Mini Review Mondays: B. Pure Micellar Water

Hello fellow nomads,

So I was in Superdrug recently and thought I'd check out a stand that I've never seen before - a brand called B. I don't know much about it but it seems to be a fairly 'grown-up' type range which seemed quite good value. I also picked up a couple of their cream eyeshadows, a nail colour, and a CC cream. I'll be reviewing those in turn, but today is the starring show for the Micellar water.

I picked up this micellar water because, of course, I wanted to see whether it could be a good substitute for my Bioderma which will soon come to an end. It's only vaguely affordable from City Pharma, but if I had to restock from the UK the cost would be prohibitive, for me. No matter how much I love it, there is a limit.

So the product itself. There's not much to describe really, as it looks and smells exactly like water. The packaging is fine, it looks quite smart and stores well however the dispensing nozzle is a bit stingy. I have to stand there and shake the bottle quite severely onto a cotton round for what seems like a good while before there is enough on there to do anything. This is a minor gripe, but it's annoying! How difficult is it to make the hole a little wider so the product actually dispenses sufficiently?!

However, once you've gone to the trouble of dispensing the micellar water it's pretty much plain sailing from there. It removes makeup well, cleanses skin well, doesn't leave behind a greasy texture or any residue at all. You don't have to scrub at your face and if you were in a pinch, you could probably do without toner for this one too. It is slightly on the harsh side, and did sting when I got it in my eyes, and that is the main difference between this product and Bioderma. I think my skin would start to hate me quite quickly if I used the B Micellar Water frequently, but I can use Bioderma until the cows come home and it's so gentle that my skin doesn't mind.

Overall I though the product was fine, except for the dispensing element of the packaging.

This was a reasonably priced £4.99 (but it's usually included in some kind of offer or other, and is currently half price) and can be found here. As such I think makes an ok makeup remover if you're on a budget. It's not a true substitute for Bioderma as it's a bit more harsh on the skin, but it's a lot more affordable and much more widely available, and it does a perfectly good job if your skin isn't too sensitive. If I can't restock my Bioderma I would probably give this one a go again, especially if it were on offer, although if my skin were feeling delicate I might prefer to try another brand.

Have you tried this micellar water? What did you think of it?

Until next time,

-Rachel

Memebox unboxing and review: Luckybox #1 Restocked

Hello fellow nomads,

I've been having a bumper mail month with a couple of my Memeboxes arriving in quick succession. This particular box is a Luckybox, which contains a selection of items from previous Memeboxes, with a mixture of sample and full sized products. This was Luckybox #1, and I got the version which came back into stock after the first box went out of stock. The first version of this box looked great, so I was really excited to receive my restocked version.

With all the excitement, I've been quite overwhelmed with new products to try but thought I'd post and let you know what I received at the very least, and any first impressions that I have at this stage. I haven't managed to try all of them yet as I only have the one face, but I will get back to you on how I got along with some of those items which require a more lengthy trial.

Dear by Enprani Bounce Cheese Cream (30ml, half size product)

This was raved about (and I mean, raved) from previous Memeboxes and I was very excited to hear it was coming in my Luckybox. I mean come on. It's a cream, made out of cheese! (Ok so it turns out it's just got some whey in it but still. Cheese cream!). So far the product has not disappointed. I've tried it on a couple of days and been very impressed with how well it moisturised my skin. The texture is plain odd (best described as…. stringy) and the smell is slightly baby-powderish, but the results are nothing but impressive so I'm sold. I will be using this regularly and will let you know how I get on after a prolonged period of use.

IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning (18ml, sample size)

This seems like a super expensive product from the accompanying card. It would have been nice to have a larger sample as I feel with products like this, you need to use them for a long time before you can see the results. However, this is still a fairly generous sample and I like that it even comes with its own cotton pads. The accompanying booklet even tells you how to hold the cotton pads! Well, for such a luxury product I was expecting to be blown away but to be honest it feels like any other gentle toner. Not sold on this and I definitely wouldn't pay full price for it.

Glory Nail Vegan Lacquer in Yanggaeng (15ml, full size)

This is a natural nail polish in some pretty cute packaging. Unfortunately the shade I received isn't particularly my cup of tea, so I might see if I can swap it. I have painted it on one nail to see what the formula is like, and I was very impressed indeed. It applied smoothly in one coat and set quickly. The glitter was smooth and evenly distributed, and it even came off quite easily too using normal nail polish remover (no need for the tinfoil trick here). I am really impressed with the formula but just slightly bummed with the shade I was sent.

