The Body Shop limited edition Vitamin E Eyes cube

The Eyes cube* was introduced to The Body Shop's Vitamin E range as part of the limited edition Mothers day makeover. Three existing products had a packaging makeover but the Eyes cube is a brand new product to The Body Shop. As I've mentioned this is a limited edition product but hopefully if it proves popular The Body Shop might add it as a permanent product, probably in the standard Vitamin E range packaging.

I have to say I was confused by the name to begin with, as the product clearly isn't cube shaped, until I discovered 'Eyes cube' is actually a play on words of I guess 'ice cube'. This is a dinky little product that you wind up to reveal a solid product, a little like a lip balm. I'm sorry I haven't got a photo of the actual product inside as my camera couldn't cope with all the light pinkness! There doesn't look like there's an awful lot of product in there (4g) but because you apply it like a lip balm you use a minimal amount each time and so it will last well.

At first I really wasn't sure how well this would work as although the product is dinky it's on the large size for use around the eye area. I did find it a little awkward to use at first but I've now got used to it. I lightly swipe it just under my eyebrow along the brow bone, down round the side of the eye and then along the lower orbital bone and slightly up the side of the nose. This is the most difficult area as it's too bulky to get right into the side of the nose but if you do want to apply it there you could rub your finger on the top and then apply it from your finger. 

What I like most about this is that it's very cooling to apply, making the eyes/ice cube play on words very appropriate (that's if I have got that correct!). Also as this takes seconds to absorb it's the sort of product that is great to apply in the morning before applying your makeup. I think you may also be able to apply this over your makeup throughout the day if required but I haven't personally tried this.

I would say though that if you suffer with dry skin around your eyes this isn't moisturising enough to help relieve this. I think this fits in well as a morning eye product and as a tired eyes reliever through the day, but I would personally use something a little heavier and more moisturising at night.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Eyes cube is just £8 and is available in store and on The Body Shop website. In fact looking at the website the 'Limited edition' now appears to have been dropped and the Mothers day packaging replaced by the standard Vitamin E packaging, so I believe this might now be a permanent line.

Is this the sort of product you would use around your eyes?

*PR Sample. Post contains an affiliate link 

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Attending the BAFTAs 2015 with House of Fraser

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you may have noticed a few BAFTA related tweets/pictures on my accounts a couple of weeks ago. This is because I was lucky enough to attend the awards ceremony on Sunday 10th May.

The Wednesday before the awards an email landed in my inbox with the subject 'Congratulations!' but I didn't think too much of it at first as I enter a lot of competition and am lucky enough to win quite regularly. It was only when I opened it that I realised it was House of Fraser letting me know that I'd won their BAFTA competition. My prize included two VIP tickets to the BAFTAs, an overnight stay in a 5 star hotel, a £500 House of Fraser gift card and an official nominees goody bag. House of Fraser also covered my travel costs so I even treated myself to going down on the train as I was going to jump on a coach as although it takes longer it's considerably cheaper.

The gift card was sent straight out to me so I could go and buy myself a suitably gorgeous dress to wear to the ceremony. Unfortunately there isn't actually a House of Fraser where I live (although there is one where my boyfriend lives) so I headed up to Meadow Hall in Sheffield to try and find a dress. As it was for the BAFTAs I ideally wanted something floor length but really thought I'd struggle as I'm just under 6ft tall. I needn't have worried though as dresses appear to be super long at the moment, so they would pool on the ground for anybody shorter than me, but for me this means floor length. I found a lovely dress from Lace & Beads (who I haven't actually heard of before) which is grey with a beaded and sequinned top section that was only £75. I then managed to get 10% as some of the stitching had unravelled slightly and some sequins were coming off.

