Our Harvey Nichols Glossybox collaboration box review

I was one of the lucky ones who managed to get my hands on one of the popular Harvey Nichols special edition Glossyboxes. This box wasn’t the usual monthly subscription box, it was a seperate purchase in limited quantities. I had no trouble placing my order at all, about half an hour into it going on sale, but I’ve heard a lot of people were disappointed.

One thing that differentiated this box from the norm (aside from the premium price and premium products) was that the contents were revealed beforehand. Perhaps this made it so popular, as people could see that the premium cost was going to be worth it! It did take away the nice element of surprise that comes with a beauty box though!

A lot of bloggers had already given their opinions on the contents even pre-release, so this will all be old news. Nonetheless, I’ll share my thoughts.

Let’s start with the box itself. Matt white with silver stars and Glossybox branding. Classy, with a nod toward the festive season but in a subtle enough way to be on display all year round. This one’s a keeper.

In the box I received the following;

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer (30ml) – I only recently started using primers, and now I love them, they really help hide my large pores. I’ve heard good things about this Laura Mercier one, and I can’t wait to try it! A full size one of these (50ml) is £29, so this smaller size is worth £17.40.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream – I have an Aunt who is a QVC shopaholic and I get all her Elemis hand me downs, but this is one product she always keeps for herself so it must be good! I have high hopes for this anti-ageing cream. A full size 100ml costs £135 – so this is worth an impressive £20.25.

Dermalogica Overnight Repair Serum (5ml) – Serums are a bit of an unknown to me at the moment, but as I’m trying to step up my age defense routine, I’m sure I’ll be trying a fair few. I love Dermalogica, so this product is a great one for me to start off with. A full size serum is £57.50 for 15ml, making this sample worth £19.16.

Rodial Bee Venom Moisturiser (5ml) – I’ve never tried any Rodial, so I’m excited to try this one! I don’t know much about the product at this stage but it seems to be another skincare product with anti ageing properties, which seems to be a common feature of this box (I’m not complaining!). For a moisturiser this inclusion is pretty small, but a full size (50ml) is a pricey £150, so this tiny tube has £15 worth of product! When getting the link to this product I saw ‘stem cell technology’ which concerned me, but reading on revealed it was actually plant stem cells!

Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real Mascara (3g) – The first time I tried this mascara I wasn’t impressed. It sat in my makeup bag for a while before I heard everyone suddenly raving about it! So I gave it another shot and, while I don’t find it as lash enhancing as I’d like, it’s a great everyday mascara. This is the tiniest size I’ve seen this in, but it’ll be handy for my handbag! It’s almost half the size of a £19.50 full size at 8.5g, and is worth £6.88.

SHOW Beauty Pure Treatment Oil (60ml) – I haven’t come across this brand before, and I immediately jumped to the incorrect conclusion it was another skincare product. But it’s for hair! I’m one of those messy hair don’t care people who doesn’t use much product, so most haircare is lost on me. But with the bleaching my hair could always do with a bit of repair so this will actually come in handy if it works! This is a full size product worth a whopping £50! I have to say, on opening the box I was impressed – the bottle is a beautiful vintage style glass bottle, and screams luxury. Even if I hate the product this will take pride of place on my dressing table. And it smells lovely. I’ve seen other boxes containing different SHOW Beauty products.

OPI  Nail Lacquer in shade ‘Viking in a Vinter Vonderland’ (15ml) – I’m so, so happy I received this! I’m a big OPI fan, and I love a good dark purple. Plus how awesome is the shade name? I had heard some boxes had Avoplex instead and I hate hand cream so I’m really pleased with this item. Another full size item, this one retails for £12.

NARS Satin Lip Pencil (1.7g) in shade ‘Rikugien’ – I believe that there are a few different shades of this in the boxes. I received a lovely wearable rosy pink shade, perfect for everyday. This was one of the products I was most looking forward to in the box so I’m happy I got a shade I like! This is only barely smaller than a full size pencil which retails at £18 for 2.2g, making it worth £13.90.

La Coupe Coconut and Macadamia Oil (40g) – I’ve already said how I feel about haircare, and I’m not sure two hair oils were necessary in one box. But this is a single sachet, so more of a deep treatment. I don’t feel any particular way about this item. I’ll give it a go, it can only help the condition of my hair! These sachets are sold individually in this size for £3.50.

Percy & Reed No Fuss Flawlessness Dry Conditioner (150ml) – I’ve not used a dry conditioner before. Dry shampoo is pretty much a daily use item for me (as I try to wash my hair as little as possible), not so much for cleaning but for volume, and I’m loyal to Batiste Tropical. I imagine this will give a similar result. No matter how good this one is, I doubt I’ll make a switch to a product three times the price, but it’ll be nice to try! This is a full size product retailing at £12.

Harvey Nichols Mini Scented Party Candle – I’m not a fan of candles. I’m not keen on fire, which may explain it, I’m not sure. Anyway, I’ll likely gift this. There were 4 different scents across all the boxes – I received Party. They are sold as a pack of 4 for £30, making them worth £7.50 each. A larger single candle is £35.

Haircare

Given that I knew the contents of this box before I ordered it, it’s obvious that I’m happy with it. To be honest, I ordered it for a few specific products; Laura Mercier primer, NARS lip pencil and OPI polish. Those alone made the price tag of £30 plus postage (£35 plus postage to non subscribers) a bargain, everything else was a bonus! In total, the contents of my box are worth a huge £177.59! I’m pretty speechless if I’m honest!

