November Glossybox Review 2015| It's Carenza B

Hello!

So again we have another first on my blog! It's my first Glossybox review! I have been getting Glossyboxes for nearly a year now and since I started my blog in June, I've never reviewed one. But this months box had been my favourite since I subscribed in January. I was contemplating dropping my subscription after December but this months box has rekindled my love for Glossybox. This is how my review is going to work, I am going to rate each product out of these 4 categories: Packaging, How like-able it is, Quality and Usage. Each category will by out of 5 and the total for each product is 20. To rate them I am going to be using this symbol:

It's a little Disney Tsum Tsum Winnie-the-Pooh dressed up as a bumblebee! It's so cute and as my surname begins with B I feel links nicely. It will look a little something like this:

 

For  those of you who have never heard of Glossybox, Glossybox is a monthly subscription box where you get 5 beauty related products, some are full sized and some a travel sized. So lets see what was in this months box!

This is the general overview of the contents of the box. It consists of 3 full sized products and two travel sized products. I would describe this as an Autumn/ Winter essential kit for beauty lovers, a gold toned eye-shadow palette from MUA, a lipstick colour of your choice by Revlon, a primer by Emite, a body lotion by Royal Apothic and some false eyelashes by Eylure. 

The first product that I pulled out of the box was the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Black Cherry. If you read either my winter recommendations post or my October Favourites post you will know I have developed a love for dark purple lipsticks. This is my favourite thing in the box and I can't wait to use it. It will definitely get lots of love this side of 2016 and will probably become my favourite lipstick for Autumn/ Winter. Revlon is a brand I have heard of but never tried, I do own one other lipstick product by them, it's one of their colour stay moisture stains in the shade 005 Parisian Passion, also in a dark purple. It retails at £7.99 from Boots and Superdrug.  

On the card that comes with each box, it says "Our love affair with lipstick is never-ending. This month, every Glossy will be receiving one of Revlon's best-selling lipstick shades, which are infused with vitamin E and hydrating avocado oil. Glamour is but a swipe away!"

My only disappointment with this lipstick is something which now I think about it sounds really silly. When placing the lid back on it doesn't make that satisfying click that all my other lipsticks do, but apart from this minor flaw I am head over heels in love!  

Product Rating:

Packaging- 

How like-able the product is-

Quality- 

Usage-

Total- 17/20

Next we have a Make-Up Academy Eye-shadow Palette in Undressed. Like the Sleek Vintage Romance palette, this is a super versatile product and you can get so many looks from this palette. MUA is a brand I have never tried before and I have heard lots of good things about them. I feel like this palette is going to become my go to palette for everyday looks. I love the gold shades in this palette as they are really flattering. The two blue shades will not be getting any love from me as I have blue eyes and blue eye-shadows can make me look like a china doll. This product retails at £4 which is an insane bargain!

What Glossy says- "From work day nudes to smouldering metallics, this beautiful palette is like a chocolate box of eye colours. And it's just as hard to choose one delicious shade over another" 

Top row from left to right- Puff, Rose Ash, Fawn, Gild, Hazel, Lion
Bottom row from left to right- Bronze Ore, Burnished Brown, Tawny, Henna, Fuel, Cool Grey

Product Rating:

Packaging-

How like-able the product is-

Quality-

Usage-

Total- 15/20

After the MUA palette we have a primer from Emite. Emite is a brand I had never heard of and I am looking forward to trying this primer. When I do wear makeup, I always forget to put a primer on and I'm usually half way through applying my foundation. I have tried a primer by Maybelline in their baby skin range and it's okay. This product retails at £25.90 and this is the travel size version, I don't think I will be repurchasing as £25.90 is quite a lot for a primer.

What Glossy says- " Primers underpin a great base and this lightweight formulas is no exception. The peachy fluid balances skin tone, boots radiance and creates a smooth finish, perfectly prepping skin for the day (or night) ahead" 

Product Rating:

Packaging-

How like-able it is-

Quality-

Usage-

Total- 11/20

Next we have Royal Apothic Body Creme. I love the packaging, it looks really vintage and has a French vibe to me. Again, Royal Apothic is brand  I have never heard of. The product itself smells really light and floral, which isn't my favourite scent in the world. It sinks in pretty much straight away and leaves your skin feeling silky smooth, usually these type of products feel slightly sticky but this one doesn't. I would actually use this as a hand cream as it's super moisturizing. This product retails at £14.50 which again is on the pricey side and this is a travel sized version.

