My Bellabox finally came! I was a little disappointed with this box but that’s mainly because of my own expectations really. I wanted certain products and didn’t get them, which happens sometimes.
All in all, still a good value box. Check out the video above for more details!
Let’s try this again. WordPress updated and all of a sudden I have no idea how to post things. I feel like I’m just starting out again! I’m realising that I need to start having a stockpile of draft posts that I can post when life gets away from me, because this week time has gotten away from me and I just have not had any time to post! Even though I have photos for at least three posts, ready and waiting to be written.
I received my Lust Have It! June box yesterday… the 3rd of July. Late, again. My first thought when I took the package out of my mail box (you know it’s on the small side when it fits in your mail box) I wasn’t even sure what it was but I wasn’t expecting anything else, so I figured it had to be it.
When Anthony gets home from work and I’ve received a box that day I always love telling him about it (I get excited about these ok!) and when I was showing him the contents even he was saying “wait… that was it!?” I feel like that says something all by itself.
This is what it looked like as soon as I took it out of the post bag.
And here is the details card. At first glance I have to say, the whole thing looks a little ‘meh’, but maybe that’s just me. Click the image for a larger version that you can read!
Teez Trendy Cosmetics Nail Polish $18 (full size)
The colour is a red/brown that I’m not the hugest fan of. It’s not horrible, but it’s not great, it kind of goes with my overall feelings of the box… ‘meh’.
I have to note though, the packaging is super cute. Potentially unnecessary, but super cute.
It claims that it won’t chip for three days. I put on two coats (it probably needed three, but I was low on time) yesterday when I received the box and can already see some small signs of wear and very small chips on the tips of my nails and it’s only been a day. So I’m not sure about it not chipping… maybe if I’d put on the extra coat I’d have a better chance. What I did really love about the polish, and what would make me buy it if it weren’t a whopping $18, is that it dried super fast. I have a real problem with impatience when it comes to painting my nails. I love them to look pretty, but I hate waiting for them to dry because I find they take a long time to fully dry properly, so that I don’t smudge them. This polish was amazing for this. I put on two coats almost one after the other about half an hour before I left the house and was totally fine to go about my business and bump and knock my nails to my hearts content! So if you have that problem, this may be a polish worth looking into.
John Plunkett Glyco Peel $29.95 (full size)
This says it’s ‘clinical strength’ and contains ‘25% glycolic acid’. It’s meant to keep your skin looking ‘young and refreshed’ but I don’t think I’ll be trying this product. I mean I have absolutely no idea what glycolic acid is, but it sounds intense. The fact that it’s ‘clinical strength’ also makes me wary. I mean I’m sure that for some people that’s exactly what they need, but my skin isn’t really bad enough that it needs something this intense right now. I’m a huge fan of the natural as you’ll notice on previous posts!
La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo $27.95
I received this in the June Bellabox which arrived two weeks ago and was definitely my preferred box this month. I won’t rant on about this again, but the size of the sample bothers me, as well as the brand. I’ve had a few samples from this brand and find they just generally don’t do a lot.
Orly Mini Nail Files $1.95 & Toe Separators $4.95 (full size) (not available where the card lists them)
This product… just seems like a bit of a pointless filler product. I have a packet of mini nail files like this that are just a random advertising product and while they’re handy if you’re absolutely desperate, they’re not great. They’re not hard like others, they’re quite spongy which I find makes them hard to use to file your nails. They do look pretty cute, there’s a few of them in the packet that you ‘tear’ off, so there is that. The toe separators… why!? I don’t know a single person who actually uses toe separators. I personally find them terribly uncomfortable, but maybe that’s just me. Please let me know if you love these because I’d love to think there’s someone out there that doesn’t find them as pointless as I do.
Nuxe Cream Nirvanesque $49.95 & Cream Nirvanesque Eye Contour $44.95
Even Anthony knows by now that I hate samples in sachets. They just irritate me. I like to be able to use a product at least twice to know if it actually works, and works for me, or not. So I feel a little bad, but this product was dismissed slightly as soon as I opened the package and saw them. They’re meant to help with lines and dark circles, which is another reason why my care factor for these is pretty low because as a 20-something year old I can’t say that I have a lot of lines yet! I might give the Eye Contour a shot though, because I do have some pretty mean dark circles right now because I have not been sleeping this week!
