Bellabox Review: So Far So Good?

It’s now BOX 4.

I’ve subscribed to Bellabox since October last year, preferring the descriptions and reviews of this one over Lust Have It.

If you saw my previous post on discussions between the two, you would know that I found the Bellabox a lot more attractive due to brands and general feedback.

And I was RIGHT!

Bellabox: October Edition – “Pretty In Pink”

Bellabox: October Contents

When opening it, the first thing I noticed and loved was the theme of the box. With October being breast cancer awareness month, everything was pink themed!

Another great surprise: though on the website they say that 5 products are sent out every month, there were plenty more than 5 jammed into that tiny little brown cardboard box! Just look at the second image above and click on the link to see all products that were sent out to BB subscribers.

The one thing I was disappointed about though was the lack of the Bobbi Brown eye cream sample.
Prior to joining, I noticed that subscribers could’ve received this eye cream. And it was one I really wanted to try! It’s been sitting on my “need to try” list for quite awhile now, but I haven’t managed to find it on any online beauty websites for a decent price!

Without it coming in with my first Bellabox, I was definitely a little let down. But overall this edition was an amazing start to what looked to be a continual monthly package!

3 months later, I’ve received for my January Bellabox. And having experienced 3 already, I was very unimpressed by what I found.

The parcel campaign in the mail and when I ripped it open I was very disappointed…

Bellabox: January Edition – We Love Australia

Bellabox: January Contents

I apologise first for being very unAustralian. But when I opened my Bellabox today to find that the theme was “We Love Australia” (since Australia Day is coming up), my heart sank.

I’ve never been much of a fan of Australian skincare or beauty products. Everything I’ve tried so far has been a far cry from any American or English brands. And maybe – just MAYBE I should give them another chance. Show some support and love for my country. But things did not get better when I found out what the contents were on the inside.

Bellabox: Face Of Australia Cleansing Wipes

1. Face Of Australia Cleansing Wipes
2. You, me & everybody Aloe Vera Gel
3. Swisse Body Wash
4. Mode Cosmetics Nail Polish
5. Natio Pure Minerals BB Cream
6. forwalls Wall Sticker

Do you see where I’m coming from? None of these items float my boat.

Cleansing wipes? Okay sure. That’s acceptable. But Face Of Australia is one of those stands I glide past when walking down the aisle of Priceline. It’s not a brand I’ve ever really liked or considered when thinking of purchasing a new product. If I have the wipes, I’ll use it. But I definitely won’t be going ahead to take it as a recommendation for future visits to Priceline.

Now… Aloe Vera Gel. Really? A cooling gel in case I get sunburnt? No thanks. Maybe I should team it with the Swisse body wash – the third Swisse item I’ve received after FOUR months by the way.

Worst of all: a wall sticker. Who… what… possessed Bellabox into thinking that the first thing I wanted for 2013 was a sticker of an echidna on my wall??

No matter how Australian you are, I’m sure people wouldn’t be inclined to having a re-stickable echidna floating around the walls of their house.

Overall: I must say that I’ve been impressed with what I’ve received since subscribing to Bellabox (bar my January subscription of course). It could be worse. And it could’ve been 5 tiny little products rather than a whole box filled with goodies! But sometimes there are hits and misses. And granted – they need to please everyone here, so that’s definitely not going to work out for some people once in awhile. But seriously. An echidna sticker??

Will be sticking around to see what I might find in the mail next month though.

Hopefully they don’t think that Mr. Echidna needs a friend…

But for now –

Lovelove!

Rean

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Talk About: Skin Care Routine

Hi all,

I wanted to share with you my current skin care routine to both show how I’m tackling my troubled skin and also see whether any of you have suggestions for me to improve on.
Because that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Sharing is caring! 😄

To say the least my skin is oily. And this isn’t the subtle sheen at 3pm on a hot day – this is the real deal.
Not only is my skin ridiculously oily, I’ve also been battling with excessive acne for over 7 years. It has only been recently that I’ve found the products that work best for my skin.

Here’s a little history: I’ve always had troubles with acne and the constant wash of oil on my face. It was using the Tea Tree Oil range from The Body Shop for quite a while but noticed that even though I’d only break out occasionally, I was still sporting oil and sebum deposits under the surface of my skin, making it bumpy.

It was then that I went to a Dermologica workshop that made me feel as though all hope was not lost! I paid about $200AUD for a whole range or products but when I started using it, my acne became completely uncontrollable!

For a system that apparently maps out your face into 12 regions to provide the best solution and is apparently “engineered by dedicated dermatologists”, its caused the worst my skin has ever experienced.

I’ll not go into too much detail in case I bring your Halloween visions to life. But essentially my face was left with large amounts of scarring and acne like I’ve never experienced.

I then started my journey of recovery with the following skin care brands, all using the acne skin care systems.
First Mary Kay, then Proactiv, and now finally Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions.

This could be the reason why I’m so faithful to Clinique. Because it was the skin care system that brought me from acne to clear skin. I now only ever find blemishes if I’m going through stress, or am about to enter my menstrual cycle – and these breakouts are very minimal might I add.

So now for what I was originally going to talk about… My Skin Care Routine:

In the mornings I use:
1. Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Cleansing Foam
2. Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clarifying Lotion
3. Lancôme Genifique Yeux Youth Activating Eye Concentrate
4. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel

At night I have a very similar routine, except I just add on some Clinique Pore Minimizer to work whilst I sleep.