NoTS 28 Remedy Acne Pore Deep Cleanser (60ml, half size sample)

This is a heavier duty cleanser for acne prone skin. I don’t have acne prone skin, but think I will rotate this into my skincare routine and perhaps use it once a week or so, just to keep my skin on its toes. It’s a generous sample and looks like a decent product so I'm pleased.

Sep Face lifting mask (30g, full size)

This is a sheet mask apparently formulated with the same material as shaping underwear…!! An interesting claim but when applied, the mask looks like it's made out of lace which is rather special. If you were to ever wear a mask out of the house, it would be this one. It also comes in 2 pieces, which means it's more likely to fit a wider variety of face shapes, and I found the results pleasantly hydrating but not life changing.

Too Cool For School Aqua gel mist (100ml, full size)

This is a great full-size product and you may say it’s just a spray bottle of water, but you’d be sorely mistaken. This is a spray that will moisturise your face whilst cooling you down, which sounds amazing to me. I don’t think I’ll get a lot of use out of it in England, and it’s probably a bit antisocial to use on the tube, but if I go on holiday somewhere hot this year I think I will find myself reaching for this a lot. I only wish it came in a travel size (I know, how silly to wish for something smaller) so I could take this on a plane.

Nuganic Customize Pore Control Essence (30ml, full size)

I'm a little swamped with essences at the moment, as I feel it's something you need to keep at for a while, so this is joining the queue behind my current essence du jour. I am looking forward to trying it and as it's a full size product, I should have no trouble in finding out whether it really does control my pores.

Tonymoly Delight Tony Tint Red (1.5ml, sample size)

Ok so... This was a weird one. I  have heard a lot about Tonymoly products and was very keen to try something from the brand, but sadly I didn't get along too well with this tint. Firstly it's a very thin, watery tint which just runs everywhere and is difficult to get in the right place. Secondly, it's a strong red, which is fine, except it shows up everywhere that it has run off to. Apparently you're supposed to give yourself a gradient lip known as a "Korean Lip" but I just ended up looking like a loon. It also clung to any slight dry patches on my lips. I'm wondering whether I could use this with a foundation brush as a cheek tint? Like really sheered out? Watch this space... 

Overall I love, love, loved this box and this reaffirmed my adoration for Memebox after a slightly blip on the Superbox by thefaceshop. This box was a very reasonable USD $23 plus shipping, but I had some vouchers to use so I ended up paying USD $21.25 including shipping which is about £12.75. I'm pretty pleased with the value for money for such a good range of products, and I'm looking forward to giving them all a good go.

Also, as a side note, I haven't been hit with any customs charges apart from my very first box which shipped back in January and I don't think they'd got the hang of filling out the customs labels properly at that point. So I haven't had to pay any extra charges for these boxes which I'm very glad about.

Did you receive the Memebox Luckybox #1 Restocked? Or even the original? What did you think?

-Rachel

IMATS London 2014

Hi fellow nomads,

A little while ago I decided to take the plunge and order myself tickets to IMATS London 2014. I'm going to be going with my very good friend Emma, who is much more knowledgeable about make up than I am. In fact, she is a trained beautician so I'm really going to have an expert on hand.

Whilst the tickets are a bit steep, I think this is something I'll do just the once and hopefully get good value from it. I'm interested in the exhibits and seminars, but also the chance to shop brands which are either not easily attainable in the UK, or discounted.

I also started my savings plan a little while ago. The plan was to put aside a little every week, thereby ending up with a reasonable shopping budget by the time June 28th rolls around.

I do however need to cater to my metal spine and plan an attack so that I don't get museumitis*. So Emma and I are going to look at the list of what stands are in attendance, craft a shortlist, and make a beeline for those stands. We'll have a supermarket sweep type approach, then seek refuge in seminars to recover ourselves. We'll also be heading there early, of course.

Has anyone else been to IMATS? What was your experience? Do you have any top tips?

-Rachel


*fairly self explanatory, but is essentially a sore back (and general malaise) from standing up too long, eg in museums.

Kiko: The Discovery

Good evening fellow nomads,

For the final part of my Kiko series, this is the hotly awaited post detailing the breakthrough I made when shopping in store which turned the experience around from being an utter disappointment into a proper success, and led to us discovering lots of lovely looking products. I won't keep you in suspense any longer - here's the key. Go downstairs! 