Hello Fresh $30 Gift Card
I got one of these in another box (I don’t remember which) and I lost it and was kind of bummed because it sounded good… so I’m excited to have another. I am worried there’s going to be a catch though when I get on the website and order. Scratch that, I just jumped on the website and had a click around… the catch is that every box ends up costing you at least $60… Bummer! If only I knew where my other card was…
And of course, there’s the cosmetic bag that we also received last month. One or two is great (I mean they’re plastic so they could potentially break pretty easily) but after that… not so much. I’ll probably be keeping it for my future giveaway (I need to get to 150 facebook likes first!) so look out for that!
I hope you guys have had a splendid week! Congratulations, you’ve officially reached another Friday night! Let me know what you have planned for the weekend! I’ve got a 21st and then an interstate friend coming to stay, hooray!
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No video for this one today because I’m sick as a dog! However, this Bellabox (my first in almost a year) turned up on the perfect day because it was a lovely little pick-me-up on a sick day.
After the weirdness with Lust Have It recently (boxes being late, and lots of repeat products seeing as I’ve been getting it for a year) I decided to try out Bellabox again because the reviews I’ve seen have been really great! And as a bonus, it’s $5 cheaper than Lust Have It, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m still waiting on my May box because I stuffed up my address – but it’s a great testament to the customer service of Bellabox! It was partly my fault that it got lost and yet they’re sending me a replacement box! Such lovely service, makes me feel really comfortable with my decison.
Anyway, onto the box!
This month’s box came with an issue of InStyle magazine (a bonus product – $9.95)! A hilarious coincidence considering the first box I EVER got came with an issue of Cleo. It’s not really my kind of magazine, but it was nice to have a different magazine for once. I absolutely love the boxes. Much more than the Lust Have It boxes that they used to do, purely because the lid and box actually separate! It means I can use them exactly for what I want to use them for – make-up storage in my make-up drawers! I love having separated sections for my products.
How cute does everything look in the box!? Perfect little present to myself, seriously. The box instantly looks pretty good to me. I see Herbal Essences so I’m already happy!
This is the card for the month. Hopefully you can read the card! The only complaint I have is that the Vo5 Hot Oil doesn’t have ANY instructions really, just that it’s for before shampoo. Oh well! Google will help I’m sure.
Onto the products!
Plants for People Aloe, Grapefruit Foaming Gel Cleanser RRP $24.95
I’ve never heard of People for Plants Australian Organics, but I’m loving the name and the packaging. Normally I’m a little hesitant about big tubes of cleanser because they always always end up doing nothing for my skin, but I love organic and natural products so much that I decided to keep this (my first thought was to give it away) and try it! The tube says it’s 74.5% organic ingredients so it sounds promising. It also says it’s for normal to combination skin and my skin is so combination it’s insane, so again… sounds promising!
From what I can smell (stupid blocked nose!) it smells really refreshing. The InStyle magazine also mentions this product.
I tried it out and I’m not wowed but I don’t hate it. It didn’t excessively dry out my skin or anything, and my skin does feel clean so that’s a plus!
I was SO excited to see this. I’ve started to see it advertised and really wanted to try it but I’m not quite out of shampoo yet so I was waiting semi-patiently. This smells so so good. I am so excited to use it. It’s free of silicone, parabens and dyes, so I’m thinking it’ll be great for my hair.
La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo RRP $27.99
I’ve received various products from this brand a few times in the Lust Have It boxes and I’ve never been impressed. They’re meant to be all fancy and stuff, but they just don’t seem to DO anything. And the sizes of the samples never impress me because how can you see if a product has a long-lasting effect, especially a skin product, if it’s such a small size.
The product boasts 24-hour hydration and apparently removes ‘excess oils and any blockages’ and ‘this cream unclogs sebum-blocked pores in 30 days, with one application per day’. Which is impossible to prove because hellooooo, tiny tube.
Vo5 Hot Oil RRP $6.99
I’m really hopeful for this product. I love hair treatments, but I’m wary for this because my hair is SUPER oily (I have to wash it every day on average, occasionally I can stretch it to two days) so I’m going to have to make sure it really gets washed out.
What does bug me is that neither the tube nor the product card tell you how to use it! Google to the rescue! Thankfully the Vo5 website have directions on their site.
