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Posts Tagged ‘Sample Bar’

27
Nov
2013

November’s Sample Bar

Hi all!

So on this busy Wednesday I bring you a quick post sharing what I received in my November Sample Bar Glam Pack. But first:

There are only 28 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

Image from here!

So this month’s Sample Bar Glam Pack was focused on the transition from Spring in to Summer and some versatile products that may be useful in this time.

What I Got

1. Organic Rosehip Oil by Essano

I liked the cleanser I received last month so was happy to receive a sample of the rosehip oil from the same brand. This is certified organic and is a gem for reducing wrinkles and uneven skin tone. At the moment I have been loving my Trilogy rosehip oil but this will make a handy handbag spare. It doesn’t have too strong of a scent and sinks into the skin relatively quickly however my favourite thing about this rosehip oil is the affordable price. These can be picked up full size (20mL) from the supermarket for a pretty reasonable $22.99.

2. Model Co Cheek and Lip Tint

Most likely the product I was most excited by at first glance was this cheek and lip tint by Model Co. I love the idea of tints but haven’t tried any out. This one is a berry pink colour and blends out on the cheeks relatively easy. I didn’t have much success using this on the lips and in future see it more as a quick and easy blush however I love the idea of a multipurpose product. This was a half size of their 10mL product which retails for $24.00.

3. Vital C Hyrdrating Repair Creme

This rather expensive creme ($109.70 for 60mL) is supposed to be great for sensitive skin so I was happy to receive a small sample pot to try out. Apparently its high price tag is due to the level of vitamins ACE but I don’t think I would rush out to buy it. Interested to see if it is any better than my Dream Cream by Lush which I am loving.

4. Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser

Another product suitable for sensitive skin which was great to see. Also good to see a relatively large 20mL sample (those tiny sachets drive me insane). This cleanser is soap free and has a neutral pH to thoroughly cleanse whilst also calming and avoiding irritation. Free of fragrance, perfume and parabens. Definitely happy to try this out and see how well it works. Full size (200mL) is $43.70.

5. Holistic Hair Sea Spray

Another product I was excited to see was this hair spray. For someone who avoids all hair care this was a rare moment but I like the idea of this natural spray, with lime and essential oils (and of course salt!) to add texture to curls and create beachy waves. The scent is pleasant and its another good size sample so I was pretty happy all round. Full size of 250mL comes with a pretty reasonable $22.45 price tag and can be bought online.

6. Daylong Sunscreen

The sixth and bonus product was three sachets of sunscreen. I hate sachets but at least these kind of make sense and are easy to pop into your wallet for those times we forget sunblock. This sunscreen in SPF 50 and is supposed to be light and non-greasy which is always good to hear. It also lasts 8 hours which means one application should last you most of the day. This swiss sunscreen goes for $34.99 (150mL).

The Verdict

Overall I thought the products in the box were all well chosen and none of them were ones I wouldn’t be able to or willing to use. With a lot of sensitive skin care and a couple of season specific products I am excited to try most of these out. My one main negative is that I wish there had been a full size product however the decent sample sizes weren’t as small as usual. Not my favourite box, but not a bad box either. Excited to see what Christmas brings!

What did you think this month?

24
Jun
2013

SampleBar Glam Pack for June

categories: Beauty

Hi All!

Hope everyone in the southern hemisphere is surviving the freezing weather at the moment!! I am combating the cold weather with slow cooked curries. Last month my Sample bar box may have not been posted….sorry! It was a fine box but I wasn’t super excited and was rather busy. Having said that (spoiler alert) this month wasn’t super amazing either. Having said that let me show you what was included this month.