What Glossy says- "This delicately scented body cream has lactic acid to gently smooth skin, while keeping it hydrated so it stays super-soft despite the chilly winter months. Simply massage it into damp skin post-shower to seal in moisture"  

Product Rating:

Packaging-

How like-able it is-

Quality-

Usage- 

Total- 12/20

Finally we have some false lashes by Eylure in Natural Lashes. I have never tried false lashes before and I don't think I will, they have never appealed to me as to me the look fake (which they are). They also look like they take too long to apply and I just can't be bothered. In the world of beauty, False Lashes and Nails are something I have never tried and never will. I will probably give these to someone at school who I know likes beauty. They might be a very good brand but I won't be trying these. They retail at £5 each.

What Glossy says- "With party season fast approaching, these natural looking lashes provide a subtle boost in volume and length that beats mascara alone. They're super easy to apply and you can use them time and time again." 

Product Rating:

Packaging-

How like-able it is-

Quality-

Usage-

Total- 6/20

So overall, from least liked to most liked it goes: Eylure False Lashes, Emite Primer, Royal Apothic Body Creme, MUA Eye-shadow palette and Revlon lipstick.

I hope you enjoyed this review and comment if you want more. Don't forget you can follow me on instagram and twitter @itscarenzab. For business related stuff you can email me on my business email- itscarenzab@gmail.com.

Love

Carenza x

 

  

Winter Recommendations 2015| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So as my summer recommendations is my most read post, I thought I would do one for Autumn/Winter to spice things up. Again like my summer one it will be split into 3 categories of beauty, books and bits'n'bobs.
Enjoy!

Beauty

The first winter recommendation I have for you is a scent and if you have read my October Favourites post you will already know how much I love the Glazed Apple range from the Body Shop. It is this lovely sharp Apple scent and is perfect for this time of year. I love how long this stays on for as I apply it at about 8 in the morning and I can still smell it at 10 in the evening.

Glazed Apple Body and Room Spray

Next is also a product I featured in my October Favourites, which is an eye-shadow palette from Sleek. It has my 3 go to gold eye-shadows for this time of year and the pigmentation is insane. The palette is called Vintage Romance and have really cute names. This palette also has some really pretty purples in it which I want to have a go at wearing.

Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

Meet in Madrid, Court in Cannes and Lust in LA

For Blusher I have two very similar shades I love wearing at this time of year and they are both from the drugstore. One is from Sleek and the other is from Bourjois, they're both a rose gold shade but the Sleek one is more coral toned than the Bourjois one. Both have amazing pigmentation but my favourite is the Sleek one.

Bourjois 33 Lilas D'or and Sleek Rose Gold

Again we have something from my October Favourites which is a lipstick from Sleek. It's the beautiful red toned purple and is perfect for this time of year. Sleek, in case you haven't guessed, is a brand I rate highly and I would recommend you get your hands on some Sleek makeup. The lipstick is in the colour Dare.

Next, we have something for your hands as they can get very dry at this time of year. It's the Body Shop Almond Hand and Nail Cream. It smells like marzipan and leaves your hands feeling really smooth. 

Almond Hand Cream 

For eyeliners I have two, one is drugstore and one is high-end. The first one I got from a glossy-box, it's a lot lighter than the high-end. The drugstore one is from the brand MeMeMe and it is in the shade Clay. The high-end one is from Urban Decay from their Naked on the Run palette last year, it's a miniature of one of their 24/7 Glide On eye pencil in Stag. It goes on a lot easier than the MeMeMe one and I have used it more than the drugstore one.

Top- MeMeMe in Clay
Bottom- Urban Decay in Stag

Left- MeMeMe
Right- Urban Decay

My favourite face mask at this time of year is the Sanctuary Spa 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask. This is the only face mask I use. At the slightly pricey cost of £10, this mask is the best I've tried. It literally warms your face and gives it the feeling like it's doing something. Although slightly scary when it comes out, there are noticeable results.

My two favourite nail colours are two dark purples. One is from Bourjois in the colour 34 violine hypnotique and the other is from Illamasqa which I picked up at TK Maxx in the colour Charisma. I prefer the Bourjois one as it is better quality, I wore them both for a week and the Illamasqa one chipped really badly. But they're both lovely colours.