USE BEFORE SHAMPOOING. 1. Place unopened tube in a cup of warm water to heat. 2. Wet hair. Massage contents of tube into hair. Leave on up to one minute. VO5 HOT OIL THERAPY works best when rinsed within one minute of application. 3. RINSE HAIR, scalp and skin thoroughly. Shampoo as usual. 4. STYLE. Use weekly or more often as needed.
Innoxa Lip Liner RRP $17.95
I didn’t realise until I opened it that this product isn’t a pencil! It’s a twisty tube and I love that fact because I never have a pencil sharpener around. I like this colour because I think it’ll go with a lipstick I have which is awesome. I tried it on my hand and wiped it off really quickly and it still took a couple of swipes to get off, and I hadn’t given it a change to set yet so that speaks well for how well it’ll stay on. Apparently it’s waterproof.
Nutrimetics Nutri-Rich Nourishing Masque RRP $39.00
This is meant as a ‘bonus’ product. I hardly ever end up using samples that are this small, but it’s a nice afterthought. There’s not much else to say.
There you have it, the June Bellabox! I’m not hating it! Getting the May box in the next day or two will be a telling point as well. Let’s hope it’s good!
What’s your favourite product of this bunch? Have you had any experiences with Lust Have It or Bellabox?
Recently, I have been all about my skin. I’ve mentioned before how I struggle with my skin because it’s the epitome of combination skin, and I also mentioned that the moisturiser I was using at the time just was not feeling great.
I was using an Aveeno facial moisturiser and it would sit on top of my skin and felt really thick and heavy. Normally when using moisturizer I put it on and once I’m finished and ready to start my make-up the part of my face I started with has at least almost fully soaked up the moisture. Yeah… not Aveeno. I’d put it on, go and brush my teeth or find some clothes before I could come back and do my make-up! Not ok, and definitely not good for my skin type.
Thankfully, I just ran out. Well, almost… I couldn’t stand to use the rest. So I was at Coles the other day and I was trying to find a moisturizer that would be reasonably priced, soak in quickly, be targeted at my skin type and preferably have some kind of natural ingredient in it.
It took me a minute, but I spotted Garnier’s new range of moisturizers, the ‘Moisture Match’ collection.
They had a range of four or five options in store which I absolutely love. The options I’ve been able to find after searching online are one for Combination/Oily skin (the one I purchased), Normal to Dry skin, Dull skin, Normal skin and Dry to Very Dry skin.
I couldn’t believe one moisturizer came with so many options!
And let me tell you, this baby is wonderful. I took it home, washed my face and tried it straight away. It soaked into my skin super quickly. It didn’t feel heavy, thick or oily at all. I’ve used it for a few days now and still the same result. I also love that it’s got a little green tea in it.
As I mentioned above, the icing on the cake is that it didn’t cost me the earth! It was only $10! You can buy yours at your local Coles (and probably Woolworths) or in store/online at Priceline (because who doesn’t love Priceline?
The verdict? BUY BUY BUY! I haven’t encountered a moisturizer I’ve liked this much in a while.
Have you tried this product? Let me know what you think!
It’s the 5th of May and I finally got my Lust Have It! box… or make up purse! I’ve been on the edge of my seat waiting for this baby to turn up! No video this month, partly because I’m a little bit unwell and partly because I didn’t receive an information card! So I’m kind of flying blind with this month’s collection. I do know that this first product is a full sized product because there’s been a lot about it on the lust have it social networks, we were even offered a choice between two products from the same brand! 
This is the Glamourflage Sultry Sophie Lip/Cheek Stain. It retails at $21.95 and it feels like it! The packaging is absolutely delightful! The tube is glass, the box is adorable… I can’t complain! (Not that I do very often when it comes to Lust Have It!). I’m yet to try the product but I’m excited! I’ve wanted to try a lip stain (I doubt I’ll be using it on my cheeks as I like how subtle blushes are) for a really long time, but haven’t gotten around to purchasing one, so when we got the choice between this product and a face primer I dived on the tint! I’m so excited to try it! 
