Month: June 2014

UNBOXING: You Beauty Discovery June 2014 – Beauty Heroes

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The theme of this box was Beauty Heroes.

The selection this month wasn’t as good as usual (especially considering the theme), so we were glad that we managed to get the items that we really wanted. YBD always delivers great value, but the curation of products left us choosing practical items that we would use rather than exciting new items to use.

 

Transformulas: Face Contour & Tightening Creme 15ml

Value: £31.40 (full size product)

“As the leading British cosmeceutical brand that specialises in anti-ageing and lifestyle treatments for the face and body, this cutting edge treatment goes right to the heart of the skin-ageing problem. Potent ingredients help life, define and sculpt; the appearance of the face looks instantly elevated and more refined, giving the skin a more silhouetted, lifted look.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: We’ve heard some good things about this product, so look forward to seeing whether it delivers on its promises and whether it’s worth the pricetag.

L’Oreal: Infallible 24H Lip Colour, 121 Flawless Fuschia
Value: £9.99 (full size product)

“Looking for that perfect lipstick that doesn’t stain your champagne glass? L’Oreal’s new lipstick ticks all the boxes. The combinatino of replenishing hyaluronic gel and high intensity pigments, finished with an illuminating balm, provde 24hr infallible colour, hydration and comfort for your lips.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We originally ordered this because we didn’t like any of the other options and this was just a practical choice as you can never have too many lip glosses! However, we look forward to testing the durability of this new product from L’Oreal – it’s a lovely shade for oriental colouring too!

THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH (review): Generally, we are a fan of lipglosses. This was the first longwear lip ‘gloss’ that we had tried. It proved to be a bit of a different beast. The colour/gloss itself did not apply very evenly, so you needed to use a mirror and apply quite a thick coat for even coverage. You then had to use the other end, which was a clear balm that ‘sealed’ the colour in. By its nature, appying a lot of the pigment, meant that you ended up with deeply coloured lips (very on-trend right now, but not what we had expected). This also meant that when the colour did wear off, it was quite obvious. Having said that, it did last quite a long time (maybe a couple of hours), but nowhere near 24 hours! We generally prefer lip products that look more natural than this as we don’t have to worry about reapplying, but it was interesting to try it. We think this product would have been way better if initial application was either way sheerer or even more pigmented so that you did not have to apply so much. We suggest trying standard lip velvets instead.

RATING: 3/5 – fairly middle-of-the-road

EXTRA TREATS:

Montagne Jeunesse – Dead Sea Mud Spa
Value: 99p
“Breathe life back into skin with intensely invigorating and revitalising Dead Sea Minerals. Having harvested the ocean’s nutrient-rich Seaweed and Kelp right from the source – the Dead Sea Mud is a satisfying boost for thirsty skin to penetrate deep into pores and draw out impurities.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We tend to find that clay masks overstimulate combination skin and would have preferred a different type of mask to try. However this is still a nice addition.

Expandable Face Cloth
Value: Unknown
“The luxury of a cleansing ritual everyday, TBD have created a unique soft, expandable facial cloth. The ideal cleansing accessory to gently remove cleansers, makeup, exfoliators and masks. Just run your expandable face cloth under warm water and watch it expand!”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Nice to have a functional item

OTHER OPTIONS:
Cowshed: Slender Cow Extra Firming Body Butter
Herbacin: Hand Cream for Protection and Care
Rituals: Zensation Organic Rice Milk & Cherry Blossom Foaming Shower Gel Sensation
Her: 200 Trecento Rivitalising Hair Treatment
Urban Veda: Daily Purifying Facial Wash

OVERALL VERDICT:

Not the most exciting selection this month, but we still love YBD for sheer value for money and generally offering a decent quality choice of products. We’ve been exposed to lots of ‘new’ (to us!) premium brands through this service. Although this box wasn’t as good as ones in the past, it remains our overall favourite subscription box.

Box price: £6.95 inc shipping
Total value: £42.39

Note: We paid for this You Beauty Discovery Box with our own hard-earnt pennies

UNBOXING: MeMeBox Global 12 – the really bad one!

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We cannot put into words how excited we were when this hot-pink package landed on our doorstep! We’d loved every review of MeMeBoxes that we’d seen and only heard brilliant things about them!

