Roz: Glossybox Love

After her wonderful welcome last week [seriously people, keep that up and I might get jealous ;)], here is Roz with her first post since her introduction...

{P.S. Happy Birthday Mum!! xxx}

Due to our upcoming house purchase my monthly disposable income has dramatically reduced.  Yes it's all for an excellent reason but it's fair to say that I love buying new bits and bobs and until recently I frequently treated myself to a new nail polish or some other make up item just because I can.  With this in mind, and knowing that I would have to go cold turkey on my nail varnish and make up addiction for at least the next year or so, when my big brother asked what I would like for Christmas a monthly subscription to Glossybox seemed like a perfect idea.

I had followed the company with interest for a number of months and thought a number of times about signing up for a subscription but something always stopped me signing up.  Probably the fact that I bought myself little bits and pieces each month anyway and also that I wondered how good the items in the box actually were.   I don't know how generous my brother was when he bought my subscription (there is a 3, 6 and 12 month option on their website) so I don't know how many boxes I am actually going to receive.  It costs £10 for each box, but I had a code which gave you 10% off your first box only (yes a whole £1, good maths skills people!!) and one free box if you signed up for the 6 month option or 2 free boxes if you signed up for the 12 month option (a number of discount codes are still available and can be found easily with a quick google search).  

 My first box arrived on the 22nd December - just in time for Christmas :) but clearly I ripped it open straight away!!  And it was like they designed it just for me.  I was very impressed with the packaging, the sturdy silver, shiny box is perfect for storing make up, toiletries or even using as a beautiful gift box.  And the items themselves were wrapped in black tissue paper with silver stars on it.  Stars people!!!*   I unwrapped the tissue paper and was very impressed with the contents:

• Seche Nail Lacquer - full 14ml size dusty pink called Memoire (rrp £9.95)
• Sleek Make Up, True Colour lipstick in Coral Reef - full size (rrp £4.99)
• Mary Greenwell, Lemon Eau de Parfum - 5ml tester
• Rituals, Magic Touch Rich Body Cream (Cherry Blossom & Rice Milk) - 70ml size (rrp £5)
• Sebamed, NIght Intensive Cream - 10ml (full size is 50ml rrp £9.99)
• Glossybox blusher - 2.5g,  a pale pink shade

I loved everything in the box and have genuinely used all of the products.  My love of new cosmetics was happily indulged with the 3 make up items and I really loved the lipstick, a very bright coral that I would probably not buy for myself but really quite like.  In addition, I was particularly impressed with the Sebamed, a brand I had never heard of, as I was getting a bit of dry scalp along by hairline and applying a small amount of this with a cotton bud has really helped and if I'm careful I can soothe the dry scalp without making my hair greasy - result!  The box also contained a number of offer codes for the brands - Seche Vite was a buy one get one free offer on their coloured lacquers, Sleek and Sebamed gave a 20% discount (the Sebamed code has already been put to good use!) and Rituals offered £5 off a £25 order.

My second box arrived a few days ago, just in time for my birthday!  This time it was in a pink, matte box (also very pretty!) and centred around a Detox theme, well it is January after all!  It contained:

• Elemis Fresh Skin, Skin Glow Facial Exfoliator - 30ml (full size is 100ml rrp £12)
• Murad, Warming Aromatic Mask - 30ml (full size is 100ml rrp £25)
• Paul Mitchell, Super Strong Daily Conditioner - 100ml (full size is 300ml rrp £14.25)
• Jason, Lips Bee Healthier (Aloe & Beeswax) - full size 4.6g rrp £1.99
• Duck Island, Body Lotion (Mandarin & Bergamot) - 30ml (full size 250ml rrp £24.95)
• Glossybox eye mask 

The only additional offer in the January box was a code to receive 20% off products at Elemis.  I have not tried all of these products yet, with the Murad and the Paul Mitchell conditionder as yet unopened, but the exfoliator arrived at a perfect time as I was just about to run our of my usual Liz Earle brand but am happy to use the Elemis for the next few weeks instead.  Clearly there were no cosmetics in this box, so I am secretly hoping for a few in the February box.

I follow Glossybox on twitter and I've noticed that different people get different contents in their box, so some of you out there who also subscribe may have received different items, if you please let me know in the comments below or let me know if you think it is a good idea / worth the money?

As for me I am going to enjoy my subscription for as long as it lasts and no doubt will miss my box of random treats when my gift expires!

Roz xx

* I have a bit of a thing for stars!  The way Bex has a bit of a thing for olive green and dragonflies :) 


***Special Day Alert***

Today is the lovely Lyndsey's birthday aka Bex's mum!  Happy birthday :)  Hope you have a lovely day and I know Bex wishes she could be there to have some birthday cocktails and cake with you xx