This is the Claytime Australia Mineral Bronzer. It says on their website that it retails for $29.95, however when I was hunting down a purchase link for you guys, I found it here for $26.95. I have to say, I’m not normally one to complain about Lust Have It! boxes because I generally use at least a few of the products, I find the sample sizes quite handy for travel sometimes, and it doesn’t really bother me if it doesn’t come in super fancy packaging because hey, $20 including postage is not a bad deal. But this… I am not impressed. Mainly because this was advertised as a full sized product, from what I’ve heard from other people it was marked as a full sized product on the info card (which I didn’t get) but it’s not. You can see through clicking the above links that those products look different to the one pictured above, and the size of those products is 7g, whereas this one is only 3g. As I said, I’ve been really trying to keep an open mind with Lust Have It! and I still really like this box, but if something’s not full sized, don’t call it so. Deluxe sized sample would have sufficed. 
This is the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion. I’ve been using Aveeno for a little while now, and I don’t mind it all that much! They’re not a brand I would rave about, but at the same time I can’t help but say they’re not too bad at all. I’ve used their cleanser and their daily facial moisturizer and I can’t complain. I’ve found better and I’ve found worse products, however they’re very affordable which is the main reason I’m using their facial moisturizer right now. I like the size of this sample though, it’s not absolutely tiny, it has enough for a decent few uses and it’ll be great for travelling! 
This is the Bioderma Atoderm Creme. I haven’t used their products much so I can’t say I have too much to say about them, but I do look forward to trying this product. I have combination skin (my goodness do I) and some areas are exceptionally dry, so I hope this cream can make a difference.
Last but not least, Wot Not Facial Wipes. We’ve gotten these a few times in Lust Have It! boxes and they do the job fine! They have an odd smell about them, but they’re organic so it makes sense. I’m always a fan of these small packets of wipes because as I mentioned earlier, they’re just so good for travelling!
So there you have it, lovelies! The Lust Have It! April 2014 box. If you’d like to try it out for yourself, you can click this link to try the box for 25% off for the first month! Instead of $20, you can pay only $14.95! I definitely recommend trying them out at least once, you can cancel your subscription at any time. Despite hearing some not great things about the boxes on various blogs, I’m sticking with them!
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I’ve seen products like this around for a while, actually I think my first experience with them was when a friend of mine bought one and was raving about it! It was a tad different to the one above and it was actually the differences that put me off originally. It had plastic parts on the inside that hurt if you got your finger caught, and there were no sponges, you just kind of soaked your finger in nail polish remover.
It took a bit of mental convincing for me to actually try this one, but once I realised it was simply just sponge on the inside I had to give it a shot. I am so lazy with removing my chipped polish and my hands end up looking pretty shocking after a while just because I can’t be bothered getting out the cotton buds and nail polish remover and sitting for ages getting it everywhere.
I’ll admit… I did NOT at all think that this product would work as well as it says it will on the bottle. One twist and it’s all gone? Oh hell no! I normally have to soak my nails with a cotton bud and remover for a minute or so.
But guys… it worked. It actually worked!! I’d had the bottle sitting on the coffee table for a decent week because I couldn’t bring myself to experience the possible disappointment, but I was standing and chatting with Anthony and looked at my nails and knew it was time. He had no idea what I was doing until I pulled my totally clean nail out of the bottle after little to no effort. The shock on my face must have been hilarious!!
There’s not much else to say really. For multiple layers it can take a few twists of the bottle, but that’s it! Generally, the one twist guideline works! It’s brilliant! Your fingers don’t come out feeling gross as well, which is a huge selling point.
It cost me $10 and it was $10 well spent! I don’t even care if it only lasts a couple of months because quite frankly, it’s handy enough to warrant it. It took me a total of about 30 seconds to get all my polish off, and my nails were still 3/4 covered at least.
So go! Buy! Experience the awesomeness! I know I’m raving but I seriously love this product and had to tell you guys about it.
That’s all from me for now, but stay tuned! I’ve been working on a Mega Printable Round-up that should be up on the blog tomorrow featuring all my favourite printables! Because who doesn’t love free printables?
Let me know if you have any favourite nail products that work wonders! I’m always on the hunt for new things 🙂
Steph x
I don’t know about you, but discovering I have a broken nail, especially like the one above that seems almost impossible to fix, is a huge pain in my butt. Part of this reason that this bugs me so much is actually just that it ends up hurting a lot! I find that my nails get caught on things and slowly pulled off my finger… ouch!
