A whole month has gone by! I can't quite believe it. Its been a little cold the last couple of days which says to me that autumn is coming. I do love autumn (if we could just have one with very little rain, I'd be extremely happy!).

I've been trying to zip through all my half-used beauty products still and I think I'm making reasonable progress. My progress would be a lot better if I stopped buying more things, of course, but we won't worry ourselves about that.



Here's my empties this month. I still think I Must Try Harder.

Given that I'm ever so behind in blogging, today you're getting my round up of all the beauty boxes I received in August! So expect this to be a long post with a lot of pictures. Its not like anyone uses dial up anymore, thank goodness.

First up way back at the beginning of the month was a Latest in Beauty You Magazine collaboration box. The 'In Flight' Box. This box had lots of goodies in it considered useful for those off on holiday. Ahhh, holidays.










The box contained:

• A tin of Barkleys Cinnamon mints. So useful for that post travelling funk mouth we all get. Have to admit, I haven't plucked up the courage to try these yet, haha. Cinnamon I only like in small quantities...might try these on my other half first.
• Jurlique Rosewater Balancing Mist - this is so nice and refreshing when you spray it on your face. I tried a couple of sprays worth but I'm saving it for my upcoming holiday!
• Garnier BB cream - three sample sachets. I've tried this once before and I didn't love it, so I tried another sachet and, well, I still dont love it. But then I did find my favourite high street BB cream in Maybelline so nothing's really lost. I'll pop the other sachets into a giveaway box I've been gradually building up.
• Stri-VectinSH Age Protect SPF30 - I have very fair, pale, Scottish skin. Although said skin is cov ered in freckles, I still have to be very careful in the sun and I use factor 30 in the UK (don't laugh!). So I'm always happy to receive SPF30. This also came with a wrist band which changes colour when you're exposed to UVB, very helpful.
• Batiste Dry Shampoo in Cherry - I have quite a few of these handbag sized cans now and I'm grateful. At the moment I'm fighting a losing battle with my hair, brought on by the mad heat we've had and my recent foray into exercise, which makes me sweaty, which makes my roots look greasy really quickly. I also plan on getting my fringe cut back in soon, and I use dry shampoo to help keep it tamed and in place.
• Xen-Tan Dark lotion - I've been a bit scared to use this as it's 'Dark'. And I am, well, super pale! But according to the blurb that came with the box, it can be mixed with moisturiser, which might be a better bet for me. That being said, I find it really hard to get tan to take on my legs, so maybe dark is the way forward there?
• OPI Nail Polish in William Tell Me About OPI - Apparently, this isn't the nail polish I should have received, it should have been one of two limited edition Muppets colours. To be honest, I don't really mind. I remember thinking I REALLY didn't want to get one of the polish colours, and I'm very happy with this deep purple colour. And I love the name.
• Acqua D'Alfresco Insect repellant - unfortunately my holiday this year wont be to sunny climes where bugs will be a problem. But there's always next year! Otherwise I'll use it against the dreaded Scottish midge when I go home :)
• Urban Acai Powder Sachet - Acai is one of those superfoods, I do believe. I'd probably not drink this while on holiday but as part of a build-up detox!
• L'Oreal Mythic Oil - I'm a big fan of hair oils and use various different ones, so I'm pleased to get to sample this one too.
• Good to Go Anywhere wipes - fab for popping into a handbag. I've been doing a lot of travel in and out of London and always feel so grimy on the tube! This will certainly help.

As ever, a great box from Latest in Beauty.

Second in the month for me was GlossyBox. My box gets sent to my in-laws house, as the postman over there is better at hiding packages/handing them in to neighbours than mine is down here. So I always end up seeing other people's spoilers before I get my box. Unfortunately, this month, I wasn't terribly excited. The theme was International Superstars, which could have been amazing.






I received:

