January's Glossybox!

It has been a long time coming this month, but here is the January edition of Glossybox! I haven't been all that impressed with Glossybox in the last quarter of the year, some of the products left the mind blogging as to why in earth they would be included and even some of the 'themes' made no sense compared to the accompanying products.

Anyway it is now 2014 and here I am hoping Glossybox have got their act together before I log in and finally hit that cancel button...  Here is the contents of my box:

So back to basics is the topic and subject of the box and Glossybox has had a bit of a make-over.  The box is much pinker than usual and glossier and the ribbon on the inside is a nice touch... but the products this month... well:

Anatomicals Puffy The Eye Bag Slayer Wake-up Under Eye Patches - made me giggle as the name is funny and apparently if you look like a character from The Walking Dead these eye patches should reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and revitalise the delicate area around my eyes.  A full size pack of 3 retails for £6 and in my pack there are two.

Vaseline Essential Moisture Lotion - a non-greasy moisture lotion to keep your skin supple and looking great.  This is a 50ml bottle, nowhere near fullsize (which would cost £4.99) not too chuffed to have this in my box as I am not that much of a fan of Vaseline products personally.

Balance Me Super Toning Body Wash - another 50ml product and one I am happy to see because I am a huge fan of the Balance Me range and this is a product I am yet to try.  Said to have a blend of juniper, bergamot, geranium and lavender essential oils, this body wash is a good way to start your day.

Yu-Be Moisturising Skin Cream - 2 sample tubes with 3g in each.  This product is a multi-use cult moisturising cream from Japan which revamps your skin, enriching it with Vitamin E, Vitmain B2, Camphor and has a uniquely high glycerine content.  Not heard of this before, but will see what it is like once I use it.

The final product, the one I knew would be in the box is this lovely floral design tweezers from The Vintage Cosmetic Company.  You can never have too many pairs of tweezers and these ones are actually quite good and retail for £8 and I believe the only full sized product in the box!

So, erm that is it! What do you think?

Ted Baker Stocking Fillers

I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with the Ted Baker range* which is currently in Boots.  I have already introduced you to the 'Putting on the Glitz' gift set HERE and today I have two more products from the range.

The Ted Baker Eyelash Curler and Nail Buffer are naturally a must have for any beauty lover and infact both are staples within my own make-up bag.  Each item within the Accessory range is of a purse friendly friend and all under £10, so if you are looking for a stocking filler or three, then I would highly recommend the Ted Baker Range.

Encased inside this beautiful Pea Green Box with a cute little ribbon (hello Christmas Treet ornament) are the Eyelash Curlers which cost just £8. Inside the box the packaging gets even more beautiful with the flowery background.

As you can see the eyelash curlers, which are a sort of Rose Gold Colour, have the Ted Baker logo on them clearly for all to see and they are actually really sturdy, much better than the flimsy pair I got in a Glossybox which cost more than double the price of these should I want to purchase them.  They also do the job of curling my eyelashes really well.

Then we have the Emery board which costs around £6 and it comes in the same style packaging as the eyelash curlers.  The nail buffer has four different sides to it to really make your nails look fantastic with the option to file, smooth, buff and shine.  In keeping with the beautiful packaging the file side has the foxglove picture which you have on the inside of the box, clearly shown and it I have found it does a fantastic job at filing my nails.  The second side is the Smooth option and the purpose of smooth is to sort out any little ridges that might be present, this I learnt from having a manicure recently and then you work your way round sides 3 and 4 to buff and shine your nails.  The part I have been most impressed with is the shine side of the buffer because it really does help to bring about a shine to your nails.

If these are the type of products you really like, also within the range you will find some Tweezers, Emery Boards, Nail Scissors and Nail Clippers which comes with a case, again all reasonably priced between £5-£8 each.

As you can tell I am a huge fan of the Ted Baker gift section in Boots and love the everything about the products I have, in particular the lovely packaging which is not only eye-catching but really well designed.

What do you think to the Ted Baker products this Christmas?

It's so plucking easy!!