For the uninitiated, Memeboxes are Korean non-subscription boxes. They sell out very fast and you have to buy them blind, without knowing the contents. Often the description is very vague, but sometimes the boxes are themed. This was one of their more general Global collections. Or so we thought.

As we have a focus on products that work well for people of Oriental ethnicity, we were particularly excited to try out products from Korea as they might suit us better. For our first box, we thought we’d play it safe and get a Global box as it should be suitable for everyone…right?!

However, to be brutally honest, we were disappointed and surprised by this box, because:

a) the general low quality of the products
b) some very specific products that were USELESS to us (and we felt shouldn’t be in a Global box)
c) nothing particularly ‘Korean’
d) poor selection

They often don’t ship until sometime later, so you end up in a situation where you may be waiting for several boxes. We has already ordered more boxes because of this and it made us really nervous about what they would contain.

This is an unboxing, we’ll list the items and come back and review them later 🙂 This one will always be remembered as the bad MeMeBox with the anti-hairloss treatment!

 

Ryo: Anti-hair Loss Treatment 50ml
Value: $3

“Infused with biota seed, coix seed, green tea and gold extracts, this hair treatment will not only prevent hair loss but also re-energize and strengthen thin, damaged hair. Its excellent cooling formula will gently soothe and noursh your scalp at the same time.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: What is this doing in a global collection? This is a very niche product that is also very hard to gift to a friend. Great if you do have problems with thinning hair (if it works), but we will have no use for this product so is a waste of space and money. This type of product should only be included in a specific hair-related box, or should be hinted at in the description. Bad MeMeBox!

 

Banila Co: Claypatra Mineral Salt Clay Pack 12g
Value: $2.52

“100% pure mud extracted from the Dead Sea (consisting of 32% salt and minerals) effectively removes any excess sebum, dead skin and external pollutants clogging up your pores. The mineral-rich formula also delivers deep hydration and nourishment to the skin.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: This is the only product we were particularly excited about receiving. We’ve heard good things about this mask and look forward to trying it out. At least the box is not a total write-off!

 

Plagentra: White Mark Cream 15g
Value: $5.70

“Ever been stressed over stretch marks on yhour melly or on your thighs? Plagentra’s White Mark Cream will be your life-saver. With its scientifically approved formula to treat overly stretched skin and balance out any uneven skin tone on your body.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Erm, pretty indifferent to this. Will try it but again it’s pretty specific. Might be useful if it works on age spots though.

 

Plagentra: White Mark Lotion, Cream, Massage Gel (3 x 3ml sachets)
Value: $3.42

“Ever been stressed over stretch marks on your belly or on your thighs? Plagentra’s White Mark products will be your life-saver, with its scientifically approved formula to treat overly stretched skin and balance out any uneven skin tone on your body.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Meh. These samples are not big enough to be worth including. Especially as this type of product only shows benefit over long term use.

 

L.vida: Nail Polish 10ml
Value $7 (full size product)

“L.vida’s popular nail polish line comes in vibrant, trendy colours, each packaged with a lovely flower bouquet around its neck. These nail colours are highly acknowledged for their high-end, long-lasting fnish as well”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: If it is long lasting, then this would have been OK if we hadn’t received Neon Orange…but still hardly exciting

 

Inter-cos: Smooth Sensitive Removal Cream 250ml
Value: $43 (full size product)

“This unique spray-type removal cream allows you to remove any unwanted hair from even the most sensitive areas of the body.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Another item that is useless to us (is not our chosen method of hair removal), cannot be gifted easily and we feel should only be in themed boxes. And worth $43? Really MeMeBox?

 

Palan: Crysence Organic Essence 120ml
Value: $72 (full size product)

“Highly praised by beauty experts and hair designers, Palan’s famous hair essence is a non-greasy lotion type treatment for dry, damaged hair that you don’t have to wash off. Made from natural herbal ingredients, it’s extremely gentle and deeply moisturizing.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: The second (of two) products that we are looking forward to trying…if it works at all. The design looks cheap, but we will keep an open mind and report back 🙂

 

OVERALL VERDICT:

What a terrible box! With MeMeBox Global boxes, we think most people hope to get a combination of Korean beauty trends that can be used by most of their customers. This box had too many specific products that meant it was mainly a waste of money. Luckily we had already ordered other boxes as otherwise, we would not still be a customer of MeMeBox. MeMeBox – you really let yourself down with this box!

