Apologies, I haven't blogged in a while. Work is pretty crazy, and I took some well-deserved annual leave from April 2nd (my birthday, I'm officially in my late 20s now...shudder) until Tuesday, where I endured nightmare trains to and from Scotland, had a wonderful time with my Mum, and caught a horrible virus that has left me battling to go through the motions this weep. Yes, that is indeed the soun of the world's smallest violin that you can now hear in the background!!

Anyhoo, I'm back, and I do have some good posts lined up, I promise.

Today I want to talk about two beauty boxes from last month. The enormously hyped Harrods Glossy Box and the Anti-Ageing box from Latest in Beauty in collaboration with You magazine. The reason I wanted the Harrods Glossy Box was I was hoping to get a sample of Fan de Fendi, a perfume I really really like the smell of. I was all caught up in the hype and excitement when they announced on Twitter, Facebook and by e-mail that the boxes had been dispatched. Then 10 days went by and mine still hadn't arrived. Devastated doesn't come close. Tweeting the Glossy Box team got a super speedy response and the lovely Kayleigh from Glossy Box put up with my wild wailing e-mails. Turns out good old Royal Mail (Royal Fail, more like) didn't deliver my box because 'they couldn't find the address'. REALLY?! I had my GB sent to my in-laws house, as FIL is retired and can take in packages and also the postie in that area is *usually* kind enough to hide a package somewhere or knock on the doors of the neighbours rather than leave that irritating red card of fail. That house has been there for over a hundred years. My FIL used to BE a postman for goodness sake. Anyhoo. After wailing at lovely Kayleigh some more, Glossy Box dispatched me a whole new Harrods box so I didn't have to wait for Royal Fail to return mine. Cannot fault Glossy Box at all there, they did everything they could for me. So, after all that waiting, after all the hype... of course I didn't get a Fan de Fendi sample. Hah! But actually, my lovely OH bought me a proper, full-sized bottle for my birthday, so I'm happy as a clam.

Here's the box. I liked the white box (this was my first GB though), and I really liked the Harrods ribbon and sticker inside!




Here's my card. Please ignore my stumpy little thumbnail. I'm desperately trying to grow my nails, my left hand is struggling whilst my right hand is doing fine. What gives??




And here are my products! The Clarins cream is lovely, I'm going to use it on my decolletage to pep that area up a bit. It smells really nice and is really thick and creamy. I haven't tried the YSL serum much yet but I'm very curious about it, seems good anyway. I love Molton Brown products and whilst the Vitamin A B + C is my favourite scent, Heavenly Gingerlily is very nice. This is a great travel sized product. Narcisco Rodriquez For Her is a lovely scent and I'll be looking to purchase a proper sized bottle in the near future. Last, but by no means least, I was lucky enough to receive a mini Burberry Lipstick, no 202 Copper Mist I think its called. Its such a cute little lipstick and whilst I would never have chosen the colour for myself, I absolutely love it. I wore it on my birthdy to The Dorchester for afternoon tea and felt suitably posh! The Glossy Box is £10.00 a month plus £2.95 postage.

Next up is the Latest in Beauty Anti-Ageing box. I missed out on two prevous boxes, including the previous collaboration with You Magazine. So my wonderful OH bought me this box to make sure I didn't miss out again! He's definitely a keeper. I'm probably not quite in the right age group for anti-ageing products but I do already have rather a lot of signed of ageing particularly on my face, and I reckon you're probably never too young to get started on these products. If I find something good now, I'll be set up for the next 50 years of skincare, won't I?!




Here is the box. Again, its nothing fancy but then, I don't tend to keep the boxes, I tend to recycle them.




Inside was a whopping 8 products!





A Decleor cleanser with a muslin cloth, packaged up in an organza drawstring bag.




Emma Hardie serum. Not a brand I've ever heard of but I'm really keen to try this out.




Cosmetofruit elixir. I received one of these in the first Latest in Beauty box of 2012, and I liked that one, so I'm sure I'll like this one. I do think supplements play a part in skincare. I just wish the full-sized bottles weren't a whopping £50 each!




Perricone MD advanced face firming activator. This sounds brilliant, I think I'd like to use this possibly in place of or underneath primer in the day, and the Emma Hardie one at night. I've been wanting to try out Perricone MD products for an age.




Eve Lom rescue mask. Ahhh, Eve Lom. Another brand I've been dying to try out. Can't wait to use this!




This Works multi-tasking lotion. I don't think I'll use this on my face, but I am looking forward to using it on my body.




Fushi organic anti-wrinkle lip balm. No idea if it'll be anti-ageing or not, but its a very nice lip balm to use none the less!




L'Occitane Divine cream. I've heard really good things about this, I'll look forward to seeing if it works for me. Its such a cute teeny tiny pot!

The Latest in Beauty box was £8.95 and £2.95 P+P.

So, which one did I prefer? For me, it had to be the Latest in Beauty box. The poor Glossy Box was so over-hyped and I had to wait so long for it that it probably never stood a chance! Carmine was my favourite subscription box, and now that they have passed over to Glossy Box, I'm going to stay subscribed to see what the future boxes are like. Glossy Box's customer service was ace and receiving the Harrods Glossy Box was so exciting, I just feel I'll get more out of my Latest in Beauty box. Since getting these boxes I've ordered two more from Latest in Beauty, one was a 'build your own' and one was the Editor's Choice box.

Did you get either of these boxes? What did you think? Which beauty box is your favourite?

I paid for both boxes and as ever, my opinions are my own :)