A memorial directly opposite our hotel

On the day I met up with my boyfriend in London who came across separately and we headed to a pub to meet up with some people he knew and have some lunch. The pub had just bought out their summer menu and I had a starter of Calamari followed by mussels and chips with toasted bread. The meal was so nice and I was quite surprised how reasonable it was considering we were in London. I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the pub but if you would like to know I can double check with my boyfriend. We then jumped on the tube to head towards the hotel and had a little wander through London while we waited for check in time. The hotel was actually very close to where the protests that turned into a bit a riot had been the day before and I was quite concerned that there might still be some trouble on the day that would effect our plans. The street was actually cordoned off so you could only walk down the paths on either side and there was a heavy police presence, including armoured vans and officers everywhere, but there was no trouble. We walked past the Women of World War 2 memorial and I believe the graffiti that had been sprayed onto it had been removed. It was quite a nice day, not too warm for walking around and as it was a Sunday it wasn't too busy, which made wandering around much more pleasant than usual. We then headed to the hotel to check in.

When I checked in at the hotel we were told we'd been upgraded so I was even more excited to head up and see what the room was like, and it was amazing! It featured a walk in wardrobe, double sink bathroom with a huge walk in shower and a bath with a TV, a mini bar (which was rather expensive, £3.30 for a small bottle of Coke!) and a Nespresso coffee machine. I'm sorry some of the photos are a little blurry but I think I was a little excited at the time and suffering from shaky hands. Unfortunately we didn't actually end up spending the night in this room as we found that when we turned the cold taps on in the bathroom they were actually hot. We reported it to reception and when we returned from the BAFTAs we were given another room and a bottle of champagne in the room for the inconvenience. 

I'm not sure what happened but despite having nearly three hours from check-in time until we had to leave for the BAFTAs the time just disappeared and I only ended up having about 40 minutes to get ready. I think I got carried away admiring the room and we did head out briefly so I could grab a drink as I didn't really want to use anything from the mini bar. But I managed to just about make myself look presentable and we headed off for the 15 minute walk to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane. We got to the red carpet, showed our tickets and then were told to walk down the red carpet. To be honest I think I kind of zoned out and didn't really see what was going on around me but my boyfriend said a photographer shouted 'who are they?' and he responded 'nobody'! As I work in TV and film I'm kind of used to celebrities, although if I'd thought more about it I should have had a little look round to see who was on the carpet at the time. I haven't checked any of the red carpet photos to see if I was caught in the background of any, I really should! We got to the end and headed up to our seats in the Grand circle where we found a bottle of Evian mineral water and a pack of Hotel Chocolate Tiddly BAFTAs on each seat (both were sponsors of the awards).

Excuse the heads but you can't really avoid that in a theatre unless you try and stand up and I was a bit worried I might tread on my dress and end up falling over. You can't see very well but the background of the stage was made up of BAFTA heads and it did look really good. Graham Norton was presenting and the show was opened with Sigma and Labrinth singing Higher. From up where we were it was pretty difficult to see the dresses but there were definitely a couple that weren't for me and several that looked gorgeous. The BAFTAs is televised but it starts before the broadcast starts on TV so I'm assuming a few of the mistakes that did happen were edited out. These included somebody trying to announce the winner before we'd seen the nominees, somebody walking off without their BAFTA and the worst one was the winner displayed on the screens was different to the winner that was read out! We did want to catch up with a few people we know in TV but surprisingly none of them were actually there so we skipped out on the after show party. 

After the ceremony we walked back to the hotel, got changed and nipped out again for a quick McDonalds before changing rooms. I then finished off my night with a glass of champagne in the bath (that I could stretch out fully in, remember I'm almost 6ft tall) watching a rubbish film on the bathroom TV. The goody bag was originally supposed to be waiting in my room for me but I found out afterwards that it was so heavy they were going to send it to me instead. I'm so glad they did as it arrived towards the end of the following week in a huge box and was indeed very heavy. It would have been impossible to try and get it home on the tube and train!