• All for Eve- Eve's Balm - I have no idea where this is from, actually, and it didn't say on my card either. Anyway, its a multi-purpose balm. I do like a good balm in the wintertime.
• DHC Deep Cleansing Oil - I love oil cleansers and am a big fan of the Oil Cleansing Method, which I've always meant to blog about. This one has mixed reviews but as I know my skin gets on well with oil cleansers, I'm excited to try it.
• Lipcote original lip sealer - I've never tried this before but always meant to pick some up, so that has saved me the trouble. I have heard it makes your lips sting though, which puts me off a lot!
• Pro-White Original whitening nail varnish - I learned in a chemistry lecture at school from a guest emeritus professor of chemistry about how specks of blue makes things look whiter and brighter and how, before the days of optical whiteners, blue powder called Rickett's Blue was rubbed into white clothes to make them look whiter (in fact, people who used to keep birds and show them at shows would rub it into their white chests, apparently. I dont condone rubbing a bird with blue powder, though). Fun science facts! I must surely have carried that nugget of knowledge around with me for 10 years, waiting for the day when I could explain to people why this polish has a blue tint to it! Its there to combat the yellowing effect using lots of nail polish has on the nails. I struggle with this a lot so I'm really pleased to have this. And as its German, I'm hoping when I go to Europe in 3 weeks I can pick a full sized one up!
• THAT eyeshadow palette. To be honest, there's no point even naming it. Its pretty vile. You can buy better eyeshadows in the pound shops, the sponge applicator is the worst I've ever seen (I know they're all bad, but this is EXTRA BAD) and the shadows basically have no pigment in them. One for the bin.
• Glossybox lipstick. This is a nice colour, looks like it'll suit most colourings and would be good for every day wear. Here's a swatch:

All in all, I really wasn't that impressed with the box. I hope next month's is better. We'll see.

Next up was the Selfridges beauty box. I don't know that I've ever worked harder to buy something in my entire life. I meant to get up early to buy it online, but slept in. Then I figured they were all sold out and I'd missed my chance. Then Selfridges announced the release of more via twitter. The the site went into meltdown. I must have spent an entire hour trying to buy it. Im not the most patient of person, but I somehow managed to not throw the mother of all hissy fits and finally, it was mine!






To be honest with you, Selfridges single handedly raised the bar with their offering, which I presume is a happy little one off, but still. No tiny perfume vial! Amazing products! Amazing value! None of that sizzle stuff in the box! The box contains:

• Antipodes Organic Avocado & Rosehip Divine Facial Oil - Anything with the word divine in attracts my attention! And I love facial oils, as I have documented well in this little blog.
• Bio Effect EGF Serum - I've heard a lot about Bio Effect and I'm excited to try this. Second to my love of oils is serums!
• Aesop Parsley Seed Anti-Oxidant Serum - I've been wanting to try out Aesop for ages and ages and now I can. Thanks, Selfridges!
• Estelle & Third Lip Balm - I like to have a lip balm in every handbag becase I'm forever licking and biting my lips.
• Philip B Katira Hair Masque - My hair seems to be permanently split at the ends, so all hair masques are good for me
• Stila One Step Correct - Known as a 'Fashion Week Favourite' this primer looks amazing in the tube, can't wait to try it out.
• Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask - perfect for pamper days.

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to get this and receive it (I got called to a meeting the day of delivery, so sulked all day, then came home to find it had been delivered to a neighbour, so I danced for joy, but they were out, so I sulked a bit more. Then the neighbour dropped it off in the morning and I was happy once more!). I wouldn't like to tell you how many people I bored with tales of this box, of the ordering process, the waiting process, the delivery, etc. Excellent. I loved this box.

The final box I received this month came only today, which was good timing for this post! Back to my old friends at the lovely Latest in Beauty. They've launched the Collections boxes which means even more boxes even more frequently. My bank manager isn't happy, but I'm delighted! The first one was an Editor's Picks box, with Aveda products in it. I've never tried Aveda but I always hear good things.





The box contains:

• Smoothing Body polish - this smells really nice!
• Sun Care Hair and Body Cleanser - excellent for a beach holiday methinks
• Caribbean Therapy Body Scrub - there's something about body scrubs that screams pamper session to me, probably because of how I feel after using them. Hooray!
• Damage Remedy Shampoo, conditioner treatment and daily hair repair. Amazing! I have very dry brittle ends on my hair, and no amount of cutting seems to be helping at the moment!
• Caribbean Therapy Body Cleanser - unfortunately, this wasn't in my box. But Latest in Beauty being as wonderful as they are, within minutes of me e-mailing, they said they'd pop it in the post for me. Hooray!

Besides the Sun Care product, which I'm going to save in the hope of a winter sun holiday next year, the rest are being set aside for a few upcoming pamper sessions. Amazing.

So, those were my beauty boxes this month. The GlossyBox was a bit disappointing and I could have lived without it, but the others more than made up for it. Im already excited at the prospect of next month's boxes!

Did you get any of these? Have you tried any of the products featured here already? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Im very very behind in blogging. I basically have no excuse! My usual routines are totally shot to pieces at the moment and although I have lots of free time, I just end up forgetting. Its true what they say, if you want something done, ask a busy person!

With that in mind, here's some super old Instagram pictures.



MUA shade 19 nails, some MUA purchases, simple outfit to have the in-laws round for dinner, essential hangover cure Dominos.