So this month’s theme was Winter Rescue (and boy do I need it) and fittingly, the first thing that fell out of the box was this recipe for a Gingerbread sticky toffee pudding (which is one of my favorite deserts ever…Pretty keen to try it out!). I kindly included a photo of the recipe so you can all try it! Let me know if you do

On to the actual products, the first TLC product I saw was what looked like another travel tower of skin care. Although the idea is awesome, I don’t go travelling much (I wish) so I wasn’t super excited. Having said that it is still a great way to sample a line of skin care from a brand I have never heard before. This brand is Moreish and the tower includes day cream, night cream, eye cream and salvation balm. Straight up, I have tried all 4 and am rather impressed. This is another New Zealand brand that uses argan oil and local ingredients to create skin care that is perfect for winter. The full size of these products range from $24.99 to 34.99 and can be found at mot pharmacies.

Next up was a 50mL sample of Joico K-PAK Reconstruct for damaged hair. I am not big on hair care, I probably should be but I am not. I don’t get excited about hair samples and have no idea about most haircare brands so hopefully this one is a winner. This sample is a decent size (full size is 150mL, $32.00) so hopefully I can get a good feel for how well this strengthens my hair.

The only full size product was a Natural Glow Luscious Lips Shimmer Gloss in the shade Sugar Rose. First up, this brand feels really outdated to me… I was pretty unimpressed to be honest as I have grown to expect lots of trendy new brands and products whilst this lip gloss feels like they are trying to get rid of stock…The lip gloss itself is pretty average. The colour looks okay, a mid-toned pink however it’s a little frosty and glittery for me. The only positive to this lip gloss is the smell of cake batter which is definitely pleasant. Not a big winner for me sadly and at $25.00 from the Samplebar website I won’t be rushing to buy more.

Okay last up in terms of “real” products is a set of 4 sachet samples for the DermaLab skin care range. This range is affordable ($14.99-20.99) and another line from a New Zealand brand including nice stuff like Manuka Honey. I received 4 of their 5 products in their rescue regime. This included the cleanser, moituriser, shampoo and conditioner. All of these are great for sensitive and dry skin (which sums up my skin, especially in winter). As happy as I am trying out more skincare I feel like maybe one brand being featured with 4 products would have been enough and maybe something different would have been more interesting. I’m also not a fan of sachet samples as you only get one or two uses and they are a bit of a pain. Oh well.

So the very last “product” was a sample bar eye mask….Not super exciting but I guess il try using it. Apparently retails for $6.00 but to me this felt like an extra and didn’t contribute much to the box.

So that was kind of negative….It wasn’t a terrible box…I liked the skin care sample tower and the Joico hair reconstructor might be good but all in all this is my least favorite SampleBar box so far. Too much skin care, crappy full size lip gloss and just overall pretty meh. Sorry if this sounds a bit whingey! I am still a fan of SampleBar and hopeful that next month brings a more fulfilling box. If you are a subscriber please let me know how you felt about the products you received this month! Check out the SampleBar website to learn more.

See you soon with a hopefully happier post!

18
Apr
2013

April’s SampleBar Glam Pack

categories: Makeup and Beauty

Hi all!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Here in NZ the weather has lost its marbles (don’t be alarmed, this is a frequent occurrence) and has been literally moving from beautiful sunshine to thunder and downpours in 5 minutes. Wish I was exaggerating. This led to me running in and out every few minutes to try and decide how I should dry my washing. Yay.

Anyway, here is this month’s Sample Bar Glam Pack (obviously I failed to cancel my subscription again ._.). I was very happy to see this month taking on an Eco-Chic theme in their set of products focusing on eco-friendly, natural treats. Here’s what I got this month!

1. Evolu travel tower
This skin care travel kit tower is an awesome idea from a brand I’ve never heard of before. Includes creme cleanser, facial exfoliator, firming eye cream, anti ageing day cream, rehydrating facial masque and anti ageing overnight cream. The idea is that this compact little tower can be taken when away for a night or two and your skin care routine is covered! Refillable and reusable these have me very exciting!
The full size of this includes three of these travel towers for $65 (ouch) but a $20 discount e-coupon was included to ease the pain.