Left- Bourjois
Right- Illamasqa

For hair-care, I love the Tresemme Moisture Rich Luxurious Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner in these massive bottles. They leave your hair feeling silky smooth for days. I had never tried anything from Tresemme before but now I will definitely be trying more.

Finally, we have a hair masque from a Swedish Brand called Maria Nilla. I received this in the September Glossybox and I have nearly used it all up. It is used to bring out your natural hair colour and make it better. I can tell this has been working for me as I have dyed my hair before and am letting it grow out, and the roots of my hair are a lot blonder than before.

Books

My first book Recommendation is a classic and is the Sherlock Holmes Series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I love Sherlock (the TV Series) and have dipped it and out of the books, but I feel like this time of year is perfect to start reading it.

Next we have a modern book which I mentioned in my October Faves and it is The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire by Dan Howell and Phil Lester. You already I know how much I love this book so I won't go into detail.

Again we have another book you know how much I love and this is the Harry Potter Series, I've been banging on about this for ages you guys must be so bored of me mentioning it. I do genuinely love the series and have been re reading it for the 1000th time.

Finally, we have a book that I also mentioned in my October Faves, which is Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass. I am going to write a review on this and it will hopefully be going up soon. All I will say for now is that it is amazing and you need to read it.

Bits'n'Bobs

First in my Bits'n'Bobs category is bobble hats. I love hats, but I feel like hats don't love me as I have been struggling to find hats that fit me all my life. When I  was in Marks and Spencers recently and found these two hats that fit me I obviously had to get them. 

Next we have my beloved Miss Selfridges scarf which I think I mentioned in my October Faves. It's this massive checkered scarf that can act like a blanket on long car/ train journeys.

Obviously I had to put a candle in here, although not a Christmas scent I love this scent as it's really fresh and just lovely to burn. Don't worry, I'll be getting a Christmas scented one soon.

Next we have Christmas magazines, the ultimate way to get into the festive spirit is by reading them. I have a home and interiors one and a craft one. I love both equally.

Finally we have my well beloved jumper from Marks and Spencers, it's a deep red wine colour. It's super thick and warm, the sleeves are slightly cropped and it is quite a lose jumper but it still manages to keep you warm. I have been wearing this all the time and love it so much.

So those are my winter recommendations, I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to follow my blog and follow me on my social media accounts (Instagram and Twitter @itscarenzab). If you have any Christmas suggestions email me on my business email itscarenzab@gmail,com. I had planned on doing blogmas, but unfortunately I don't have the time this year but I do have some Christmas post ideas floating round.

Love

Carenza x 

  

  

  

October Favourites 2015| It's Carenza B

Hello!
So here is my my very first favourite post! If you do not follow me on Twitter (@itscarenzab), you will not know that I had a bit of drama while writing my September Favourites. Basically, I wrote the entire post and for some reason it wouldn't save or let me upload it, so I refreshed the page and lost everything I wrote. I was so annoyed with myself, as I had spent ages writing it and it was gone. Anyway, here is my October Favourites and I hope you enjoy it!

Before I start writing, I would like to apologize for the not so great quality of my photos. As it's winter, the lighting isn't great and this means I have to use lights from my lamp and bulb. So I am sorry, but it turned out better than I planned as I used the flash for some of the photos.

Beauty

The first thing I have been loving in the month of October was the new Body Shop Foundation, I have a feeling that this is going to become a holy grail of mine. I am very pale and a lot of foundations, particularly from the Body Shop, are too dark and orange toned. Anyway, this new foundation is a perfect match, maybe even too pale for me. It applies wonderfully and doesn't look cakey, I would say that it's a matte foundation and that it isn't super glowy. I would recommend that you go and get it as it is an amazing product. It retails at £15 which is on the pricey side for a high street foundation but it's totally worth it.

Body Shop Fresh Nude Foundation in Chelsea Porcelain 

Next, we have another Body Shop product but this time it's a scent rather than a makeup product. It is the Glazed Apple scent from the Christmas range. It's a sharp apple scent that stays for the whole day, I apply this once a day before I leave the house and when I go to bed at 9 or 10 o'clock I can still smell it. I have had this bottle for almost a year and its barely gone down. It's a really lovely scent for autumn and Christmas, I would recommend that you go and get it if you love apple scented things.

Body Shop Glazed Apple Room and Body Spray

Recently, I have discovered I have a love for gold eye-shadows and as much as I love my Urban Decay Naked 3 palette, the eye-shadow palette I have been using lots recently is the Sleek Vintage Romance. I got this last Christmas as part of a gift set and never got round to using it till now.