Despite being signposted and not particularly hidden, nobody seems to notice that there is a downstairs (I certainly hadn't before) and nobody really goes down there. When I noticed the stairs I was actually pretty unsure as to whether I was going into a staff only area but persevered anyway, and I'm so glad I did. So there is a whole other floor down there with exactly the same products as the floor above (minus perhaps one or two limited edition items or sale stuff) only with more space, a greater range out on display, and not many other people around. There are also helpful staff about, who, as it's pretty quiet down there, can actually spare you some time to explain the products. Lastly, there’s an area for people to have their make up done although we didn't see this in action when we were there.

I have to say, finding the downstairs made all the difference. I could take my time to look at the products properly, all the shades were out and you could properly get swatching without heaps of people barging around you. They have little stations with cleansers and wipes so you can clear your hand of swatches and start again, and as previously  mentioned they even have rolls of tape which you can use to swatch the nail varnishes – very handy. And you will definitely get the urge to swatch, once you see the display awaiting you.

Good things: 

• Great colour ranges on their make up
• Great quality products, as far as I have tried
• Easy to swatch
• Downstairs
• Pretty low prices, given the high quality of products

Bad things:

• The shades don’t have names in store, only numbers. Not really a problem, but you have to go online to find the shade name
• So far I have yet to be impressed by any of their limited editions
• Too busy upstairs
• Assistants can sometimes be a bit too busy to help, especially upstairs
• Empty palettes have no mirror and an opaque lid, which I've ranted about before, but to cut a long rant short for me it's kind of the worst of both worlds. I’d rather have a mirror or a transparent lid, not just plain opaque

My picks

• Clicks range 4 pan - review here
• Nail varnishes (whatever colour takes your fancy) - review here
• Extra Volume Lip gloss.
• Good range of empty travel containers, reasonably priced.

There’s currently a promo whereby you get a free lipstick if you spend over £25, both in store and online, so do go and check this out if you can. Sadly we missed this by just a couple of days (hate that) but I'm happy to share the love anyway.

Have you tried Kiko? Did you go downstairs??

-Rachel

Kiko: Nail Lacquer

Hi fellow nomads,

Things have gone Kiko Crazy here on A Nesting Nomad this week, and today is the turn of my brand new nail lacquer to take centre stage.

As you may have heard, I picked out a couple of items from the fabulous range in Kiko's Regent Street store and managed to limit myself to just one nail lacquer, despite many catching my eye. I thought I'd better test out the formula before I went totally crazy, and picked out my absolute favourite.

This here is the nail lacquer in 346 Olive Drab. I tend to go for slightly less conventional shades so I was drawn to the great range of greens they have - I tend to judge a range by how good their greens are. So many brands just don’t make greens, or make one rubbish one (usually full of sparkle - not my bag). Kiko has plenty, and I took a while to decide on this lovely shade.

What I like about the display in Kiko is that they have a roll of opaque tape by the nail polish display which you can stick on the back of your hand and use to swatch the shades. I think this is a brilliant idea and eliminates the awful moment when your new nail polish looks totally different on the nail than it does in the bottle.

Here's how it looks on the nails:

Interestingly, in natural light it looks much more blue toned, and in artificial (bright) light it looks like much more of a true green. I'd say the colour I see on my nails is much closer to the second photo than the first.

The formula was pretty thick and the brush is quite large as well, which means you have to take a little care in application. You can't just slap it on or you'll get in a terrible mess. What this does mean is that if you're careful, you can get a fully opaque nail in just one coat and, for some nails, just one stroke. Because it's so thick it does take some time to dry but can be hurried along with a quick setting top coat. I also think this would look beautiful with a matte top coat.

This wore extremely well and showed very minimal wear after a good 6 days on my nails. I was really impressed with both the shade range and the formula and I may well be back to pick up some of those other shades I left behind.

This bottle cost just £3.90 and is actually on offer online at the moment at a mere £2.50, which is a complete steal.

That's all I have for you today; you can breathe a sigh of relief that this isn't such a mammoth ramble as my eyeshadow review post from yesterday... Have you tried any Kiko nail lacquers? What did you think?

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the details of my Kiko breakthrough discovery...

