Beauty Boxes September 2013 - Glossybox

In this last week I have received 3 beauty boxes through the post so I thought I'd do a little comparison of them all. 

First of all is Glossybox which is the first beauty box I subscribed to. Last month I was quite disappointed with the contents which is when I made new subscriptions to Birchbox and the You Beauty box (reviews of those will come in the next couple of days.) 

Glossybox have redeemed themselves this month however as I think this could be the best one I have received yet!

This months Glossybox is a London themed one in honour of London Fashion Week and comes in an amazing Union Jack box (I love the themed boxes as they look so good on my shelf) The other thing with this months box is that it included the very first Glossybox mag! :) They have also scaled down the leaflet containing the info of the products you receive which is nice as the old one was way too big!

In my Glossybox September 2013 I received:

Toni & Guy Hair Meet Wardrobe Shine Gloss Serum (Full size - 30ml) - £7.19 - A serum for controlling frizz and giving nice shine to hair. I usually only use Argan oil or Coconut oil on my hair but I will give this a go! Also nice to have a full sized sample from a well known brand.

Be A Bombshell Cosmetics Onyx Eye Liner (Full Size - 3g) - $14 - This is a brand that I have never heard of (The pricing on the leaflet says it is $14 so I presume it is not a British brand) I actually wore this today and it does go on very nicely and as it is a felt tip like eye liner it doesn't take long to dry. And again yet another full sized product!

Elizabeth Arden "Untold" perfume vial (5ml) - £48 for 50ml, £69 for 100ml - A very generous sized sample for perfume which is nice. The smell to be honest is nice and wearable but not a perfume I'd buy for myself in the future as I am too obsessed with Alien and Flowerbomb!

Rimmel Stay Blushed! Liquid Cheek Tint in 001 Pop Of Pink (Full size 14ml) - £4.49 - Yet another full sized product! (Well done GB!!!) I have never used a liquid blusher, I think I was a bit scared of them coming out way too vibrant but this colour and consistency seem quite subtle. I have worn it today and while I won't be swapping it for my Nars blusher I think I will give it a try from time to time.

Eylure pre-glued lashes (Full size) - £5.06 - Eylure are my go to brand for false strip lashes so I was very happy to see these! At the moment I do have lash perfect extensions on so I may not need these for a while but it is nice to have them anyway and nice to see a product from a brand I already trust.

So all in all I think this was a very good Glossybox! Not only did I get 4 full sized products they were all products I would happily use and the added bonus of the pretty box and GB mag made it even better :)

You can subscribe to Glossybox here - it costs £10 per month plus £2.95 P&P

Laura 

xxx

September Wishlist

Autumns here :) 

I'm probably going to be in the minority here but god am I glad that heatwaves gone! Don't get me wrong I loved sitting in the sun with a maxi dress and icy cider but I have always been a cold weather kinda girl. 

I cannot wait to buy and wear my new winter wardrobe so my wishlist today is all the things I want need for the cooler weather.

1: Tom Ford Jasmine Rouge Lip Colour in Vanilla Suede - £36 - I adore Tom Ford makeup and I adore nude lips at the moment - so this is basically lipstick heaven for me. 

2: Zara TRF Plain Slipper in Fushia - £19.99 - TRF is Zara's more affordable collection which is full of beautiful pieces. I particularly love these pointed flats. I think they will bring some much needed colour to my mostly black, grey and nude winter clothes. 

3: Ottoman Hands Large Stone Ring - £60 - I'm not one for dainty jewellery I just love oversized gems and chunky chains. This ring is gorgeous and looks very "Elizabeth Taylor by the pool-esque" 

4: Jo Malone London Lime, Basil and Mandarin Home Candle - £39 - Love all Jo Malone candles. This will probably end up being a pressie for mum as she loves them too and it is almost her birthday!

5: Ted Baker "Anela" Printed Jumper - £99 - Just cos I want a new jumper and this one is pretty :)

6: River Island Khaki 3 in 1 Faux Fur Parka Jacket - £100 - I want a new coat for winter, I have always loved parkas and this one is extra nice as it has a fake biker jacket underneath and leather look sleeve panels. 

7: Carvela Leiber Moroccan Stud Pointed Flat Shoes - £95 - Some lovely pointed flats which will look nice for work or going out (especially if it is as snowy as last year and I don't want to be falling over!)

8: River Island Brown Pony Hair Leopard Print Chelsea Boots - £50 - To bring a bit of fun to my plain winter wardrobe! And to keep my toesies warm when shopping in the cold :)

9: Topshop Ponte High Waist Skinny Trousers - £22 - I love the colour and to be honest I don't really own anything green so I think it's time I should. Must also buy an oversized jumper to wear with them :p

10: River Island Blue Oriental Print 3/4 Sleeve Blazer - £40 - The print on this blazer is very me! Sure I will get my wear out of it. 

So that's it! Hopefully my September wage will stretch that far!!

Lots of love

Laura

xxx

Bonjoour :)

So I am going to tell you about my love for Nars lipsticks! I am seriously obsessed with them, I do love Mac (more for the colours) and Chanel lippies but for me you can't beat Nars. 

At the moment I have 5 faves: (From left to right)

Nars Satin Lipstick in Dressed to Kill

Nars Sheer Lipstick in Flamenco

Nars Sheer Lipstick in Barbarella

Nars Sheer Lipstick in Señorita

Nars Multiple in Turks and Caicos

Dressed to kill is a gorgeous warm berry colour with flecks of gold. I don't usually like glittery lipsticks as I hate their texture but this one is lovely!

Flamenco is a sheer red. I find it hard to wear a matte red as I find it a bit too much so this one is perfect. It's ok for work and I build it up on a night out.

Barbarella is a sheer peach which is super wearable. I was searching through the colours and fell in love with this one. 

Señorita is a shimmering nude. I am literally obsessed with nudes at the moment and this has to be one of my favourites! It is very glam. 

The Turks and Caicos multiple is a bright sheer tangerine colour. I more wear this on my lips as the orange doesn't suit my cheeks but for skin a tad darker than mine I think it would be lovely :)

So, a glimpse into my obsession with Nars :D

Laura 

xxx

My dailies #2 - Base make-up

Bonjour!

Well time for part 2 of my dailies. These are the products I pretty much use every day for my base. 

1 - Benefit Dr Feelgood Complexion Balm - £22.50 - While you can use this as a primer before makeup I prefer to use it throughout the day on my t zone when it gets a little oily. The packaging is ah-mazing - as is all packaging from Benefit - and it smells lovely and citrus-y too. Definitely one to keep in a handbag at all times!

2 - Soleil Tan De Chanel - Bronze Universel Bronzing Makeup Base - £31 - On the rare times I have a legit tan this bronzer is my saviour. It has a thick creamy texture so when I do have a tan I use it instead of foundation. It goes quite far too so even though it is pricey it should last a long time. The colour is a really beautiful natural bronze so you can wear a little bit for a subtle glow or more for a more golden tan colour. It is also good as a body bronzer as it goes so far.

3 - NARS Botan Kabuki Brush - £56 - My most coveted brush! It's made from goat hair so it feels super soft on the skin. I use it mostly for applying bronzer onto my body. Bit pricey but seriously worth it!

4 - NARS Loose Powder - £26.50 - I absolutely adore this powder. I seriously have been through so many as I love a loose powder finish over my foundation I just think it makes your skin look flawless. The last one I had was the Chanel Poudre Universelle Libre which was lovely but oh am I glad I bought this! There are so many colours to choose from which is good as I sometimes struggle finding a colour that doesn't make me look like a ghost or look too orange, I chose the shade "Flesh" which I think is the second lightest. It has a really nice texture, gives a nice natural finish and just adds an extra oomph to the complexion. You can also wear it on it's own and it still makes skin look fabulous (even on those sundays with hair in a bun, joggers and a hangover :p)

5 - Illamasqua Concealer - £13 - I use this concealer on my blemishes mostly. I sometimes mix it together with my Nars duo concealer in Honey and Vanilla which makes the perfect colour for me. It has a really nice texture and stays on all day too. 

6 - Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation - £27 - I'm not really one for heavy thick foundations and have loved it since BB creams have been coming in. This foundation has a bit more coverage than a BB cream but is still lovely and light on the skin. I got it in the Illamasqua sale not long ago for a bargain £15 which only makes me love it more :)

7 - Illamasqua Hydra Veil - £27 - Ever since I saw this on a beauty blog back in April I knew I had to have it. It has the most wonderful texture ever - like a jelly which you can mash up with the little provided spatula and a minute later it is lovely and smooth again! It does what it says on the tin - keeps your skin hydrated all day long. It is supposed to be amazing with Illamasqua's Skin Base foundation but I haven't had the pleasure of trying that yet unfortunately. Definitely one for summer underneath foundation as it feels so cool on the skin. Love love love it :)

8 - Clinique Powder Brush - £22 - The brush I use with my loose powder. It picks up the right amount of powder and feels nice and gentle on the skin.

Right - have one last dailies post coming up with all my little bits of makeup :D

Hope you enjoyed

Laura

xxx

August Wishlist

Bonjour again!

I do love a good wishlist, it kinda helps me curb my spending more or at least spend my money more wisely rather than on another Nars lipstick in a slightly different shade to all my others :)

So here is my first blog wishlist. I am going to Gran Canaria in just under 4 months (Winter sun woo) but I'm going to have to buy summer stuff pretty soon before it goes or else I'm going to end up with the worst sale bikinis!  