2. Anitpodes Avocado Pear Nourishing Night Cream
Antipodes is a brand I love but this tiny sachet is no where near enough to decide how I feel about a night cream. I would have been much happier with a proper little pot as we have had before. Having said that, this night cream sounds amazing with avocado and calendula oil, manuka honey and vinanza grape (what?) thrown in for good measure. Would have loved a proper sample of this.
A full size of this night cream is $62.50 so a little out of my price range.

3. Sorbet Shampoo Bar
This month we were given one solid shampoo bar made with 100% biodegradable ingredients and natural extracts. I am excited to try this out as I haven’t tried out a solid shampoo yet and I am curious as to how it works. It’s also excellent because its completely cruelty free which is always good to see. I don’t think the bar we got is the free size but this isn’t indicated on the packaging (annoyingly).
Full size bars are $22 (95g) and again we have a code to get a 15% discount which is nice.

4. Perfumie in Verbena Bamboo
Perhaps one of my favorite products in this month’s box is this little solid perfume stick which are convenient for shoving in one’s handbag and are full of natural ingredients. The fragrance I got (Verbena Bamboo) is really lovely, fresh and grassy (in a nice way..). I don’t think the scent lasts particularly long unfortunately but I haven’t used it much so might be wrong.
These are full size and cost $10.95

5. Pharo Microfibre Exfoliating Cloth
The other ‘full size’ product in this month’s box was this exfoliating cloth that is apparently reusable. A full size duo pack of these costs $11.95 which seems quite fair. Also, this product came with a $10 discount voucher for a sugaring treatment (I believe some form of hair removal…). Meh, I quite like this (but will never use the voucher, as usual).

Well that’s it for this week! I would have LOVED this box if the night cream was full size but as it is, it was kind of average, with no makeup products and some disappointing sizes. The theme of this I adored so I wish the box had lived up to all my (potentially unreasonable) expectations. Still, I am not dissapointed I forgot to cancel my subscription and have yet again been introduced to some interesting and eco-friendly brands. Oh and I almost forgot that Sample Bar included an Easter themed choc bunny that barely made it into this photo. Having to wait 5 minutes to consume chocolate is not one of my skills.

Let me know what you thought of this month’s box!

23
Mar
2013

What I’m Chucking 2013 Volume 1

categories: Makeup and Beauty

Hi All,

So I’m still a bit undecided about the whole “Product’s I’ve used up” kind of post but until someone tells me this is a silly post i’ll continue on showing you my rubbish…. Part of the reason I like these is that I have a chance to give you my thoughts on some products which may not have featured elsewhere on the blog. I don’t really do product reviews on individual items so I like the opportunity to give a couple of words on stuff I’ve been using. So here is my first Volume of my rubbish for 2013 haha.

1. Maybelline XXL Pro Mascara: This is a mascara that is so old it should have been chucked ages ago but I loved it so much I was reluctant! But off it goes! This was a double ended product with one side defining and lengthening (I think) and the other volumizing. I did love this but have since found equally if not better mascaras that I prefer and that are a bit easier and quicker to apply. Repurchase? I don’t think this is even still sold oops.

2. Olay Moisturizing Cream for Sensitive Skin: This was my go-to moisturizer for ages and was repurchased over and over. I love it because it’s moisturizing without feeling too heavy and doesn’t irritate my very sensitive skin. At the moment I am using a couple of different moisturizers just in an effort to be more adventurous but will most likely repurchase this in the future as it’s only $10 on special and does the job well.

3. Kleancolour Waterproof Eyeliner Pen: This was a piece of crap. I didn’t get a single stupid use out of this liquid eyeliner, pretty much the worse I’ve ever tried. I got this for like $5 at Postie Plus and I wasn’t expecting anything good but I was expecting SOMETHING. This just didn’t seem to work and left watery marks all over my hand no matter how much I played around trying to encourage something to happen. I really hope I just got a dud and they aren’t all this crap but I don’t plan on buying another.

4. Natio Pure Mineral Foundation: This is another product that is quite old. There’s a fair amount left in it but I never reach for it (I don’t think I’ve used it in months) and so not much point keeping it around. It was fine but quite light coverage for a foundation and nothing special. I have BB creams and other foundations I would prefer to use up so off it goes! Repurchase? Not likely.

