GlossyBox May 2015 Review

So we’re finally at May 2015 – this is my 12th GlossyBox, and I’ve now had the service for a full year. It’s been really fun, both getting and trying the stuff, having something new and interesting to write about, and actually recording and producing my own videos for YouTube. It’s all been going surprisingly well! I’m looking forward to getting my year long review of GlossyBox done, but first we’re doing the full written review, and more indepth impressions of the May box. In case you missed it, here’s the original video un-boxing of this GlossyBox done a few weeks ago now. The other cool thing to mention this month is that since I’m now a year long subscriber I received a nice little ‘Thank You’ note and a cute pink note book, which is pretty neat.

May’s box is a regular pink GlossyBox design, and has a getting ready for warmer weather theme in the contents. There are five products in the box this month, three are full size and two are deluxe samples.

First in the box is the full size MeMeMe Enchanted Eyes Dual Ended Eye Wand, and this is in the shade ‘Midnight Storm’.  This is a pretty chunky (thicker than an eye liner, certainly) eye pencil. I really like this format, as they’re pretty easy to apply as either a more eye liner like finish or as a full on eye shadow look. They are pretty creamy, so they can get blended out pretty easily. Using primer, and layering the product helps with this. There are two shades to choose from in the pencil, the lighter end is a lovely simmer-y silver blue, and the darker end is a lovely purple-ly toned blue. There’s no weight measurement on the product, but it seems pretty big and chunky, and it’s a traditional pencil that you just sharpen. It’s £6.95 for this pencil, and you can get it and more MeMeMe products direct from their website.

Next up is the Etre Belle Aloe Vera Moisturising Gel. This is the second time we’ve had Etre Belle, last time was the Lip Lift Peel in the October 2014 Pop Art GlossyBox. It’s a lovely green, clear gel that’s actually pretty thick, and it has a light Aloe Vera like smell. It’s very cooling and moisturising thanks to the ingredients, and GlossyBox suggests using it as a post sun soother. I’ve used it a few times after being out on my bicycle which gives me pink wind swept cheeks and it seems to work pretty well. I think I’ll keep it on hand (since it’s a small ‘hang bag’ size) when it gets warmer and sunnier here – I think it’ll be really useful. Full size this is 40ml, and the price is actually £15.93, which I would definitely say is the only downside to this little tube, it’s a bit pricey for the size and for what it is.

We have our first deluxe sample now, and it’s Zerreau Towel Off Shampoo Foam (apparently it’s pronounced zero). This is described as the next generation of dry shampoo, and it’s very interesting, but not a lot like using a dry shampoo. The deluxe size we got is 70 ml, just slightly less than half of the full sized version which is 180 ml. It’s a slim black bottle with a little pump dispenser on top. The contents inside are just a watery liquid, it’s the pump that does the work – creating a light foam that smells nice and apple like (well, like an apple shampoo sort of scent). The directions state to be very generous with the foam, and to be fair as the pump turns the liquid into foam it actually only uses up a little, so use lots. You then lather your hair a lot like washing it, rather than like working the powder of a dry shampoo through the roots, and then you towel off the left over moisture rather than brush it out. It’s very interesting, you can use a little to give slightly less fresh roots a clean or a lot for a full on cleaner head experience – I’m not sure if I really prefer it over dry shampoo, especially since I can get a great dry shampoo (I really like the Wilkinsons own brand one) for so cheap. Breaking down the price of the full 180 ml bottle that we’re given on the GlossyBox card, the value of the 70 ml deluxe sample is £2.72, however, you can actually buy these 70 ml versions direct from Zerreau, and there they cost £3.99.

Our second deluxe sample product is another new and weird type of product, and it’s the SASS Intimate Perfect Skin Concentrate. This is a post shave balm which is really designed to be used after shaving your privates, but since I don’t shave there, I’ve actually been using it on my underarms. It’s got a lot of different functions listed on the packaging; exfoliating with Salicylic Acid, preventing ingrown hairs with fruit enzymes, soothing and hydrating with Aloe Vera, and minimising hair growth with Kelisoft. This is a lot of claims to make, but most of them are easily verifiable. Salicylic Acid is used in a lot of skincare things now because it can help with skin as a sort of anti-inflammatory, as well as thinning old skin and encouraging new healthy skin growth since it’s also good against bacteria. Fruit enzymes is a bit vauge, but Aloe Vera we know is good for the skin, and the Kelisoft is an interesting product that you can apparently get in deodorants to minimise hair regrowth – though I’m not sure this is something I’ve ever seen in the UK. From my own use, it does soothe the skin a lot, and it does make it feel smooth and clean afterwards, I think the only thing for me is that it’s not really properly moisturising enough post shave because my skin is a little sensitive and can dry out. It’s also nice that the Salicylic acid doesn’t seem too strong, as my skin didn’t react to it like it has with other Salicylic products (the Rimmel BB cream, and the Boots Skin Clear line). This deluxe sample is 30 ml, so while the full size 100 ml version is £12, I’ve valued this sample at £3.60 – unlike the Foam Shampoo you can’t buy this size as far as I can tell. It doesn’t seem terrible value, especially if the hair growth promise is true, I’ll have to see how it works more long term.

Finally, we have our last full size item, and it’s the second make up item in the box as well. It’s the Collection Cosmetics Field Day Lipstick, and mine is in the shade ‘Pink Rose’ – this is a very bright, baby pink type colour, and I’m really not sure it’s for me – maybe I could use it with some other lipsticks I already have. Collection Cosmetics isn’t really a brand I particularly use, but there’s nothing wrong with it – like MUA and Makeup Revolution it’s a very affordable line of  nice enough make up, with most things costing just a few pounds. This lipstick is listed as costing £2.99, and while there’s no listed weight I can see it’s a pretty typical lipstick format and size. It’s a very matte, creamy lipstick that would probably be nice enough for everyday wear, but as I’ve said, I just don’t fancy the colour much.

So, that’s the final item, and with three full size items – two make up and one skin care, and then the two very interesting non-typical products, the box value this month comes to £35.19, which is a pretty typical box value, giving really good value for money from the actual subscription price. So as I’ve stated before I’m going to soon be releasing my year long review of the GlossyBox service, covering stuff like overall what I got, what I used, what it was all worth etc – and that should be up within a week or so. For the June 2015 GlossyBox, as the first month of summer in the UK we’ll be getting some temporary tattoo’s, the more grown up, fashionable version that I’ve been seeing here and there, and I think they look really fun.

Until Next Time.