Morrocanoil. Worth the hype?

I've gone a bit mad on Buyapowa lately.. And even though they're all good deals, it hasn't done my bank balance a favour! I bought this from the site last week. I got it for £21 and £1.50 postage, and seeing as though on lookfantastic, the 100ml is £30.45 I thought it was too good to pass up. 

After seeing this all over the bbloggersphere, I really wanted to try it, as I had been using a small sample of the Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment and was pleased with the results, soo I might as well of invested in this!

The box alone excited me! I think because the bright blue/turquoise coloured packaging just made me instantly think of tropical summer holidays mmmmm... The bottle is brown glass and comes with a screw top, but also a pump dispenser in the box, which does dispense quite a bit when you use it.. but I do prefer it to just pouring it out.

The oil is a yellowy-gold colour, quite thick in texture. With a bit of a masculine scent, only slightly, but it's a nice smell anyway. I rub it all over my hands and just run it through my hair when wet, and work it through the ends of my hair mostly. You can put it on damp or dry hair, but I put it on before blow-drying to help protect it a bit more.

My hair is always a lot smoother and less flyaway and frizzy when I use this, but it's not a permanent fix for me, probably because of all the dye my hair has seen over the years! So I think it's a great product for people who have used dye on their hair lots over the years, to help condition the dry ends and help it from being as brittle.

I think the price tag is quite hefty, and so if you're new to hair oil, maybe try a sample of the Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment as I did. I got it from my hair salon for £5 and it's lasted me ages. The Macadamia oil can also be used to rub into your hands or elbows and dry patches in stuff, so it is multi-use. Or lookfantastic sell a 25ml version of this for just over £12 if you're interested. There are plenty of other hair oils available, for instance the L'Oreal Mythic Oil which Glossybox put out a few months ago.

Just a heads up - Buyapowa have got a few listings for the Morrocanoil and lots of their range coming up over the next few weeks, and they always put up Macadamia products too, so it's worth a look!

(Also.. the Naked2 Palette is going up soon, as well as YSL Shocking Mascara! I'm first in line!)

x

January Glossybox: Valentines Special

Pretty in Pink: The Valentines Day Edition

5 Perfecting products to pamper and preen yourself!

First of all, I love love LOVE the colour of this box, it's just so eye-catching, I think it's great. I would love a few more of these to use as colourful storage. They would look so cute all stacked up. I have my other boxes inside my dressing table, so you can't actually see them. Moving on!

It was sealed with a pink heart sticker, but I was too impatient and tore it apart...

The 5 products I received this month were;

1. Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner - Full size £9.50 - Get a handle on your eyeliner for precise definition and intense colour with a long-lasting finish.

2. Orly Nail Lacquer (5ml) - Full size 18ml £6.95 - Orly, the top Californian brand, offers an infinite range of colours.

3. Weleda One Step Cleanser & Toner (10ml) - Full size 100ml £9.95 - Weleda One Step Cleanser & Toner is a handy two-in-one pack ideal for travel.

4. FAB Gentle Body Wash (56.7g) - Full size 226.8g £13 - A moisturising, irritant-free everyday cleanser ideal for even the most sensitive skin.

5. Murad Hybrids Skin Perfecting Primer - Dewy Finish (5ml) - Full size 30ml £29 - Oil-free primer ignites a radiant glow, powered by light-enhancing minerals.

Eyeko Skinny Liner in Plum

I used to love Eyeko, I think they really had a great market going within the blogging world, their liquid eyeliner pen in black was one of the best I've ever tried, and believe me - I've tried a lot! I also had their fat balms, along with everyone else. But their nail polishes were also great, good quality for a good price. So when I heard about their new facelift, I was intrigued. But once I saw their prices, it put me off for good! £15 for a mascara?! Which is probably nearly the same formula as before, but for double the price? No thanks! But seeing as though this is in the box, I will definately give it a try. The price still puts me off, as I rarely use pencil liners, but it's worth a go. I did actually reeeally love the Stila pencil that was in a box not long ago, in the shade 'Moray', I ended up buying another! So who knows, I'll try it out.

The design of the pencil is quite strange, it has a long silver end, which the box says it's good to use when the pencil needs sharpening. But I find I can't control it aswell. I received the shade plum, which is a browny purple with a bronze tinge. My camera hasn't picked up the shade too well. And it's made my skin look awful..

Murad Hybrids Skin Perfecting Primer Dewy Finish

I still haven't used the cleanser I got from Murad in one of the other glossyboxes, but I'm interested in trying this. Unfortunately I suffer from oily skin, and this has a dewy finish, so I don't know if it will be a good finish for me, or make me end up looking like a greaseball by the end of the day! 

I tried some on my hand, and it's flesh coloured not clear. And the finish was a tiny bit shimmery, only slightly, I assume this is due to the "light-enhancing minerals" it claims to have. Plastered over the packaging are other claims that it gives you a "radiant glow". And on the front it also says "Create a smooth resilient canvas while minimising the appearance of pores". When I swatched and blended this on the back of my hand, it was firstly quite an orange shade and too dark for me. And it also didn't leave it feeling smooth, like such primers as Benefits The Porefessional or Philosophy's The Present for example. So I'll have to try it out on my face and report back. In the swatch, on the right it's blended in, I don't know if you can see that there's a orange patch next to the liquid?

FAB Gentle Body Wash 

By re-reading the product card and looking at another blog have I only just realised that this is actually a cleanser! Which I really don't get, as it has 'Gentle Body Wash' written over it and the title on the product card, it's a bit misleading no? Seeing as I didn't receive any FAB products in other boxes, I've been interested in trying something.