So, when this happened recently I decided to declare war on my broken nail. You should have heard me, I must have sounded like I was trying to be Tarzan or something! Such a cry of frustration!
So I got googling and pinteresting and found this amazing and super simply solution! I really didn’t think it’d be something I’d be able to fix in 5 minutes using what I had around the house, but I did!
And all it really took was a base coat (I used a nail strengthener because my nails are so weak right now) and a tea bag!
The above is everything I used to do my nails! I’ll pop some links and product details at the bottom of the post 🙂
You can see in the very first picture where the break was in my nail. Not ideal.
All you need to do to fix it, is paint the nail with the base coat and while it’s still dry, use some tweezers to pop a small piece of a tea bag on top, then paint over!
Easy peasy! I still can’t get over the fact that a little piece of tea bag could do that.
Now this was my first attempt so I think a second attempt would probably result in a smoother application, but for a first effort I reckon it’s pretty damn good!
I painted over it and it was barely noticeable.
(Please excuse my rushed and not-so-neat job…)
What was a bonus is that after this I ended up smudging most of the nails (I was way too eager to get the dishes done) and as such had to take all the polish off and start again.
Simply by being careful and not over-doing it on the nail polish remover, I managed to save the patch! I then put another coat of nail hardener and it’s flattened out a lot!
So basically, I classify this as a major life win, haha.
Catch you later lovelies!
Products used:
Hardener: Sally Hansen Nail Rehab
Hand Cream: Vaseline Healthy Hands nail strengthening nourishing hand lotion
Details card:
Aaaaand a photo of what I got. Sorry for the bad lighting! Didn’t end up having time to take the photo until night time so that made the lighting a little funky.
I finally got my Lust Have It! box today which is a bit exciting! I’d been getting a little concerned that it wasn’t going to come seeing as it’s April but better late than never!
Although it’s small, I actually really like the contents of this box. There’s nothing too odd or strange that I won’t use, I’ll probably end up using all the products which is awesome.
I’ll post the photos of the contents in a separate post so you guys can see the details a little clearer.
If you’d like to try out Lust Have It! go ahead and click the link below and you’ll get $5 off your first box!!
http://www.lusthaveit.com.au/index.php/womens-box-friend-referral.html/?mw_reward=41067f3d991e5d5e2e89390c5222ea80
As always, thanks for watching!
I was chilling on Pinterest the other day (I feel like that’s how I’m going to start a lot of my posts, haha) and came across another nail polish idea pin. Usually, I tend to veer away from pink… well pink anything really. Especially if it’s your stereotypical pink like the one above. That being said, I don’t know if it was how amazingly shiny and smooth this picture looked or if it’s because I was sick, but I realised that I actually had colours that matched those in the photo, so I did my nails.
On the left, you’ll see my screen cap of the pin and on the right, my take on it.
The important thing to realise, however (and this is where the review part comes in!) is that the photo of my nails on the right is day 3! Not a single chip in sight! Can anyone say miracle?
I actually got both of these nail polishes (the small silver one is a sample size) out of a Lust Have It! box (save $5 off your first box by clicking that link!) a while ago and the pink one I had never tried until now, and boy am I regretting that! I’m in love! I’m not the hugest fan of pink still, but the fact that it hasn’t chipped yet is more than enough reason for me to put up with pink 😉
What’s even better is that the Sinful Colors polish is really reasonably priced! It doesn’t look like the right colour on the Priceline website, but I promise it is. If you’re in America, buy it on Amazon for $5! Reasonably priced and good quality? I’ll take that!
The silver one by O.P.I I have found to be really great for feature nails or small details and adding a little bit of sparkle to nail designs rather than using it to paint a full hand of nails, because it really is quite shiny. I’m not too sure what colour this one is, but go here to view the full range! It’s O.P.I, it’s not like you can go wrong really.
So basically, 10/10 would recommend! I’m so excited that they haven’t chipped yet.
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A quick note on content: I haven’t decided yet how often I’m going to be posting content. I have a lot of ideas at the moment and I’m pretty excited so it might be quite often for the next week or so, but I’ve also got an assignment for Uni in the works so I’m going to attempt to not procrastinate that, haha.
Grace In The Little Things 