My first Memebox: 10MinuteBox

A month or so ago, I got rather annoyed when the one beauty box I subscribed to seemed to think that tea and notebooks were somehow beauty items. Nope. Cancelling my subscription, I decided to try out  Memebox, which is a Korean beauty box subscription service. Korean cosmetics are known for being super cute and for having great/interesting skincare, which are of course things literally everyone is interested in, no?

Memebox seems to work a little differently to usual boxes - they do have a monthly box, which seems to sell out, and they also have one-off boxes as well. If you go onto their site, there are a variety of boxes available, and you can buy them as a one-off as opposed to a subscription, which I think is great. It’s hard to determine which is the regular monthly box as there are so many to choose from – including themed boxes such as a green tea box and boxes for dudes, and the larger Superboxes – and the website isn’t super explanatory - but I believe it’s the numbered boxes.

Buying boxes gives you points which you can use off of your next order or in the store- this order shipped late, so I was given points to spend, which I immediately put toward another box! They do take a while to ship boxes after they're bought, but you're let know the shipping date and my box was here five days after it actually shipped, which is great as it came from Korea! They're a little more expensive than the average £10-15 beauty box - I believe after conversion into pounds, this was £18.

The box I chose was the 10MinuteBox:

"The hottest Memebox has just arrived! It comes with the most perfect make-love-happen-now beauty products that will get you all polished up for a night you'll never forget!"
The premise of this box was getting ready for a date quickly so I was hoping for makeup items in this box!”

Cute box, no? Let's see what I got - all products are the full sized version:

 

Aromalab EverEssence Designer Fragrance Oil in 8 Women ($34)

I'm not a huge fan of perfume oils or rollerballs, but this is pleasant enough. I don't get the jasmine promised on the box, but I do get a light rosy musk at the start drying to something a little more woody. This will live in my desk drawer at work for a little pick me up during the day but I can’t see it being a staple.

Hope Girl Powdery Body Perfume ($49)

cheers box

HOW cute is this? This is what I got the box for - cute brands that I've never heard of! I'm not sure how useful this product will be - it's a silica-based powder that claims to absorb sweat and keep you feeling fresh, with a subtle scent. Mine is in the scent 'Tropical Lovers' and it's a subtly sweet, coconut-y sort of scent. It’s a light scent, again, pleasant enough. You can apply with the puff in the lid, or unscrew the top to dip a brush in, or to refill. If I don't wind up using this powder – which remains to be seen to be honest! - I'll decant my regular face powder into it because it is so darn cute!

 

Hope Girl Milky Balm Lipstick in Red Burgundy ($24)

Oh, glory, glory! More leopard print! In the form of a burgundy lipstick, nonetheless! I have no qualms here whatsoever – the packaging so right up my alley it’s ridiculous. And as for the lipstick itself? Lovely! Creamy, opaque, not too glossy, no slip and very comfortable. This ticks all the boxes. I’d buy more from the brand. The star item in the box in my opinion!

Secret Romance Hair Essence Lovely 60ml ($39)

 

This is a 'pheromone hair essence that leaves your hair smelling like a sensual rose all day.' It also claims to nourish and increase shine. I can't read the ingredients as they're in Korean, which makes it harder to determine what it might actually do! This is an oily-feeling serum with a light, powdery scent, but I'm not sure it smells of rose - perhaps it's a little masculine smelling?! I can't put my finger on it but I like it. From trying it out quickly, a little goes a long way! I'll be trying this out further to see if I can coax a little love back into my dry ends! I am also totally convinced the pheromones in this will turn my other half into a crazed sex beast.

Laboratory Eyelash ($5)

legit and professional application is definitely not straight from the box with no glue at all, nope nope

These are so cute! And how cheap are lashes out there? Pretty jealous. These are chunky yet still manage to have a thin lash band - so in my eyes, basically pretty perfect. Can't wait to use these properly, they are banging!

