Selfridges Lucky Beauty Bag - The Un-Baggening...

I don't know if unbaggening is a word, but I have an English degree, so I say it should be.

ANYWAY... I was about to finish work yesterday morning (was on nightshift) and I had two minutes to check my emails. Saw I had a Selfridges email, telling me the bags were now available to order, managed to bag (ho ho) one, and had it ordered before I left work. Came home from work this afternoon to discover that not only had it been dispatched, it had been DELIVERED and left with my lovely neighbour Tania! Cue major excitement from me and a fair bit of squeeing.

So does the Beauty Lucky Bag live up to the awesomeness of its predecessor, the Box? Well let's see what I got... 

In my box was:


OCC Lip Tar - £10 (Full size)
Anatomicals "Our Lip Balm's Better Than Yours" SPF 15 Lip Balm - £2.55 (Full size)
Ren Rose Otto Body Wash - 50ml Sample = £4.25 (Full size is 200ml for £17)
Eve Lom Rescue Mask - 15ml Sample =  £8.25 (Full size is 100ml for £55)
NPW Luxe Talons Nail Caviar - £2.50 (Full size)
NPW Beauty Junkie Ginseng Mud Mask - 15ml Sachet = £1.50 (Full size)

Bag cost = £15 + £4.95 delivery, Actual Product Worth = £29.05

I love the look of some of the products, and I'm especially excited by the OCC Lip Tar. I actually had no idea Selfridges stocked OCC, so looking forward to trying this gorgeously vivid pink shade! The Ren Body Wash smells gorgeous, so again, a thumbs up for me! The Anatomicals Lip Balm tastes nice and feels moisturising... but I have around 10 lip balms at the moment, so it is just another lip balm to me. I've never tried anything by Eve Lom (mainly due to budget :P) but I'm looking forward to giving this mask a go.

The NPW products have left me feeling a bit...meh? I think it's just because nail caviar and sachet masks are so easy to buy from any high-street chemist/pharmacy, and I was expecting to receive products that us mere mortals find it more difficult to obtain. Where this also leaves me feeling a bit downhearted is in the actual value of the products. I paid £19.95 for just under £30 of product, whereas most beauty subscription boxes give you more every month, and the Selfridges Beauty Box had a whopping £150 of product for the same price as this. I dunno, maybe I'm being cheeky, but I expected a little more from Selfridges. I suppose that's the point of any lucky bag, that you win some and lose some, but still...Feel free to disagree!

Overall, I'm looking forward to using these products, but I... I dunno I feel slightly cheated. Did you also order the Beauty Lucky Bag? What products did you receive?

Christina xo

Selfridge's Beauty Box (aka OMG THE PRETTY!)

So yes, it's taken me a while to get around to posting my review of the one-off Beauty Box from Selfridges, launched to promote their (utterly fabulous-looking) new Beauty Workshop in their London store. But it's taken me a while to get round to trying all the products, and I still haven't This is a testament as to how much product you get within this beautiful little box of joy! For £15 (plus £4.95 P+P) you get:

It is so freakin' pretty right? And inside you will find:

Antipodes Organic Avocado & Rosehip Divine Facial Oil
Bio Effect EGF Serum
Aesop Parsley Seed Anti Oxidant Serum
Estelle & Thild Lip Balm
Philip B Katira Hair Masque
Stila One Step Correct
Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask

For only £15 you get over £150 worth of product, which I think is amazingly good value. So what do I think of the products? I'll go through each product in turn...

Antipodes Organic Avocado & Rosehip Divine Facial Oil: I used this while I was on holiday in Gran Canaria, since it says this is a great product for preventing and soothing sun damage (I'm terrible, I love to sunbathe. I shouldn't because I'm a typical pasty pale Scot, but I still always end up trying to reserve a nice bed by the pool!). It has a really refreshing smell, and my skin certainly looked in better condition after being in the sun than it usually does. The only issue I found with this the oil is that it takes a while to sink in. But then if you're using this at night this won't matter, I was using after showering and before getting ready for evenings out. On the whole, liking it!

Bio Effect EGF Serum: This is the only product I haven't tried yet, and it's only because I want to use the other serums and oils first before trying this one, as I fear my skin will go on the fritz if I try too many things at once! I have, howeverm heard very good things about Bio Effect, so I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

Aesop Parsley Seed Anti Oxidant Serum: I haven't used this enough to discern its effect on my skin, but I have heard it is excellent for spot-prone skin, and I can feel a few brewing under my skin so I may give this another go shortly. One thing I can remember is that it has a rather strong scent that I'm not overly keen on, but I don't mind that.

Estelle & Thild Lip Balm: I absolutely love this, and it is now part of my daily make-up routine. It's so moisturising and lasts really well on my lips. It also satisfies my sweet-tooth as it's a raspberry lip-balm!

Philip B Katira Hair Masque: I like this, not quite love though. The Katira Hair Masque aims to improve manageability and shine in your hair. I tried leaving this in for most of the day yesterday, and it certainly improved shine, but my hair was just as unruly as always. It smells nice, and it does make my hair look extremely glossy, so it's like not love for this one!

Stila One Step Correct: Again, I love this so much it's now part of my daily make-up. I suffer from pretty blotchy/red skin at times, and in addition to my usual primer, this really helps eliminate some of the unevenness. It also feels really soothing when you apply it, so it always feels like a treat to apply!

Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask: My only gripe with this is that I want more! But at £57 for a full size jar, I'll maybe have to wait and save up. I loved this so much I've already finished it (sad face). This is a deep-cleansing clay mask which literally just sucks all the oil and crap from your face and leaves it feeling clean, smooth and (most importantly for my oily face) a whole lot less oily! You can feel it working as it sits on your skin, and it really helped my skin while I was on holiday, helping to tame all the excess oil and sweat produced due to the hot weather. I will, one day, invest in a full size jar of this because it really helped my skin and felt amazing.

Overall, this was well worth the £15 (and the excessive swearing and refreshing of Selfridges' website) I spent on it. Did you manage to get your hands on a box? What were your thoughts on the products?

As always, would love to hear your feedback!

Christina xo