I thought the items in the goody bag were in a goody bag type bag but when I'd taken everything out I was delighted to find that the 'goody bag' was actually a Modalu England leather handbag worth £260. I've never owned an expensive handbag like this before, or even a handbag this large, so I'm really looking forward to filling it full of useful stuff I can't usually carry around with me in my small bag! The other items in the amazing goody bag were:

• Hotel Chocolate champagne truffles
• A bottle of BAFTA branded Taittinger Brut Reserve champagne
• Carat London star bracelet
• Howick collar stays
• Biba clutch bag
• Grolsch pen
• Fortnam & Mason BAFTA branded loose leaf tea
• Four BAFTA branded bottlegreen cordials
• Evian facial spray
• Mark hill products including styling spray, ball brush and backcombing comb
• St.Tropez luxe dry body oil
• Banagrams game

Thank you so much to House of Fraser for offering this amazing prize and for selecting me as the winner. Although I did get a little stressed at times (I'm a stress head) I had an amazing time and don't think I'll ever get another chance to stay in a hotel like the Corinthia.

Did you watch the BAFTAs?

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Nail art - Mixed cat prints with WAH Nails and Birchbox

If you're a Birchbox subscriber then you'll know that the May box featured a 'pick your sample' from WAH Nails with a choice of a full size nail varnish, nail art pen or press on nails. I received the press on nails in my sample box and I'm looking forward to giving them a try when I head home this week.

A few weeks ago an email landed in my inbox from Birchbox looking for people who were interested in creating a nail art design for Birchbox using some WAH Nails products. Being a nail art blogger of course I applied and I was lucky enough to be picked for the challenge and was sent a nail varnish in Dry Throat*, nail art pen in shade 09* and the clean up brush*. 

When I first saw Dry Throat I was a little disappointed as yellow nail varnishes rarely suit me and usually leave my hands looking as if I'm suffering from some kind of illness. However I was surprised to find that the mustard shade actually works quite well on me and dare I say it I think I might actually even like it a little. 

Although it may not be the most original idea the first thing that came to mind when I saw Dry Throat was (big) cat prints, so that's what I went for, with a little twist.

The WAH Nails varnish bottles are a little unusual in that they're longer and thinner than most nail varnish bottles. This doesn't make much difference really but you do have to be a little more careful that you don't knock it over as it has a smaller base area to sit on. The brush itself is quite wide and flat but I did have to hold the lid slightly at an angle, holding on to the edges of the top rather than the sides, which did make application a little more difficult than it could have been. That might just be my one though.

The nail art pen is pretty standard with both a brush and a nib included. The first time I used a nail art pen I had no idea it came with both applicators so if you are new to them you pull the top of the lid off for the nib and unscrew the whole lid for the brush. I used both methods for this nail art and I thought both worked well. Sometimes the nibs on nail art pens can be a little dodgy and a bit leaky but so far I like the flow on this one as it feels like I have quite a lot of control.

The clean up brush is rather like a makeup brush, probably closest to an eye liner brush, but the idea is you dip this in some nail varnish remover and use it to brush on the skin around your nails to remove any stray nail varnish.

For the nail art design I started with a base coat and then applied a couple of coats of Dry Throat for the base colour or 'cat fur'. To begin with I then went with black 'blobs' for the leopard print, but I then realised the navy blue of the nail art pen wouldn't show against the black. So I started again and went for white blobs instead. I then used the nib of the nail art pen to draw around the edges of the blobs and added a few navy blue blobs to complete the leopard print nails. 

For the tiger nails I used the nail art brush. I wiped the brush against the edge of the tube until most of the nail varnish had been removed and then just swiped the brush repeatedly across the nail letting the brush get 'drier' to give the sparse effect you can see in places. I then tidied around those nails using the clean up brush and sealed all of my nails with a top coat. 

What do you think of mixed cat print nails?

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As seen in - No Offence

Around September last year I filmed my first featured TV role for a new C4 drama called No Offence, which is by the creator of Shameless. I've had several featured roles in music videos before, in fact in videos I tend to get featured roles over standard background roles, but I've not had a featured role in TV so far. A featured role usually means you actually play a part rather than just being part of the background and in this case I was playing a bridesmaid.This wasn't going to be a typical wedding though and I was asked beforehand if I was okay being in a scene that would involve drug use and being associated with the EDL. The idea of the scene is that the police raid a chavvy wedding to arrest the groom who I believe is wanted for suspected murder.

