Technically I missed the "deadline" posting about this one as it was June My Beauty Box EU, though I posted it immediately when I got it on Instagram Stories. I finally had the time to play with the mermaid inspired products, which as far as I'm aware are sold individually in different places, so look at this as a mini new in. This was quite a generous box in terms of value and you can already get the one for July, which I don't have and I can't tell you what's inside, but it's again 12 € and available worldwide.

L'OREAL Volume Million Lashes Top Coat Glitter

I've never seen this version in shops, it might have been on the stands around Christmas, but I missed it. It's basically exactly what it says on the tube - a glitter top coat, so not a proper mascara. You get some sparse holographic glitter in a clear base that adheres to the lashes more sporadically despite trying to build it up. It's a very subtle effect of a few glitters catching the light from different angles. I actually rather applied it on the lids as well, so you get more out of it. I tried my best to catch the effect of it on my lashes, but I simply couldn't manage it, but if you check the full size version of that salt spray picture, you'll see a couple of glitters. They had a blue mascara in the previous box which would fit into the mermaid theme too.

CIATE Paint Pot 

PP 129 the hamptons

Included in the box is a full size Ciate nail polish in a proper mermaid inspired shade. It's basically more of a top coat as it's still see-though with several coats, but it's teal/emerald glitter with gold hexagons. It's got the standard characteristics of glitter nail polishes, meaning it's difficult to remove and it really lasts on the nails.

TONI & GUY Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray

This is a mini spray and I remember almost buying this size in a Croatian Müller (not sure we have it in this size, but Toni & Guy stuff is in DM). It's got a sort of an oceanic, crisp fresh scent that verges on men's cologne. I sprayed it very liberally on dry hair and then messed it up. I put it in a very messy bun, so it would dry that way. The result is very texturised hair (I've never been a fan of the look on dark hair, but on blond it'll look fab) and has that beachy look, but my hair tends to curl much more when it comes in contact with real sea water. It didn't leave the hair super crispy, but it's not soft.

GINVERA Green Tea Nude Cover BB Cream

This is the the third tube of this BB I received in these boxes, so I have a review about it already. It comes in just one shade that's too dark for me, I have swatches and comparisons in one of my posts. It's one of the more lovely BB creams, as it's light and looks very natural on the skin, something like my beloved Healthy Mix Serum.

YANKEE CANDLE Sea Air

A very crisp and clean scent, which honestly could easily be called fresh laundry, though it has a tiny hint of saltiness to it. If you're looking for a proper beachy/oceanic fresh scent try their Sea Salt & Sage which is just fantastic. Sea Air is very pleasant and can easily be used in any season. 

KNEIPP Pflegeölbad 

Jasmin & Argan

Last thing is the bath oil which has rich flower scent. Jasmine is quite a sweet smelling white flower, so it's more of a scent I'd use it spring. The oil won't change the colour of the water like some other Kneip oils/baths I've tried, but these are lovely when you have dry skin because they leave a nourishing filter. I just remembered that I never posted about Kneipp Immer cool bleiben bath salt which would so work with the Mermaid theme. It turns the water into a teal/mint green shade and has a very fresh minty scent. It claims it has a cooling effect, but I didn't notice it much. 

Do you have any mermaid inspired products? Have a great day!

*box was a PR product. I bought the Kneipp bath salt myself.

A couple of weeks ago I got to try a blue mascara for the first time ever. I remember wanting one a few years back, but I couldn't find anything with good enough reviews, easily accessible and inexpensive, so I forgot all about it. This Maybelline one came as a part of May's My Beauty Box EU, which as far as I know is still available. However, whether you can get this mascara in all drugstores, I don't know and I've been trying to find it, but so far I've only seen it on Amazon. L'Oreal has some new colour mascaras on the stands, at least here in Slovenia and I think Maybelline's Great Lash comes in blue version too (or it was LE, I'm not sure).

I had the Colossal before and for a while it was my favourite mascara, until I found Essence mascaras are much cheaper and even more volumising. The brush is the same on both the original and Color Shock version, so a regular one, but very bushy. It's also one of those that manage to comb the lashes nicely without clumping them up.

The shade is called Electric Navy and since my lashes are dark, I wasn't so sure this mascara will show up on me, but it actually turned out quite nice I just need three coats. I got a nice noticeable amount of colour, which starts showing up after the second coat and then you can build it up. On light lashes, I sure it'll work even better because my dark lashes hide some vibrancy of the blue and I end up with a more navy type of shade. But as a plus this actually means I can wear it as a normal mascara since it's not as punchy, but still gives some noticeable colour. In terms of volume, mine is new, so I don't know if formula of this version thickens or not, but so far it's not the most volumising mascara, especially compared to Essence's I <3 Extreme wp.

