But first a little about Birchbox. When you subscribe you fill out a 'Beauty Profile' where you are asked about about your skin type, your areas of concern and your skin tone, as well as your hair type and colour. Then you can add your personal style choices so your box is tailored to you each month. It only cost £12.95 including postage, and if you really like the boxes you can subscribe for a few months at a time and save some pennies.
The first of my favourites is a tinted moisturiser from Caudalie, Vinoperfect Radiance Tinted Moisturiser. I have it in light, and I find it's the perfect shade for my extremely pale skin tone. I've never really been one for tinted moisturisers as almost all the high street brands have a 'light' shade about three shades too dark for me. Damn you pasty skin! But I don't have a bad thing to say about this product, it looks the same when I get home from work as it did when I left that morning, it's a great consistency and it smells amazing.
It does retail from the official Caudalie shop at £27, but I have found it cheaper online so have a shop around if you're looking to try this.
Next up is the Yes To Cucumber Hypoallergenic Facial Wipes. I am one of the lazy people that really cannot be bothered to wake myself up with a proper face cleanse every night before bed and that is why these are so great. Society says that make up wipe are bad for your skin, but you will not able to do anything but love these wipes. They are so soft, so refreshing and so damn good at getting rid of makeup, dirt and soot apparently (a long story).
You can't purchase these from the UK Yes To online store but I do know they're around about £5 from Birchbox, and it you're not like me and have a half decent Boots near by, you will find them in there for around £3.
This next one won't be for everyone, just for you dry skin suffers. If like me you have very dry patches on your face, so much so that you have to tackle broken skin every morning (gross, I know) then Birchbox have pointed me in the direction of a lifesaver. Pomade Divine's Nature's Remedy Balm. It is very thick and sticky lotion that you do need to apply in advance to applying makeup, I usually put this on first thing and moisturise over the top to get rid of the greasiness.
I am trying to squeeze every last drop out of my tester as this retails at nearly £20 on Pomade Divine's online store.
I love a good mascara, so when Birchbox emailed to ask which Benefit mascara I'd like to test I did my homework. I went for the newish Roller Lash and my god did I choose correctly. I wear this all day everyday, and unless I've fallen asleep in front of the TV before bed it stays in place all day long. It drys instantly and is really build-able so good for an everyday look but you can layer it up for going out too.
I bought a full sized version of this after about a week so I could keep the mini in my handbag, it was £19.50 from the Benefit counter.
Finally, nails. I'd never heard of this brand before but their polishes are stunning. I received a Soigné nail polish in Pistache. I'm rubbish at painting my own nails because I'm fair too impatient, but this polish is so easy to use. It's not too thick and glides on without a lot on the brush, I did a couple of layers and they lasted great over the weekend, then being a jewellery maker went and ruined them. I have however painted my toes and they look the same now as they did two weeks ago.
I bought another bottle in the shade Chou-Fleur Violet from Birchbox for £11 which is the same price as the official store.
I do hope you have a look at some of these products and you find them as great as I do.
Catch you later,
Ellie