-Rachel

Kiko: [CLICS] System™ review

Hi fellow nomads,

As promised here is the second part of my mini-Kiko series, and today I'm showing you the custom palette I built and bought at Kiko. There's more about my trip here, but I'm guessing you're here for the good stuff so let's get on with it.

This beautiful item is made up of 4 individual Infinity eyeshadows which you buy separately and fit into the empty palette. They have palettes available for 1, 3, 4, and 9 pans as well as a monstrous 24. I chose a 4 pan palette on the basis of symmetry and (sort of) restraint, and then spent a while picking my 4 shades. The store is helpfully laid out with all the shades stacked above the display, so you just look for the number you swatched and you’re good to go. Easy breezy (a little too easy, if you ask my wallet).

I ended up going for a couple of beautiful green shades with some complementary browns. Green is one of my very favourite colours, and yet I don't own any decent green eyeshadows so this gave me the chance to build my own perfect palette. These greens appealed to me the most out of the shades on display, but honestly, I could have bought so many more. There were such beautiful colours...

Anyway, to pair with the glorious greens I got some matte brown shades to really set things off. Now if this were a pre-made palette you could bet your life one of these would have been a beautiful shimmery highlight colour, leaving you with only one blending shade. Well. Not when I'm building my own palette! For me, I like to have a bit of choice of blending shade, depending on whether I'm going for a day or night look, and whether I want one to double up as an eyeliner or not. I also have more shimmery highlight shades than I know what do with so I'd rather skip that and give myself some more solid base colours. I'm also coming to the realisation that this probably isn't the ideal travel palette that I thought it might be (damn) so it's no bother for me to raid my stash for a highlight should I desperately need one.

On to the ins and outs of the palette in general. Each separate item comes packaged carefully in its own box, with plastic moulding and a little clear cap to keep it secure. There's very little chance of the eyeshadows breaking on you before you've even got home (lucky for someone as clumsy as me). This also means that I think I'd be quite happy to order from them online, as far as breakages in transit go.

This is what the products look like taken straight out of their outer box packaging.

So as you can see, they're pretty snug in those plastic moulds. The good thing about the little plastic caps is that if you buy more Infinity eyeshadows and want to switch them in and out of your palette, you can keep the orphan shades safe in your makeup collection just by putting the lid back on.

Next, you break the shades out of their little plastic prisons, pop off the tops, and put them into the slots of the empty palette. Kiko also recommends peeling a portion of the label off the back and attaching it to the inside of your palette lid so you know exactly what shade you're using. They've printed the shade number twice on the label for just this purpose, and it's even scored a bit to make it easier to do so. I haven't done this on mine, mostly because I'm a perfectionist and I wouldn't be able to make it look neat enough for my tastes - and also, I don't think it's going to add anything to my eyeshadow application experience to know exactly which shade number I'm applying at any given moment... Just me?!

If you're like me you can have hours of fun deciding exactly which order your shadows should go in, and taking them out and putting them back in again just like Eeyore*. Luckily this is very easy to do thanks to the little thumb dents next to each shade, and the shadows pop out easily enough.

So this is how my final palette looks. I'm super pleased with this creation as I love each and every shadow - they all complete a gap in my existing collection (all killer, no filler) and it's more satisfying because I chose every shade myself. You know when you get a long awaited palette home and try it out, and it's great for a bit and then you start thinking oh, I wish this shade were a little darker/less sparkly/more warm toned etc? Well this cuts this right out. You can literally have it your way.

I've included some of my infamous awkward arm swatches for your delectation, so please do feast your eyes on these beauties. 

In terms of the quality of the eyeshadows, they are really very good. They're extremely buttery and very blendable, which you can hopefully see from the excellent swatches above, long wearing (although I always use a primer anyway) and very well pigmented. I'd really recommend the Infinity eyeshadows in general as being a really fantastic product, but the customisability of the Clics palette is what makes this for me.

In terms of pricing, the eyeshadows are generally £5.90 each but they also have some super sparkly ones called Infinity+ which are £7.90. My palette was £4.90 and if you want to shop online, you can find the details here.

Unfortunately the only downside to me is that I think the outer casing is unnecessarily bulky - it's 2cm deep when closed and most of that is thin air - which in combination with the fact that it lacks a mirror means this is probably off my travel friendly list. I know that the outer casing looks terribly chic when it's closed, and that they've made the lid opaque so that you can stick the little shade number stickers on the inside, but as I say above that's not particularly important to me and honestly I'd much, much rather have a mirror inside the lid instead. Failing that, maybe a transparent lid so you can see the colours you have inside.