When I arrived and headed to costume it turned out I'd not received the message telling me to fake tan badly and bring some sky high shoes along with me. I don't own any really high heels anyway apart from my Latin American or Character shoes (which are only about three and a half inches) but I managed to borrow some from one of the other bridesmaid. Although I ended up making the decision not to bother wearing them at all as I was supposed to be drunk so I just left them under the table.

I didn't realise the scene was going to be right at the beginning of the episode (aired Tuesday 19th May) and I nearly missed it as I was trying to cook dinner at the time. On screen everything moved so fast and was a bit of a blur but I managed to spot myself in the shot above and as usual it's my back that's made it on to camera! There are two other shots where you can just see me, but they're so quick and blurry when paused it wasn't worth screen grabbing them. 

It was actually pretty chaotic filming the scene. Certain police officers were supposed to grab certain wedding guests such as the groom, best man etc but everyone else was just told to run, so there was people everywhere. I think the best man was grabbed closest to me and although he wasn't necessarily supposed to he ended up falling over each time we did a take and in one take I ended up getting soaked by a low flying pint when he accidentally kicked the table. Luckily it only got my legs and I wasn't actually hit by the glass. This one was quite a fun shoot to do!

Have you been watching No Offence?

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Magnitone Lucid facial cleansing brush

Ever since the Clarisonic was released a few years ago I've been curious about electronic cleansing brushes and have wanted to give one a go. One concern I've always had though is that a cleansing brush would be too harsh for my skin and so haven't invested in one, as they can be quite an expensive purchase. I once bought a little hand held manual cleansing brush from The Body Shop and when I gave it a try I just found it painful and not a pleasant experience at all, so it did put me off to be honest.

Earlier this year I came across a Magnitone display with a brush attached and I took the opportunity to have a little stroke of the bristles. I was actually surprised by how soft the bristles felt, but I was still unsure about spending that much money and couldn't really afford to either. 

A few weeks ago The Bloggers Hub held a Twitter party in association with Magnitone and were offering cleansing brushes for bloggers to review. I decided this might be a good opportunity to try one out so I entered my details and was lucky enough to be selected and was sent the Magnitone Lucid cleansing brush*.

The brush is available in four colours, plush pink, aqua green, dazzling blue and sunshine yellow and I was actually able to pick the colour I wanted so I decided to go for the pink. One of the things I like most about the Magnitone Lucid is that it's a sealed unit meaning it's completely waterproof, so you can use it in the shower if you wish. Being sealed means there's nowhere to plug in a charging cable, which does appear to be a bit of a problem when the battery runs out. However this comes with a little pebble like thing (you can see it in the picture above) which you can plug in to a charging cable. This then attaches to the Magnitone magnetically at the bottom of the handle and this charges it up. A full charge lasts around two weeks, so if you're going away on holiday you can charge it up beforehand and not worry about taking the charger with you.

The brush is really simple to use. You remove the protective cover and wet the brush head with warm water. You wet your face as well and then can apply your choice of cleanser either directly to the brush head or you can apply it to straight to your face. There are just two modes on the brush; you press the large white button once for the standard deep cleansing mode and press it again for sensitive mode. The brush has a timer and beeps to let you know when it's time to move onto the next area of your face before stopping automatically when the time is up. You get 20 seconds for your forehead and brow area, 20 seconds for the cheeks and 20 seconds for your nose and chin. I thought it would beep to give you 10 seconds for each cheek but it only actually beeps in 20 second intervals,  once to tell you to move on to your cheeks and then to move on to your nose and chin, so you do need to remember to move to the other cheek without a beep prompt. 

