I for one love a surprise, love getting parcels, and love cosmetics, so I think these companies are clearly doing something right.
I've been subscribed to glossybox from the very beginning and would never stray since I love them so much, but with so many new companies on the scene offering us deals, I felt the need to test the water and with several bloggers offering a 50% discount code off your first 'Carmine' box which made this only £5 plus p&p, I couldn't say no!
How cute is my nosey little kitty by the way, this is TJ, we named her after TJ from recess because from the moment we got her as a kitten she was always very mischievous and a bit naughty but nobody can help but fall in love with her. She's a very social miss so your bound to see her in other photo's. Our other kitty, Pixie, is a little more shy but I'm sure he'll pop in a photo to say hello sometime :).
Back to the review, now I was hoping to receive a brand new second box as I'd already seen the first one by a handful of bloggers. However I certainly wasn't disappointed when I got box number one as the standard of it was so high thats what made me buy into the hype! I shall definitely keep my subscription and see what their second box has to offer :)
First up is Daniel Sandlers eye delight in peach, this is a loose eyeshaddow that retails at £10.25. This is such a beautiful shade I love peachy colours. I'll use mine with a wash of water on my brush because this shaddow has beautiful luminosity and using it wet is going to enhance its properties. I also think used sparingly this will make a fabulous blush colour! I'll inform you when I try it.
Next product is Balance Me's super moisturising hand cream, it retails at £14.40 for 100 ml and my sample is a generous 30ml, in my opinion thats about the right size for a hand cream anyway, I don't want to be lugging anything bigger than this around in my bag. This has apparently won several awards. I can see why, its thick, creamy it sinks in quickly, its not oily and it has a beautiful aromatherapy scent! It states that its 98.8% organic to, which is always a nice bonus :).
Here we have Trind nail repair in 'natural', it retails for £12.95. I haven't tried it yet but as soon as I do i'll let you know the result. I'm usually bored by nail repair varnishes, I hope this one can excite me, it looks rather promising anyway.
This was one of the products that really excited me, I love the balm, I bought a tinted moisturiser from the brand when I was in newyork and its amazing, fell in love. I also love the adorable vintage pin-up style packaging, the only thing that lets it down is that is card! Can get dirty and dented so easily. The retails for £16 so pretty amazing that it came in the box!.
Finally we have Caudalie quenching sorbet creme. This retails at £20 for 40ml and the sample I have is a nice 10ml, a pretty generous sample as its a whole 25% of the full sized one. Now I love face creams so I cannot wait to try this out in my routine, I'll report back and let you know what I think, I have high hopes for this one!
So that concludes the review really, a few things i might add though, comparing to glossybox I think they are about on par, a few plus point to carmine though, their website is great, they already have a beauty profile, this is something that glossybox are STILL working on. I received no iddy biddy perfume samples, no saches, the qaulity of product was excellent and the sizes of the samples were very generous, not ti mention 3 of the 5 products sent were full sized! This is brilliant and I shall definitely stay subscribed to carmine, I have high expectations for them and hope they can products such a good box again next month! The only thing I could mark it down on ever so slightly compared to glossybox is presentation, both very similar but i do prefer how how glossy box is packaged.
This has inspired me to go on a hunt and try out some other month beauty box companies, so be sure to look out for that!
Just one last photo of TJ trying to have a read, haha bless her :)
Let me know your thoughts, have you subscribed to Carmine? Do you think you'll give it a try now you've seen some of what it can offer and do you think this could rival glossy box?
Personally I think glossybox will always stay on top however if its competitors like this pull their fingers out it could have strong competition and may need to start upping their game!
Gemma -x
