Bakie McShopper: October 2014

Sunday 5 October 2014

Violet Box September 2014

For those who do not know, Violet Box is an Australian based beauty subscription service. Each month you are sent a variety of items (approx. 5-8) and they also have a shop for the products that appear in boxes should you want a replacement full size or have finished the sample and love it. You can find out more about it here or by clicking on the banner at the bottom.

My main complaint with Australian Beauty Boxes is that mine never seem to arrive within the month they are for. It’s a small thing I guess but I would personally like to receive my July box IN July not August etc. I am known to have a bit of a sook over this in my house.

Scandalous Fabulously Flirty Dry Shampoo 150ml (rrp $16.95)
Dry shampoo is always a handy product to have and I hadn’t heard of the Scandalous brand before. Guessing I’ve been living under a rock? Either way I’m not sure I would repurchase this item based on an RRP of $16.95. That seems excessive when you can get products like Batiste for much cheaper than this.

Foltene Nail Treatment (rrp $29.95)

We received a Foltene Eyebrow treatment in a previous VioletBox so it was nice to see another product from the same range. I was fully expecting this to be some kind of polish that you applied daily or something but to open it the brush is the exact same as you’d get in a lip gloss. I was like ummmm accidental? But no it’s not, it’s supposed to be like that because of the way it’s used. It is definitely a different item to those currently available in that way. I still prefer Butter London’s Horse Power but that’s just me.

Girlactik Eyeshadow (rrp $23)
Hmmmm silvery blue is really not my favourite shade. You cannot complain about a full size eye shadow though and I wonder if I can mix it with some other colours to dull/darken the blue. I like the more navy/sapphire combos so I might see how I can use this with those colours.

Starlooks Ultra Olive Gem Pencil (rrp $21.50)
I really struggle with the idea that a basic eyeliner has an rrp of more than $20. This product reminds me of all the NYX and BYS ones that you can get from Kmart and Cosmetics Plus for $4 each. So for the rrp of this one product you could get 5 different colours of those other brands. I’m not saying it’s a terrible product I just feel like it is severely overpriced for what it is.

Polished London Nail Enamel (rrp $8)

I received in a dusty pink colour which is a nice fairly normal colour. We have previously established how “amazing” I am with nail polish so I will not be fanatical about it but it is very similar to the colours I will ask someone else to paint my nails if that helps any?

Overall
Ok so complaints about shipping across all Australian Beauty Boxes aside the contents of this Violet Box are pretty good. Everything was full size and there were some really useful items like the Dry Shampoo and the nail treatment. Violet boxes are a good way to keep up with new mainstream products rather than some of the others I receive (i.e. Memebox which has taken over my blog). I think it would be great if you could add some kind of beauty profile to your account that might change what colours etc. you receive but I can understand why that might work out more bad than good for Violet Box.

Do you receive Violet Box? What did you think of this boxes contents? Are you having shipping issues with other boxes? Let me know!

Affiliate links are used in this post.

Thursday 2 October 2014

Memebox Superbox #45 Korea's Most Wanted

This box excited me a lot when I first heard about it. You may not know but Memebox also has a Korean version where the whole Memebox thing started and they also have monthly “Get It Beauty” boxes. This box is supposed to be a combination of great K-Beauty products agreed on by both sides of the business.

Shara Shara Tinted Style Lip Gloss 4.5g (rrp $11)

Have to admit I have avoided any kind of tints like the plague up until this point so my hopes were not high. I received this product in a nice coral colour. It doesn’t taste that great so be careful when you’re putting it on not to eat it. I found I could really layer it to get a very bright colour if I wanted. Really don’t mind it. I wouldn’t buy another one but now I won’t judge other tints before I try them.

Makeup Helper Pact 23g (rrp $23)

This is a really pretty highlighter/finishing powder compact. I love it! It’s so nice to look at and I highly doubt you would lose it in your handbag given it’s the size of a coaster. I realise something that size may not work for everyone but with all the gear I carry around these days this items size is perfection.

Hope Girl Nail Travel Bling Bling Set 5g x 3ea (rrp $14)

I’ll be honest, I don’t like nail polish. Sure I love a mani/pedi as much as the next lady but doing your own? No thank you! Having said that this item has been sent out by Memebox in a Global box awhile back and I haven’t heard any other bloggers lamenting that they’ve now got two. This got me thinking, perhaps it isn’t terrible? Plus it came with instructions, how hard can it be? Hard!!! Ok so maybe not for a regular female but if you’re as uncoordinated as I am this may end in tragedy and you need to accept that some women just aren’t made for perfectly polished nails done by themselves. *No image taken of failure due to epic proportions of it!

Blithe Patting Water Pack 200ml (rrp $46)

Patting water sounds a bit suss I know but it is supposed to mimic the residue left over from a sheet mask so that you can save time doing the actual mask and just put the goodness on your skin direct. A good product for nights when you don’t have a lot of time available. Anything to make your routine quicker helps!

