Look Fantastic Beauty Box – August 2015

After some months, I finally used up most of the products from my previous Look Fantastic boxes and decided it was time to see what they have up their sleeve this time. 

 

Look Fantastic Beauty Box is a subscription service box (in which case you save a bit of money), but it can also be bought individually for 20,85 €. Generally, one or two out of 5 products in the box already bring the worth to the 21 € mark, but that doesn't really mean anything if you don't like the products, now does it? This is what I found inside the August box. 

I must say that I really like the pick, since I haven't used any of these brands except for Rimmel before. I think that this is a real advantage of subscription boxes as well – being able to use samples or deluxe samples (and sometimes even full size products) of brands I would otherwise probably never reach for or even think about, really.  

Look Fantastic Beauty Box – March 2015

The March edition of Look Fantastic Beauty Box arrived a lot faster than the February one and I was so excited to find the package on my desk when I arrived at work. I gave it my all and actually did not go snooping around the internet to see what other people received, so opening it was again a nice surprise. 

But before we get into this box, let’s do a quick recap of some products in the February box. Remember this?

I have not yet tackled the Korres Citrus body milk and the Sea Mud cleanser. I absolutely don’t want anything to do with the Bellapierre eye pencil anymore – it’s so hard that I almost poked my eye out a couple of times while tightlining. I am quite disappointed since it was my first mineral eye pencil and I was really excited to receive it at first. Also, I am not impressed by the Monu Illuminating primer. It is very, very sticky and difficult to apply. It also doesn’t seem to extend the lifespan of my foundation or make it go on any smoother. I would not purchase a full size of either of these products.

I can however say that I am almost through with half of the bottle of Moroccanoil. It is an absolutely divine product and I love it. I will however hold on the final verdict until I try the new Kerastase oil I received recently. And finally, I am giving the dr. Pawpaw balm a big thumbs up – I used it for my lips almost every night and they have been looking considerably better than usually. I would definitely repurchase both of these items.

#LFBEAUTYBOX is here!

Hello my beauties. I’ve been waiting so long to do this post. It was supposed to happen with my January box, but it got lost in the mail (I had no problems getting the refund), so finally, the February box arrived. What am I talking about? My #LFBEAUTYBOX (Look Fantastic Beauty Box), of course :)

So, as the name implies, I got the box from the Look Fantastic website. I actually received it as a part of a (still ongoing) promo – free box when you spend £55 or more. Normally, the box costs £15 (about 20€). There are a minimum of six products per box and it’s usually worth about £50. The March 2015 box looks like it’s going to be pretty awesome – they’re promising a £71,48 value and adding 30 GHD stylers to them. I’m ordering mine today.

Anyway, I got the box at work today and I couldn’t wait to get home and open it. 

It’s a nice box, very sturdy and very, very well closed up. I wouldn’t worry about anything spilling or cracking in there. It’s also kind of nifty and could be used for storage.

 

Upon opening, you are first faced with the product book, featuring a pretty and very photoshopped lady. 

And this is what you get inside. There are a ton of these paper noodles, but I actually do like that because it adds another layer of protection. It’s good to go through the box with the booklet, though, so you don’t throw anything away :)

I must say that the booklet itself is really quite informative. The only thing I’m missing is the values of the products (or deluxe samples, most of them), which is why I’ll try to do the estimates myself.  Each page features one of the products and talks a little about the brand as well. I’m also loving that there’s a “how to” section included where needed. Edit: the Moroccanoil had the value underneath.

Anyway, let’s talk about the products, shall we? Left below we have the Erno Laszlo Sea Mud Deep Cleansing Bar. It’s a 97 % natural exfoliating black soap made from Dead Sea mud.  It’s also supposed to stimulate and cleanse the face. I’ll report back on the actual results. Anyway, this tiny sample weighs 0,6 oz and the full size product (50 oz, which is a ridiculous amount of beauty soap) costs a whopping 61,65 €. Hence, this sample is worth about  1 € (mind you, I’m not taking the packaging into account). 

The next product is the deluxe sample of Monu Illuminating primer with paraben free formulation and SPF15. I love it when the primer has SPF and I don’t have to worry about it anymore throughout the day. I’m not really sure about this primer, though...

The consistency is very thick and when I applied it on my face it almost felt like it was pulling my skin together. I will have to check it out some more, since I’m always on the hunt for a good primer. Anyway, this sample contains 20 ml and the full size is actually 50 ml for 38,01 €. The sample is consequently worth about 15 €. 

The Dr. PawPaw Multipurpose Soothing Balm looks like something you’d pick up in a drugstore at the counter for a euro. But this baby is all natural and can be used for lips, skin, hair, cuticles... basically anything that you feel is dry, probably. It has a really thick consistency, but no flavor and no smell – it’s almost like Vaseline, to be honest. It did make my lips fell incredibly soft and stayed on for a couple of hours, though. This particular yellow one has no tint, but there are also two with peach and red tint. The balm is sold on the Lookfantastic website for 9,52 €. This is a full size product.

