August

UNBOXING: You Beauty Box August 2017 – Sumptuous spa edit

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“A series of calming and restorative products to leave you relaxed, refresh and raring to go.”

We love You Beauty Box for sourcing good quality brands that are less known but not trash. This box had a strong focus on skincare and relaxation…right up our street. There was a stand out item but the overall offering was a strong shortlist of relaxation products. Love Philosophy too, although we all moan about sachet samples. Still nice for free.

[Comfort Zone]: Sublime Skin Essence, 5ml
Value: £2.20

“Intensive concentrated solution that stimulates skin regneration and bestows an even, compact and youthful appearance to the skin.  Rebalances the hydrating factors of the skin (NMF) and encourages the synthesis of structural proteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Immediate hydrating action, maximising the efficacy of the anti-age products which are applied thereafter. Science-based conscious formulas.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Well that is an awful lots of pseudo-scientific babble isn’t it?  A lot for a 5ml sample to live up to, but we do love trying out nutrient-rich essences and this one is silicone free.

111Skin: Bio Cellulose Facial Treatment Mask, 23ml
Value: £17.00

Image result for 111 bio cellulose mask

“Utilises the most advanced technology on the market to deliver beneficial nutrients into the dermis. The mask adheres to your skin like a second skin. The gel like structure of the mask will instantly cool and regulate body temperature.  Since the fibres of the mask are 500x finer than tissue masks, the bio cellulose instantly locks moisture into your skin.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – This was the star product of the box for us. Despite it’s suspect claims to regulate body temperature (!!!), can a face mask possibly be worth the £17 it costs? It’s our once chance to find out!  We love hydrogel masks (which we assume this is from the description) – they are sooo moisturising and it’s normal for them to cost more than normal sheet masks.

EXTRA TREATS:

Philosophy: Purity made simple 3-in-1 cleanser, 6ml
Value: £1.74

Philosophy Purity 3-in-1 Cleanser - 240ml.

“An award-winning, one-step daily cleanser for face and eyes. It rapidly dissolves dirt, oil and makeup to deep clean pores while maintaining moisture levels.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Great that this is suitable for both face and eyes and love this brand, but well, y’all know how we feel about sachet samples…

OTHER OPTIONS:

The shortlist this month was:

  • L’Occitane Jasmin & Bergamot Shower Gel 30ml
  • Roger & Gallet Sobert Dynamisant Gingembre Rouge & Fresh Fragrant Water Gingembre Rouge Duo 50ml & 1.5ml
  • Aromatherapy Associates Renewing Rose Body Cream 40ml
  • SenSpa Sleep Therapy Bath Soak 50ml
  • Sanctuary Ultimate Cleansing Oil 50ml
  • Elemental Herbology Cell Plumping Facial Hydrator 15ml
  • [Comfort Zone] Sublime Skin Essence 5ml
  • Kneipp Devil’s Claw Back Comfort 20ml
  • The Vintage Cosmetic Company Duo Pencil Sharpener
  • 111SKIN Bio Cellulose Facial Treatment Mask 23ml
  • Sancturary Ultimate Salt Scrub Sachet 60g

OVERALL VERDICT:

A mainly nice selection of items this month, other than the rather random pencil sharpener. It was great to have such a premium item as the 111Skin face mask in the shortlist. We took a while choosing between all the pamper items but decided to take a gamble on the skin essence as we hadn’t heard of [comfort zone] before. There were some good size samples on offer (other than the sample sachet) – all in all a good month for You Beauty.

Box price: £6.95 inc shipping
Total value: £20.94

Note: We paid for this You Beauty Discovery Box with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of You Beauty Discovery? Sign up here http://www.youbeautydiscovery.co.uk

UNBOXING: You Beauty Discovery August 2014 – Summer Essentials

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The theme of this box was Summer Essentials.

The selection varied wildly in value this month. We were lucky enough to get the premium products we wanted which was lucky as they were the only two we would have been really happy with. Hopefully YBD will improve the options in future.

