Thursday 24 November 2011

Glossy Box Review



I was approached by Glossy Box to review one of their monthly boxes back in September and I  figured it sounded like a good concept so agreed to sample the September box and give a review on the site.

My first beauty product review and I was quite excited, I even commented on Twitter about it using the hashtag #glossybox. Immediately I got pretty much attacked by beauty bloggers demanding to know 'who I was' and generally being green with envy that they had not be selected to do the review. I was even more excited, clearly this was going to change my life.

The concept is a nice one, you subscribe monthly to the delivery of one box per month. In each box is about 5 products some full size, most trial/sample size of 'mojor' brands for you to try out and the idea being re buy the ones you like. I thought a years subscription would be a great present for someone to receive, meaning a monthly gift all year.

When the first box arrived I was over the moon, it smelt divine and the packaging is top class. A beautiful pink box with black paper and pale pink ribbon bundling the contents together. 

The products in my first box were good, an HD Brow set, some perfume samples, a few Salt Scrub sachets and a full size tube of Neal and Wolf conditioner. I gave to brow set to my mum, the samples I chucked in the cupboard and the conditioner turned my hair into silk and got me compliments daily until it ran out.

I did however notice much unhappiness on Twitter. Many of the HD Brow set had arrived smashed to pieces or un packaged and people were not happy! 
I have emailed the PR company to see what happened to those complaints and received this reply:

''Every single subscriber that contacted us with a photo of their damaged HD Brows got a replacement sent to them. We then sent out an email to all subscribers to contact us if they received a damaged product so we could replace it - in case they were not aware that we were offering replacements.''

I also raised the issue of the boxes random nature, I noticed many complaints of 17 year old girls getting anti aging products etc and it was not just me who felt a little peeved when we read of other peoples boxes containing in our opinion better items. The PR company did respond on those issues so I have included the reply below:

''Although we believe that the real value of GLOSSYBOX is within the experience of finding out about new brands and products, we are confident that it is very good value for money.

Our brand team work hard to make the quality, price and size of the box equal throughout all of them. We try to customise our boxes to the best of our abilities and are still learning every month on how to do better. Some customers may have received unsuitable items in the past and we are aware of this and promise to improve in the future. 

Sometimes, there will be a difference in value of products sent to subscribers in terms of retail price. However, while GLOSSYBOX on the whole always offers fantastic value for money, that is not the point of the concept. On the whole, the idea behind GLOSSYBOX is that we help women discover products they may not have known about or considered if they had not been featured in our box. This means that on and off, you will receive a product that you would never have bought. Often, women will complain to us about receiving a fake tan because they never work on their pale skin or don't think nail wraps are suitable for them. The fun part for us is then hearing back a week later from the same women with a message about how many compliments they have been receiving after using the fake tan we sent them! We have heard back from women saying that it was the first fake tan they ever used that looked natural on their skintone and made them look younger and more rested. We heard back from mothers who initially thought that nail wraps are only for young girls into very fashion-forward products and after trying the nail wraps, many of these busy mothers realise this is an amazing way to look groomed and have smudge and chip free nails! This is what we endeavour to achieve at GLOSSYBOX. ''

I get their point but I have to say I felt seriously let down by the second box I received in November. There was nothing in it I would use at all and if I was paying for that I would be very annoyed.

However the pink boxes are very cute and are now being used as hair clip storage in Tabithas room so every cloud etc....


Check out the site GLOSSYBOX if this sounds like your kind of thing.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

The Gallery - Something I am proud of...


This week the theme of The Gallery is 'Something I am proud of'.

Yes, really.... I have chosen, Me.

I am of course as any parent, proudest of my daughter but that seemed too easy so here we go....

I am proud of myself. (I feel a bit like I am at AA saying that out loud.)

I am proud of my mothering skills.
I am proud of my ability to smile during chaos.
I am proud of the patience I show when other people act like arseholes.
I am proud of my career, of holding it down while being a mother to a toddler.
I am proud of my history. The tough decisions I have made; of my ability to get through seemingly impossible times.
I am proud of myself.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Feather and Black Kids Range.


One of my favourite perks from blogging is being part of a parent panel for major brands. I was approached by Feather and Black to join theirs and jumped at the chance.

I am familiar with them already, a while ago they took over a company local to my home town, The Iron Bed Company; both brands are ones I have purchased previously.

My bed that I have owned since I was 19 is an Iron Bed Company bed and it is still going strong to this day.

All the parent panel bloggers were invited down to the Fulham Road store to meet with Adam Black and his team to discuss the childrens range. It was a great chance to browse the products up close and meet the people who work hard to meet all the needs of us demanding parents buying children furniture. It was clear to see that all the team are passionate about design, service and quality.

I also found it very refreshing to see that the parent panel venture is not just a way to build links to their site and increase their SEO, they really wanted to hear our feedback about buying furniture for our children and what we expect from their service in return.

We were all offered to chose an item from a selection to review and I chose the Noah Toybox as Tabitha is at the age where her room goes from perfect order to mayhem in seconds.


The delivery was faultless, it arrived spotless and most surprisingly no packaging. No boxes to bin that was all taken care of by the delivery men. They just put it down in her room and we were ready to go!

My favourite feature is the pistons that control the lid so no smashing down onto tiny fingers, and making it easy to lift and remain up while she rummages about for her favourite toy.

I do however have one warning for you about Feather and Black. Do not go into that store thinking you will walk out with the same bank balance, even when things are being given away.

Tabitha now has the Noah Bed accompanied by a superb mattress to match her Toybox.


The Noah Toybox was given to me by Feather and Black for the purpose of the review. The Noah Bed I purchased because I am easy led when confronted with beautiful things.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

The Gallery - 11.11.11.

This week on Sticky Fingers the subject is 11.11.11.

A record of how we all spent our day.


Since starting nursery Tabitha-Lo has managed to pick up every bug or virus doing the rounds. Friday 11.11.11 was no different, we were at home with a nice tummy bug.

This shot was the result of her hurting her hand on the remote control and refusing to let me look at it. Quite cute though.