Next, we have the full size Bellapierre cosmetics eyeliner in Midnight blue. Bellapierre is a mineral make-up company which I’m really excited about since I’ve only had a handful of mineral make-up products ever before. This full-size pencil costs 8,20 € on the website. 

I must say, that I’m not too impressed with the initial swatch  - the tiny black dots you are seeing is the pencil actually crumpling and flaking. So I’m yet to be convinced by it (first thing tomorrow morning, of course). 

I’m not going to go too much into the Korres Citrus body milk. I love the smell (really, it smells like luxury, there is no other way to describe it). I’m excited to try a Korres product since I’ve never had one before. This is a deluxe sample with 50ml of product, while the regular 200ml product costs 13,70 €. Meaning the sample is worth about 3,5 €. 

Last, but (for me, at least) definitely not least is the Moroccanoil Treatment. I’ve been eyeing this for months now but couldn’t bring myself to dole out that kind of money for yet another oil that would disappoint me. I’ve whipped this baby out of the box and used it immediately washing my hair today. And let me tell you – it is softer than a baby’s bottom and it smells amaHzing. Really, it does. This sample is worth 18,4 €. 

So, to recap. If I would have only gotten the Moroccanoil, the Dr. PawPaw balm and the Korres body milk, I would have been happy with the box. The primer, pencil and the black soap are just extras in my eyes. Not counting the packaging, we have an approximate value of 55,6 €. So more than double what I paid for it, plus I get to try the brands I’d probably not reach for otherwise simply because I couldn’t justify getting a 30+ € product without properly trying it first. 

Would I recommend this as a regular subcription? Damn right I would.  Stay tuned, since more of these are to follow. I’m thinking of subscribing to a 6 – month plan, which costs £75 meaning I basically save £15. 

Are you subscribed to any other beauty boxes you love? Let me know below!

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome.

My First (AND PROBABLY LAST) Dasbox for November 2014

Sooo... I got this package delivered to the office and when I opened it in the midst of all the Christmas packages I was a bit worried that I was beginning to order stuff in my sleep and forgetting about it. But it turned out to be my December Dashbox. 

For all of you beauties out there who have never heard of it, Dashbox is a Slovenian beauty box that promises to “deliver 5 luxury cosmetic products at your doorstep each month” for the price of 10 € per box and additional 2 or 3 € for shipping. I believe that you get some discount if you order for several months in advance and you also gather some Dashbox points that you can use in the online store. Get more info here http://www.dashbox.si/ - or not, whatever.         

     

Anyhow, the moment I opened it I was again like – what is this? And where are my 5 luxury cosmetics products? This is what I found inside. 

 

So let’s do a little recap, shall we? On the far bottom left, we have two 2ml Delarom whitening serum samples. Now this product OK and it really made a difference on my face in the 2 days I used it, but the full size is 54 € and I’m not really sure that it’s worth the money after just two uses. Pass.

Above it, we have a little L’Erbolario sample pack. There is no price value on this, but of course it is sold on the Dashbox online store. I have not yet used these nor am I very interested. Pass.

Right, we have the Greenland Fruit emotions 30 ml hand cream of apparent value of 5 €. Sure, it’s an OK hand cream deluxe sample, but it’s nothing special. And I would never pay that much for a hand cream. Pass.

Then we have the Pièce de résistance of this box, a set of imPRESS nails which is a set of 24 clip-on nails. Now I like the idea since this is something that many of us would like to try and really would not go out and buy, but come on, what is with the color? The last time I wore this kind of pink was in high school and I don't intend to ever wear it again. Since these nails also come in many other great colors, my wild guess would be that they just bought the color that was not selling in bulk for pennies. I am thinking of doing a first impression with these – is it something you'd be interested in?

Last, we have two little samples of Philip Martin's organic face cream, again with no value written on them, so basically it's zero value. It's an OK cream, but again I would not purchase a premium product (full size is 38 €) based on two uses. Pass.

So let's get it straight. When you promise me 5 products, I am expecting products. I got one product, one deluxe sample and 7 samplers (3x L'Erbolario, 2x Delarom, 2x Philip Martins) that I could get in any drugstore with my product. I have so many of such products I don't know where to start using them and I always demand to get at least 7 mini samples for the deluxe products to even start considering spending my money on it. I got 3 mini hand creams last week in L’Occitane just with a purchase of a regular body wash. Amirite or amirite, ladies? What did you think about the Dasbox, if you got it?

This box was a bust. Dasbox thanks, but no thanks. Get better or go fool someone else. The fact that I forgot to even take the box home with me for more than 3 weeks speaks volumes about how excited I was about the products.

Until next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome.