Glossybox UK February 2013 Edition

My February Glossybox has just walked through my door, at five to eight on a Saturday morning I might add! This isn't today's planned post but the packaging for this month's box is just too adorable to not show you straightaway!

This box, as anyone might have guessed, is themed around Valentine's Day this month with products that are going to leave you pampered and prepared for that night out (or night in) with a special someone. If you're like me, and your valentine lives at the other end of the country, or even if you don't have a significant other this year, do not despair. Put your gladrags on anyway, apply your Glossybox products, make friends with the two other men in my life (Ben and Jerry) and watch a soppy movie.

The packaging really got me this month. It's perfectly pink, has bows and hearts and tissue paper and stickers and roses - bliss. I already have a thousand and one uses in my mind for this little box when I take the products out and give them a new home.

I like the edition of the magazine style leaflet that Glossybox is including in the boxes these days, it adds a little something extra to take your time into reading. This month the magazine details the proper application of lipstick for beautiful bold lips, as well as showing all of the products that you'll be receiving in your box. As usual I didn't look at that part til last, after I'd seen my contents!

So what did I get?

I'm not feeling particularly overwhelmed by the contents of this box, but it's not as bad as I thought when I looked at it on face value.

I received:

• Dr Renaud Raspberry Soft Cream - 30ml (Full size 50ml for £25)
• Helen E Cosmetics Moisturising Lipstick in the shade 'Cafe Au Lait' - 3.5g (Full size, retails at £8)
• Micabella Cosmetics Mineral Blush Powder in the shade 'Terra Cotta' - 0.8g (Full size 9g for £34.95)
• Modelco Eyeshadow Palette in the shade Bronzed Goddess - 2 x 3.5g (Full Size, retails at £18)
• Anatomicals You Need A Blooming Shower - 150ml (Full size 300ml for £5)
• Glossybox heart shaped lollipop

I like the inclusion of a raspberry flavoured product because I love raspberry and fruity smells. I used the Dr Renaud moisturiser straightaway and it smells delicious and moisturised my arm nicely. 

The Anatomicals cleanser is a step up, in my opinion, from the Anatomicals body scrub that was included in the Glossybox either last month or the month before. This one smells of luxurious roses and if I don't receive a good bunch on V-Day I'll be bathing in this for sure!

Modelco is not a brand I'd heard of before but I was surprised to find that the eyeshadow duo retails at £18! That's £9 a shadow! Madness. Anyhow, I'm glad I got bronze and gold shades as I have blue eyes and those are the colours that make them stand out more. Loving this a lot.

While I love the inclusion of 3 makeup products in this month's box I am significantly underwhelmed by the Micabella blusher and the Helen E lipstick. For a start I hate mineral products, I have never used them and don't plan on starting now. Sorry Micabella. As for the lipstick, well it's straight up a milky brown colour and due to being as pale as an ice maiden I'm not entirely sure I want to rock the bronzed lip. I'm in two minds about whether or not to try it out, or leave it in the packaging and donate it to a worthy lady...

So that was my box. What do you think? Did you get different contents?

How are you planning on pampering yourself for Valentine's Day? 

Bourjois Rouge Edition: 03 Peche Cosy

Another day, another new lip product. My lip 'basket' where I keep all of my lipsticks in my uni house is overflowing, but I can't seem to stop buying lipstick! Having gone almost 22 years without wearing anything on my lips save for the odd bit of Vaseline, my sudden abundance of lip products has taken me as much by surprise as it has my bank balance! 

Bourjois have brought out a range of 17 new lip colours that really caught my attention in Boots. Armed with an extra points voucher I knew I wanted to pick some up and collect my points (I don't know what I'm saving my advantage card points for, but they're being saved none the less!) and opted for a peachy orange that I knew would see me transition nicely into spring.

I haven't owned a peach/orange lipstick before. Coral, yes, but I've never made the dive into actual orange territory. Swatching this beauty in store however really made me change my mind, I adore the colour, the pigmentation is great, payoff is a little sheer on application but then it builds up to a beautiful creamy finish (think MAC Creamsheen and you're along the right lines). My lips felt hydrated as the formula is not at all drying, and yet at the same time it wasn't sticky or too moist in order to get my hair stuck in it (definitely one of my pet hates!). 

I applied a very light covering of Peche Cosy to my lips because I'm still not completely confident about it, but it's such a beautiful colour that I can't leave it alone. The swatched is heavily applied however so you can really see the depth of the colour payoff, isn't it gorgeous? 

I think it's fair to say, that after my beloved MAC lipsticks Bourjois' Rouge Editions have risen right to number 2 in my most loved lipstick collections. I'm so tempted to keep going back and pick up another one each time I buy my lunch in Boots, but at £7.99 each, while not completely unaffordable, they're more on the pricier side of the 'drugstore' makeup prices.

Have you tried a peach/orange lip colour before?

What's your favourite lipstick brand?

Design Tweaks & A New Header!

I woke up yesterday morning to read a fabulous e-mail that put a big smile on my face.

Aly, from Wonderland Beauty, had scribbled me a little note to say that she'd designed and made me a blog header, all completely unprompted by me. I was a little nervous opening the atachment, especially as I hadn't asked anyone to design me a blog header and I'm not sure of what I'd have wanted to put on it, but all my worries passed over when I saw the image that now takes pride of place at the top of my blog. I absolutley love it, especially the font and the little lovehearts over each of the 'i' letters in the words. I also actually sign my name with a big curly 'L' so that suits me perfectly too!

