and why, and most importantly could not appreciate how insanely good the programme is.

So there you have it, my first review! I hope I didn't lose you along the way, but I genuinely cannot express how much I love this programme. If you've been watching it or are about to watch it, I would love for you to let me know your thoughts below and if you want I can start doing individual "What I thought of the last episode" posts.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more blogs,

Katie

I do not own these pictures. No copy write intended