That being said, I do still highly rate this product and if you ever find yourself on Regent St (right next to Oxford Circus), I recommend checking out the shades in store yourself. If you find yourself as frustrated by the packaging as I do, then you could even stick the Infinity eyeshadows inside an empty Z palette or something.

That's all for now, check back tomorrow for the review of their nail lacquer. It won't be quite so long I promise!

-Rachel

*I'm impressed if you got that one

Kiko: The Haul (feat. & Other Stories)

Hi fellow nomads,

You may or may not have heard of Kiko, an Italian make up brand which has recently landed in London. Its new Regent St store opened at the end of 2013 which was the first physical location to open in the UK. I've popped in a couple of times since then and, having heard great things about the brand and products, I really wanted to like it. I promise I tried, but it was quite busy and, to be honest, I felt quite uninspired. I even went in with a friend of mine who has shopped Kiko in Italy and loved it there, and we still both came out a little nonplussed. 

However, we both returned to give it another try at the weekend and we had a breakthrough. It all started when I made a major discovery. More on that later (oh the suspense - however will you manage) but it's safe to say I finally got what all the fuss was about and fell in love a little bit. In fact, I seem to have so much to say about Kiko that I'm going to break this into a mini series. First I will tell you what I bought, then I will do a mini review of my products, and then I'll tell you my Top Tips for Shopping Kiko.

So, what did I buy?

First I was drawn in by the vast array of nail polish shades. I'm always on the look out for great new green shades to add to my ever-growing collection (I think I have a problem) and I found this beauty. It is shade number 246 and the shade name isn't printed on the bottle but according to the website it's called Olive Drab. This is a beautiful dusty green shade which I can't wait to get on my nails. It was a very reasonable £3.90 when I bought it, but is now just £2.50 on the website. Bargain!

Next I gravitated towards the massive display of Infinity eyeshadows. Kiko have their own make-your-own-palette system just like Mac or Inglot. There's probably a shade for everyone here, and they mix the very wearable with the more unusual. I eventually settled on the 4 shades above: 239, 240, 268 and 270. Again, going to the website for names (bit annoying) I find that 239 is called mat grey taupe and is a cool toned browny taupe colour, which is indeed matte. 240 is mat dark taupe and is a darker brown, also matte. 268  is also known as mimetic green mat and is a mid toned green shade, again matte. Finally, 270 is pearly fern green and is a dark green shade with a pearl finish.

All the eyeshadows were priced at £5.90 each for 2g of product. The empty palette was £4.90.

Here's a sneak peek of what they look like in the pan:

And this ring from & Other Stories (almost next door on Regent St) wanted to come and join the party so here it is. I picked this beautiful ring up in the sale, just £6 reduced from £12. Such a bargain and I'm completely in love with it. It's so unusual!

Excuse the awkward hand. Angles, what can I say.

So if you'd like to find out what I thought of the eyeshadows, check back tomorrow for a more detailed review and swatches. If you're interested in the nail polish, come back on Wednesday for the same. And the details of my exciting discovery will be coming on Thursday, if you can manage to hold on that long...

Catch you then,

-Rachel

Memebox unboxing and review: Superbox by THEFACESHOP

Hi fellow nomads,

As you may know, I went a bit crazy last month after learning that Memebox, my favourite beauty box service, planned to stop accepting orders for shipment to the UK after the end of March. So I may have ordered a few. The first to hit my doorstep was this themed box, containing solely items from the Face Shop. This box was a Superbox, which is different from the regular Mememboxes in that it contains only full size items. It's also therefore a bit more expensive. However, I don’t know anything about this brand, let alone have tried anything from them, so I was looking forward to receiving a range of products to try.

All in all I received 8 items, with a range of skincare and make up included. I received the box a couple of weeks ago so I've had time to try the items and I'm here today to give you my first impressions. Onwards!

Lovely ME:EX Lip Tint Stick SPF 13 - Sweet Cherry

This went straight on my lips about 5 minutes after I opened the box and then straight into my handbag. It’s a really flattering light pink tint, subtle and very spring appropriate, and the packaging is cute too. I've been wearing this a lot and whilst it’s not particularly long lasting, no sheer lip tint/balm is so I'm not expecting this to. I really like this, particularly its sweet scent, and would definitely like to try more from this range.

