Today's #BEDM topic is about healthy living. The last time I was prompted to talk about this I shuffled my feet and looked at the floor, feeling rather uncomfortable, so maybe we'll just leave that one for another day...

One of the #BEDM prompts I've missed is fashion, beauty and grooming, so I've decided to go back to it. I've yammered on about clothes on this blog a lot (to the point of tedious repetition) so I thought I'd do a beauty post and tell you about my top five favourite Birchbox items. This is not the sort of post I do very often, and certainly not one I've done lately. 

I subscribed to Birchbox about 9 months ago and these are my favourites so far.

Chella Highlighter Pencil  |  £15.95
This has to be my all time favourite item from Birchbox. It's for highlighting brow bones, cheekbones, inner corners of your eye but I use it mainly as a eyeshadow primer. I've tried lots of different primers and this one works far better than any other. It also doubles up as a concealer. This post shows you ten ways to use it.

Molton Brown Ylang-Ylang Nourishing Body Lotion  |  £25.00 and Body Wash   |  £18.00
OK, so technically this is two things but I can't decide between them as it's the scent that makes me love these so much, a scent which I can still smell on my skin hours after using. The body lotion is also non-sticky which is a must for me - anyone else hate struggling to pull on skinny jeans after applying body lotion?

Molton Brown Rhubarb & Rose Replenishing Hand Cream  |  £10.00
I've become a little obsessed with hand cream recently after becoming utterly convinced my hands are starting to look old. This stuff is awesome, not only does it smell fantastically rhubarbular*, it nourishes a treat too, without being sticky.

English Laundry no.7 For Her  |  £47.00
Pear, jasmine, vanilla and sandalwood - delightful! And perfect for summer.
(They have a handbag friendly roller ball version for £16.00 that I am so tempted by)

Laura Mercier Body Butter (Ambre Vanillé)  |  £27.00
I loved this. I normally steer clear of body butters as I find they tend to sit on my skin, making me feel slimy, rather than sinking in. But the shea butter and aloe vera gel left me with super silky, non-sticky limbs and the smell was divine! It comes in Fresh Fig too, which I'd love to try sometime soon.

I can't recommend all of the items highly enough, I have to admit I'm a bit of a sucker for a nice scent (which I imagine is probably obvious). I often get face creams and masks etc in my boxes but I find a small sample isn't enough for me to make up my mind about that sort of product, although it is nice to try new things and have a bit of a pamper session once in a while.


I received May's Birchbox recently, so I've got some new goodies to try, including some Soigné Botanique nail polish, which is a lovely colour but has the most excessive packaging for nail polish known to man. Ooh Fancy.


Do you subscribe to any such boxes? What's your favourite product to come out of one of them?

 Love





*my new favourite word, invented by Sophie. I think it should be added to the dictionary.