So...would I get another Memebox? Ahem.  I already ordered one before this one came, but basically, yes, I'm excited to get the next one! A nice mix of unusual items  - which is the point! – that are all full sized,  good value compared to the price of the box, great customer service, you’re not tied in to buy one each month. Yep, yep, yep. Memebox are doing it right.

Have you tried this box? What's your favourite subscription box?

First Impressions: LoveMeBeauty Box

I finally succumbed to a beauty box. I know most people tend to moan about them and to be honest, that's part of the reason why I subscribed - I love a good moan! I went with the LoveMeBeauty box which is £10 a month plus P&P.
The idea with LoveMeBeauty is that you get a choice of  'menus'  or 'mystery' box per month. With the menus, you can see the exact items you'll be getting, and with the mystery box, it's obviously a mystery!

You get 4-5 items in each box, with ' 1 to 2 star products and 3 travel sized samples.'  This month's menu had items from Lord and Berry, Models Own and Jelly Pong Pong but as it was my first go, I wanted to see what the mystery box had in store!

The box is simply presented – plain cardboard box with pink tissue paper and squigglies (real word) inside. I like that as there’s no guff and it’s easy to recycle. There was no descriptive card as I chose the mystery option. I’m not sure how much of a ‘mystery’ this option is though, as a couple of the items I got were on the menus that you could choose this month. Here’s what I got.

Clockwise from top left:

Organic Surge Gentle Cleansing Lotion £5.99

This is rosemary and lemon scented, and I won’t lie, it’s a weird smell. Not gross, but odd. However, that aside, I really like this! I love a nice creamy cleanser and this works really well – like all cream cleansers it’s a bit of a pain in the butt to take mascara off with the rest of my skin likes this a lot so far. The main ingredients are water and glycerin, and then a bunch of stuff that looks to be of a lemony origin, so seemingly no nasties to my untrained eye. I think this is my favourite item in the box!

Melvita Fresh Moisturising Body Milk

Meh. This is a pleasantly rose-scented body lotion, I suppose, but thin creams don’t do anything for me. It’s better than nothing but I prefer something a bit more robust, especially on my legs. This is my least favourite item in the box but I’ll keep it in my desk drawer for topping up my arms during the day.

Le Soin Purifiant Absolution Mask

I found this on Amazon as a 50ml instead of a 40ml for £24.00, so decent little item here for your box money. This is where having a card telling you about the products would be handy because this is all in French, and my French basically consists of talking about pamplemousse and ordering beer, so not helpful here! I worked out that it was a purifying mask. I tried it last night and it seems a little thin compared to a lot of facemasks I’ve tried. I didn’t really feel it did anything to be honest but hard to judge just from one go.

 

Anatomicals Don't Clean It Woman, Scrub It Body Scrub £3.60

What the hell kind of name is this? MEN USE SCRUBS TOO, YEAH? The back has some jokey blurb about ‘just like your kitchen floor’, your body needs scrubbing too. Um. Okay?  It’s not quite as gritty as I would like, but it does the job well enough and has a nice grapefruit scent so I’ll be using this up, despite (hopefully ironic) vaguely sexist branding. This retails for around £4, and I found it on various retailers including ASOS.

 

Jelly Pong Pong 2-in-1 Eyeliner & Shadow in Bronze £10.50

No name, but it's a deep, warm shimmery bronze. It's one of those colours that's nothing overly special, but I really quite like it. It has nice pigmentation on one stroke, smudges out quite nicely so would make a nice base, and yet isn't too soft to apply just as a liner. This has gone in my daily makeup bag for work and looks nice with blue eyes. Jelly Pong Pong are selling these for £10.50, which I think is a little pricey.

 

Well… I think I liked this box enough to try next month and see if I’ll carry on with it. I think I got my money’s worth with this one for sure – I really like the cleanser and the eye pencil is nice too. I’ll pick one the of menu items next month to see how that goes.

Do you have a box subscription? Which is your favourite?