Have you been enjoying your four day weekend? I've had a very productive weekend, I've cleared so much rubbish out! I've really took spring cleaning seriously this weekend, I don't know why I think I need to keep so much junk. In between the spring cleaning I've been enjoying the odd bit of sunshine, having drinks with friends and of course eating Easter chocolate.
Anyway lets get into why your here.... Its time for this months edition of Birchbox Vs Glossybox! I always get overly excited when my beauty box's arrive, I love trying and discovering new products. I don't think there's any better way to do that than a beauty box, they ensure you can try multiple products each month without breaking the bank. Lets got through both boxes, see what my first impressions are and what box, in my eyes wins this month.
Birchbox
Box theme : Bold and Beautiful
This month Birchbox have partnered up with Boden, they are an iconic British fashion brand. Personally I've never heard of them, but after checking their Instagram out I found they have some really bold and beautiful clothing. Which is why they fit so perfectly with this months box theme. If you like the clothing enough to purchase a piece, there is a £10 voucher in the box to go towards a piece of your choice. As much as the clothes look beautiful I don't think I will be purchasing anything even with the £10 voucher, just because its a little expensive for me. If like me the clothing is a little out of your price range, were still lucky enough to own something in one of Boden's beautiful and bold designs. This month box design matches one of Boden's key prints for this season, and what a beautiful box it is. I seriously have a problem with keeping all the pretty boxes, I now need to find a use for this one.
I knew I was getting this product as we were given a choice this month between this product and a contour duo. I chose this one because I'm actually running out translucent setting powder, so rather than repurchase another one I thought it would be a great opportunity to try a new brand. This powder is all about keeping shine at bay and locking your make-up in place. The HD powder is velvet soft and leaves you with a matte finish. I can get quite oily in my t-zone, so I do like to set my face with a translucent powder. I think this will be a great product for me and I'm glad I had the choice on this product. Apparently this product is full size. This is the smallest setting powder I've ever seen!!
I find it hard to believe that this is full size, especially priced at £27.
Another full sized product, wow Birchbox is spoiling us this month! Nip + Fab are a well known skincare brand, but they have recently launched a beauty line. I was super excited to see one of their new products in the box, especial a full size one. Colour correctors can be a scary product to use, there's so many colours that do different things. These are supposed to be used before concealer and foundation, they are a pre-concealing step. The shade I received is banana, which is the yellow shade. The yellow shade according to Birchbox is supposed to be used as subtle highlighter on the nose and chin. I've read that yellow is supposed to conceal purple or darker tone shadows on olive or tan skin. I don't think I will be able to use this colour corrector for any of the suggestions, my skin is very pale and i just think it will be obvious that I've used a yellow corrector. I will give this a good try though. I just wish I had received the green one, as most people suffer with redness from spots from hormonal changes.
This product would set you back £8.95.
I've tried many lines by Polaar all through Birchbox and I loved everyone single one so far. So I'm quite excited to try this face scrub out. Artic cotton is apparently an ingredient known for its moisturising properties, meaning that this exfoliator not only smooths skin but also softens it. Like all Polaar products, this smells amazing! You get 25ml of this sample, which is a decent sample for skincare.
A full size product would cost £23.50 for 75ml, this sample is worth £7.83.
This is part dry shampoo and part texturiser. The unique formula soaks up excess oils, whilst giving your hair instant lift. It should do all of this without leaving a powdery residue, like other dry shampoos. I've wanted to try this product out for so long. I've heard many bloggers talk about this product and how great it is. I've just always been put off by the price, its £41 for a full size 300ml bottle or £20 for a 75ml travel size bottle. To finally get to try this product out and make my own decision, to see if I think its worth the price tag is something I'm looking forward to doing.
As I said a full sized product would be £41 for 300ml. The sample I received is quite a decent size at 37ml and would cost around £5.06.
A super nourishing lotion for when your skin needs a little extra TLC. It has a blend of Shea and Cupuacu butter, coconut oil and jojoba wax that offer immediate relief to dry patches and ensuring baby-soft skin. Body moisturiser never really excites me, but this smells amazing! I actually cant wait to rub this all over me and smell amazing too! I think this will be the perfect body moisturiser to take on holiday with me or to use when I get back. As this sounds like a heavy duty moisturiser, that will keep that dry peely skin from happening. Which will hopefully keep my tan for longer.
A full size body moisturiser is 75ml and would cost £15.90. This sample is a generous 30ml and would cost around £6.36
Box Price : £12.95 (including p+p)
Box Value : £55.20
Full Sized Products : 2/5
Products Excited To Try: 4/5
Overall Thoughts : Really love the box design this month, its one of the more prettier ones this year. The sample sizes this month are very generous and its nice to receive two full size product from Birchbox. You don't get full size products that often from Birchbox, generally because the products your discovering are more high end. I'm really excited to try all the products. The only one that I'm not going to rush and try is the body moisturiser but I'm still looking forward to using it, because it does smell divine. I think there's a great range of brands in this month box. We also have a wide range of products to try, inside the box we have beauty, skin and hair products to try.
Glossy Box
Box theme : Busy Women
This months box is all about discovering product that will save us busy women time. Making life that little bit easier. Any product that saves me time is worth giving a try. The box design this month isn't fancy, its their standard Glossybox. So there's nothing to rave about there. But I am intrigued to discover these time saving products.