5. evo:The great hydrator moisture mask: This was a sample I got in my first SampleBar pack but never quite got around to using until this year. I loved this and it did a beautiful job on the ends of my hair. I got quite a few uses because I mainly used it on my dry ends but the full size I know is quite expensive. Repurchase? If I see it somewhere I may consider but it’s a little out of my price range at the moment.

6. Kleancolour Mascara: Sorry for the extremely worn appearance of this, it was kept in my handbag, primarily for the mini mirror on the other side and as a backup mascara in case I forgot to wear and bring one. The mascara was pretty useless and dried up super quick so time to make more room for other makeup! Repurchase? Nope.

7. Vaseline Dry Skin conditioning lotion: I always try to have an abundance of creams and lotions for my dry skin and hands and this was a good backup when I ran out of my main hand cream or body lotion. Its all gone now and I may repurchase just because it‘s super cheap (around $3-4 at the Supermarket) and does a fine job when I need a quick moisture fix.

8. Cinnamon Mint Marvis Toothpaste: Another product from a SampleBar pack this was a small size of a lovely cinnamon flavored toothpaste! I rather loved this but probably won’t purchase the full size because it’s around $14 which is a little excessive for a toothpaste…

9. Sex and the City LOVE Shower Gel: This is the shower gel that came in a pack with the LOVE fragrance and the lotion and some mini sizes of two other fragrances. This is still practically full but being chucked because it doesn’t lather up well and doesn’t seem to do much other than smell okay. I have a lot of other shower gels I would prefer to use and this one isn’t great for my sensitive skin anyway. The lotion I kept although it’s a similarly crappy quality product because it doesn’t irritate my legs and so works as a simple leg and foot lotion.

10. Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Oil: I kept meaning to review this and never did and now its all gone! This was a lovely oil product that I used in a couple of different ways. I get eczema and irritation on my hands especially and I would add some drops of this to a tub of warm water to make a nice soak for my hands. It calmed down my skin and also put a lot of moisture into it as well. I also used this straight onto any scars or skin markings and it seemed to help those heal a bit better. It was also nice to add a couple drops to my night time moisturizer for an added level of moisture and also because the various oils all helped with fine lines and dry skin. It included cocoa butter, vitamin E, Sesame Oil, Canola oil, Cetesomate-E and Rosehip oil. For $11 this was a decent product but now I am using either pure organic rosehip oil or bio oil.

11. Lioele Beyond the Solution BB Cream: My beautiful friend Mish gave me this BB cream sample and I loved it! It is an asian BB cream so has quite a different feel compared to most of the ones we find here like the Garnier. It was really good coverage unlike my other Western BB creams and also had a slightly greyer tone if that makes sense. It made me look a little pale but a touch of my powder helped with that. Definitely interested in ordering a full size online as this lasted ages with a little going a really long way.

12. Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner: This is probably my favorite liquid liner that I’ve tried (although I haven’t tried many). It was in my first favorites post and I was very sad when it finished. Repurchase? Most likely when I next see it on special.

13. Paris Hilton perfume: This is so old I don’t even know if it has a name. This was one of the first perfumes I ever got and hence I didn’t ever want to throw it away. The scent originally I think was quite nice but quite young and girly so probably not something I would gravitate towards now. Also I’m certain it’s gone completely off and smells a bit rancid haha so definitely chucking now!

14. Kleancolour Wizard Pads (Nail Polish Remover Wipes with cuticle oil): First off these did not remove nail polish well AT ALL. They smudged it around a bit but I never succeeded in actually using these as nail polish remover. Once I accepted this small fact I loved these wipes! They were perfect after I used nail polish remover to get any last tiny bits off and to moisturize my cuticles. They had heaps of oil on them that felt wonderful on my nails and cuticles and one pad usually would last a couple of manicures which meant this pack lasted me ages! I also loved the cucumber scent! It was delish. I didn’t buy these, they were a Christmas gift from not last year but the year before (took me a while to start using them obviously haha) but if I do see them around I’ll definitely pick some more up.