Although this was a 7 day challenge, as I've mentioned I was concerned this might be too harsh for my sensitive skin so to begin with I wasn't sure that I would use it every day for 7 days. I needn't have worried though as I've used this every evening since I had it, with the exception of the evening I was staying in London as I didn't want to take it with me. I only use this on the sensitive setting and I make sure I only lightly go over the top of each cheek once, as this is the most sensitive area of my face, but I haven't found it too harsh at all and have actually really enjoyed using it.

I think my favourite area to use it on is over and around my nose as you can really feel the vibrations and my nose still feels like it's vibrating slightly for a minute or two afterwards. My nose is also one of the areas where I've seen the most improvement in my skin as my pores appear much clearer now. The other area would be my chin. I think a combination of this and hormones/stress did break me out quite badly when I first started using it but that has completely cleared up now and the pores on my chin are also looking much clearer. I do suffer with congested pores on my chin after years of acne have left my skin with a pitted appearance, but this is really helping to clear them out. 

I've noticed since using this that my skin feels lovely and smooth and also that products are absorbing better, which is great for me as despite having dry and dehydrated skin it really does struggle to absorb products. The only thing I'm not that keen on is that it is a bit of a flicker, so your bathroom mirror/sink/floor might end up with a few cleanser spots all over them. Overall I've really enjoyed using the Magnitone Lucid cleansing brush and if you're worried that this might be too harsh for your sensitive skin I'd say give it a try.

Magnitone have kindly given me a 20% discount code for my readers to use to buy their own Magnitone Lucid. All you need to do is follow this link and enter code Becky20 and you'll get the Magnitone Lucid for just £55.99 rather than £69.99. Be quick though as the offer expires 1st June 2015.

Have you tried a Magnitone Lucid or would you give one a try?

*PR Sample

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La Roche-Posay Lipikar Baume AP

I suffer with dry skin on my body but I also have a few patches that are consistently extremely dry and often cross over into eczema. I have one patch running across my back that I think is due to where my bra strap runs and then I also have patches around where my arms join my torso which again is due to the straps of my bra rubbing on my skin. I have to try and get bras with straps that are as soft as possible to go over my shoulders otherwise they can rub until they make little red blood spots under the skin that then take a few days to heal. The last patch runs across the back of my left shoulder and I'm really not sure what causes this one. The other patches don't usually look red, just dry and flaky, but this one is almost constantly red and also strangely often has a few little tiny white head spots. 

Most of the time the skin is just excessively dry but as I said occasionally it becomes eczema and starts to spread over my shoulders or further across my back. On a couple of occasions the itching has become so bad I could barely stand it and I'll just sit and cry trying desperately not to scratch.

I've tried various different moisturisers and a couple of creams targeted more towards extremely dry/eczema prone skin but so far I've not found one that really helped. Recently I was having a root around in one of my drawers that's full of various products to see what was in there and I found a sample of La Roche-Posay's Lipikar Baume AP. I've got no idea where this came from but I assume it was part of a goody bag I received somewhere.

As I've mentioned before I can be quite intimidated by La Roche-Posay products because I don't always know what they're intended for, but when I spotted anti-irritation and anti-scratching I thought I'd give this a try.

This may only be a small sample of 15ml but that has been more than enough for me to discover that this product is absolutely incredible! From the very first use this almost completely cleared up the red patch on my shoulder that nothing else has ever really made any impact on before. The little white head spots have disappeared, the redness has almost completely disappeared and it's not flaky any more.

This doesn't appear to have any scent at all and although it has an almost gel cream feel to it it's actually quite rich. You only need to use a small amount and despite being quite rich I find it absorbs quickly and doesn't leave an oily/greasy residue behind. I still have some of my sample left at the moment but I'll definitely be grabbing a full size one soon as I don't think I can be without this.

This is available in two sizes, 200ml for £12.50 and 400ml for £19.50, both of which I think are pretty good value when I've used my 15ml sample at least 3/4 times on all four of my patches and I still have some left. You can find the 200ml in Boots but for the 400ml I'd recommend ordering from Escentual. 

Do you suffer with dry/eczema skin problems?

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As seen in - Rixton 'We all want the same thing'

Two 'As seen in' posts in a row? Yep!

