27 April 2012

Glossybox April 2012 - Au Naturel

Once again, it has been a long wait between Glossyboxes. I got my March box about six weeks ago. The Glossybox team explained that delays were due to the four-day Easter weekend and, as someone who works for a weekly publication where four-day weeks just mean five days of work in four days, I do sympathise. But it would be nice if the timing was more consistent each month.

Anyway, let me give a quick update on the products in my March Glossybox. I am not a perfume person so haven't used the Narciso Rodriguez sample. I'm still working my way through my existing Molton Brown shower gels and haven't got to this sample yet, but I will definitely use it eventually. I've been using the YSL serum every evening and haven't noticed much difference (I am lucky not to have many lines or wrinkles); I've used about two-thirds of the sample. I love the Burberry Lip Mist and wear it all the time: it's a pretty, peachy nude colour, which goes with everything, and it's also very moisturizing. I've used a bit of the Clarins body cream, but only because I have such a big body cream/moisturizer backlog that I feel I have to work through it.

Onto the April box, then. Well, April turns out to have been the cruellest month for me, Glossybox-wise, and although the products were all pretty nice, there were, once again, too many moisturizers for me; more specifically, too many moisturizers for dry skin, which aren't compatible with my oily-combination skin. This month, the theme was "natural beauty," with five "natural" beauty products in a biodegradable box (the packaging was particularly gorgeous this month). Here are the products I received:

April Glossybox. Top: Inika eyeliner. Bottom (L-R): Figs & Rouge balm, Monu collagen cream,
Burt's Bees body lotion and Caudalie SOS serum.
1. Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum (10 ml). I got another product from Caudalie's Vinosource line in the beauty box I ordered from the now-defunct Carmine last year. It was too intensive for my skin type and I didn't really like the fragrance (this SOS serum has a similar smell). I might give this a go once I've finished my YSL serum from last month's box, but even though it is supposed to be non-oily, a quick test indicated that it probably isn't suitable. £29 for the 30 ml full size.

2. Inika Cosmetics Organic Eyeliner in purple minx (full size). This is my favourite product in the box and the only one I'm really looking forward to using. Purple minx is a really pretty, deep aubergine purple colour. Apparently, it has a "rich and creamy consistency unparalleled in the world of natural liners." I don't know about that but it does apply really nicely and is very pigmented. £11.75.

Inika eyeliner in purple minx. Figs & Rouge balm in cherry & vanilla
3. Monu Moisture-Rich Collagen Cream (50 ml full size). The label says "for dry, very dry or dehyrdated skin" so I know this isn't going to be far too rich for me. I love the smell (it contains rose and geranium essential oils) and it is a full-size product, which is a shame because I probably won't be able to use it. I may try to give it away as a gift, though. £17.50.

4. Figs & Rouge balm (8 ml full size). I thought this was just a lip balm at first and although it smells really nice (cherry and vanilla) and feels lovely and tingly on the lips, I am quite devoted to my Vaseline cocoa butter lip therapy. Actually, though, you can also use this on the hands, face and body. I wouldn't put it on my face but I might use it on my elbows, perhaps, if they were dry. It's also a little smaller than the Vaseline lip therapy tins and the packaging is much prettier too, so I'll probably keep it in my on-the-go make-up bag. £3.29.

5. Burt's Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk and Honey Body Lotion (70 g). What was I just saying about the surfeit of body lotions in my life? Dear Glossybox, that's enough body moisturizers (ed). I do like a lot of Burt's Bees products and this has a really nice fragrance (milk and honey, in case the name didn't give it away). I may even move this to the front of my body moisturizer queue, ahead of the three or four other body moisturizers I've received in past beauty boxes. Praise indeed... £9.99 for the 190 g full size.

Total value of the products in this month's Glossybox: about £48.20. There were some fairly high-value samples in this month's box, which included three full sizes, but given that I only love one product (the eyeliner), like one (the balm), and will use one other for the sake of it (the body lotion), the value to me is much lower. It is definitely worth more to me than £12.95, though.

Overall rating: 2/5. This box has been the most disappointing, not because it didn't contain nice products, but because of two problems. 1) There were too many of a similar type of product (i.e. moisturizing products) suitable only for one skin type (dry to very dry). 2) The over-represented product category is one that doesn't appeal to me. My skin is quite fussy and I don't like to mess it around by trying out new moisturizers, especially those designed for people with the opposite skin type to me. I understand, of course, that these beauty boxes are all about the luck of the draw and while I got lucky in my first few months, the past two haven't been so good for me. It would be nice if Glossybox started personalizing the contents based on people's beauty profiles sometime soon, although I can imagine that will be very difficult to implement.