For any blemishes, I’m currently using Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Spot Treatment Gel.

I must say again, this Anti-Blemish routine has worked wonders for me. It has been the only product that has allowed me to step away from my house without make up. I am now confident about my naked face and use much less foundation than than I used to.

Concealer? I forget about that now.

I’m keen to try different eye creams for prevention and dark circles. I haven’t used the Lancôme Eye Concentrate for too long yet so I’m not sure whether it works well for me. And I’m also happy to try different spot treatments as i find the Clinique Spot Gel isn’t as effective as other brands I’ve tried previously.

Besides that all I need now is to work a little on the dark spots left behind from my acne history. I will be trying the Clinique Even Better Dark Spots Corrector. Hopefully that’ll show some results!

If you have any other suggestions on how I can rectify extremely oily skin or my dark acne scars, then please comment below!

But for now…

Love love, Rean.

HAUL: Sasa + Priceline Goodies!

Hi guys!

I’ve recently run out of my Clinique Anti-Blemish face wash (yes I have an acne problem!), so when placing an order for a little more stock on this amazing product, I “conveniently” added a couple of extras.

Sasa + Priceline Haul

First off, lets start with Sasa. If you haven’t heard of Sasa before, it’s an online cosmetics and skincare store that stocks a whole range of brands from well known high end lines like Clinique and Mac, to Asian brands that are less known (in some countries). They ship internationally and do free shipping after a certain threshold! So check that out if you’re keen.

Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Cleansing Foam

First off I purchased two of these Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Cleansing Foams. Can I just say that ever since I’ve been struggling with acne from around the age of 15 (I’m currently 22), I have never found a skin care system that could help me solve all my problems other than this Clinique Anti-Blemish range.

HG. That’s what it is. This range is my HG and for anyone out there that has severe acne, I suggest you try this. I did not have much hope prior to finding Clinique. I had come to the conclusion that my skin was most likely going to have to break out every week or so and I’d have to live with it. Never did I know that I could end up with blemish free skin until I found you, Clinique. Hence I’m a major fan of the brand.

I’ve recently started trying the Liquid Facial Soap in 3 (oily) as I have a sample from a previous purchase and I was waiting for my Sasa package. I’m still within the testing phase so I’m unsure of how well it is performing in comparison, but so far it’s been alright. I’ve noticed that it’s brought forth a lot of smaller blemishes – like white heads all over my face. But hopefully this is only occurring to “cleanse” the skin of all these little fatty deposits before evolving to become baby smooth.

Lancome Genifique Yeux Youth Activating Eye Concentrate

Lancome Genifique Yeux Youth Activating Eye Concentrate

Within the past month, I’ve been more aware of the aging process (I know you might that ” But you’re only 22!”. Well it’s never too early I say.), so as a result I also picked up this Lancome Genifique Yeux Youth Activating Eye Concentrate to tackle prevention of wrinkles!

I’m not too sure why I chose this particular eye cream. Maybe because I haven’t had much past experience with Lancome and it seems to be Michelle Phan’s brand of choice (or potentially they’re the ones signing her, so she can’t NOT advertise it…). But hopefully when I start using it, I’ll find that it’s hydrating and works on dark circles – because that’s what I’m after at the moment.

That being the end of notable products from Sasa, lets start with Priceline!

I visited Priceline just a couple of days ago and saw a 20% off sale on all skincare and cosmetics! I’m not sure how long this sale is going for – apologies if it’s already over.

When I was there, I really wanted to find a loose mineral foundation powder to set my daily foundation and help tackle the midday oil sheen.

Physician’s Formula Talc-Free Mineral Wear Loose Powder

I’ve previously noticed the Physician’s Formula brand but never had much of an opportunity to try any of their products. After hearing good recommendations from other online gurus like Jen from frmheadtotoe though, I thought I’d try it out to see whether it would suit my skin.

I purchased this in Creamy Natural after testing the colour to my skin. The great thing about this product is that it comes with a small clip in powder brush. This is great for travel as you don’t need to bring full size brushes for application. But I’m currently in the middle of waiting on a set of Sigma brushes – I’ve heard of great things! So as that’s still sitting on the loading page, I can use this handy little addition in the meantime.

One thing I’m worried about with using loose foundation though is the potential for product to sit amongst the fine lines and pores on your face. I’ve had this happen before and rather than concealing anything, it enhanced those aspects.

It might require a combination of skin care and a good base before applying this loose powder, but I will definitely experiment and update you on my progress.

L’Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Anti-Shine Mattifying Primer

And last but not least, the product that I’m most excited about trying is this L’Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Anti-Shine Mattifying Primer (wow that was a mouth full). I have heard SO MUCH about this – the help it provides with oily skin and how it works as an amazing primer.

I noticed it looks different to those mentions on YouTube though. In these videos the primer seems to come in a sort of pot rather than a pump as you can see above. But this could potentially be a packaging difference due to region.

I think the pump would work a lot better. I would have a more consistent amount of product every time I use it, and it’s a lot more hygienic than the “finger-in-pot” situation some gurus have. Hopefully I’ve purchased the right one though – I did match the names up to the mentions!

So that’s all the notables from my recent Sasa and Priceline haul. I did get a few more products but those were really to fill the basket a little at Sasa, so I could take advantage of the free delivery.

Obviously I suffer from a not-so-welcome shine, so if you have any suggestions to other products whether it be a foundation or primer that you’ve tried and have succeeded with, comment below and I’ll give it a go!

But for now, lovelove. Rean.