New In // Recent Hauls + a microreview of Marie Claire's "The Parcel"

An indulgent month for me...and I also thought I'd give you a short summary and also roundup on some of the products I've received from the beauty box subscription service from Marie Claire. 

Read on ;)

Finally bit the bullet and picked up quite* a few things from Colourpop, I've already swatched and photographed everything but I wanted to have a chance to properly wear and play around with them before writing a full review. Watch this space!

There is a store near my work that stocks Yankee Candles and I'm always in there smelling them. I think they're clearing out their candles or something though, because they had 20% off the full range and by the time I realised, they had already sold out of the majority of scents. I did manage to snatch this one up to and oh my god, it smells divine - like I constantly have brownies in the oven. The burn time for this is 110-150 hours so I'm a happy bunny.

I received this in the last "The Parcel" that I received and I really love it! Review to come soon! But for those of you who don't know what "The Parcel" is, it is a quarterly beauty box subscription service by the magazine, Marie Claire. Each quarterly box is $25 and the samples/full sized products are picked by the beauty editors of the magazine. I subscribed end of last year and so far I have received 2 boxes - 1 for the summer quarter and 1 for autumn. I have to say, I am really enjoying this subscription service. In short, here are the things I really like about it:
♡ There is no beauty profile, everyone gets the same products so there is no disappointment knowing that other people may have received better samples than you - except for example, nail polish shades/handcream scents, that may vary from box to box.
♡ The brands and products are well known and trusted, picked by beauty editors.
♡ It has a great mix of makeup, skincare, haircare and bodycare.
♡ It's quarterly instead of monthly, I'd much rather receive quarterly boxes that blow me away rather than too many less-than-average monthly boxes/samples/products. Seriously.
I never took proper photos of the boxes but here is one that I tweeted of my autumn box:

♡ I've actually discovered many new favorite products through the service already - some of these include Essie Sugar Daddy Nail Polish (full size), Garnier Miracle Cream (full size), Philosophy Purity Cleanser (sample size), Elizabeth Arden 8-Hour Cream (sample size), MaxFactor Masterpiece Transform Mascara (full size).
♡ While some of the other products didn't make it to my favorites, I have still been able to try them or I have still gotten my use out of them - e.g. Lancome Advanced Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate (sample size), Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Cream (sample size, came handy when I needed to take an eye cream to HK), L'Occitane Shea Zesty Lime Handcream (sample size, which I keep in my handbag), Neutrogena make-up remover wipes (nothing exciting but always useful and handy for post-swatching for the blog), John Freida volumnising haircare set (shampoo, conditioner and spray - sample size), a Schick Razor (full size, nothing revolutionary but something I actually need and use, I keep this one at my boyfriend's house), Essie Top Coat (full sized).
The first box I received, 3/10 products were full sized. In the second box, 5/8 were full sized. There has only been 2 products across the 2 boxes that I have no use for, and that is the bb/cc cream that they included (the shade Medium was too dark). That being said, I'm not fussed because the overall value and the array of products, still override that only con.
The Parcel is honestly what I wanted from every beauty subscription box.

I haven't used a brow pencil in years but I really wanted to see what all the hype was about surrounding the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz. The shade I got is quite different from my usual brow color so I'm still getting used to it but safe to say, I get the fuss. I also picked up a couple of bits from MAC.

After reading Sharlynn's post on this eyeliner set, I could not get it off my mind! I actually received it in the mail 3 weeks ago now and I have been using it religiously.

And that's a bit of a sneak peek for whats to come in the next few weeks on the blog :)

=('.')=

chloé