JolieBox June 2012 - Birthday Box

2 weeks after its dispatch, I finally received my first JolieBox. I unsubscribed to GlossyBox last month and since this month's JolieBox is their birthday edition box, I figured it was as good a time as any to subscribe. I know there's been a lot of frustration and anger surrounding the delays with the box, but I'm not going to talk about that here because I'm really pleased with this box so I'm keeping it positive! The box costs £10 a month plus £2.95 P&P, and you receive 4-5 luxury samples.

There were 2 different box designs this month. I had already googled the spoilers to death, so I knew that I wanted the orange box and I'm so pleased I received this design. It's bright and colourful and will look super lovely as storage in my room.

As if the orange box hadn't pleased me enough, I opened the box to find the products in a cute little draw-string bag - more handy storage! I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, and JolieBox has definitely impressed me in that aspect.

Time for the exciting bit! I received 5 products this month plus the additional nail file.

1. Leonor Greyl Volumizing Shampoo - I'm really excited to have received this as I do have fine, limp hair and I've been looking into buying a volumizing shampoo for a while now. I tried to find the RRP online but I can't find a UK stockist, so if you have better luck than me then please let me know!

2. Institut Esthederm Bronz Repair - I've heard great things about this brand and the sample size tube will come in handy when I go on holiday in September. The anti-wrinkle aspect isn't something which I'd particularly go out of my way to find in a product, but I'm looking forward to trying this anyway.

3. Elysambre Long Eyelashes Mascara - I was really hoping to receive one of the Elysambre lipsticks, so I was a little disappointed to receive the mascara. I got it in a brown shade, and since I don't own any brown mascaras this might come in handy for a "no make-up" make-up day instead of my usual intense black mascaras. The thing I do love about this brand is that they use 99% natural ingredients, which is great.

4. L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream - I already talked about this in my June Favourites post, as I received it in my Latest in Beauty skincare box. I love it, so I'm glad I've got a second mini pot because they're so handy for traveling and it means I can pop one in my handbag, and keep one at home.

5. Yon-Ka Pamplemousse for Normal to Dry skin - this was the first box where JolieBox offered a customized product for those who had filled out their online beauty profiles. However due to the delay and box mix-up, we were told that we may not receive the correct customized item. I have oily, blemish-prone skin, so I was a little gutted to receive the dry formulation. But I've tested it on the back of my hand and it's not too heavy or greasy and it smells divine, so I'm hoping I'll be able to use it at night since I do still love a nourishing moisturizer at night.

There was also a JolieBox nail file as an additional bonus product.

Overall, I'm really happy with this box. If I'd have received the oily formulation of the Pamplemousse (isn't that just the best word you've ever heard?!) cream, I'd have been even happier. Even though there were a lot of problems with this month's box, I'll still continue to subscribe for next month.

Did you receive a JolieBox this month? What did you get?

June Favourites!

L-R, top to bottom: Bioderma Crealine solution, L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream, ELF HD powder, Caudalie Beauty Elixir, Benefit Sugarbomb blush, Benefit Porefessional, Essie Fiji, Topshop Lip Stick in Powder Room

Firstly, I can't believe it's July already! This year is just disappearing for me! I thought I'd do a post rounding up my favourite beauty products from June. A couple are skincare products, and the rest are make-up products.

1. Bioderma Crealine H2O Cleansing Solution - if you haven't already heard of this product, where have you been?! I finally bought this cleanser after reading so many rave reviews online, and I'm so glad I did. I got mine on eBay and it was about £12 including P&P, which is very reasonable consdering it's a huge 500ml bottle. It's a micellar solution and it basically breaks down the make-up, meaning you can just wipe it off! I use a small squirt of this on a couple of cotton pads, and ALL my make-up, including stubborn mascara, is gone within a minute. Perfect for us lazy girls!

2. L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream - I previously mentioned this in my LIB box post (which you can find here) so I'm not going to say too much about it. It's £29 for 50ml, and I have a 15ml sample pot. I have oily skin, but I also have dry patches around my nose so I like to use a moisturiser which is really nourishing but not too heavy. This is perfect for that! I only use it at night and my skin is always so soft and replenished by morning. Smells gorgeous, too!

3. ELF High Definition Powder - I use this once I've finished doing my make-up, and it adds a lovely soft-focus, matte but not chalky finish. I just love it. I've read some reviews saying that it can give a ghost-face effect in flash photography, but that hasn't happened to me yet. You have to be quite light-handed with it, and the packaging is quite messy but the actual product is great, and it's so affordable! It costs £6, and is also available in a corrective yellow colour, and a shimmer colour.

4. Caudalie Beauty Elixir - this is another seriously hyped up product, and I was worried it would disappoint me. But it definitely hasn't! I bought the 30ml size which cost £8.80 from LookFantastic. I've only had it for a few days and I've already used about a quarter of the bottle.. whoops! I love the scent, it's very herbal and almost medicinal, but it's so refreshing. I spritz it after using toner, and then throughout the day to freshen up my make-up.