Pure Skin Ice Cooling and Soothing Patch 5g x 5ea (rrp $18)

Not entirely sold on the use of this product however I am going to the beach for a few days soon and these little babies will be coming along just in case I get sunburnt from falling asleep outside. This is a thing, all overtired Mums who get left alone for more than 5 minutes of silence turn into narcolepts and if you don’t you are either lying or drinking too much coffee in a day!

Pure Skin Lemon Blueberry Rejuvenating Overnight Mask 100ml (rrp $46)

Blergh! The smell of this product is hideous! I cannot even focus on how this product could be good for me because I am too preoccupied feeling ill at the prospect of having the smell on my face overnight. If you like the idea of floor cleaner smell on your face all night go right ahead but I am going to stick to my guns on this one.

Overall

I quite like that this box was a bit mishmash and can honestly say that I never would’ve looked at any of these of my own accord. That may sound like a negative but that’s actually why I joined up to Memebox in the first place and I am still loving the concept.

How do you feel about these products? Are you guilty of falling asleep in the sun? Is the scent of floor cleaner one of your guilty pleasures? Let me know!

Memebox Codes
$5 off any purchase during October: 2GC6
(You can use one 4-digit code and one 6-digit code per month)

$5 off your order when you purchase 3 Memeboxes: MEMEBUNDLE3

$8 off your order when you purchase 4 Memeboxes: MEMEBUNDLE4

Free shipping on orders above $70 from Memeshop: FREESHIPPING

Spend $100+ through my referral link and automatically save $5!

Spend $150+ through my referral link and automatically save $10!

(Referral deals can be combined with codes)

Referral Only Deals
Click here or the banner below to see a list of Memeboxes that give you points back for purchasing.

Memebox Special #30 Tea Cosmetics

I was pretty keen on this box by Memebox. It sounds like an odd ingredient to go for but trust me when I say it is actually really boring in the grand scheme of things but that there are LOTS of great products that have different teas in them.
*This post is a bit later than the Scrub box that arrived at the same time as I waited until I came back from holidays to post given I took some of the products with me to try out.

E Choice Fermented Tea Skin Drinks Sleeping Pack 70g (rrp $2)

This had a really interesting consistency out of the tube. Like a matte gel. However once you start applying it went very glossy like a normal gel product. I liked that the scent wasn’t very strong and despite having about 5 layers of moisture on my face already this product still absorbed fairly quickly. I actually used this over a Jurlique night cream and I was really happy with how good my skin felt the next morning.

A;T Fox Tea Toc Water Clear Tablet 4g (rrp $2)

This super cute little pyramid is a tea bag and fizzer on the inside. Just about impossible to open the box without damaging the super cute packaging. Could have cried. Reading up about it though I really like that once you have used however much you need for that session you can store the rest of the liquid in a spritzer style bottle for future use. I went out and bought an empty bottle just for this purpose.

A;T Fox Gyoolpy Tea Fresh Water 100ml (rrp $10)

More cute things! You may think ok if has a little fox on the front but it really isn’t that cute. You would be wrong. This little fox is the same one on all A;T Fox products and to me he is a symbol of quality. You still think I’m crazy. I know it. BUT these are also the same people who made the little cupcake items from the My Cute Wishlist. Now do you see why I’m such a weirdo about it?

The Skin House Lavender Lightening Emulsion 120ml (rrp $40)
This was the biggest item in the box and also the one that really confused me. It is a Lavender Tea product. Now I have never made tea out of lavender so I’m not going to say it can’t be done, only that I’ve never seen it! Then when I tried to find out more information on it The Skin House website itself doesn’t even mention tea. Either way nice product all the same!

A•TRUE Miniature Set + Black Tea Bag 2pcs

Sweet Song Black Tea One-Step Cleansing Water 20ml (Full Size rrp $37)

Very handy little product and I took it away for 4 nights and it has not yet run out!

Vanilla Black Tea Day Relief Body Wash 20ml (Full Size rrp $32)

Body wash is fairly handy for travelling and this one had a nice light scent to it and was a thinner consistency so I felt went further.

Himalaya Black Tea Watery Gel Cream 15g (Full Size rrp $49)

Gel creams are usually a bit lighter than your usual night creams but go well as a part of the morning routine before your makeup goes on.

White Snow Tea Brilliant Essence 20ml (Full Size rrp $55)

This product isn’t heavy but it is creamy so if you plan on also using a gel style product maybe use this one afterwards.

Black Tea All Day Long Sun Cream SPF50+PA+++ 10g (Full Size rrp $36)

How appropriate given I live in Australia. Thank you Memebox! I’m sure this wasn’t put in just for me but you almost never see a mini sun cream in a travel cosmetics kit. It wasn’t as thick as a traditional sun cream but I didn’t feel like there was less coverage than normal.