1) Nars The Multiple in Cap Vert - £29 - This will be very handy for those first few days without a tan also when I get back and my tan washes off in the shower the first day back this will help me pretend I still have one :)

2) Kenneth Jay Lane - Oversized Oval Ring - £100 - Just cos it's beautiful!

3) River Island - Lime Cami Top - £10 - Nice for a day out or at night and the price tag isn't too scary.

4) Vivienne Westwood - Mini Bas Relief Stud Earrings - £65 - A classic pair of Viv Westwood stud earrings.

5) Nars Lipgloss in Scandal - £17.50 - A lovely bright candy pink to compliment my (at the moment imaginary) tan.

6) Topshop Sweet Candy Print Leggings - £22 - To cheer me up when this heatwave leaves!

7) River Island Red Abstract Print Monokini - £25 - All my favourite prints thrown into one amazing swimsuit. I am in love!

8) River Island Blue Geometric Print Mini Skirt - £15 - Bright blue, lime and pink aztec print - what's not to love?

9) Asos Hong Kong Heeled Sandals - £45 - They are my favourite colour and love the detail around the ankle strap. 

10) Love Coconut Eau De Parfum 50ml - £73 - Packaging is amazing, I adore the smell of coconut. I don't think there is a product on sale today that is more perfect for me!

11) Miss Selfridge Mesh Cut Out Back Maxi Dress - £32 - Love how it is fitted then flares out, I think that makes it look a lot more sophisticated than a plain maxi dress - definitely one to wear when going for cocktails!

My Dailies #1

Bonjour,

Sorry I have been awful with this lately so I thought I would do a 3 part big post about all the products I pretty much use daily on my face. 

This first part is all about the night time and morning routine before make up.

1) Chanel - Hydra Beauty Gel Creme £50 - My favourite day cream, it feels luxurious and keeps you moisturised all day. It smells amazing too!

2) Clarins toning lotion £18 - I use this every day after the Clarins cleansing milk. This refreshes my skin and has left me with a clearer complexion. It works really well on my t zone which is quite oily and the rest of my face which can get quite dry.

3) Clarins cleansing milk £18 - I love this cleanser! It gets rid of all the stubborn bits of makeup on my skin and feels nice and cooling too. When used with my toner I think they have made a big difference to the condition of my skin.

4) Clarins gentle refiner £25 - I use this as a substitute for my Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant as it smells quite nice and is quite creamy too so feels more like a mask. I use this once a week as it is a sample size I received when I bought my cleanser and toner and I don't like to waste it. It is gentle enough to use daily though I think.

5) Lancome Visionnaire serum £59 - My go to night serum. I dont tend to use serum in the morning as it leaves my face a bit greasy but at night I always use this. It is a little bit pricey but I think it leaves my skin feeling so soft and young. It evened out my skin tone and also made my pores a lot less visible. I seriously love this stuff!

6) Lancome Genifique Yeux £39 - This was a sample I had in one of the free gifts Lancome sometimes gives out and this is another Lancome product I could not live without. This is very refreshing - especially when I have a hangover - and generally brightens the eye area. 

7) Korres Lip Scrub (Discontinued I think!) - I suffer from chapped lips, especially in the winter - and this lip scrub has become my saviour. I hated wearing lipstick before as the colour used to cling to the dry skin on my lips but this smooths the skin out nicely without leaving them painful. 

8) Dermalogica Daily microfoliant £40.30 - I love love love this amazing powder. All you do is mix a tiny bit of the powder into damp hands which makes a paste and you have a scrub!! It is gentle enough to use daily too which is nice.. The other bonus is the length of time it lasts, I got this sample in one of my Glossyboxes about 4 months ago and I am still using the same one!

Right I will try and get #2 up tomorrow which is my base makeup. Hope you enjoy :)

Laura 

xxx

Review - Illamasqua "I'mperfection" Nail Varnish in "Fragile"

Bonjour, 

 Another nail post today (Can you tell I'm a bit obsessed!?) I thought I would review one of my favourite nail varnishes Illamasqua's "Fragile" 

 When I first saw this earlier this year I immediately thought of Cadburys mini eggs! It literally does make your nails look like them as they are full of little bits of matte black glitter and some slightly larger pieces as well. 