I'll briefly go through the rest of the things that are in My Beauty Box Eu for May 2017. It was inspired by the festival season, so the makeup picks are bright.

BOURJOIS Contour Clubbing Waterproof 

59 Dynamint

As soon as I saw this I thought: "Yes, so my colour." Unfortunately, it's more green than the packaging indicates. It's a soft pencil that glides nicely on the skin and has enough colour pay-off, though you need to go over the line twice. It's also good as a base or if you wish an individual cream eyeshadow.

RIMMEL Show Off Lip Lacquer

400 Big Bang

I already had three shades of these, though mine are called Apocalips (same thing, just the naming is different in some countries), so I've reviewed the formula before, but it's a pigmented lipstick lipgloss hybrid with a to me quite an unpleasant scent. For a glossy product these last well, but these are so opaque, the already leave a stain. Big Bang is a classic red shade with a warm undertone. It's prone to bleeding over the edges, so it's better if you blot it.

YES TO Carrots Gentle Cleansing Wipes

These aren't bad wipes, though they don't remove makeup that well, especially mascara, but they are 95% natural product and they are quite soft and gentle. But the scent of these is literally like sick a few minutes out of the packaging (fresh they smell pleasant). Strange it turns that way.

Ingredients

TATTIFY  Stick it to the Man Nail Wraps + Nail File

Paradigm

I just really don't like the pattern of these, so I won't be using them. But you get an extra mini nail file and a wooden stick to help you get them on the nails.

Neon Nail File Block

For those who love neons, they included a big block nail file that's otherwise pretty standard.

My Beauty Box EU costs 12 € and is available internationally

Have a great day!

*PR product

It's been a long time since I last shared a My Beauty Box, but in the mean time they expanded to other markets and their boxes are now available all over Europe plus as far as I know also worldwide. February's box, which is still available by the way, is like last year's, Valentine inspired. There are six items in the box: two full sizes, two travel sizes and two satchel masks. It costs 12 € + shipping which varies depending on the country, but if you subscribe to it monthly it's 20% off. It's still packaged beautifully in a violet box with pretty tissue paper and bows, so they make a nice gift. So what's inside:

CIATÉ Paint Pots Nail Polish 

Chinchilla 

February box contained a full size Ciate nail polish and in a shade that looks so gorgeous in the bottle, it just made me gasp when I saw it. I love these greyish pastel blues, however, on my nails it's more grey than blue, which to me made it a bit boring. It needs two coats and it wears well, I got no chips during wear before I got tired of it and removed it (like always with Seche Vite on top). It's a lot better in terms of quality as my other Ciate Sugared Almonds whose formula is very annoying. 

I think these are 9 € in DMs

ESSIE Nail Wraps 

Love to Love You

Following the Valentine's theme, the box contains a pack of Essie nail stickers with a love poem design. I have very narrow nails and most look way too wide for me, so a lot of cutting will be involved and I couldn't be bothered, so sorry no demonstration for this, but I found you a good review here and Sara also already tried them. Apparently these are quite good.

12.90 € in My Beauty Shop.

BATISTE Dry Shampoo 

Blush 

Last year's box also contained a travel size of Batiste dry shampoo, I got Cherry that time which is also in some of these month's boxes, but I got a different scent for me to try, though I think I've smelled this one at someone before. Blush version has a sweet floral scent, but I can't say which flowers there are. It's not roses, peonies, freesia or any fresh smelling flowers, but it kind of reminds me of the orchid note used in L'Occitane fragrances. It's a very feminine scent and I quite like it. For some reason this bottle made my hair very white, maybe it just wasn't mixed well.

3.5 € on My Beauty Shop

WELEDA Wild Rose Pampering Body Wash

This one was a part of the last year's box, as you can see things tend to repeat. Again it's rose scented, but thankfully this one doesn't have the intense granny rose scent in the shower, though I can smell it straight from the bottle, but in the shower it's got a more citrusy herbal scent. The texture is like a lotion, thick, but runny and it doesn't foam much, but it does feel nice for dry skin. 

2€

Have a great day!