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EUCERIN: Sun Mattifying Face Fluid SPF50, 50ml
Value: £15.00 (full size product)
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“A sun fluid for the face that has a three-dimensional protection system: It provides high UVA protection, UVB protection and biological cell protection which strengthens skin’s own cell protection and DNA repair mechanisms. The light fluid is suitable for combination to oily skin, and provides a non-shiny and non-sticky feeling, leaving a mattifying effect on the skin. Also suitable for sun sensitive skin.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: We’re interested to see how this performs and how it looks/feels on the skin. We’re not entirely sure why you would want this above any other skincare product with high SPF or a normal sunscreen.

THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH (review): This seems both a good product undergoing identity crisis…after using it during a period of 3 weeks alongside a normal sunscreen on our bodies and with and without makeup, we are not really sold on it. Mainly because we are not sure when/why to use it or therefore why anyone would buy it. Maybe we are missing something?. It is not without its merits – it is not oily and feels great on the skin (compared to an ordinary sunscreen). You can apply makeup pretty well on top of it, but it does feel heavier than a lotion with SPF and with continued use, made our combination skin slightly more oily. If it were waterproof, then we’d totally understand the benefit as it would be perfect for the beach, but as it is, we’re not sure why you’d use it in place of a high SPF BB cream or moisturiser, especially at the price. £15 for a relatively small bottle (which is plenty enough for a 2 week holiday)? we’d rather buy some Clarins 🙂

Score: 3/5…mainly because we can’t figure out why you’d buy it

 

GAZELLI: Triple Youth with White Oil Duo, 10ml (5ml x 2)
Value: £16.00
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“Gazelli’s Luxury Discovery Set is the perfect one-week introduction to the Triple Youth Range, and includes an Ultimate Firming Serum and Intensive Age-Repair Cream to give your skin the ultimate rejuvenation.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – This has to be our first beauty product made in Azerbaijan! Just on this basis and the product’s luxe feel, we are excited to try this 🙂

 

EXTRA TREATS:

JIMMY CHOO: Eau de parfum and MAN Eau de toilette (2ml x 2)
Value: £3.59 (£1.92 + £1.67)
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“Luxury in a bottle.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We’re always happy to receive mini-sprays as these are useful when travelling and much better than tiny one-use samples. We like the inclusion of both the men and women’s variants. Nice touch 🙂

 

4-way Nail Buffer
Value: Unknown, £2 estimate
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“On-the-go nail perfection.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Some people got a lipstick instead of the nail buffer. As it’s just an added extra, we’re pretty happy with this nail buffer as it will get used, even if it is a bit bulky.

 

FACED 3-LURONICS: Instant Effect Cream Serum, 2ml
Value: £1.66
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“Visibly reduced wrinkles and expression lines”

BT INITIAL OPINION – What a crazy named company! This product might be good, but doubt we’ll be wowed by this little sachet. Still, a nice extra.

 

OTHER OPTIONS:
Peggy Sage: Nail Polish (Summer & Nude Collections)
Rose & Co: Cherry Kiss Lip Balm
Daniel Sandler: Long Lasting Waterproof Eye Liner (Aqua)
Marsk: Gold Eyeshadow “Rich List”
Louise Galvin: Sacred Locks Treatment Masque
Justbe: Hydrating Serum

OVERALL VERDICT:

We think if we hadn’t got the items we’d really wanted, we would have been slightly disappointed with YBD this month. Not because it doesn’t deliver value for money, it always does – but because we’ve been so spoilt in previous months that we’re used to having a hard time making a decision between lots of fabulous products. As we managed to get the Eucerin and Gazelli, our luck was in this week…together with the 4 extras! The summer theme was tenuous, but we loved our box regardless. We would never have tried products like the mattifying sunscreen or potions from Azerbaijan without this service and YBD remains our favourite subscription beauty box.

Box price: £6.95 inc shipping
Total value: £38.25

Note: We paid for this You Beauty Discovery Box with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of You Beauty Discovery? Sign up here http://www.youbeautydiscovery.co.uk