15. Burt’s Bees Shampoo and Conditioner with Grapefruit and Sugar Beet: I won the two of these in a giveaway and was excited to try them out. These were another thing I kept meaning to review and never did. They are made with lots of organic products and stuff that’s nice and healthy for my hair which was great! The shampoo seemed to really deep clean my hair and I definitely needed the nice thick conditioner to restore some softness to it but in combination these two products worked great and my hair felt really healthy and clean. The scent is something that I think could put some people off as it is strong and smells “organic” if that makes sense… It was sweet but very citrusy from the grapefruit and I personally loved the fact that the scent wasn’t temporary and I could pick it up ever now and again throughout the day, but I know some people don’t like their hair to smell too strong. Repurchase? I’m pretty sure these are quite expensive so not sure if I will repurchase as I tend to use slightly cheaper (although not as nice) alternatives.

Whoo, that’s it. Sorry for the huge number of products. I’ll try do them a little more often so they aren’t quite so excessive haha. Let me know if you have used any of these products and what your thoughts are

24
Jan
2013

January’s Sample Bar Glam Pack

categories: Beauty, Makeup and Beauty

Hi All! So I hate being one of those people who apologizes for a lack of blogging, especially with such a small number of readers. This blog is a source of fun and escape for me so when I am not enjoying it or when it starts to make my life more stressful time wise I see no reason to try forcing out rushed posts. I needed a bit of a break and had zero motivation to blog due to stresses in other areas of my life so blogging has been sparse and I hope that won’t be the case much longer! Anyway, here is what I received in last week’s Sample bar glam pack! I hear there is a new subscription service being launched in NZ soon so now I am torn as to whether I should pay for both, swap over or stick to sample bar hmmm.

This months box was based around the theme of jet setting or holidaying over the summer period and I was fairly happy with what we received this month although I would love a makeup product/sample to be included.

1. Steamcream: The first full size product included this month was the multi-award winning steamcream which comes in a variety of very eye-catching and cute little tins! I have seen a couple of other designs which were very cute but have to say I was very pleased to get this English design! I think a lot of people thought this would be like a multipurpose balm product but it’s definitely a beautiful lotion/moisturiser that can be kept in the handbag and used where-ever. I love the scent of lavender (but I am sure some won’t) and find the cream to be beautiful on the skin without being too greasy. The 75g tin costs $29.95 (yay for getting our $25 money’s worth!). I’m already thinking of ways I can repurpose this tin…

2. Twistband in neon green: So this is apparently some hyped up elastic accessory from the states that can be used as a hair tie or as a wrist accessory. I think I must be missing something because this looks like it could be made in a 6 year old’s craft class… Don’t get me wrong, the snag free elastic is snag free, it holds my hair up rather well and looks cuter around my wrist than a crappy little black hair tie for sure but I’m not sure I really get the hype around it. Oh well I am always in need of more hair ties! These are $2.95 individually.

3. Air Repair eye cream: I am a sucker for eye creams! I am not sure why but I love trying new ones out so I was excited to see one included and full size too yay! This is a super hydrating eye cream with aloe, allantoin, vitamin C, green tea extract and cloudberry seed (what?) but don’t ask me what all of those do. It feels soothing on the eye but I haven’t used it long enough to get a clear idea on how it works. This is $17.50 for the 15mL tube.

4. Hil Cook Solution Buds: A two pack sample of cotton buds which can be fiddled around with in order to release make up remover solution into one end which can then be used to remove any makeup accidents or smudges. A cute and useful idea for when on the go or out away from trusty make up remover and cotton balls but at $12.99 for 20 I am not sure I would spend my money on the pack.