Clean Face Oil-Free BB Cream

I was so excited to try this, and it was the item I was probably most looking forward to getting out of the box and onto my face. However for me it was a big fat fail. When I applied it in the morning it went on fine, looked nice and gave a medium coverage. It had a fairly moisturising finish despite being oil free, and overall I was happy with the result. However a short time later I realised that the product had oxidised and it no longer suited my colouring at all – it just looked bad. It had also settled into my smile lines and gone patchy. Very disappointing. I tried it a few times, with/without primer, powder etc, and it failed every time. Sadly, this is going to the back of my drawer to be re-tried in the summer just in case, but probably thrown away.

Lovely ME:EX Pastel Cushion Blusher - Peach Cushion

The packaging on this is extremely cute, with a little powder puff inside with which you can apply the product. This is a light peach colour which, when I applied it under the lights in my bathroom, I thought gave a healthy but subtle flush to the cheeks. However, when I then went outside, it actually looked pretty orange. And not like a trendy orange, like you've got the wrong foundation orange. It also went patchy. However, it may be that it interacted badly with the oil free BB cream (see above). When tried by itself, it still looked a little orange in natural light and also applied patchily with no base. So a work in progress, this one.

Cherry-Cherry Lips Modeling Gel Patch / Lovely ME:EX BeBe Lip Mask

So the product in my box (pictured) is not the same as the one on the card - but no matter, it's all the same general idea. This is crazy, man. It comes in a little plastic packet in two halves, one for your upper lip and one for your lower. It’s a bit difficult to tell which side is supposed to go next to your skin, but I figured it was the slightly shinier side (instructions all in Korean…). I wore it for the designated time (20 mins) and felt like an absolute fool the entire time. My lips felt ever so slightly smoother after use, but nothing to write home about. And certainly nothing to warrant the risk of someone calling round while you're wearing this daft contraption....

Hyaluronic Acid Essential Mash Sheet

Hyaluronic acid is a bit of a buzz word item in the beauty industry at the moment so I was keen to try this mask. I'm not sure how much a mask can do to permanently transform your skin, but I gave it a good go anyway. I found this mask a bit frustrating - the bottom half of it was far too big and wide for my face, so my most problematic areas were left uncovered (ie half of my chin). It also didn't do a very good job of sticking to my face so I had to sit there and hold it against my face. Not the relaxing experience I was hoping for! However the mask did smell very nice, clean and fresh, and it left my skin feeling pretty smooth. I think the effect will disappear the next time I wash my face, but I think I'd have quite liked this mask if only the actual shape of the mask was a bit better.

Lovely ME:EX You & Eyes - Sand Brown

A neutral brown shimmer, the shade of this isn't too daring but the formula is pretty exciting. It’s a very glittery glitter eyeshadow and comes out like more of a pressed pigment. You don’t actually get much of a brown colour to your lid with this, just a heck load of glitter. Which is fine by me but you have to be expecting it! I wore this over a Color Tattoo as a base and got compliments on it all day long. As I was applying it, quite a bit did fall down onto my cheeks but I'm not sure whether that was just me slapping it on poorly. Overall I really liked this eyeshadow and I can see me reaching for it often when I'm looking for an "all night party". And can we just talk about how awesome this packaging is?!

Rice Ceramide Moisture Cream

This is a lovely, thick moisturiser which contains rice extracts. I really like moisturisers with this thick, creamy texture and so far I've been enjoying it a lot. The few days I have used it have been lovely and my skin has felt great all day. The baby-powder scent is the only down side, but even that doesn't linger so it’s not a deal breaker by any means. I want to give it a proper go before I give a verdict, so watch this space.

Face it Nails Holiday Love Edition

This is quite clearly a Christmas promotional set and is even marked as such on the accompanying card. I don’t really mind that so much, although I do feel it is a little cheeky (as if they're just looking for an easy way to get rid of last season's low sellers), but mainly I'm not a huge fan of the shades. The red is a really, really bright red and the two glitters that come with it aren't really my thing. Also, I think that with Christmas shades, it’s quite hard to wear them for the rest of the year – especially with the glitters. I think I’ll be saving this until next Christmas and putting it in someone’s stocking.

