Love Me Beauty April 2014 | Contents & First Impressions...

When I saw the three menu's for April's Love Me Beauty box, I was instantly impressed by the selection of brands/products on offer. Every month Love Me Beauty send their subscribers an email to let them know it's time to choose which menu they'd like to receive? They release three menu's in their online 'Boutique' where you go and opt for which menu you'd like to receive that month, or you can choose to receive a surprise box. If for any reason none of the boxes take your fancy for that month, you can simply opt to 'skip' that month's box at absolutely no cost, which makes Love Me Beauty so unique.

For April I opted for Menu Three. All of the three menu's are guaranteed to have a value of over £30 and cost just £12.95* each, delivered.

Inside the box this month there were a couple of surprise samples.. two x 2ml sachets of Weleda Stretch Mark Massage Oil, as well as £25 gift card for the Hello Fresh website. Hello Fresh is a website where you can order 'boxes' of fresh ingredients to be delivered to your house to create multiple meals.  Prices start from £42, so the £25 gift card is a good discount so you could try the service out for yourself, if you wanted to. 

The first product within the box is the Betty Hula Secret Wonder Oil Roller Ball (10ml full size worth £6.25). I've never tried anything from Betty Hula before, but after looking on the Betty Hula website, their products look really lovely and have had a lot of press coverage. The Betty Hula Secret Wonder Oil is available in two sizes; this convenient travel size and a larger 50ml size. It's said to be highly versatile, and a great smelling 'award winning' moisturising oil, which is good for: Relieving signs of stretchmarks, scaring, dry/sensitive and aging skin, combination skin, oily skin and for soothing sunburn. To use the oil, you simply use the roller to apply directly onto the skin, on any problem areas or wrinkles/lines around the eyes.

The oil has a delicate scent, which does linger on the skin for quite a while after application so I prefer to use it on my body rather than my face. The oil is quite lightweight, which absorbs easily without leaving my skin feeling greasy. It leaves the skin soft and supple, and I like how travel-friendly this 10ml size is. 

Next up is a full size Models Own Polish (worth £5) which I'm always very happy about receiving, as I love Models Own Nail Polishes. The shades differed from menu to menu, with menu one having Coral Reef, menu two has a Nail Art Pen in Pastel Pink and menu three has Fuzzy Peach. Fuzzy Peach is a super pretty, almost muted neon coral shade which looks so summery on the nails. Just like all Models Own polishes, the formula is fantastic with full opacity in just two coats. Fuzzy Peach is going to make the ideal toenail shade throughout the Summer, and I love it.

The next product within my box is the Neal & Wolf Ritual Daily Cleansing Shampoo (Full size worth £8.95). Neal & Wolf have featured in a previous box back in July (here) when Love Me Beauty was named the BeautecoBox. All of the Neal & Wolf products smell incredible, and very salon-like and this shampoo is no exception, it smells divine. I've liked each product I've tried from the brand so I was excited to try this cleansing shampoo. I like to use a cleansing shampoo once a week to thoroughly cleanse my hair, and remove any product build-up. It claims to have an infusion of silk and milk proteins to boost moisture and reduce any flyaways. It also contains liquid shea extract to deliver shine, and manageable, radiant locks. 

It has a thick, clear gel-like consistency which lathers rather well. After rinsing it from my hair it did leave my hair feeling a little too 'squeaky clean' for my liking but once it'd dried, it felt a lot better. My hair felt really soft and smelt amazing as the scent lingered in my hair. I've only tried it once so far, and I really liked it. I know it's called a daily cleansing shampoo but I'll be keeping it for my once a week hair cleanse.

The last product in this month's box is a 30ml sample tube of Redken Color Extend Conditioner (worth £1.59). The conditioner is supposedly meant to help extend the life of your hair colour, as well as detangling and leaving the hair conditioned, soft and smooth. I've tried the leave in version of the Redken Color Extend Conditioner which works well, so I'm looking forward to trying this concealer. The 30ml is a generous size, so I should be able to get a couple of uses out of it. It smells so good, and Redken hair products are always of great quality.

Overall this was a great box, and I do genuinely love all four of the products I received in this month's box. However, the value of menu three's box is only £21.79 for the four products which might explain why they included the £25 Hello Fresh giftcard to top the value up, as they say their boxes are worth over £30. Personally I would have preferred to have physical products with a value of £30 rather than the giftcard, as it is a beauty box subscription. Of course a value of £21.79 is still impressive for a box that costs £12.95* and I'll definitely use the four products I received.

