May Lux Box Full Review

I've been aware of Beauty Boxes for quite a few months, after first hearing about BirchBox in the USA. The UK options didn't seem to quite live up to BirchBox though, so I never took the plunge & subscribed, that is until last month. During one of my regular beauty Googling adventures I came across LUX BOX, a new company promising luxurious products & about to release their first beauty box. Lux Box were offering their first box at a discounted rate, so I jumped on board & signed up (this bit me with the Beauty Box Bug & I subsequently also signed up to Glossybox & the She Said Beauty box, but that's irrelevant to this post) . I received the first box about a month ago now, so have had a chance to really test out the products & I thought I'd share some of my views.

Lux Boxes cost £10 each + £2.95 P&P

1, 3, 6 & 12 month subscriptions are available with discounts on the longer subscriptions.

Along with actual physical products you also get discount codes for if you wish to purchase any items. There's also a monthly offer, which in May was 50% off Boudoir Lashes Lash extensions. I personally think that's an amazing offer, lash extensions can be pretty pricey, so 50% off is fantastic. I personally didn't make use of this, because I've spent the majority of my month sat in my room revising, so even at half price it wouldn't be worth it. The only let down with this offer is that Boudoir Lashes work out of BECCA Cosmetics flagship boutique in London, so if you don't live near London, the offer would be pretty worthless!
Once you've received your box you can fill in a short review questionnaire on each product on the LuxBox website, if you so wish. I really like the review format, I like having specific questions and being able to tick answers off in the form of a scale from 1 to 5 (appeals to my quantitative way of thinking), whilst still having the option to expand with words if I so wish.

On to the products:

Steam Cream: This came as a full size product with a limited edition tin (Ambigue by Mako Kikkawa). Steam Cream is a lightweight all-in-one moisturiser, handmade using natural ingredients fused together by steam. It's quite a hyped up, award winning product & I'd heard the name around before but never investigated. I found the scent quite strong for a moisturiser (especially one that's also meant for use on the face), the lavender is what struck me most (I think my sense of smell must be pretty sensitive to lavender, I often find it so overwhelming in products). If you're into herbal-essential oil scents then this is your thing. I mainly used this on my body, which I loved it for, it is very lightweight & melts into the skin nicely. I'm not one for using scented products on my face, but my skin has been super dry this month, so I thought I'd give the steam cream a go. This was not a good idea for my sensitive skin...it full on broke me out!! So I wouldn't recommend using steam cream on your face if you have particularly sensitive or acne prone skin. Over all I loved the steam cream & have almost used up the whole tin!! I'm not sure if I will purchase another immediately, but it's a product I'm sure I'll own again. I'm also pretty sure I'll buy these as gifts for people in the future as the interesting range of tin designs make them really cute & much more suitable to give as gifts than other skincare products.

Steam Cream retails for around the £12.95 mark & is available from a variety of department store & beauty boutiques nationwide (I think they also sell it in larger Topshop stores)

Eldora False Lashes: I received the D152 set, which to be perfectly honest I haven't touched (So can't really comment on application etc) because they are covered in Jewels...I'll save these for when I get asked to appear on dancing on ice, I think.

Eldora do have a ridiculously large range of lashes (both human & synthetic) starting from £3.90, so check out their website if you're a bit of a lash-fiend, & use the code 'ELDORALUX12' to get£5 off orders over £15 before 31st May 2012. 

BM Beauty Eyeshadows: These mineral eyeshadows are really pigmented. I'm not a massive fan of loose eyeshadows, I can't be bothered with the mess they create, but I do love the intense look you can create with them. The colours I received were Marble Sparkle (a silvery white) & Aquatic Galaxy (A blue-turquoise), they're not the kinds of colours I go for & I struggled to incorporate them into looks I would actually wear (the combination of being SO sparkly AND really out there colours was a bit much for me), but that aside I don't really have anything bad to say about these shadows, they give such an intense colour & can be blended quite easily too. I'm keen to try some of the more me-suitable colours, especially the ones in the 'Earthy Princess' collection. I do want to mention that the sample pots weren't the most suitable...I have pigment EVERYWHERE, even before I opened the pots for the first time it had somehow leaked out & got all over everthing, but the design of the full size pots are completely different, so should not be a problem.
I think they're reasonably priced at £7 for 2g & are available from the BM Beauty Website.

Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream: This is a three-in-one naturally active eye cream, blended with lovely things such as chamomile, lemon, cucumber oil, witch hazel, coconut, rosehip and carrot oils to help brighten, smooth & hydrate the eye area. I was pretty excited to receive this as I feel I've been on an eye cream hunting craze for the past few months, trying as many as I can get my hands on without spending too much. The 'sample' received was actually 10ml (sold on their website for £14), which is amazing as I'm always finding with eye cream samples there's never enough to fully test out if it works for you. I really like this eye cream, it's 99% natural & I found it gentle around my extremely sensitive eye area (I have problems with many eye products that claim to be okay for sensitive eyes!!), it has a tiny hint of a delicate, natural scent without being over powering. The formula is very lightweight & is easily absorbed. I've been using this almost exclusively as my eye cream morning & night for the past month and my eye area does seem a little brighter & less puffy. Obviously it doesn't work miracles (what realistically does?!), but I'd go as far as saying I've liked it more than any other eye cream I've used. I'm not sure if I'll repurchase in the near future as trying new eye creams is one of my guilty pleasures, but out of all the ones I've tried so far if I was forced to settle down & commit to an eyecream tomorrow I would almost certainly go with this one.
The Extra Care Wonder Eye Cream is available to purchase in 15ml (£20...£3 off with code 'luxboxmay' before June 30th) & 10ml (£14) sizes. I know Balance Me. bath & body products are available from John Lewis, although I'm not sure about their skin care. Check out the Balance Me. website though

MOA The Green Balm: I LOVE THIS STUFF!! It's a 100% natural balm containing herbs that soothe & heal with an infinite number of uses. My first thoughts were 'WOW this stuff does EVERYTHING', then I was actually unsure what I could personally use it for, I don't have eczema/rashes/skin complaints, I found the thought of its use as a cleanser a little bizarre, I didn't have any cuts/bites/burns/wounds that needed help healing. I had no use for the miracle balm!! I started using it on the dry patches on my elbows & as a lip balm, functions I felt wasted its true potential. I used the directions of warming it between fingertips to an oil-like consistency & using it as a cleanser with a hot flannel. I loved this (& I have tried so many cleansers & cleansing techniques in the past few months). Needless to say my little sample pot got used up pretty quickly. I currently have a BIG pot on order to be delivered asap. I feel this is one of those products that EVERY bathroom cabinet needs. My sister's getting her eyebrows tattooed next week & I'm going to give her a mini pot to help it heal, I also can't wait for my big pot to come so I can use it as a hair treatment on my dry ends. Check out The Green Balm website for more healing & beauty uses (I could sit here all day listing possible uses, but I'll let you go meander the website for yourself). 50ml pots are available for £9.99 & mini 15ml pots for £4.99. The discount code LOVEMOA20 can be used until 31st May 2012 for a 20% discount.

I'm so pleased to have been introduced to some amazing products through last month's LuxBox & I can't wait to see what will appear in this month's box. I definitely recommend giving Lux Box a go if you're looking into beauty boxes. You can sign up for just 1 month with no subscription, unlike any of the other boxes where you have to sign up for a rolling subscription & then cancel if you just wanted to try it for a single month. I also think everyone in the world should own a pot of MOA The Green Balm.


Have you signed up for Lux Box? What did you think of last month's box. Have you tried any of the featured products, what are your thoughts on them?

Miss Sarah x