Unboxing Glossybox UK - February 2019 Edition - It's All About ♡

Happy Valentines Day or should that be Happy Singles Appreciation Day, whichever side of the fence that you fall on I hope you've had all had a lovely day and you've either been spoilt rotten or like me you've treat yourself to something special and you've spent the day loving yourself x

If you haven't quite had enough of all of the love and the hearts, I thought today was the perfect time to share Feburary's Glossybox unboxing with you, and It's All About ♡!

Instead of the traditional black and pink box that I showed you last month, February's Glossybox has a definite Valentines day flavour. The lid features the box title and a heart, and the base of the box features a fabulous heart design, in shades of red and pink.

Open the box and you're greeted with a little parcel tied with a beautiful white, heart designed ribbon. Remove the information card and your goodies are lovingly wrapped in hot pink tissue, and kept safe with oodles of white paper shred.

Now before I talk about what's inside in more depth I want to talk a little bit about some of the general reactions to this box. Considering this box has now sold out you would assume that it was universally popular, well that wasn't really the case. I've watched a few You Tube videos and read a few comments and posts on this box and some people weren't that happy with it. As you know I always to be as balanced as possible in my reviews and this one is going to to be no different, I liked this box and I think that some of the criticisms of it were unfounded - Have a read and make your own mind up

HUDA Beauty Lip Contour Super Longwear Matte Lip Pencil - Venus - 1.2g - Full Size - RRP £16

First up the big draw, the hint that was dropped last month. and the item that was probably why this box sold out. A full size HUDA Beauty Lip Contour Super Longwear Matte Lip Pencil.  Described as the perfect blend of a lipstick and a lip liner, this velvety matte formulation, defines and lines the lips, with hydrating, transfer resistant,  and waterproof colour!

Each box this month contained one of two shades, I received the colour Venus a lovely brownie, nude shade. The pencil itself felt soft and creamy on the lips and applied easily without any tugging on scratching.

The pigmentation was superb, and it's shade that will work really well with a lot of lip colours in my collection. You can obviously use it as a liner but in the picture below I've applied it all over my lips. I'm wearing it alone here but you could pop a gloss over the top, or even a lipstick to help it last longer. Purely wearing it on it's own the wear time was fantastic, I managed to eat a bowl of granola, fruit and yogurt with this on and it was still intact when I'd finished. This lip pencil  has a nice formulation and it's something that I would definitely consider repurchasing in the future. This is a full sized pencil which has a retail price of £16, and is available from a variety of retailers including Selfridges, Feelunique UK and Cult Beauty

Nails Inc Nail Polish - Status Ready - 14ml - Full Size - RRP £11-£15

Next up a full size nail polish from Nails Inc. A lot of people moan about nail polishes in beauty boxes, but in my opinion there should be more of them not less. Status Ready is a gorgeous cherry red shade, it's the type of colour that I wear a lot in the winter months and it's perfect for Valentines Day. It's one of those colours that's ideal for any length of nails, and no matter your age, or your personal style. I haven't had a change to try this yet but I will definitely feature is in an upcoming nails of the day post. I can't find this specific shade online, bar on ebay ! so seeing that Nails Inc do a lot of them, it's possibly a limited edition colour. The price of full size Nails Inc polishes vary so this could retail at pretty much anything between £11 - £15.

Luxie Beauty Medium Fan Face Brush - 560 - Full Size - Est. RRP £15 / $22

There were more complaints about this, apparently these boxes contain too many face brushes. Well, I haven't had one lately and even if I had a wouldn't complain, you can never have enough make up brushes in my opinion!

Luxie are a relatively new brand to the UK, and they will be launching soon on ASOS and on Look Fantastic. All of the brushes are vegan, cruelty free and hypoallergenic.

I was first introduced to the brand in my Glossybox advent calendar (read my post here) and my first impressions were good, and again this brush doesn't disappoint. I do like a fan brush and I've already made good use of this one, I tend to use them with a little bit of loose powder to get rid eyeshadow fallout, and I also sometimes use them for adding just a touch of highlighter to my cheekbones. The hairs are nice and soft and the quality is good, all in all a good brush that I'm happy to have in my collection.

Vitamasques Multivitamin Mask x 1 Sheet Mask - Full Size - RRP £4.99

Next up another item that seemed to trigger a few complaints - a face mask - well considering I use at least one a week I'm always happy to add new masks to my collection so no complaints from me here, especially since this is another sheet mask.