YARDLEY.. The Rebranding, Jade Eau de Toilette & Floral Bath and Body Collection

Yardley London is a brand which was perceived as being targeted towards a more mature market. However the iconic British brand which launched back in 1770 (wow!?!) have had a massive rebranding for 2014 which is already proving to be very popular. I, myself haven't tried any products from Yardley before, but in recent months I've read numerous reviews of their products on beauty blogs which have all been very complimentary. As part of the 2014 rebrand, Yardley London have launched a contemporary fragrance collection which includes five different fragrances, one of those being Jade.

Yardley London Jade Eau de Toilette

Jade is a retro-inspired, fresh and elegant, green floral chypre which is said to capture the spirit of the 1960's. Its top notes include peach, bergamot and galbanum with an heart of rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang and orris and then finished off with with a base of patchouli, sandalwood and moss. Jade is available in one size; 50ml £19.99* and is an eau de toilette. The imagery for Jade is stunning, very 60's inspired and very modern compared to Yadley's other fragrances. The bottle is cute, with a rounded shape, artdeco silver lid containing its pale green coloured perfume.

I didn't know what to expect from reading the notes, but I was pleasantly surprised by my very first Yardley product. It is such a light, cool, fresh, almost grassy scent without being floral or fruity like the notes would suggest. Whenever I apply Jade, it makes me feel really clean and refreshed as if I've just had a shower. I really do like it and it isn't too overpowering either. I can imagine this being my go-to scent this summer, as it's so fresh t'll be perfect.

Yardley London Invigorating Blue Orchid Nourishing Hand and Nail Cream

Quite a name, eh?! I've never tried any products with a blue orchid scent before, so I was really excited to try this hand cream, especially as I love hand creams in general. Priced at just £2.99* for a generous 75ml tube, complete with a pretty, blue orchid on the front.. it looks very modern, and would be something I'd be attracted to instore if I saw it, as it looks so different to regular handcreams. The hand and nail cream contains Q10, Shea butter, cocoa butter and sweet almond oil as well as being enriched with Vitamin E, which is renowned for being an antioxidant to help combat any signs of aging as well as strengthening the nails.

This is a really lovely hand cream. It is lightweight which absorbs quickly into the hands, leaving them feeling silky and soft, without being greasy. I always like to rate handcreams by the 'smartphone test' on whether I'm able to use my smartphone immediately after applying an handcream as some creams are way too sticky and end up leaving greasy smears on your screen. This Yardley hand and nail cream passes with flying colours, it doesn't leave any residue whatsoever, even with a generous application. The scent is very subtle, which I like as some handcreams are so perfumed that I feel like I need to wash them off if I eat etc. £2.99 is such a good price for this cream, especially as it's so nourishing.  

Yardley London Energising Peony Hydrating & Enriching Body Lotion

I really like the packaging of this body lotion, with its neon pink lid and ergonomically designed shape which fits snugly into the hand. Just like the handcream, there's a pretty image of a peony which is one of my favourite flowers. Again like the hand and nail cream, it contains the same ingredients such as as Q10, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Sweet Almond Oil and Vitamin E which are used in all of the Yardley Floral Bath and Body Collection. Considering the quality of the ingredients inside this body lotion, I'm surprised it's just £3.99*. It claims to leave the skin soft, smooth, toned as well as being delicately fragranced. The Yardley London Floral Bath and Body Collection contains three scents, with three products of each perfume.. 9 products in total. They're all so affordable - under £5 each, and are a great way to layer your scent should you wish to. 

This body lotion has the same lightweight texture as the hand cream, and absorbs into the skin with little effort needed and leaves my skin feeling incredibly silky. The scent is incredible. I've tried a lot of floral scented products before, but none have smelt as realistic as this body lotion.. it smells identical to a bunch of flowers. The scent does fade slightly after an hour, but it still lingers albeit lightly.. throughout the day. 

Yardley London Uplifting Daisy Moisturising Body Wash

The body wash is £2.49* and is described as a moisturising body wash, which creates a rich creamy lather, which gently cleanses and moisturises the skin to leave it feeling soft, silky smooth and lightly fragranced. The yellow and white packaging is so apt for a Daisy scented product and looks very spring-like in my bathroom.

The body wash has a gel-like texture, which on contact with water does become quite creamy especially when used with a shower puff. It smells quite similar to the Jade fragrance and is also quite fresh too. It leaves my skin feeling thoroughly cleansed, without it feeling stripped.

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I really do love what Yardley London have done with their rebranding, especially as they have maintained their more traditional ranges and packaging as well so they don't lose their previous target audience. If you like floral scented products, I'd really recommend giving their new Floral Bath & Body Collection a try.. or their Jade Eau de Toilette a sniff next time you're in Boots as I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.