Thank-you so much Aly! Such an unexpected, and thoughtful, gift :)

Do you love my new header?
Go and check out Aly's blog <3

Ps. I now have some social media buttons! So if you're not following me on Twitter, or Instagram, or even Tumblr then click the relevant button in the side bar and it'll take you to my page :) 

25 Facts About Me...

I thought I'd jump on the blogging bandwagon and partake in the '[insert number of facts] about me' tag. I have seen many variations on a theme, from 25-100 facts included, but in order to keep this short and sweet I'm settling for 25. I love reading what people write about themselves so I hope you'll indulge me for 5 minutes of your time...

1. My middle name is Katherine. With a K. It annoys me greatly when people spell it with a C. 
2. I'm the daughter of a Royal Naval Officer <3
3. My brother is now 20 and studying for his degree which is scary to me 'cause I have no idea where the time has gone, he used to be so small. 
4. The same can be said about my degree. I am graduating in approximately 4 months time...!
5. I have a vehement dislike for potatoes. Yes, I know I'm strange. 
6. The same can be said about most vegetables. 
7. I don't have a hometown 'cause I've always moved around the UK and have been fortunate enough to have lived in Moscow, Russia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
8. If I could, I'd turn back the clock and hug my Daddy one last time. He sailed away on his own ship when I was 18.
9. I spent 7 years at boarding school and loved it :)
10. I have no idea where my love for beauty products and shopping comes from as my Mum doesn't really care for either very much. 
11. My favourite clothes shop is Topshop.
12. I daydream about winning the lottery far too much. 
13. I always read my horoscope. I'm a Pisces.
14. I hate feeling like I'm going to be forgotten about. 
15. I met my boyfriend in McDonald's 3 years ago next month <3 
16. I live off chocolate milkshake, namely Yazoo. 
17. My safest place on Earth is being held in his arms under a duvet.
18. My happiest place on Earth is standing on Main Street of the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld, FL. 
19. I'm such a bookworm. I might be 22 next month by I still love young adult fiction. 
20. One thing that's definite in my life is that when I get married, I'm going to have a bouncy castle on my wedding day. 
21. Even at the end of my degree I still have no idea what I want to do for a career. 
22. I get stressed out when I can't do the organising. 
23. I write lists like there's no tomorrow. I literally can't live without them. 
24. My favourite colours are pink and white. Put together and they're a dream.
25. I don't tend to give up on anything, I'll work at it until it's put right.

So there's a small insight into my life. 

Share something about you with me...

Illamasqua I'mperfection 'Scarce' Nail Polish

Borrowed from the Illamasqua website

When Illamasqua announced their new I'mperfection collection I knew I had to check it out and make a teeny tiny purchase. Based on the notion that no-one should ever hide their flaws because we're all imperfectly perfect, Illamasqua say, 'Stand up and show the world what makes you imperfectly perfect. We want you to highlight the features that other brands encourage you to cover up. Because life isn't about finding yourself, life is about celebrating who you really are.' Amen to that sisters.  

The I'mperfection collection encompasses a range of gorgeous 'speckled' nail polishes, a trio of powder blusher duos, lipstick, a blusher brush and an intense green lipgloss. While not all of the colours or products will be to everyone's taste, you're bound to find something you love, and for me that was the quintet of beautiful nail polish that reminds me, and I'm sure a lot of other people, of those yummy Cadbury Mini Eggs! 

I chose the colour 'Scarce' which is a gorgeous dusky pink with tiny specks of grey and black suspended in the polish. Safe to say, however, if I had enough pennies in the bank I'd have bought one of every colour, they all look so fun when painted together on the hand! 

The polish applies beautifully as I would expect any Illamasqua product would. It only took two coats for my nails to dry semi-matte with a hint of shine and the flecks of grey and black are not too overbearing on the nails to make them look messy and overcrowded, just perfect. I am in love <3

Are you an Illamasqua fan? 

What's your favourite kind of nail art?

Woodland Bunnies Ice Lolly Maker

I know that this post is a little out of sorts with the time of year, but I wanted to share my latest find in order to brighten up yet another miserable monday morning. 

Behold dot com giftshop's woodland bunnies ice lolly maker retailing at a bargain £4.95. If you know me you know that I am obsessed with all things rabbit. It's no secret that the first thing I will adopt when I move in to a house of my own is a gorgeous cuddly bunny, and I feel that I need to own any item that features a rabbit. 

As I'm *trying* to kick myself into a more healthier lifestyle I thought that making my own frozen treats would be better than buying them from the supermarket - I can control the ingredients, and there are so many yummy recipes floating around the internet for delicious creations that I am eager to make.  

There are six cute little bunnies featured in this ice lolly maker, all made out of durable multicoloured plastic. They have the sweetest little faces, and their ears and heads form the lolly handle and the stick. The lolly moulds are attached to the tray they sit in, but the bunnies heads are removable so that you can fill the mould with some yummy fruit juice or frozen yoghurt and then re-attach the heads in order to freeze. 

Borrowed from dot com giftshop.

The rest of the photos I took of my lolly making process came out all blurry and the lighting was wrong so I've borrowed this image from dot com gift shop to show you just how adorable these little bunnies are. I know that sounds strange as I'm writing about an ice lolly maker (!) but you can't not help but think it can you? 

The process of lolly making is incredible simple, I used my lolly mould to make two orange squash lollies first and they're currently sitting in the freezer waiting for me to eat them. I'm definitely excited for the summer now when I can use these little guys properly and not feel odd eating an ice lolly in the winter! 

Are you an ice lolly or an ice cream fan?

What's your favourite treat?