What's in my box?

As you know I am doing a spot of freelance writing for the newest box on the block's blog, but I just wanted to make it clear from the start that I am not under any obligation to blog about their services and can therefore remain entirely impartial regarding my opinions.

Phew! So now that that's out the way I can get on to my review of sorts and give you a sneaky peek into Carmine's first ever box!

(please excuse my chipped nails, total beauty faux pas!)

The whole beauty box phenomenon never really grabbed my attention before to be honest; the bazillion posts every month have driven me a little crackers and although I've been lucky enough to try a few boxes, I've still remained on the fence about the whole idea.

I was swayed a little however yesterday, by the arrival of this cheery looking parcel at my door.

Carmine have packaged their boxes beautifully, the vibrant and bright colours are gorgeously eye catching. Good first impression indeed!

Inside the orange box lies another box, this time it's a sleeker, more subtle parcel. The quality is top notch, this is one of those boxes that's too good to chuck and I've no doubt will house my nail polish in no time.

I don't know whether it was me rushing to discover what lies within but I did find it rather difficult to get into the box, the lid just wouldn't budge!

Anyway, after a few minutes of frantically shaking it, the lid slipped off to reveal this opulently tied package.

What's inside? What's inside?

Almost there ...

Beneath the ribbon, tissue paper and notelets lie October's surprises of which there are five.

All, I'm happy to say are from brands I've never tried, super exciting! The great thing about these boxes is the chance to discover something you never would have thought of, let alone bought.


1. Caudalie Quenching Sorbet-Creme, 10ml - A light weight and luxurious cream to refresh and hydrate the skin.


2. Trind Nail Repair Natural , full size - a nail strengthener which I can't wait to use, my nails are in such bad nick right now!


3. Daniel Sandler, Eye Delight in Peach, 3g full size - a fairly large pot of shimmery eye dust, love this but unfortunately not a colour I'd use. The shade Ice is also available in the boxes.


4. TheBalm, FratBoy All in one shadow/blush, full size - Easily the best thing in the box for me, love, love, love this! Packaging gorgeous, very retro and the shade is perfect for me. It's a very natural pale rose with a hint of peach.


5. Balance Me, Super Moisturising Hand Cream, 30ml - A large sized sample of their award winning 98.8% natural hand cream. Been using this for the past few days and love it. Bye bye dry hands!

The October box has exceeded all my expectations, having met with the team behind Carmine I knew it would be good but not quite this good.

I am really happy with all the products included, three of which are full sized and two are of a deluxe sample quantity. I think it's important when giving samples that they are of a decent size because there is no way you can form an opinion of something you only can use once or twice.

Now that I've written this I'm off to play with all my products, my nails are in for a treat and TheBalm is blush of choice today!

If you are interested in Carmine and pondering whether to subscribe or not, check out their website for more information or read my previous blog post here.

What did you think? Swayed by the whole beauty box idea?
xxx