The one thing I cannot live without in my make-up bag is a pair of tweezers. I use them for plucking my eyebrows mainly and I generally feel more at ease knowing that they are there should I find a stray hair.  Up until recently I have used bog standard tweezers that I have found in Boots or a Supermarket and after so long they have always lost their spring and have become pretty useless.

I was recently sent a pair of Tweezerit tweezers and I have spent quite a long time reading up about them and I have learnt so many things about owning pair of tweezers that I wish I had known some of the information before now.  The brand is owned by a man called Richard Batten-Edwards who has a reputation which spans over 28 years for providing the highest quality instruments to the podiatry, beauty and medicinal industries and Tweezerit tweezers come with a lifetime warranty and will be replaced free of charge if found to be defective.

The Tweezerits I was sent are from the Glitter Me range of tweezers and they are the most magnificent pink glittery tweezers ever.  To give them their proper name they are called Pink Champagne and retail for £23.  They come encased inside secure soft plastic packaging with the ‘Tweezerit’ logo clearly visible and one I really like with a pair of tweezers being the exclamation mark.  There is also a cover for the tips of these tweezers and the care guidelines state that when your tweezers are not in use, they should be looked after and cover should be on the tip.

When it comes to storing your tweezers, I immediately realised where I might have been going wrong.  With Tweezerit tweezers there is some really useful factual information on storage, not something I would have thought to look up before, but if you protect every other aspect of your make-up case such as your brushes, eye-lash curlers and so on, keeping them clean and in good use, why wouldn’t you do that with your tweezers?  Instead I just used to chuck them in my bag or case and always wondered why they would get bent out of shape and in some cases have snapped by the time I had discovered them a few weeks later at the bottom of my bag.  So here are the three simple suggestions for storage:

• Always store your tweezers in a clean dry place.
• Your tweezers have been set in the factory to give the correct spring tension. Do not overstretch your tweezers, or store them stretched.
• Always replace the rubber cap to prevent damage.

I am guilty of number 2 over many occasions given the state of my last pair and frankly it never occurred to me that they had been set in a factory to a certain angle to make them easier to use and I have never, before now replaced the rubber cap, it never occurred to me that by doing so would protect the tweezers and keep them both sharp and precise when using - now I know!

When it comes to using them - the official specification reads as follows:

This tweezer has been made out of the finest high grade stainless steel, hand finished to the highest professional standards. The tweezers you have selected are used by professional beauty therapists, and are now offered to you for personal use.

These hand finished tweezers feature our special slant designed tips, which allow you to pluck individual hairs more easily. Your tweezers are quality instruments and should be cared for as such.

The information give above can be found on the Tweezerit website HERE 

To look at these tweezers, they are 9.5cm in length and  are really easy to grasp a hold of and host a slanted tip which does make the task of plucking hairs much easier, I was quite surprised at how easy I could grasp onto the stray hairs of my eyebrows without having to attempt it numerous times before succeeding and these are the easiest, most straightforward and practical pair of tweezers I have ever owned and had the pleasure of using.

The  brand as a whole has really caught my attention.  There are no less than eight different categories of tweezers to look at and decide upon and if I had been left to choose some tweezers, I might very well be still sitting here debating what I prefer because I love them all.  

Then comes the Curve Selection all of which have been ergonomically designed to feature the very latest in tweezer design and I love the design of them.  

The final one I am going to make reference too is the Vintage Collection and again they all feature some very funky colouring and patterns which catch the eye.

Then, if you are a bit of a novice when it comes to your eyebrows and how best to shape them and I found this really useful to read because it contains all the basics that you need to know, for example:

• Always pluck in the direction of hair growth.
• Alternate brows to make sure they match.

Overall I love these tweezers and I love this brand.  Reading the website has really given me a kick up the backside when it comes to looking after my tweezers, using them and a reminder on eyebrow plucking, everything you need to know from one brand in one place and if that isn’t enough you can find them on Facebook HERE

What do you think to these Tweezers? Do you have a favourite style?