Two Days Left to Take Advantage of the Clarins #Feed10 Gift at Menary's

There's only today and tomorrow left to get to your local Menary's store, visit their Clarins concession and pick up their free Feed 10 gift bag.

Buy two Clarins products, one being Skincare, and they'll gift you everything shown in the picture above. Great sized samples to try out and find a new favourite. You're also doing a good deed as for every #Feed10 gifts given out, Clarins will feed ten vulnerable children worldwide. 

Heres a quick look at each of the free products. 

Moisture Rich Body Lotion. Very smooth and easily absorbed, this is pretty much a full size product. 

Hydra-Quench Mask. Creamy, gentle and a pleasant scent. 

Exfoliating Gentle Refiner. I really like the texture. The microbeads make you feel like you're really giving your skin a total freshening up. 

Relax Bath & Shower Concentrate. I'm not a bath person, but I'm going to let my son keep this for his bath times. 

Hand and Nail Cream. Another product I don't use personally, but my Mum loves a good hand moisturiser, so I'll pass this along to her. 

The lovely Jennifer at Bangor Menary's also gave me the current Clinique Bonus offer when we visited last Saturday. Unfortunately that was the last day of that current offer, but they usually always have some sort of offer running, to try your local Menary's to see what offer followed up this one. 

The reason I'm still featuring it is because I was really impressed with the  Clinique Long Last Lipstick in the shade Blushing Nude.

My usual nude lipstick is Naked Beige by Soap & Glory, but this is a very close match and the texture is a real jump up in quality. It's very creamy & feels great on. I think I'll swap over to this for my day to day lip, and buy it again when the sample runs out. 

So visit your local Menary's for the Feed 10 Clarins offer until 4th October, and check out the other beauty concessions for their individual current offers. I would post about Bangor's Fashion Night Out next Thursday, but their PR lady says it's practically sold out already. If you see me and Smix at it, say hi! 

My Night Routine. Potions & Lotions & Oils Galore.

Every year on my birthday in August I swear to myself that this year I'm definitely going to stop going to bed with makeup on, and I will endeavour to moisturise too. 

Every year I still ended up going to bed in mascara and tinted moisturiser, which used to be all I wore. This summer when I turned 35, I     had already started my journey towards being a makeup addict, so I've a little routine at last!

Every proper beauty blogger in the land will be screaming, 'noooooooo!' at the photo below. Apparently using any sort of baby wipe type product on your face is a bad idea. I'm a sucker for how easy they are though.

Sera from The Style Guide Blog suggested the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I use it on a wipe to take off everything except my eye makeup. I can't help but think 'is this just tap water though?' as the Micellar water has no fragrance either. 

Then I use another wipe loaded with Simple Kind to Eyes, Eye Makeup Remover. It does the job and doesn't irritate the skin or my eyes in any way. 

At the weekend of late, my son and I like to have a silly pamper night. We do face masks, soothing eye pads, I even let him put my makeup on me for fun sometimes. Poor child is feeling my lack of daughter to do these things with! 

Tonight I used a peel off mask for once, 'cause they have always been fun in a satisfying peel-y way. The brand is Petal Fresh Botanicals, and this is their Invigorating Aloe & Cucumber mask. The full size product with enough for many, many masks, was only £1.29. 

It dries easily, but follow the instructions about not putting it near your eyes. I had it stuck on the area under my eyes where your bags are, and it hurt like hell trying to peel that section off! 

Also my skin felt strangely dry afterward. You would want to moisturise after peeling it all off.

My regular  night products are No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Serum. A small amount of that, which absorbs easily, then a 'top coat' of the matching line's Intense Night Cream.

I've a couple of samples I'm sometimes using instead at the moment. Puff Off! from Benefit for eye bags, and their Instant Comeback Facial Serum. Those products are okay, but I don't think they'll tear me away from my No7 products I use long term. 

The other little bottle on the right there I HAVE been very impressed by, and I'll be buying the full size product when the sample runs out.

Its the Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil. The thought of using a straight oil on your face may seem daunting if you're prone to shine, but somehow it doesn't effect my skin in that way. Yes I've a big shiny face when I apply it, but I haven't found the days after I've slept in it have been any extra shiny or greasy when I've my daily makeup on. 

It comes with a tiny dropper and I use three lots all over my face. It doesn't feel greasy, it definitely feels intense. It will be a great product to use now Autumn is drawing in and the heating plus cold outside plays havoc with your skin. 

So that's my night time routine. I've the intensive oil on in this photo and you can see my skin isn't oily looking at all. I've a feeling a little gold bottle of pure oil from The Body Shop is going to be fairly expensive.... maybe I'll keep it for my Christmas list.