*PR product

So what hiding in the most recent My Beauty Box? Quite a lot actually. It's spa day inspired, so they filled it with Missha Pure Source Cell Sheet Mask (I got Pomegranate), Cattier face scrub, Macadamia sample - I got the shampoo, Kneipp Bio body oil and a Yankee Candle from the summer collection, I got Peach. Two more products were hiding in my box, but I believe they were a part of the previous box: L'Oreal Caresse in 706 Coral me Back and Tanya Burr nail polish in Bright and Early. A generous box, I must say and a nice selection of products whether you're planning to have a spa day or not.

My Beauty Box costs 12 €  plus shipping and it's available for Slovene residents. You can get it here.

L'OREAL Caresse 

706 Coral me Back

I've never seen this version of Caresse before. I have the original version that I got years ago in a very similar shade called Dating Coral. The original ones were silver/clear and these version have a white body with a transparent coloured cap, but the design of the packaging it the same. It's basically a lip balm, not even that much tinted and it's more clear/glossy on the lips unless you really go to town with it. The formula is lovely - soft, moisturising and doesn't form a "vaseline layer" on the lips. It's got a gentle sweet, a bit vanillary scent. As a lip balm it's lovely. 

TANYA BURR Nail Polish 

Bright and Early

I'm certain Tanya was inspired by Essie's Cute as a Button shade when making this colour. It's a bright pinky-coral shade, one of my summer favourites and it has a simple creamy finish. The formula is very thick, in fact it reminds me of gel formulas, but since it's a regular formula it doesn't even itself out as well, which means you need to put a bit more effort into application to make it even. It is very pigmented, almost a one coater and with a second coat you're basically just fixing mistakes.

 MISSHA Pure Source Cell Sheet Mask
Pomegranate

 I've only tried one sheet mask before and it was from Montagne Jeunesse which put me off from these type of masks because it feels like a wet cloth on the face. This one is vastly better. It's very, very saturated with product, but because it a gel, slightly slimy consistency, it doesn't drip or feel normally wet, more like a serum-wet if you get what I mean. The fabric is nice and soft, I much more enjoyed it than that cold, weird one from Montagne, but it's again too big for my petite face, so I needed to scrunch it up in some places. It doesn't have much of a scent, barely any, so it will appeal also to those who dislike scented products. The skin feels a bit sticky when you take of the mask after 20 minutes and the serum remains on the skin until the morning. My skin was definitely still tacky when I woke up. Since the sheet is so saturated you can reuse it if you don't find it weird or at least squeeze out the extra and have some serum for later use. In terms of effect, I can't say I noticed any great immediate results, my skin was moisturised and that's it, however, I have to say that in this week after the use, my skin is really behaving and looks so good I'm not even wearing foundation (but I have been using a lot of new skin care products recently, I'll talk about them sometime later). 

Ingredients.

CATTIER Gommage Argile Heilerde Peeling

I've never heard of this brand before. This is a clay based (it says white healing clay) scrub with relatively harsh particles, which I actually like, but there could be perhaps a bit more of them, though I'm sure most people would find there are plenty. It needs a bit more effort to wash off because the clay is thick and sticks to the face, basically it's a regular clay mask, but with scrubby bits. The scent is strong and not particularly pleasant to me as, it's a bad kind of lavender scent, almost alcoholic and sour. Apart from the scent, it's a nice product.

Ingredients.

KNEIPP Bio Hautől

I think this is supposed to be similar to Bio-Oil, since it promises to help heal scars and stretch marks among other things. I don't have any of those, so I won't be able to tell if it works, but it is a nice oil -light, not terribly greasy (still it takes time to sink in) and it helps with dryness. It has a nice citrusy scent that I quite enjoy. It think it's cheaper than Bio-oil, so it might be worth trying it as a replacement.

Ingredients.

MACADAMIA NATURAL OIL Rejuvenating Shampoo

I really like the hair oil from this brand, the mask not so much, even though everyone loves it and this shampoo did neither wow me nor disappoint me. I got a 10 ml sample, which for any normal person would be more than enough, but I have thick hair that's lower-back-length, so it wasn't quite enough for my regular double-wash routine, meaning I couldn't test it alone without using another shampoo (it made me realise how much shampoo I actually use!). It doesn't foam much because it's a SLS/SLES free shampoo, so that's to be expected and I didn't feel it nourished my hair that much, but neither left them squeaky clean and light. Scent was nothing special, I don't even remember it. I've been wanting to try this shampoo for a while, so I'm glad I finally had the chance, but I won't be purchasing it.  

Ingredients.