5. Benefit Sugarbomb Blush - this is my favourite blush I've ever owned so far. It's not highly pigmented, so I do use quite a lot to get a good colour, but I love how subtle it is. It gives such a gorgeous glow, and even if I use this alone without foundation, concealer or anything else, it instantly perks me up and makes me look healthier. It retails at £23.50 which I find quite expensive for a blush, but I've used it daily since I got it and it looks like it'll last me a long time. It has 4 colours (a dusky pink, light pink, lilac and peach) and you swirl all of them together, or you can even use them on their own. It smells amazing, too!

6. Benefit The Porefessional - I received this sample size tube in Glamour magazine last month and was really excited by it as I've heard great things! This instantly helps to minimize the pores on my nose, slightly blur any imperfections and provides a great, smooth base for my foundation. It has a slight beige tint and a really creamy consistency so it blends like a dream. It retails at £23.50 and I can definitely see myself repurchasing this once I've used up my sample. 

7. Essie Nail Polish in Fiji - AAAH! This is definitely my favourite nail polish I've ever owned. The colour is the lightest, barely-there opaque baby pink. It applies beautifully, I love the fan brush and it's completely opaque in 2 coats. The colour just looks so sophisticated and dainty, and if you can't already tell, I am in love. I can't help gushing about it. The only problem is that because it's such a light colour, any little mistakes are really noticeable. I'm not the best at applying nail polish YET, but I'm sure I can find the time to practice!

8. Topshop Lip Stick in Powder Room - I literally just bought this yesterday, and it's already a firm staple in my handbag. It costs £7 from Topshop, and it's basically a lip crayon. Full review here.

So, that's my June favourites! Have you tried any of these products? What have been your June essentials?

Latest in Beauty box June 2012 - Skincare Stars

I ordered my first Latest in Beauty box last week, which was the June 2012 Skincare Stars box. I'm bloody obsessed with skincare products and I'm always adding new products to my already vast collection, so safe to say I was extremely excited about this box!

The box costs £8.95 + £2.95 shipping, so in total it was £11.90. The LIB themed boxes are released every other month, and they usually sell out quickly so if you want to get your hands on one, you have to be quick!

The huge pro of this beauty box is that you can see the contents before you buy, which I think is really handy, even if it does completely eliminate the element of surprise. 

I would have taken more photos of the packaging and products, but I received this box yesterday and I was too excited to take pictures, I ended up ripping everything open and quickly discarding the packaging!

Without further ado, here are the contents:

1. Etat Pur Micellar Cleansing Water - this is a full-size product of 190ml which retails at £6.40. I first heard about micellar cleansing water through the heavily blogged about Bioderma Crealine solution, and I've been dying to try it ever since! I'm a lazy girl when it comes to removing make-up, so this product is perfect for me. You just squirt some of the solution onto a cotton pad, wipe your face and eyes, and ta-da! Make-up is gone! No need for rinsing, which I think is fab. It really just feels like you're wiping your face with water, it's very gentle and so lovely.

2. Balance Me Moisture Rich Face Cream - I don't have much to say on this as it states that it is for dry/sensitive skin, and I have very un-sensitive, very oily skin! So I passed this sample along to my mum. I have heard great things about the Balance Me range, though, so it's nice to see this included in the box. The full size product retails at £24 for 50ml, and this sample was 10ml.

3. Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser - this is a 30ml sample, and the full size retails at £34 for 200ml. It claims to "smooth texture while cleansing away dullness and impurities". I've only used this once so far, but it made my skin squeaky clean (which I love) and I'm looking forward to using it more. Murad is another of those brands which I've heard a lot about, but never had the chance to try, so this was a great sample for me.

4. Kiehls Midnight Recovery Concentrate - this is a 4ml sample which comes in a really cute bottle and has a pipette type dispenser, which I think is great for this kind of product. The full size product is 30ml and retails at £36. I'm really loving facial oils at the moment, so I'm looking forward to trying this out. It claims to reveal younger looking skin, which isn't a priority for me considering I'm only 20, but the other benefits do appeal to me - moisture replenishment and revealing radiance. I think I'll get a good few uses out of this!

5. L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream - this is a 15ml sample which comes in a gorgeously packaged little pot, and I just love it! The full size retails at £29 for 50ml of product. L'Occitane is another brand that I've wanted to try for a long time, but I just haven't gotten round to it! I've only used this cream a handful of times, but I do like it and I'm hoping it will spark a deeper delve into L'Occitane products. It's a nice silky consistency and isn't too heavy, which is great for my normal/oily skin as I really hate heavy feeling moisturisers.

6. Melvita Naturalift Youthful Skin Cream - again, I did pass this over to my mum as I don't feel like I need to start using anti-aging products just yet! This was another generous 15ml sample, the full size is 50ml and retails at £32. Melvita is the baby sister brand of L'Occitane, so I'm expecting to hear some good feedback from my mum on it! This cream is organic, and 99.31% of the ingredients are from a natural source, which I think is really great.

Overall, I loved this box. I love being able to try samples of products like these because frankly, they're just too expensive to buy them and end up not liking them! I find that sample sizes look much prettier in my storage boxes, too. I think my favourite product from this box is the Murad cleanser, but I do love the L'Occitane cream too. I'm looking forward to the next box already!

Did you manage to get your hands on the Skincare Stars box? What was your favourite product?