I ♥ NY and coffee in equal measures, my excellent Primark trousers which are like PJ trousers, leftovers of the amazing passionfruit and white chocolate cheesecake, mixing it up with a hot chocolate rather than a coffee.



Big fringe, big lips, silly face, new Ikea bedding, new Ikea storage jars, a meal out at my favourite chinese restaurant round these parts.



Old enough to need to try Garnier Ultralift, one of many insane things I buy on Ebay when I can't sleep, waiting for my work laptop to shut down was killing me, after finding grey hairs in my fringe, it was time to colour it again.



Yummy lunch, samples through the post, my beautiful Cala lillies, my favourite flower, doing the ironing, a job I actually enjoy (I know, I know!)



Keen to go home, went out on one of those baking hot days and quickly realised my legs would burn, baking hot day to be on a train, one of those cute 'end of the line' train stations that time rather delightfully forgot.



Best GlossyBox ever, gorgeous flower than sprang up in my garden, amazing sushi lunch, FBI cocktail in place of dessert, one of my favourites!

Not perhaps the most exciting post ever but then my life isn't exactly the most exciting at the moment!

I've been following the lovely Kia's blog MAKE me UP  for a few months now and she's been quietly but diligently launching her very own beauty product. At the start of the month she announced her product, Moonie! Moonie's are natural muslin face cloths in a big round full moon shape. Kia even has her own face of the brand, the lovely Neil!

I couldn't resist buying a pack of Moonies. Kia sorted my order immediately and they arrived super quickly! I love the packaging, and now I have my very own Neil, which I'm super excited about!




Like I said, I loved the all-natural, recyclable packaging!




You get three large Moonies for £5.99, which I think is a really great bargain :)




And here's a Moonie unfolded. I love that the muslin is unbleached. The white commerical ones go grey and grubby looking so quickly, no matter how diligently you wash them.

The cloths feel really good on the skin, rough enough to exfoliate and wake your skin up, but gentle enough not to damage your face. I like to use these on days I don't use an exfoliator but still need a skin pick me up. Kia also has some helpful tips for other ways the Moonie's can be used so be sure to check out her blog post!

As for the lovely Neil, he is now the guardian of all my muslin cloths. I keep them in a glass jar I picked up in a charity shop for the bargain price of £1.75, gotta love charity shops :)



Moonies cost £5.99 for a pack of 3 and for a limited time include free super speedy delivery to the UK! You can buy them here.

Big congratulations to you, Kia, on the launch of Moonies, and I wish you every success in your business!

Im a sucker for beauty products and I'm a sucker for discounts. So when I found out about some great offers on at REN and Dermalogica last month I couldn't resist trying their products out. Aside from the products in last month's magazine freebies, I'd never tried REN before but I had heard amazing things. And I've never tried Dermalogica either.

First up, REN. I told you here about the REN offers combining 10% off your first order, 10% off with WIMH and the free Six of the Best trial set. That's what I opted for. The cheapest thing you could buy to take advantage of this offer was some muslin cloths, but when I saw the Kit for Blemish Prone Skin I decided to give that a whirl as I'm always on the lookout for the perfect products for my face. Along side this I received the Six Of The Best kit and I got to choose four super cute teeny weeny samples for free.



Here was my stash. I love that the tiny samples came in an envelope. I'm clearly easily amused!


And these are my tiny samples. As you can see I chose the Invisible Pores Detox Mask, T-Zone Balancing Day Fluid, F10 Smooth and Renew Mask and the Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask. The last one comes in the Six of the Best pack too but I'd heard so many good things I thought getting a little extra wouldn't hurt!

So far, in from Kit for Blemish Prone Skin, I've tried the mask and it was really good. My skin has been disasterous lately and this took the angry redness out of my blemishes and calmed it right down. My skin felt very different after using it. It was tight but not so tight that it felt like I'd sucked all the goodness out of it and looked much better the next day too. I've also tried the radiance renewal mask and I like how its left my skin, although I do find my skin is quite greasy the next day after using it.

Next up was my Dermalogica. The box looked like this:



And I liked that when you opened the flap it said 'this box isn't pretty, but it is recyclable'.



I like it when my packages talk to me. Yeah, I know. There are things one shouldn't admit in the public domain.




And these were my goodies! I went for the Clean Start Major Breakout mini kit again, because I'm always on the lookout for the perfect products for my skin. With this I received the Smart Mouth Lip Shine free, along with a Hydration deluxa sample kit, also free. I believe I had a voucher code for 10% or 20% off too.

I'm chuffed to bits with my haul and I can't wait to use up my current cleanser so I can get stuck into some of these to see how the work on my skin!

Have you tried any of these products? Or have you seen any excellent skincare offers anyway? Let me know in the comments!