5. Le Tan SPF 30 Coconut Lotion: Last up is another favorite! I love the coconut smell of this sunblock/lotion so was pleased to receive a mini sized tube to take with me this weekend to the Coromandel. I’m not sure if this counts as sunblock or not but I use this happily on my body to give non-greasy SPF protection that doesn’t feel or smell like sun block. This is $5.99 for the little 35mL size that fits perfectly into my handbag.

So that’s it for this month! Overall pretty happy but hope to see some makeup next month. The only things I would maybe buy again would be the eye cream as it’s not too expensive, the coconut lotion and if I could afford more steam cream I would buy it in a flash for its divine scent but most of all the tins!! I need more!

Talk to you soon

22
Nov
2012

November Sample Bar Glam Pack

categories: Beauty, Makeup and Beauty

Hi all!

Middle of the month means the new Sample Bar Box (okay actually it’s a bit after the middle of the month but mine was one of the last to arrive, luckily its contents were worth the wait). This month had a them around Glow seeing as it is pretty much summer. I was pleasantly surprised with this month’s box as the previous launch box was okay but not mind=blowing yet I was much happier with this month’s products.

If you are in NZ and want the details of Sample Bar Box just click on over to my previous post

The first product and the only full size one is this Trilogy Self Tanning Instant Bronzing Gel. I have never used Trilogy products but have heard good things. Normally Bronzers/self-tanners terrify me a little so I’m looking forward to see how easy this is to work with. I also like the fact it uses natural additives as the active ingredients and includes aloe vera for moisture and hydration as well as Vitamin E.

This full size product costs $35.90

Possibly my favorite thing in the box is this 45g sample of Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner by Lush. I have never really bought Lush products despite loving them from afar yet lately I have been picking up/been given a few things so I was so happy to see something else to try! This is supposed to be used in the shower but to be honest so far I have just used it like a moisturizer and it is amazing! Smells delicious (cocoa butter with a little rose) and feels amazing on the skin. I will find it hard to resist purchasing this once the sample runs out.

Full size (225g) is $39.90

Okay so when I saw a Marvis toothpaste sample in the box I was a little disappointed I mean I just grab the cheapest at the supermarket and that is the extent of my toothpaste market research. However! This is actually another favorite along with the body conditioner which was a total surprise to me haha. I am ecstatic with the scent (Cinnamon Mint) which smells exactly like the Cinnamon mints from Eclipse. I am in love with this and the fact it’s from a fancy Italian brand makes it even better haha.

The full size (75mL) is from $14.50-17.50 and I am seriously tempted to buy full size but in the end it is jut toothpaste and I may have some difficulty convincing Edd this is worth it…

Next up is a very cute mini Lipstick from the brand Savoir Faire which I haven’t heard of before (ah the joy of beauty boxes!). The shade is perfect for summer as its a nude brown colour that is quite flattering for me. The size is perfect for shoving in my over stuffed makeup bag.

The full size price for these lipsticks is only $9.95 which seems quite cheap!

So last up is a sachet sample of Bump Eraiser which apparently removes ingrown hairs (as well as preventing them) and will also moisturize and exfoliate, perfect just prior to using the bronzing gel. Sounds like a good product but I don’t think one small sample will be quite enough to judge it’s effectiveness. We shall see!

The full size price is $27.50 for a 30mL tube.

All these products can be purchased on the Sample Bar website in case you missed out on the box or want to grab any of the featured products.

All in all I was really happy with this months box. All were from brands I don’t normally buy from and I thought value for money was very pleasing to the wallet or the boyfriend haha. Let me know what you thought If you are subscribed!

17
Oct
2012

Sample Bar Glam Pack!

categories: Beauty

Hi All!

So today was an exciting moment for me as I received my first ever beauty subscription box! Sample Bar has started the only New Zealand beauty subscription service and this is the starting box that they have sent out to the first 400 people who were on the waiting list. The service is $25 each month to receive a pack of 5 products. So I thought I would show you guys the products that are in this first box and give you some of my first impressions. Firstly I think the way it is packaged is really elegant! I love the black and white simple design and have many ideas for what I can use these boxes for in the future… (okay not that many, but I’m still thinking!)

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