It feels like I've been waiting forever for this video to be released as we actually shot this back in December 2013. Turn around time for a music video from shooting until release is usually around four weeks. I think the longest I've waited to see a video so far was around two months for Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' video, so 16 months is an awful long time. I actually thought that they wouldn't use this after so long, in fact I thought they'd changed their mind about releasing the single at all.

One day in December 2013 I headed down to London to attend a casting for a Rixton video before they'd released their first mainstream single and become 'famous'. When I arrived at the casting I was delighted to discover the director was Emil Nava, my favourite music video director to work for who'd previously selected me for a main cast roll in Ed Sheerans 'Give me love' video. I did my bit at the casting, drove home (which does take two hours) and just as I was walking through my front door I received a message to say I'd got the part.

So about four days before Christmas I headed back down to London for a 16 hour shoot for the video. Luckily in the end it wasn't quite 16 hours, we wrapped a few hours earlier, which is always welcome as 16 hours is hard work, especially with a four hour round drive on top! The idea of the video is that the band arrives and I attempt to attend to their hair (I was playing a hair stylist/dancer) before they go through a curtain that transports them back to the 70s. My 70s costume involved a green wool jumpsuit type thing that itched like crazy where it wasn't lined because I'm allergic to wool and gave me an almost constant wedgy (I'm sorry I know TMI but you need to feel my pain!). It also included around five inch heels (remember I'm nearly 6ft tall!) and a rather unflattering wig. The shoes were crazy, they were thigh high and I could barely walk up and down stairs or sit down. If I did sit down somebody would have to pull me back up again. Even worse when I tried to get them off the zip broke and I had to break them to finally be free of them.

How unflattering is that middle shot! The video moves so quickly it's impossible to try and get clear shots but you can spot me in various places throughout the video, most often in the 'soul train' or dancing in front of Jake (the singer). As you can probably tell the majority of the people in the video weren't there but have been added in afterwards. Apart from the band I think there was only about 15 Supporting artists there and you can also spot the director Emil as he decided to jump in and make an appearance. 

When it came to the dancing parts they'd start the song and we'd actually carry on through the whole song without stopping. It's a good job I've been a dancer for a large part of my life and am used to dancing for an entire song non-stop. In fact, I still appear to be programmed to start dancing as soon as I hear the song! Despite being a pretty long day and being worked hard it was a really fun shoot to do and I'm glad they've still used it after all this time.

If you'd like to watch the video I've embedded it below.

Are you a fan of Rixton?

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As seen in - The Theory of Everything

I've waited so long to see this film and I finally got to watch it on Monday night. I worked on The Theory of Everything back in 2013 and it was released on 1st January 2015. I wanted to go and watch it the day it was released but for a reason I now can't remember I was unable to and then I just never got round to going to see it. I remember a time when the DVD of a film would take a year or two to be released but as they turn around so quickly now I decided to pre-order the DVD so I could watch it as soon as it was released on Monday.

I didn't know if I'd have made it into the final film as there's always the chance you'll be just out of camera shot, be stood behind somebody else or your scene might not even make it in at all. So I was delighted when I discovered that I did make it in and it's actually a pretty good shot of me. 

I'm sorry the picture isn't great, I had problems trying to screen shot from the film, but that's me sat in the middle visiting my 'mum'. The director spotted me stroking my 'mums' hand and set up a close up shot of our hands, but that wasn't used in the film in the end.

I really enjoyed the film and admit I did cry at least a couple of times. I think it's incredible that they told Stephen Hawking he only had two years to live and he's still with us now and in his 70s. I'm so pleased Eddie Redmayne won several awards for best actor as he did such an amazing job of playing him. I remember he had a lady with him while filming who told him exactly how to hold his hands, how to sit, where to put his head so his portrayal of Motor Neurone disease was as realistic as possible. This was the first major film I worked on and I'm so proud to have been a part of it.

Have you seen The Theory of Everything?