If I’m looking for criticism, this box didn’t contain too much variation in products. Three skincare items focusing on anti ageing and two haircare oils make up almost half the box, and weight it in favour of a particular demographic. I’d have liked to instead have seen a couple of these substituted for a bodycare product and another cosmetic item. But I have no complaints, it’s a very impressive box!

I think this is actually the best beauty box I’ve received, with the Selfridges boxes a close second. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for special edition Glossyboxes in the future. In fact, if you fancy a special ESpa box worth £30, you can get one free with the purchase of a Glossybox giftcard using the code ‘GIFTCARDOFFER’.

Did you receive the Harvey Nichols Glossybox? Or did you miss out? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

L xx

*All photo’s are our own.

Our November 2014 UK Glossybox review

If I’m honest, I didn’t expect to be posting about this months Glossybox. I’m a person who would rather post about a brand or items I love, rather than write a negative review. If I don’t like something, unless I want to have a moan about it, it’ll just go unwritten about. Given that I’ve been less than impressed with the contents of my Glossybox as far back as I can remember now, I thought this months would go unmentioned.

When I opened the packaging, my first thought was disappointment that this months box was the standard pastel pink. The past few months boxes have been themed, and to me, the different boxes have been the best bit given that the contents had been a let down.

November 14 contents

But on opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised. These are all products I would actually use! I received the following;

Lollipops Long lasting eye pencil in shade ‘701: Goodbye moon’ (full size). It’s just a retractable black pencil eyeliner. But you can’t go wrong with a black eyeliner, I have more than I can immediately think of, yet can never have enough of them. I’m interested to try this one, as Lollipops isn’t a brand I’ve previously heard of. The website is French (thanks Google translate) and the styling is pink, girly and pretty much what you’d expect from a French brand called Lollipops. I’m keen to try this one. It retails for 14 Euros.

Burt’s Bees Lip shine in shade ‘050: Pucker’ (full size). I like Burt’s Bees, although I’ve only ever used their lip balms. This gloss is nice. It’s a sheer berry red that gives just a hint of colour, and makes my lips feel lovely and soft. This one is going straight into my everyday makeup bag. It retails for £6.99.

H2O+ Face Oasis Hydrating treatment (8ml). I’ve not heard of this brand before, it seems to be sold through Marks & Spencer in the UK, and theirs is a beauty hall I rarely browse in. This particular product isn’t online, and Glossybox claim it is a ‘Glossybox premiere’. It’s an oil free moisturising gel which apparently delivers deep hydration while minimising the appearance of fine lines. I could always do with another travel sized moisturiser, and as I’m only a few years off 30 I’m a little anxious about wrinkles, so I’m happy with this item. Full size (50ml) has a RRP of £27.50, so this 8ml would be worth £4.40.

Monu Skincare Refining Capri facial oil (30ml). Yet another new brand to me! I’ve never tried a facial oil. As someone with combination skin I’ve never felt the need to add oil to my face, despite information I’ve previously absorbed about its benefits. This one is specifically to balance oily skin and decongest pores. My initial reaction was that this would get lost in my stash and remain unused, but ‘decongest pores’ perks my interest. I think if I could change one thing about my face it would be those pesky pores. So I’m quite excited to try this after all. Full size (100ml) has a RRP of £26, so this 8ml would be worth £7.80.

OGX Argan Oil of Morocco Shampoo (88.7ml). This is probably my least favourite item in the box. It’s a brand I’ve heard of and, ok, Moroccan oil is raved about, but I’m loyal to my silver shampoos. So this will probably get put in a drawer until I travel somewhere and need a travel sized shampoo. It’ll be good for when I go somewhere hot though. Some boxes received conditioner. I think I’d have preferred that. But one item I’m not raving over in the whole box is pretty good! Full size (385ml) has a RRP of £3, so this 88.7ml would be worth 69p. I guess this is just a filler item!

So, the contents of my box are worth £31.02. Not bad. I remember ages back when I first started getting Glossybox seeing how some boxes (including my own) contained items which were a bit rubbish and worth not much at all, whereas others (including those received by high profile bloggers) contained high value items from prestige brands.  It annoyed me to the point that I cancelled my subscription, and only resubscribed once I heard things had become a bit fairer.

Anyway, at a point where I was looking to cancel my subscription again (but kept forgetting), this box has convinced me to give Glossybox another chance. I’ve also caved and ordered their Harvey Nichols collaboration box, the contents of which I know will be good!

What did you think of this months Glossybox?

L xx

*All photos are our own.

 

 

 

Lissa’s US Haul

So Georgia should soon be arriving at LAX, and I have to say I’m crazy jealous! It’s only been a couple of weeks since I was in California myself, and I have so much to say about my time out there. So be prepared for a few posts, particularly about Disneyland and Universal around Halloween, and my first experience of an American music festival!

But first I thought I’d share my US purchases. There will be more in depth posts about a lot of these items coming soon.

Obviously I went a little crazy in Black Milk Clothing. There are a few pieces for friends here, but for myself I got the Radimals playdress, Poison Ivy swimsuit, Reaper dress and of course the Harley Quinn shooter!

My BMUS haul

Another predictable place for me to splurge was Sephora, where I purchased the Give Me More lip kit, Lashes Unlimited kit, Tarte The Slenderiser and contouring brush, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow and eyebrow brush, Hourglass liquid lipstick and a few other little bits.

My Sephora haul

I also bought a couple of drugstore cosmetic items, some Pop! figurines (Arkham Asylum Harley Quinn which was a Hot Topic presale, and Hatsune Miku which was a Hot Topic exclusive), some sunglasses and a ton of Halloween candy!

I’d be interested to hear what other peoples must haves are when they visit the States?

L xx

*All photos are our own.