December Boxycharm Unboxing
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and made some special memories! Besides having very unfestive weather (in the late 70’s, cloudy & foggy), our Christmas was amazing! My Boxycharm finallyyyy arrived two days before Christmas. I feel like it took so long for me to receive it this month, but it’s finally here and I’m so excited! If you haven’t heard of it, Boxycharm is a $21 monthly beauty subscription service that delivers five full-size products in each box. Except for this month! We got six full-size products!!! If you would like to find out more or subscribe, you can go to their website here. I’ll review last month’s products first and then show you what was in my December box. Yayy!!
~Coolway Leave-In Treatment~ It has been bugging me all month that I can’t exactly put my finger on what this product smells like! It’s not bad at all, it’s actually pretty sweet and smells delicious. As far as it leaving my hair shiny and hydrated with no split ends, I didn’t see a significant difference between this and anything else I have used. So for the price and the amount of product you get, I wouldn’t repurchase it myself. But I also wouldn’t say it’s horrible either…
~Luxie 211 Concealer Brush~ I did try to use this with concealer and wasn’t a big fan. I just don’t like blending concealer with a flat brush. I did, however, find it useful to pack color onto the eyelid in specific areas. It’s not as big as a typical flat eyeshadow brush, so it was helpful for putting on color in smaller sections.
~Pūr~lisse Blue Lotus 4-in-1 Eye Adore Serum~ I really didn’t want to love this product because it is so pricey, I didn’t want to have the urge to repurchase it when I run out. But it feels amazing on the under-eye area. It’s so smooth and luxurious! It absorbs in a timely manner, so I was even able to use this in the morning and apply makeup over it. As far as any firming effects, I haven’t noticed anything which is a disappointment.
~StudioMakeup Soft Blend Blush (Wildflower)~ I actually used this product quite a bit throughout the month. It lasted a good amount of time on the skin and is such a flattering color. The texture is amazing, but you may need to use a light hand because it is so insanely pigmented. It's also very easy to blend, which allows for faster application.
~Manna Kadar Liplocked Priming Gloss Stain (All of Me)~ As far as the priming and staining claims that it had, I didn’t notice a major difference on either of those when compared to a typical lipgloss. I’m still overjoyed that it doesn’t have a smell to it and was pleasantly surprised at how lightweight it felt on the lips.
I was really impressed with some of last month’s products and am so happy that they included an extra product in this month’s box! They’ve done that before, but just with a sample-size item. The theme this month seemed to be focused around Great Gatsby and the roaring 20’s, let’s take a look!
As soon as I opened the box, I was overwhelmed with a delicious coconut scent. Naturally, I thought it was coming from the biggest product I could see in the box so I pulled out the Argan Oil 7 Moisture Healing Mask from Nelson J ( $23 for 3.4 oz). This has many claims: detangle, control frizz, prevent hair color from fading, seal split ends, protect against chlorine and salt water, and restore silk and shine. On the back it lists multiple ways to use this product, I’ll figure out the best and update you in next month’s unboxing. I’m also interested to try this in the summer to see how well it actually protects against chlorine and salt water.
I was excited to see the ncLA So Rich Cuticle Oil in the box because I’ve heard good things about this brand’s nail polish and I’ve been wanting to try a cuticle oil that has a dropper. This product retails at $18 for .5 oz. It says it’s infused with Vitamin E and claims to revitalize and hydrate cuticles. The notecard suggested to apply it two times a day, which I definitely won’t be doing. I think a couple times a week would be just fine.
Right next to the cuticle oil box was a lip liner box, which was the bellápierre Cosmetics Gel Lip Liner in the shade Cinnamon ($18 for .06 oz). I’ve been getting more into lip liners lately, so I was really excited about this one. The first thing you’ll notice is that the color on the box looks nothing like the color on the pencil or the actual color inside. In this case, I’m fine with it because I actually prefer the color it really is rather than the color on the box. It feels super smooth and is a popular color to line the lips with right now, so I’m excited to play around with it.
Another lip product in the box was Ofra’s Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Americano. This item sells for $20 and you get .27 oz. of product. I have an Ofra eyeshadow that I love, so I have some high expectations for their other products too. It felt very lightweight when I swatched it and I only picked up the slightest bit of scent. I couldn’t quite put my finger to it, but it wasn’t chemically at all which is what really matters.
The next thing I picked out of the box was the Jolly Pong Pong Cosmetics All Over Glow Luminizer Gel which retails at $16 for .68 oz. I immediately fell in love with the packaging and thought it was just so cute and happy looking. When I opened the package to swatch it, I smelled that strong coconut scent again. And sure enough, this product is heavily scented and smells delicious. When I first swatched it in a small dot, as you can see in the picture, I got a little worried because it looked pretty dark. But when I blended it...holyyy molyyy, if that isn’t gorgeous!!! It has a very mousse-like texture and reflected the light like nothing else. I also want to try this on my eyes to see if it can act as a bright shimmery base for similar colors that I like to use on the inner half of the lid.
The last product was buried underneath all the shredded paper and when I saw the brand, I couldn’t believe my eyes. This is the Tatcha Petal Fresh Original Aburatorigami (blotting papers) which cost $12 for a pack of 30 sheets. Tatcha is a very expensive, luxurious, high-end brand and I’ve always wanted to try something from their line. As a perfect example, there are little gold flakes in each of these handmade papers! Gold flakes? Handmade? What else do I need to say??
I am super impressed with this month’s box and still have no idea how Boxycharm makes any money. The overall value of the box is $107 and you only pay $21, with no shipping costs! It blows my mind, every single month! I am so excited to try all of these products. If you got this month’s box, let me know what you thought of it in the comments. I’d also love to hear what your favorite beauty subscription services are!
~Mani Monday~
This week I decided to go with a navy blue and just add a little bit of glitter only on my pinky. The blue is Cold Leather by Sinful Colors and the glitter is Ulta’s Indigo-Go-Girl. This was my first time using Cold Leather and I was surprised by the finish of it. It’s a very thin consistency polish, so you’ll definitely need two coats. But what was interesting is that it dried matte like neon polishes usually do. I never hopped on the matte nail polish trend, so I definitely had to put a shiny top coat over it. I like the way it turned out and thought it was cute to have just the tiniest bit of glitter.
What’s on your nails this week?
~Christina~
