The one where I'm too cheap to be glossy.

I knew nothing about beauty boxes until I started watching Youtube videos on beauty products.  These videos introduced me to the GlossyBox and Boudoir Prive Beauty Box which both cost over £10.  As I use very little beauty products and only wear makeup occasionally, I don't feel that it is worth my while subscribing to these boxes.  I have too much stuff that I don't use already!  I did however find out about the Latest in Beauty box which only costs £1 and you can order over text.  You pick 3 samples from 3 catagories; skin care, makeup & fragrance and hair & body. 

It only took a few days for my box to arrive which was nice.  It is obviously not as well presented as the expensive beauty boxes but that is to be expected.

The first sample that I received was a very little tube of the Crabtree & Evelyn Lily perfume with a sachet of the matching body lotion.  It is describes as smelling of Lily of the Valley but with hints of hyacinth and ylang ylang.  It is certainly fresh and floral but smells rather 'grannyish' to me!

The box included a £5 off voucher for Crabtree & Evelyn products however I very much doubt I will be using this judging by the perfume sample.

The Doctor Brand Blemish Relief Kit was the samples I was most keen to receive.  If you've read my blog before you'll know that I have big time problem skin!  You are instructed to use the cleanser (wash it off), the rub in the blemish treatment gel and finish off by rubbing in the lotion.  All three products stung which is something I rarely experience having the opposite of sensitive skin.  Robust skin?  Something like that!  This made it fairly unbearable to use the products however in the name of testing I persevered.  Another strange thing about these products was the fact that you had to rub 2 products into your skin without washing them off.  I know those of you who are used to using moisturisers and primers and then makeup will be used to this, I found it rather strange.  Obviously I only had one sample of each of the products and so I have no idea about the long term effects of these products.  I can say, however, that my skin looked rubbish after using this, massively shiny!

The last sample was the Lumenesse Age-Defying Colour Care High Volume Shampoo & Conditioner which retails for a whopping £18 for a 350ml bottle.  Both products were nicely textured and smelt nice.  Nice though, not any more than that.  The conditioner wasn't particularly conditioning although it is designed for coloured hair which I thought was quite strange.  My main problem with these samples was nothing to do with the actual products, it was more to do with the sample size.  I have very fine hair which is shoulder length but the amount of shampoo and conditioner which was provided in the sample wasn't enough for my whole head!

I would get this beauty box again as it is so cheap however only if there was a particular product available that I am really interested in.

The one with the skin care challenge.

I read this blog post from Steff about her miracle acne cure and was inspired to try out the product she recommended product.  Because of my job I know lots about skin care products and I have tried many (only cheap ones though because I can't bring myself to spend much on beauty products).  I came to the conclusion that nothing I tried was working, I have oily skin and have suffered from acne since I became a teenager.  My sister suggested the old 'soap and water' thing so I tried that for a while and I think I noticed an improvement although as soon as I started working again and the stress started, I suffered from more breakouts. 

Today is my third day using the Superdrug Hot Cloth Cleanser.  This is what it looks like on the shelf.

It is a quite large tube of cleanser with a muslin cloth.  It feels lovely and creamy when you rub it into your face and then the muslin cloth gently exfoliates your face as you wipe it off.  After a day or two of using this I did come out with some new spots which I was not pleased about however I have just moved into a new house so that might be from stress rather than because of the product.  I am going to persevere with it as today (on the third day) my skin is looking a little better than it did yesterday.  The other problem I am having is that we are having a few problems with the hot water at our new house so unfortunately I am having to use it as more of a cold cloth cleanser!

Can anyone recommend any products to help my skin?  I am nearly 20 and completely sick of spots!