They do 5 colours which are all pastels:

"Fragile" - Pastel Blue 

"Speckle" - Pastel Purple 

"Freckle" - Nude 

"Mottle" - Pastel Green 

"Scarce" - Pastel pinky brown 

 I bought my 3 faves which are "Fragile" "Speckle" and "Freckle." They're £14.50 each but trust me the big price tag is well worth it as these look so amazing they are also sold on ASOS which I find handy sometimes when I need to get my bag over £100 to get free next day delivery :p 

 As with all Illamasqua nail varnishes, they look nice with only one coat but with 2 coats you get the full effect! Also these look best with a matte top coat as it just heightens the speckled egg effect.

I also bought one of the new nail varnishes from the new Couture De Minnie by OPI collection. It's a gorgeous red and white glitter called "Minnie Style" which I will review very soon :)

Laura 

xx

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Nail Art - Tropical Leopard and Flamingo

Hey,

So today I thought I'd do another nail art post. I actually did these a while ago back in February before I went on my holiday to Dominican Republic but they are one of my fave nail arts I have done. I had seen a few flamingo nail art pictures on blogs and decided to try it out on my thumbnails. It was kind of tricky as you pretty much have to draw it upside down so what I did was got a picture of a cartoon flamingo off Google and turned it upside down to copy that which I find much easier than thinking about drawing an upside down flamingo too much haha!

So yeah, I decided to use tropical colours for the back ground and leopard print. I used Ciate's "Headliner" (Pictured) which is a gorgeous bright turquoisey blue for the background - I got this from my Ciate Mini Mani Month nail varnish calendar in December '12 and it is still going strong however I think I will buy the full size soon as it really is my perfect colour! For the spots and the main flamingo I used OPI's "Elephantastic pink" which is another fave. For the lighter pink part of the flamingo I used OPI's "Pink Friday" from the Nicki Minaj collection. For the eyes and going round the spots I used my Models Own WAH nail art pens in Black and White.

So yeah, they're very summery I might try some soon with tropical ombre background with flamingos mix it up a bit?

Also give this song a listen or 5!! Making me feel super summery even in this typical Manchester rain :)

Laura 

XX

Illamasqua Sale Buys

Bonjour!

Ooh I love a good sale, especially when it is from one of my absolute favourite brands! I seriously adore Illamasqua products. They are such good quality products and are so unique.

Within seconds of receiving an email from them telling me they had a sale on starting from £5 (OMG!!) I had put about 10 things in my basket. I did calm down a little bit however and conceded to the fact that I don't need another dark blue nail varnish and I certainly don't need another red lip gloss! 

In the end I opted for a cream foundation in shade 133 for £10 down from £23 and a light liquid foundation in shade 120 for £15 down from £27. Absolute bargain!

The cream foundation comes in a lovely compat with a rather cute Illamasqua makeup sponge. The colour is perhaps a smidge too dark for my complexion but as I am jetting off soon-ish to Gran Canaria I have a feeling it will come in handy when my other foundations will make me look like Casper.

The light liquid foundation is the perfect shade for me and offers just the right amoumnt of coverage for the daytime. I have been wearing it all today and it still looks pretty amazing! Usually foundations get a little patchy around my cheeks as the day goes on but this has stayed even and not flaked at all. 

So go and grab a bargain from the sale at www.illamasqua.com there's a massive selection of nail varnishes, lip glosses, blushers, foundation etc (I especially like the liquid metal eye shadows which are there for £10) and if you're in the UK delivery is freeeee :)

Also if you creat an account with Illamasqua they give you a 10% discount on all orders once you have had 3 orders from them which is ahh-mazing particularly as it's from such a luxury brand!

Thanks for reading

Laura 

xx

Nail Art - White and Pink Matte Leopard Print

I do love a good leopard print mani. I find it so easy to do and the colour combinations are endless. Also the messier it is I find the more leopard print-y it looks :)

One of my faves is white base with coloured spots. I did this one with Models Own "Snow White" polish and Illamasqua's "Obsess" which is a gorgeous glossy bright pink. I used Models Own Wah nail art pen in black to go around the spots and Rimmel's Matte Finish top coat to Mattify! 

Like I said this nail art is so easy as mostly every colour combo looks amazing. I really love a white base with lots of multi-coloured spots which I will try out and post soon. 

I am going to see Despicable Me 2 this Friday and have decided to do minion inspired nails for the cinema trip so I will update in a few days. 

Hope you like.

Laura 

xx

Welcome to Rivière De Coco

Hello!!

Well! My first ever blog post. To be honest I have only recently discovered beauty blogs when about 4 months ago I read about one in a magazine. Since then I have been scouring the internet for the blogs and find them so interesting and helpful! I have discovered some amazing brands and some posts have helped me make my mind up on products I had been lusting after for a while. I just think they are very easy to relate to. 

Being someone who is partial to a bit of retail therapy and someone who adores beauty products I decided I would try out blogging to give my opinion on some of my beauty buys and show off some of my nail art. Hope you enjoy :)