Our main conclusions were a) you you should be including some higher end products or having a better overall average of quality as most of these are the types you would find in the ‘junk beauty shops’ in Asia b) if you are including very niche products in a ‘general’ collection, you should hint at it in the description or keep these items for themed boxes c) you cannot just chuck any items into a box – you need to curate them so they are an exciting collection. We know this is not normal for MeMeBox and hope this is not a sign of things to come.

On top of it all, there is a type – the introduction sentence on the card describes Global 10 not 12! Only way it could be worse is if tamp;ons were included (see Global 13!!) Bad MeMeBox! Go away and write 100 x “Must do better…”

Box price: $23 + $6.99 shipping
Total value: $136.64 (however, we find it hard to believe the $43 quoted value for the hair removal cream)

Note: We paid for this MeMeBox with our own hard-earnt pennies

Interested in trying out MeMeBox? Use the link below to get $5 off all orders over $100 or check the referrals & deals page for other offers on specific boxes.

UNBOXING: Birchbox June 2014 – the one with the Beauty Blender

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This month’s theme was Global Strikers. I think it pretty much lives up to this title – it’s definitely a heavyweight box!

The promise of a Beauty Blender (guaranteed with an offer) was enough to tempt us back onboard to Birchbox, who we felt offer a great service, but we found hard to justify in addition to the impossible-to-not-subscribe to You Beauty Discovery Box and Korean Service MeMeBox.

Anyway, we are very happy to be back with Birchbox and although we know we received one of the best variants (most but not everyone got a Beauty Blender), this box was a corker!

 

Naobay: Body Radiance Lotion 30ml
Value: £1.68

   

“A lemony fresh organic body lotion with shea butter, olive and avocado oils for soft skin.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Not amazingly exciting, but seems decent quality and a great size for popping in your handbag. We’ll use this.

 

Silk & Honey: Shea Butter Hair Mask 50ml
Value: £2.75 (£55 for a DIY kit to make 5 x 200ml tubs)

“This deeply nourishing mask protects and softens hair, while fortifying its elasticity.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Interesting that this is a DIY kit, but the sample provided is already mixed. Again not too exciting, but have never heard of this brand and look forward to trying this natural product.

 

OPI: Nail Lacquer – The Brazil Collection (mini) 3.75ml
Value: £3.65

“A vibrant polish inspired by Brazil’s tropical rainforests and sandy beaches.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – love these little bottles! We would have preferred any of the other shades, but this is still a fun shade for the summer. Thanks Birchbox.

 

BeautyBlender: Beauty Blender + BlenderCleanser Solid
Value: £26.00

“An ingenius egg-shaped make-up sponge to ensure a flawless base – plus, a solid soap to clean it.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – BEAUTY BLENDER! Enough said. Lol. Love this…have never had the chance to try one, but know it’s a Holy Grail type product. We’re SUPER excited to use this 🙂 🙂 If it lives up to its reputation, this coule be the best item ever received in a beauty box…

 

Caudalie: Vinoperfect SPF15 Day Perfecting Fluid 10ml
Value: £9.03

“A light oil-free facial moisuriser to hydrate, brighten and even skintone.”

BT INITIAL OPINION -We don’t usually get along with Caudalie (the products do not seem to do much/justify the price), but we are happy to receive a decent sized sample in our box as we’ve not tried this product yet. Great to have more than one decent brand in a box.

 

LIFESTYLE EXTRA:

“A fun flip-flop keyring to brighten up your bag!”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Well it’s cute, but not giftable as it says Birchbox on it. Unlikely to use it because of this too.

 

OVERALL VERDICT:

The Beauty Blender alone makes this a standout box. Add in the Caudalie and it makes it amazing. OPI too and it could be the best box ever? The other items are all decent quality too…this is a very, very strong offering. Keep it up Birchbox. Seeing as you’ve won us back, hope this will be just the start of a beautiful long love affair.

Box price: £10.00 plus £2.95 shipping (rolling month by month subscription) – although we got this on a discount offer
Total value: £43.11

Note: We paid for this Birchbox with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of Birchbox? Subscribe at www.birchbox.co.uk and you’ll get £5 worth of points! You’re welcome 😉