I know that reading the forums, some people were disappointed with this box as they felt that it was just the dregs from a warehouse somewhere. Well, that’s possibly true (case in point: Christmas nail polish set) and maybe they didn't send their most raved about products, but why would they, if people already want to try them? It’s more in thefaceshop’s interest to send lesser known and lesser loved products, in the hopes that we will try them and fall in love with them. But for me personally, I don’t mind all that so much. As I have never tried any of their products before, and I have no preconceived ideas or particular products I wanted to try, I was happy with the items I received even though some of them turned out not to be to my taste. At least now I have a feel for what this particular brand is about, and I know whether or not I'd like to try out some of their other items.

I do think the price of this box (USD $39 excluding shipping) was a little steep given what was received, and given the value of their normal Memeboxes, but beauty boxes are always a gamble and at least now I know I will probably steer clear of single-brand Memeboxes and Superboxes in the future.

I've since realised that thefaceshop has a couple of stores in Australia and as I'm planning a trip over there at some point this year, I will definitely stop by and see what other delights they have for me to try. I'd be particularly interested in more shades of the lip tint and eyeshadow.

Did you receive the Superbox by thefaceshop? What did you think?

-Rachel

How to remove glitter nail polish

Hello fellow nomads,

A couple of days ago I wrote about a new polish that I absolutely love, the Goldleaf top coat from L'Oreal's Color Riche nail polish line. For the sake of the post, I painted my nails all different colours and used the gold leaf top coat on all of them. Make no mistake - although it's a 'gold leaf' polish, it definitely falls under the category of glitter nail polishes when it comes to ease of removal, as I found out. Forget nifty express nail polish remover pots (it just shreds the sponge - sadface), don't even think about your traditional nail polish remover and cotton rounds (oh the mess), there's a surefire way to remove your glitter nail polishes without resorting to a hammer and chisel. I thought I'd share it with you here, in case it will help anyone else.

In your kit you will need:

• Tin foil
• Cotton rounds 
• Scissors
• Pure acetone (can't be substituted for normal nail polish remover, unfortunately. I bought mine online or you could find it at beauty supply stores)

Simple really!

Step 1.

Step 1: Cut!

Start by cutting some strips out of tin foil - best to be on the generous side here, you don't want to be faffing around with one-handed tinfoil origami later. Also cut some fingernail shaped pieces out of cotton rounds. These are actually better on the small side; the pieces shown above are a little too big and ended up getting in the way. I normally cut these into half again.

Step 2.

Step 2: Prepare!

Prepare a surface to work on - acetone is strong stuff and you don't want to spill it near anything it could damage. Here are my before nails, resting on an old placemat I'm using to make sure I don't strip the varnish off my coffee table :-/

Step 3. 

Step 3: Soak!

Soak the cotton wool pieces in acetone and put them aside. I rested mine on the top of the bottle, that way they didn't make my placemat soggy!

Step 4. 

Step 4: Wrap!

Put a piece of soaked cotton wool on top of each nail, and secure it in place using a strip of tin foil.

Step 5. 

Step 5: Keep wrapping!

Here is what your wrapped nail should look something like. Now just repeat for all the other nails. It can get a little amusing as you run out of useful fingers, which is why it's good to start with plenty of foil! If you can find a helper, this is ideal. 

Step 6.

Step 6: Rest!

Once you've wrapped all your nails securely, settle down and leave them for somewhere between 3-5 minutes. You want to leave them long enough that you don't have to scrub at all, but not so long that they ruin your nails. To stop me interfering, and also because I like to be occupied at all times, I like to do this whilst listening to my favourite current affairs show via the Triple J app.

Step 7.

Step 7: Unwrap!

After the allotted time, remove each of the wraps from your nails. The colour and the glitter should all come off with minimal to no scrubbing required - if yours is stubborn, put them back on and leave them for a bit longer.

Step 8.

Step 8: Recover!

Your nails will probably be a bit upset by this treatment so make sure you wash your hands immediately and apply an intensive moisturiser. Here are my hands before I have taken this step, so you can see the pure unadulterated results. There is still a little bit of colour staining on my nails, but that's because I didn't wear a base coat (naughty). Just goes to show, even with less than 24 hours of wear, polishes can still stain without a base coat! However, staining aside, you can see that every last scrap of glitter has been removed from my nails and they are ready for a bit of TLC.

So there you have it; my foolproof and failsafe way of removing glitter and glitter type nail polishes, including gold leaf!

-Rachel