Cohorted April Beauty Box

This months Cohorted Beauty Box is amazing, it has four fantastic items included, all of which I will be using. If you are present on Twitter, then you will know that these boxes are quite the conversational subject when they go on sale because the last three have, including this one, have all sold out! They costs just £19.99 but the contents alone add up to a huge £70!

So this month there are 4 full sized products within the box and all of them are for sale with Cohorted in their shop. What's more, each product is from a brand that you will have heard of or possibly even used something from and it is a good mixture of highstreet v's high end. This is one of the things I love about beauty boxes, the chance to try products you might never have thought of trying, the opportunity to try things you might not necessarily have heard of, the chance that you have wanted a product for a while and actually it isn't what you had hoped or it is more than you hoped for and of course the build up to that box arriving, the refreshing of the package tracking page and then the arrival.

So, inside my box this month is the bareMinerals: Heavenly Face Brush (RRP £22) made from goat hair, this brush is large, soft and features a blunt-cut brush head. 

On the skin it feels incredibly soft on the skin and I find it is great for giving that flawless look with liquid foundation and equally it is great for using as finishing brush too.

Ark Age Prepare Skin Purifying Masque (rrp £10) is next and it is described as being a cleansing masque for congested skin that will leave it feeling very refreshed. The masque is said to absorb excess oil, reduce the appearance of blemishes and pores for clear skin. Designed to be used once or twice a week, this masque uses Kaolin Clay which heals blemishes and prevents new ones from forming. Wild Water Mint reduces the size of enlarged pores and Anti-pollution Algae prevents skin damage from free radicals.

I have never used anything from Ark skincare but I do love a good facemask, so I am really looking forward to trying this.

Korres are one of my favourite brands for lip butters, so to find the Mulberry Vanilla Body Butter (RRP £19.50) in this box is a delight.  Made in Greece, this body butter is free from propylene glycol, synthetic dye, mineral oil, silicones and parabens. 

It contains shea butter, quince extract and a proprietary blend of sunflower, almond and avocado oils which moisturises and soothes the skin and is luxuriously hydrating. Having worn jeans, trousers and thick tights for the last few months, the skin of my shins is quite dry, so I need something that will soften and hydrate my skin and not only does this body butter smell absolutely beautiful, it is such a lovely cream, you can't help but love it.

The final item in this amazng box is from MAC and it is the Sheertone Shimmer blusher in Dolly Mix. When I first looked at this blush I immediately loved the shade, who doesn't love pink, but I did expect it to be too pink for my almost porcelain skin. 

However, having had a bit of a play with it, actually whilst it is really pigmented, if you use a stippling blush lightly, it does give a great transfer of colour, giving that natural flushed look add to which the shimmer is just amazing, it creates a nice glowy sheen on your cheeks.

I think this is an absolutely amazing box and my favourite of the Cohorted boxes that I have seen to date.  I love that there is a nice mix of products and all four of them are not ones I would ever normally pick up or choose, but now I have them, I am wondering why I have not picked them up sooner.  This is one of the first boxes for a long time that I have used all of the products and have not been left feeling disappointed.

Did you manage to get your hands on this box?  What do you think to the contents?

Yves Rocher Make-up

Yves Rocher is one brand I am really enjoying the discovery of and have in recent months found products I have absolutely adored, so when the chance to try some of their makeup products I jumped at the chance.

In my package are 4 really lovely products.  The first is the 100% Intense Kajal liner which is really pigmented.  The first thing which caught my attention my how it is packaged and designed like a lipstick, by that I mean you remove the lid, twist the bottom and up pops your eyeliner.  Now I am notoriously bad at eyeliner, I have no patience when it comes to applying it and it just stresses me out, yet this product feels like something I can use and with a bit of practice who knows...  From the swatch that you can see on my arm, you can see how black it is and it is really hard to budge, so for those of you who like your eyeliner as black as your soul, which doesn't shift in the rain yet with a bit of eye makeup remover is easily removed, this is worth a look.

The Fixing Eyelid Primer comes next and I was chuffed to see this in my package because it is one item I have run out of and if I am wearing eye makeup, which isn't everyday, I like to have a proper primer.  When I first tried this primer, it does, on my skin look quite yellow, but once you have smoothed it across the lid, the yellowness totally disappears and it is a brilliant eyelid primer, admittedly much better than I expected.  What I love is that it isn't too thick that it grabs onto my eyeshadow, nor is it too thin that it makes no difference, it creates an almost perfect base to work with and it stops creasing, which is exactly what I expect from my primers.

Next is the Volume Vertige mascara which was the first item I opened as I am a bit of a mascara fiend.  Aside from the beautiful silver packaging is a brush that I adore because I like wide wands that have a mixture if long and short bristles, much like Benefit Mascara Wands.  There is also no excess mascara that needs to be wiped off the wand which again gets another thumbs up from me, there is nothing worse than having to remove the excess or having something which clumps upon first application, this does neither, infact one coat you can see the difference immediately, more in volume than in length and it makes for a perfect daytime mascara.

The final item is this beautiful looking Sumptuous Colour Eyeshadow Quad, I was sent the green quad, which is not my first choice as I have blue eyes, but there are plenty of other options to choose from. What I do love about this palette is that those four shades can be used as they are or wet.  Included are two small brushes which are perfect for on the go if you dont have travel sized brushes and the best thing is the size of the mirror which fits the width of the palette and is really handy to have.  On the bottom of the palette and also included is a little chart which details how to get the best use from the shades - Highlight, cover the eyelid, sculpt the eye and finally underline to give the smokey effect.

Overall I am really impressed with each and every one of these items, they look great, are easy to use and my favourite product has to be the eyelid primer, which I am absolutely loving.

Have you ever tried any makeup from Yves Rocher?