For Korean beauty inspired brand Vitamasques this sheet mask is designed for all skin types, but particularly thirsty skin, and contains 5 vitamins B3, B5, B6, C and E, to help nourish the skin. My skin is all over that place at the moment with spots, dry patches, and oily bits, so I'll definitely be trying this out soon x Keep an eye on my monthly empties posts to hear my thoughts x This mask is available from various retailers including Vitamasques directly, and Beauty Cutie.

Regenerate Enamel Science Advanced Toothpaste - 14ml - Deluxe Mini / Travel Size - Est. RRP £2.50 / £2.25

Now we're really heading in to controversial territory - why? well printed on this product in tiny little letters it says Free Sample Not For Sale. Quite a few people are arguing that this shouldn't be in the box because technically it was for sale and we've bought it. That argument doesn't make a great deal of sense to me to be honest, because the price of the box is covered in the first item alone, so surely every other product is a bonus, so surely we aren't paying for every single item in the box? Hmm ah well everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess...

Anyways on to the product itself and I think the inclusion of toothpaste is a great one for a Valentines Day themed box, after all who doesn't want fresh breath for all of that kissing ;) Regenerate isn't just a toothpaste though it's specially designed to help strengthen and regenerate the enamel in our teeth. I've actually already been sent some of this directly from Regenerate so I'll let you know my thoughts when I've had a chance to try it x If you fancy giving it a go in the meantime you can actually buy this 14ml travel size from Fragrance Direct for around £2.25 (I wonder if their tubes have any writing on them ;), or you can buy the full 75ml for around £10 from various retailers.

So there you go your 5 items from February's Valentines Day themed Glossybox, and despite some of the complaints out there I'm pretty pleases the value is most definitely there, even after just comparing the RRP of the first item to the box price, oh but wait, this love themed box also includes a couple of extra items on top of the usual 5...

Mugler Alien Fusion EDP - 1.2ml

Mugler Alien Man Fusion - EDT - 1.2ml

That's right as a little extra treat / pressie February's Glossybox also contains 2 fragrance samples, 1 for him and 1 for her. Again those little words not for sale are printed on the packaging and yes they are samples that you may be able to get on counter but they are included as extras on top of the five items that you get in you are supposed to get in your Glossybox -February's box contains 7 items so why are people complaining? - I have no idea!

I've got to say that I've never been a fan of Mugler fragrances but this one might just have changed my mind. Alien Fusion for women contains ginger, cinnamon, tuberose, orange blossom, vanilla and white amber. Given those ingredients you would expect it to smell quite heavy and it does, it has a lot of warm and spicy notes, but at the same time, the tuberose and orange blossom (two of my favourite scents) slowly come through. I would never have even considered trying this fragrance before and whilst I'm still sure I would go out and buy it, I'm definitely going to finish the vial.

The men's scent has similar warm and spicy notes, with just a hint of leather and contains ginger, cinnamon, leather, osmanthus, green coffee, and steamed beech. Alas I'm pretty single this Valentines Day so I will be passing this one probably to a relative instead x 

So that really was Febuary's Glossybox, what can I say really, I don't mind when people complain with good reason, I can whinge with the best of them but some of the complaints that I've seen about this box just make my head spin. The HUDA Beauty product alone is worth more than the entire box (£13.25 at most), as well as potentially another two products in the Nails Inc nail polish and in the Luxie brush, yet some people's focus seems to be on the free toothpaste and the free perfume samples! Personally as I've already said I'm pretty happy with the box, the value is definitely there and I'll use all of the products at some point. Subscription boxes like Glossybox are always a gamble and you have to be prepared to receive items that you don't like or that you won't use. If you aren't willing to take that risk then maybe boxes like this aren't for you, and maybe you should consider boxes like QVC UK's TILI box or one of the one off boxes that list their contents upfront, or even putting money aside to save up for something special instead of buying a box. You pays your money, you makes you choice at the end of the day x 

If you are interested in subscribing or finding out more about Glossybox UK, then click this link and you could reserve March's box which contains a lip balm from new vegan and cruelty free brand BYBI. In the meantime I'd love to know your thoughts on this box, do you think I'm being overly lenient with Glossybox? or do you agree with my assessment? Let me know in the comments x 

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