Glossybox: The Harrods Edition...

I'd taken a month of from my Glossybox subscription with the aim of saving money on things that were not necessities - eg. anything except food. However, when I saw that they were teaming up with Harrods I was extremley tempted. Saying that I stuck to my guns and didn't resubscribe, that was until I saw a sneak preview on a fellow bloggers site. The Burberry lipstick, owh the Burberry lipstick. That was enough to get my credit card details straight back onto the Glossybox site. Done.

5 days later a knock at my door and it had arrived. Stunning wrapping as only you could expect from anything concerning Harrods - only inside wasn't quite the beautiful treats that I was hoping for. Surprise surprise the Burberry lipstick was no where to been seen. 

Molton Brown Vitalising Vitamin AB+C Bath and Shower Gel, £18

SKII Skin Signature Moisturising Cream, £127

Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara, £21

Clarins Extra Firming Body Cream

Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil, £28 

Valentino Valentina Eau De Parfum, £71

My Nan uses Molten Brown products and I've always said how much I love the smells and quality of their products. So I was really glad I got this in my box, it smells beautiful and feels lovely on my skin. I'd definitely pay £18 for the full size version of this shower gel. 

I can honestly say I've never heard of SKII products, and after seeing the £127 price tag I can understand why! It does have a lovely feel against the skin, it is not too oily and it does leave the skin feeling really nourished. There is nothing worse than a moisturiser which two minutes after applying feels as though has left no effect. However, I think that my Elizabeth Arden Intervene moisturiser (which I swear by) is much better, and at a price tag of less than a third of SKII I will definitely be sticking to it.

I was so chuffed when I got this Lancome mascara. I currently use the Lancome Hypnose mascara so I was intrigued to try the 'Drama' version and see if it has any extra effects. I like my lashes to be long and separated - I cannot stand it when all the lashes clump together, drives me absolutely mad. After trying this beauty out last night I can definitely say that it volumises and lengthens, it left my lashes looking lovely but I wouldn't use it on it's own for a night out. I wouldn't say that it left me with a 'dramatic' effect. I ended up teaming it up with my Rimmel scandal eyes and that was perfect. 

I never use just the one mascara anyway, I tend to use 3 - one for lengthening, one for thickening and one for separating. My favourite three consist of Estee Lauder Magnascopic, Rimmel Scandal Eyes, and Elizabeth Arden Double Wear. They give me the perfect eyelashes in my opinion, nice and long, thick but not clumped together - lovely. I would use this Lancome mascara as it did give a beautiful effect, but I am very stuck in my ways when it comes to my eye make up so I probably wouldn't swap it for any of my usual mascara purchases. 

Now I've got a little bone to pick about this Clarins moisturiser. Firstly I was not best impressed when I discovered this in my box as I got two Clarins moisturisers in my previous box, and I clearly stated on my beauty profile for Glossybox that I did not want to sample skincare - not a great start. But then, when I went to look on the Harrods website for the prices of the full sized products, I found out that Harrods don't even sell Clarins products. A little strange but we shall see what Glossybox have to say. 

Moaning aside, as I've had a very similar Clarins product I was already pretty sure of my views on this product. It left my skin feeling moisturised however did leave a bit of an oily residue. In my opinion Clarins products are much too heavy on my skin. Be that their skincare or their make up, it's just a little too heavy for me - I'm definitely more of a fan of Elizabeth Arden or No.7, much more gentle on my sensitive skin.

I wasn't sure when I saw that this wasn't entirely sure. My skin is a very awkward thing to purchase for. One minute it is ridiculously dry and needs a lot of moisturising and priming, next day it's oily. Nightmare. I rigidly stick to the same skin routine to keep it in a way that is not either of the above so I'm not a huge fan of trying new skin products. However, I have heard really good things about skin oils so I gave it ago. Obviously it left my skin feeling oily but after a couple of rinses off, my skin did feel extremely soft. The product sheet says that it is a 3 in 1 cleanser, make-up remover and eye make-up remover, though personally I would not use it as an eye make-up remover. I don't like using oil for my eyes, I'd much rather just use a damp face wipe. I don't think I would buy this item after testing it, but I'm glad I gave it a go.

Lastly, the Valentino perfume. I'm not entirely sure that this really counts as a product. I know that Glossybox provide sample size products, but a two thirds full 1.5ml bottle of perfume is a little stingy. It is beautiful though. This is just my kind of perfume. I love a good old girly, floral perfume - absolutely perfect for me. If I wasn't a poor student I would definitely buy this perfume, but I'm not entirely sure the £71 price tag is achievable for me. Maybe it will be on my birthday list this year!

Overall, I'm not completely sure what I actually think of this box. I was totally gutted that I didn't get the Burberry lipstick. I'd set my little heart on that beauty, and costing £23 I'm not entirely sure that I'll be splashing out on it in the shops. And looking at the glossybox section on the Harrods website there are so many more products that I would have preferred such as the Ojon hair serum and Lancome foundation. 

Saying this, I will use the mascara until it's completely dried out and I'm already making my way nice and quickly through my Molten Brown shower gel - I've taken advantage of the 20% Glossybox discount and already ordered the full size bottle from Harrods. I think you have to see it as it is with Glossybox - you pay £10 a month and you get your sample products. And they are samples - you can't expect to get big sizes as with such good brands being used it's just not possible.

I don't think it is fair for Glossybox customers to all get different products to each other. Everyone pays the same price, so effectively everyone should get the same thing. I think it would be really good if Glossybox offered 4 options. One box consisting purely of make-up, the second purely skincare, third a mixture of the two, and finally the fourth a mystery box. It would give the customer that little more control over what they are parting with their hard earnt money for. Maybe that's an idea to put forward to them, we shall see.

If any of you lovely readers have received this month's Glossybox I'd love to know what you think of the products you've got and how you feel about the service they provide...