My dirty but well- loved Sleek Palette

The plastic sheet of names

They all have super cute names like the purple one on the bottom row below the silver one is called A Vow in Venice, which is super cute. As you can tell the ones I have been using the most are the three gold ones.

Without the plastic name sheet

From left to right- Meet in Madrid; Court in Cannes; Lust in LA

Another plus is the mirror, although slightly dirty it is one of the largest I have. Overall this is one of the best eye-shadow palettes I own and I would recommend you get your hands on it. I don't know how much it costs as I got it in a set with a lipstick and a mascara.

We have another Sleek product, this time a lipstick. This lipstick is my new favourite lipstick of all time, it is a truly beautiful deep purple with red tones running through it. If you want to start wearing darker lipsticks but don't want to go straight in with the almost black toned purples this is the lipstick for you. The colour is called Dare and is a matte lipstick. Again, this lipstick is perfect for this time of year and I would say is an Autumn essential for beauty lovers.

Next in beauty we have a product from Lush, although it's not a bath-bomb it is from the skincare range which I feel deserves more recognition. The product I have been loving is Grease Lighting. This product is to be used on spots to dry the out, which sounds disgusting but it works really well. It contains witch hazel, which is really good for spots. For some reason this month I had a really bad break out and this product helped. Although over the £15 mark, I have had this for around a year and have barely used any of it, as a little goes a long way. It has a pump and you pump out a small bit, then apply it to the spot for a couple of days and wait for it to do its magic.

Lush's Grease Lighting

Finally, we have my new holy grail for applying foundation and concealer. It is a beauty blender that I got in the October Glossybox . It applies a lot nicer than a brush as it doesn't leave brush marks. However, it takes slightly longer than a brush does the final result is a lot better.

Books

The first book I read in October was The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire by Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (amazingphil). This book was massively hyped in the world of YouTube and to some extent it deserved this praise. It was an interesting book to read, finding out all the different things that were a part of the world of Dan and Phil. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed reading it and there were bits that made me laugh, the only issue with it is the price. I feel like its a tall order to ask there viewers to pay £17 for it. I do recommend you go get it if you love watching their videos, I just warn you that the book isn't cheap but then there are a lot of pages in it, it's hard back and there is lots of colour.

TABINOF front cover

Next, I read Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass. If you read my birthday book haul, you will have seen this book. It is brilliant, I'm in the middle of writing a book review for it. I don't want to give to much away but I recommend you get it and read it. The main character, Celaena is amazing. You'll fall in love with her straight away. I honestly can't wait to finish the series, I'm on the third book and it's definitely getting interesting. The cover design is beautiful and the story is as well.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass

Finally I started reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is one of my favourite books in the series, as you will know if you read my Harry Potter Tag post from Halloween. I don't need to go into detail as the story is well known. I love it and I really am enjoying re-reading this series.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Bits'n'bob

My first thing to come under the character of Bits'n'Bobs are Tsum Tsums from Japan. These are a thing that Disney started doing and OMG I love them. They are so cute! I collect the small ones and am loving them. Every month they bring out a different collection, like in September it was The Nightmare Before Christmas in time for Halloween.  I have some of the classic Disney characters and some of the collections. The small ones are £3 each and are about the size of your palm. They're filled with beans like bean bags and can be used as screen cleaners, but I have never used mine as screen cleaners.  

Look how cute they are!

Since taking this photo I have got 3 more- Jack Skeleton, Zero and one of the 3 children called Shock, Lock and something I can't remember.

Next I have been loving my scarf from Miss Selfridge, I got it in January in the sales for £16 and love it. It is huge and has this lovely red checkered pattern on it. It also has tassels on it and is the warmest scarf I own. I wear it most days and when I'm doing long journeys either in the car or on a train, I like to use it as a blanket to keep me warm.

Miss Selfridge Scarf

Finally, I have been loving Christmas Magazines. I am getting excited for Christmas way to early this year but I feel like I have got some good ideas for my blog for the festive period and am looking forward to sharing them with you.

Craft and Home-ware Christmas Magazines

So those were my October Favourites, I hope you enjoyed this post and that it has given you some inspiration for the future. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter @itscarenzab. Also you can click follow on here to be informed when I post. For business related questions, email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com.

Love,

Carenza B 

x