The £6.95 Monthly Beauty Box That Will Find You Your New Favourite Products For Less

The You Magazine Discovery Box is a classic monthly subscription box, that costs just £6.95 including delivery. 

Now that all of a sudden I'm Mrs Makeup, I wanted to check out some of the subscription boxes you can buy online, which let you try a handful of samples of different brands every month. The big names are Birchbox and Glossybox, but ever the bargain hunter I spied the You Discovery box cost just £6.95, saving £3 a month compared to the other subscriptions.  

You still get to try brands you might not otherwise buy from, independent companies and bigger, well known brands like Body Shop. The September Revitalising themed box includes a gift card for £10 off when you spend £25, which I'm thinking of using it before the October deadline and buying some Christmas presents. 

The other products are a seaweed & aloe eye gel, several samples of Skyn firming eye gel, face masks, a serum and more. Another unique feature of the You box is every month you can choose two samples from a selection of brands on offer. So as well as some surprises in the post, you are guaranteed at least two products that you really want to try out.

As well as the monthly box there are limited edition special boxes on offer, such as this Burt's Bees themed collection. 

All in all its the beauty box for me. It's cheaper, I can choose two samples, and who doesn't like getting a little present in the post, even if it is from themselves? 

Next I want to mention a product I'll be trying out over the next few nights, and which I'll tell you all about properly after that. 

On Thursday night a group of local bloggers were invited to come along to House of Fraser to listen to representatives from five beauty brands giving us a short talk on their newest and most innovative products. 

The ladies from Clarins showed us this amazing new wrinkle eraser, but also spoke about one of their top products, the multi-award winning Double Serum. As I said I'll tell you all about it after my trial, but apparently it's a real game changer of a product, so I'm excited to try it out. 

The House of Fraser event was to launch their Beauty Confidential promotion, where a selection of products across all the beauty brands are £10 off. That includes the Clarins Double Serum which is now £59 down from £69. So I have my little samples and I will tell you in a few days if I notice a difference from using my usual Boots No7 serum. I'll also tell you a bit more about the other beauty brands and products we heard from last night.

Professional Make-up at a Fraction of the Price, Starbox Monthly Subscription Box from Starlooks

I'm no beauty expert, and I'm thankful every day for the beauty bloggers who have slowly taught me how to apply the once terrifying stuff. First Dressjunkie, then London Beauty Queen, I've picked up tips and they've patiently answered my questions over the years. Now I think I know what I'm doing, and can tell a good product from bad.

So the second monthly subscription box suggestion I'm bringing you this January, is the Starbox from Starlooks. Not being a beauty genius, I hadn't heard of this US brand, but they are a pro-quality full range of make-up, which is now available to the UK, including their box subscription. All products are cruelty free. Factories are frequently visited to check on their very high standards, and any brushes they manufacture are from shaved animals, kept on farms. As you would expect, no product is tested on any animal.

Starlooks sent me the December Starbox to have a play with. They promise each box will be great value, with the product included costing more than the $15 subscription. December's surprise box worked out as very good value, the eyeshadow palette sells for $99 in th Starlooks Store. 

I was very pleased to receive the palette as I desperately needed new coloured shadows. There is a great neutral skin tone which I can use as a base, and the coloured shadows are very high in pigment. I tried to take a good photo to show just how rich and deep the colours are, but I need to work on my skills! The  'glitter' shadows are amazing quality too, more shimmer than glitz, so they don't look too 'young' on an older eye, and could even be used during the day to brighten a look.

If you subscribe before 10th January then you'll receive the very next box. Also keep an eye on the past boxes page to pick up the palette for $15 instead of $99 in their main store.

Well worth subscribing. 

Discover Vegan Cuts in 2014. Cruelty-free Beauty Box or Vegan Snack Box in Monthly Subscription Form.

Over the next fortnight or so I'll be introducing you to some unusual, lesser known box subscription services. Treat yourself for January and sign up for a monthly delivery.

First up is Vegan Cuts, the animal friendly site with two box services on offer.

December's Vegan Beauty Box came with eye shadow, lip salve, and my favourite part a set of seasonal gold, silver and glittered nail polishes. The box ships from the States, but costs only $15 a month to any worldwide address, which is a super price for a service which can introduce you to cruelty free brands you may otherwise never hear of.

If a beauty box isn't your thing, and perhaps you'd like to start 2014 with some healthier snacks, why not try the Vegan Cuts Snackbox? Again it's $15 worldwide for the monthly box, less than that if you're in the US.

I love trying new snacks, so I was intrigued to try the crisps made from beans, which were black. They are delicious. The product I'm going to have to hunt down a supply of though, is the coconut milk chews, seasoned with sea salt. Outstanding!

Any questions? Find Vegan Cuts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Sign up before mid-January and you should receive your first box, or both boxes, around 20th January.