Co-washes combine the cleansing action of a shampoo with the hydration of a conditioner in one product. This product has the ability to cleanser hair without stripping it. Co-washing is suitable for all hair types, but those with Afro hair and corkscrew curls will find that it enhances the curls, leaving them frizz free. I'm not sure how I feel about this product. It just wouldn't feel quite right to wash your hair with one product, I feel like it would completely throw off my shower routine. I am intrigued by it as I do have naturally wavy hair, I wonder if it would help control the frizz for my hair type. I'm not going to rush to try it, but I will give this a go at some point. This is perfect for anyone who's in rush. It would be perfect to keep in a gym bag or in the shower for those morning when you've slept in. The sample size I received is 100ml, which is their travel size. Its a very decent sample you can get quite a few washes out of this and give a it good try.
This travel size costs around £14.50
A chunky contour crayon, that will make defining cheekbones easy and precise. It can also be used to define your nose and jawline too. This looks a very scary orange brown on my hand. I am pale so unsure if this will work out well for me and I'm not exactly a big fan of cream products. But of course I will give it a try, after all its what I buy these boxes for. This is a decent sample size, so you can get plenty of use out of this while making your mind up on the product.
For the full sized product your looking at it costing you £17. The sample we received you can actually buy, its a mini version most likely designed for travel and its priced at £8.
This is a new British born brand. Sport FX has been created to offer multi use products that can make quick turn arounds at the gym. This dual ended brush works for creams, liquids and powders. The synthetic Taklon bristles also have anti-bacterial properties. I always love discovering new make-up brush brands. I like the idea of this, a 2in1 brush. There great for travel but there not great for normal everyday use. I assume like me, most people store their brushes in an upright container. How can you store this like that when there is a brush on both ends? Don't get me wrong there great for travelling and if you do go to the gym and want to apply make-up on the go. But I still prefer to lay my make-up out like I'm at home when I'm away, so that means storing my brushes in a handy glass that always seems to be available in hotel rooms. I will say that the bristles are really soft and I do want to see how this applies make-up. I think these brushes could have been made even better if there were retractable, it would have made them more bag friendly and more easy to store.
This is full size and costs £10.99
An antibacterial gel, that's not only bacteria busting but also hydrating on the hands. The tiny pearls that can be seen inside the gel burst on application and hydrate hands. This is full size and is a very handy pocket and bag friendly bottle. I love hand sanitiser, its always a handy product to have in your handbag. I don't get excited by hand sanitiser, but its a nice product to receive. I've actually already tried this brand in my Birchbox quite a few months ago. So I already know that I love this little product. I can confirm it does get your hands clean, whilst hydrating them. Often hand sanitiser can be quite drying on your hands, this one definitely isn't. I already have the blue one called new wave, which I think smells quite fruity. The one I got from Glossybox is called lollipop, which kind of reminds me of a manly shower gel. But its still a nice fresh scent.
This is full sized and costs £2.90
Rodial - Glamlash Mascara XXL
If you want extreme lashes, then this mascara is aimed at you. This is a long wear formula that's jet black and leaves lashes super sized, but still soft. Rodial is an expensive brand and is thought highly by quite a few bloggers. The brush on this is a bristle brush, which I prefer over plastic ones. The wand doesn't look anything special, the bristles look normally spaced apart and the brush head doesn't look overly massive. I'm looking forward to trying this out, I'm always on the look out for a new mascara that will give amazing volume. I'm looking forward to finding out if this will be that or not.
The full sized mascara would set your back £24 for 13ml. The sample is 6ml and would cost around £11.08.
Box Price : £13.25 (including p+p)
Box Value : £47.47
Full Sized Products : 2/5
Products Excited To Try : 2/5
Overall Thoughts : The box design was quite boring this month, they've not done a special box in a couple of months now. The shampoo and make-up brush go quite well with the theme. If your in a rush I don't think you would spend your time contouring. Mascara and hand sanitiser are just basic products that don't really do anything extra for speeding up life, for the busy woman. I'm excited to try the mascara, as I said I'm always on the hunt for the next best volume mascara. Even though I'm unsure about the make-up brush design, I'm looking forward to trying it out as the bristles are so soft and I think it would apply make-up beautifully. I'm not into cream products so I'm not fussed about the contour stick and like I said who gets excited over hand sanitiser? I'm also getting a bit annoyed with the brands Glossybox are putting in there boxes. Yes its great to discover new brands, but say you really enjoyed the co-wash and hand sanitiser and wanted to buy more of the product. But guess what you cant because its a foreign company. I think Glossybox would do better if like Birchbox they had there own shop. Luckily for me because I know that the hand sanitiser has featured in Birchbox, I know I can get it off their website. What's the point in discovering and liking new products and brands if you cant locate them in the UK or easily buy them online? There is a great range of products though, you have hair care, make-up, skincare and a tool in this months box. So great range of products and a great range of brands to discover.
April Box Winner : Birchbox
Without a doubt Birchbox won hands down this month. The last few months its been quite close between both boxes, but not this month. I just wasn't excited by as many of the products in this months Glossybox. I could easily have opened this box and put it down and forgot about it. There is nothing in there that I'm in a rush to try. Whereas this month there is so many products I couldn't wait to play around with in the Birchbox. The fact that I'm also finally getting to try out a product I've been wanting to try for so long is amazing too.
What was your favourite box this month?
Don't forget to check back next month, to see what April has to offer.
SNEAK PEEK
Birchbox : No sneak peek this month
Glossybox : Scrub Love's organic body exfoliator
If you want to check out past Birchbox V's Glossybox then check out the links below
I hope you enjoy the rest of your bank holiday Monday!
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