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Birchbox May 2015 - Free your mind

This month Birchbox have been very clever. They've obviously taken note of the rise in popularity of 'adult colouring in' and this month made the amazing decision to just print a design on the box that you can colour in yourself. They've even included a mini pack of crayons in the box for you to use. 

I'm a big fan of colouring in and already have a three colouring books I'm working my way through, so I love the idea of this months 'Free your mind' box*. A well designed box is definitely a good start but the contents of this months box are also pretty impressive.

When I opened my little drawstring pouch the first sample I saw was what I thought was a perfume sample and I did a little sigh. As you may be aware I'm not a fan of perfume samples in subscription boxes and prefer not to receive them. However I spotted 'lip' on the packaging and then discovered this is actually a Mirenesse Mattfinity lip rouge. Although I have heard of Mirenesse I know very little about the brand and haven't tried any of their products. This is a 1.7g sample of a matte liquid lipstick in packaging that makes me think of the Sephora liquid lipstick (I forgot to get a picture of it). It has a 'lip hug' applicator, meaning it's slightly curved to fit over your lip and is supposed to have a plush velvet finish that sets in 15 seconds. My shade is 6. Paris, which appears to be a dark berry shade.

Next up is what I thought was a face mask sachet but on closer inspection it's a Number 4 Lumiere d'Hiver Reconstructing (hair) mask. I've never heard of this brand before but this is a luxurious sounding mask containing soy proteins, shea butter, sunflower and jojoba seed oils and is supposed to leave hair smooth, straightened and shiny. This is one you pop in after shampooing before rinsing out 2-5 minutes later. I believe the full size product contains 150g and costs £36, so it's definitely on the luxury side. This is a 'beauty extra bonus' product this month.

I spotted a small Caudalie bottle and again sighed thinking I'd received the same product in a recent box. I shouldn't have judged a product by it's packaging though as rather than the Vinoperfect serum I thought it was it's actually the Caudalie Vinoperfect Radiance tinted moisturiser. Luckily I did receive the shade light (although I believe only two shades are available) but after a quick hand swatch I don't think this is going to be light enough for me. Although I don't think receiving multiple products from the same brand is ideal for a subscription box I don't mind so much when it's a brand like Caudalie.

Next I found a little plastic bottle (great for travelling!) of RMK Point make up remover. I've only tried one RMK product before, their cleansing balm, which is gorgeous and comes highly recommended by Selfridges Birmingham's beauty personal shopper Rose. This is a bi-phase remover (so you give it a good shake before use) which is supposed to sweep away waterproof mascara and heavy eye makeup with ease and is also apparently moisturising. 

My second to last sample is a Parlour by Jeff Chastain Moisturising sea salt spray. I have a few of these dotted around but have never really used them before. As I mentioned in my last post I'll be filming a lot over the next few months so hair and makeup will have control over my hair a lot of the time. On my days off I think I might just go with a quick wash and a squirt of something like this for minimal effort and to give my hair chance to recover from the probably excessive back combing I'll end up experiencing!

Finally I found a box of WAH London 24 press on nails. WAH is the pick your sample this month and you can choose from a nail varnish, nail art pen or the press on nails. I'm not normally a fan of false nails but these have really caught my eye. The design on mine is unusual and eye catching and they also look reasonably long. When my nails are long (I've actually just had to cut them all off!) false nails are often shorter than my natural nails. A problem I also have is that I have very slim fingers and false nails are usually far too wide for me to wear, but so far these are looking good. I might try these next time I head to stay at my boyfriends and I'll report back in a post. 

If you include the crayons this months box actually contains seven products and I'm looking forward to trying every one of them. Although I'm more of a felt tips person for colouring in, so I'm not that excited by the crayons (although they are actually pretty good!). Finally the clue for the June Birchbox is that it's another collaboration and rather than a 'pick your sample' next month you'll be able to pick your box design.

You can sign up to receive the May 'Free your mind' box on the Birchbox website.

What do you think of colouring in your own Birchbox?

*PR sample

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