It's a bit of a shame that I have TWO cleansers in one box, but this one is a bit more appealing than the Murad one. It's a white sort of cream, and doesn't have much of a scent, just a hint of a fresh smell.  I like the packaging/print/design, I think all their products look nice, clean and simple.

On the bottle, it says "Daily treatment, fab antioxidant booster.

Use to: Cleanse, calm redness and relieve dry skin. Safe for Sensitive Skin."

I suffer from red cheeks and nose, so I'm looking forward to trying this, maybe it will help!

Weleda One Step Cleanser & Toner

I received the Pomegranate Body Oil in a previous glossybox, and I think it's a great product. But this cleanser AND toner seems a bit weird. We spend time and money on buying cleansers and toners because we're made to believe that we need both these products. And for me, I think that I definately need my Liz Earle goodies! My cleanse and polish and my skin tonic compliment each other so well and finish off the job perfectly. So for me, this just seems like a wasted product. 

It has witch hazel in, and smells SO strong! I have a feeling this will do my skin no good. The box says it's for normal to combination skin, but I have a feeling, just from the smell that it might strip skin and dry it out. I could be wrong though.

As for the bottle... Oh dear! It looks like one of those tubes that urine samples go in at the hospital! It freaks me out! The product itself looks like milk or cream! I'm not over the moon about this product as you may be able to tell!

Orly Nail Lacquer in Ruby

This is a great addition. I've been meaning to pick up an Orly polish for ages. In one of the Boots stores near to me, they recently put an Orly stand in full of mini sized polishes. They sell for £5, but I have way over 200 polishes so I always put them back down! Funnily enough I am actually wearing a red polish similar to this colour today, but oh well, can't have too many reds ;) Still pleased to see this in the box, I think it's great in keeping in with the theme. The Deborah Lipmann mini went down well at Christmas, so I know this is going to be a favourite of most people.

And finally... Glossybox sweet!

This is so cute! Just an extra touch, which goes to prove the thought that went into this months box. It's too pretty to eat, but I'm sure I'll change my mind haha!

Overall, I'm impressed with this box. Just a bit of a shame about the two cleanser thing, they should of maybe put in a lipstick or maybe a perfume sample of cute scents like Marc Jacobs Daisy range or Vera Wang princess or something? Just an idea. Anyway, i'm going to keep subscribed because I want to see if the boxes will actually fit the beauty profiles from now on! Hope you liked this and sorry for the long rambling post, but seeing as it was a special limited edition I thought I'd post a bit more than I usually would! 

What did you think of this months Glossybox? Anything you would of like to have seen in it? What did you get in yours? Leave me your links :)

x

Iris Apfel for MAC - Flamingo and Comparisons

Trying to get this lipstick was a bit of a nightmare.. I ordered it alongside Party Parrot from the Iris Apfel collection from MACs website. I did it the day it came out, alongside another lipstick from the Glitter & Ice collection. Anyway, they took my money and over a week later they sent me 'Such Flare!' the third lipstick I ordered, but no Iris Apfel ones! I was not happyyyyy. So I got straight onto customer services, and spoke to two different girls, (who were both really rude!) and they both told me that they had sold out and I wasn't going to be receiving them. Which I argued about saying I ordered it the day it came out, and they sold out a good few days after, so I should be entitled to my money's worth I gave MAC?! They were basically no help and said I'd get a refund and email about it, I received neither! So getting all panicky, (stupid really..) I rung again yesterday and spoke to a lovely man who told me they had all been dispatched in different parcels and I WOULD be receiving them! Sooo I finally got them yesterday, so happy, anyway let's move on...

"A colour collection inspired by a rare bird who has always been ahead of her time, Mrs. Iris Apfel. Subject of her own exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and larger-than-life star, Apfel boldly mixed flea market finds with haute couture decades before doing it was considered de rigueur. M·A·C presents Lipsticks, Beauty Powder and Eye Shadows with as much fabulous flair and joie de vivre as the woman who helped create it."


The lipsticks in the range are all very bright, and not for the faint hearted! They include 4 limited edition shades, and one from the permanent range.

From L to R;

• Flamingo (Lustre) - Light milky bright coral (Limited Edition)
• Morange (Amplified Creme) - Loudmouth orange (Permanent)
• Party Parrot (Matte) - Bright red-pink (Limited Edition)
• Pink Pigeon (Matte) - Bright cleanest pink (Limited Edition)
• Scarlet Ibis (Matte) - Bright orange-red (Limited Edition)

Flamingo Lipstick. It was only sold on the MAC website, unfortunately all the shades apart from Morange have now sold out. I know so many people are dying to get their hands on the lipsticks, but my only advice at the moment is to check blog sales, ebay, any forums with american bloggers, as they have it in their stores over there, and some will be happy to pick it up for you if you send them the money. Keep trying the website, and ringing up in case they have any returns, you never know!

I have a few lipsticks in my collection which I thought might be similar. It's not very helpful because a few are limited editions... But I don't really have many coral lipsticks to be honest anyway! I will have a lookout for more high street alternatives.

From L to R;

• MAC Flamingo (Lustre)
• MAC Costa Chic (Frost)
• MAC Cut A Caper (Lustre) - Limited Edition
• MAC Ever Hip (Cremesheen) - Limited Edition
• Topshop Ooh La La
• Sleek Pout Paint Milkshake

When I actually wear Flamingo, it is a lot more pink than in the tube, I don't think it's that recognisable comparing the tube to swatch to be honest. So any coral lipsticks are too orange/peach based. Costa Chic might be good if you blot it down. And it's not really a lipstick, but the Sleek pout paint in the shade Milkshake is quite close, but obviously it's a cream sort of finish. I think mixing the Sleek pout paints would be a good alternative to create the other bright colours in this collection. 

So there you go, I hope it helps a bit, probably not :( ! 

xoxo