YANKEE CANDLE Summer Peach 

I was so happy to receive this in the box. Anything with peach gets me exited and I had my eye on this one, but unfortunately we don't have many Yankee Candles where I live (just the best sellers in Műller), especially not limited editions and I'm glad I got a chance to try it. It's not a proper peach scent, instead it's more sweet, artificial, but still fresh and when I gave it to people to smell without showing them the label, they all surprisingly said it smells like strawberries. When it burns it's more of a milky peach scent and the projection of it is medium, the scent itself is more on the light side, but it's noticeable when you come (back) to the room. I find it lovely, though it's not as good of a peach scent as the Pesca candle from Eurospin. 

Have a great day!

After the February's Valentines inspired My Beauty Box, they shifted their focus on organic, vegan and bio products for the March edition. This time it contains six products instead of the usual five, well technically it's seven, since it also contains a Lind chocolate bunny who met his end the moment I snapped the last picture. Price of the box is still 12 € plus shipping and you can get it here (only for Slovene residents)

It's a nicely varied box with mix of makeup, skin care and hair care. Mine contained the following product: a sample of Lily Lolo Star Dust Illuminating Shimmer, a sample bottle of Khadi Ayurvedic Face & Body Oil Rose, full size Lavera Soft Lipliner 03 Red, full size Lavera Eyeshadow Base, a sample of Farfalla Nutri & Repair Shampoo Marron-Jojoba and a sample of Weleda Citrus shower cream. I believe at least the shampoo and shower cream type vary from box to box.

LAVERA Soft Lipliner 

03 Red

Strange they called this red. I mean it is a red, but a more complex one. It's a muted medium peachy-red shade, an interesting colour and I like it. The texture of the liner is nothing exciting, but nice. It's soft enough that you easily get pay-off without tugging on the lips and it's still firm enough to get a precise edge. It can catch on dry patches (most liners do anyway) and some may find it drying, but it's fine to me. The closest formula I can compare them to would be Catrice Longlasting liners, which I like a lot. Staying power is nice, it wears several hours, but it can get patchy with time when worn alone.

LILY LOLO Star Dust Illuminating Shimmer

I had to check what this is because I thought it was an eyeshadow/highlighter, but when I realised it's way too light to be that, I realised it's a subtle highlighting mineral finishing powder which can be used all over the face. It's tinted yellow in the pot, but that's not visible on the face, instead it has more of a champagne glow if you build it up. It's very subtle, so I think it's better suited as an illuminating face powder rather than a proper highlighter, as in that case you use up a thicker layer than of a usual highlighter. I quite like this because it looks very natural on the skin giving that soft focus glow, but shimmer may show up under strong summer sun.

LAVERA Eyeshadow Base

I don't know what this is but it's no base. It's very wet from the start, so you always end up with too much to apply on the eyelids. It then suddenly starts to dry into this film like layer that can flake off. Does it prolong the staying power of eyeshadows? It don't think that it contributed anything significant to staying power, certainly nothing like primers from non-natural brands. The packaging is great though, this is how I believe every eye primer should be packaged.

 I used Lily Lolo over the Lavera Eyeshadow Base as an eyeshadow.

KHADI Ayurvedic Face & Body Oil 

Rose

This comes in a 100 ml size, mine is a 10 ml sample. It contains a blend of rice bran oil, sesame oil, wheat germ oil, flax seed oil, palmarosa oil, jamrosa oil and geranium oil. What each does read here. Mine is the rose version and I really dislike rose scent, this one is no exception, as it has that awful, stuffy grandma rose scent. It's a medium consistency oil and it does what every other oil does, intensely nourishes the skin and improves the appearance. The quality of the oil is lovely, but I'd pick a different scent.

WELEDA Citrus shower cream

This is basically the same thing as I got in the last box, which was the rose version, but this is a much more pleasant scent to me. It has a scent of Alverde's lemon-rosemary body oil (Cellulite Körperöl), citrusy and uplifting. The texture is the same as at rose version, so like a thin body lotion that foams ok and is nice for dry skin. Likeable.

FARFALLA Nutri & Repair Shampoo 

Marron-Jojoba

Oh, I disliked this the moment squeezed the first blob on my palm. This is every Alverde's shampoo. That awful thin, slightly jelly-slimy consistency that doesn't foam or do anything really. I really dislike natural shampoos, I'm sorry. They just do nothing. The scent of it is annoying as well, that typical natural scent. I'm very demanding when it comes to shampoo and this doesn't cut it for my super dry hair. Farfalla is a Swiss brand and they have several versions of shampoo, which you can find here. 

Did you like the contents of this box? Have a great day! 

*PR product