LookFantastic Beauty Box January 2018 Unboxing, Review, Contents

LookFantastic Beauty Box January 2018 Unboxing, Review, Contents

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, January 29, 2018

A New Year means taking stock of everything, beauty box subscriptions included. I've decided to keep just the one subscription box this year, and it is the LookFantastic Beauty Box.
Why? For starters, it's just £12 or so per month, since I'm on a long-term subscription. For another, I don't pay upfront; only each month when the box ships out. For a third, there are some nice perks, such as a discount on the amazing Advent Calendar. Fourthly, on an average, the boxes are quite nice, and come with extras such as the Elle Magazine.
So let's take a look at LookFantastic's first beauty box for 2018. They've revamped the box design - a nice periwinkle blue and mint green combo. The product leaflet has also undergone a makeover.

Scroll down for the contents of the LookFantastic Beauty Box January 2018.

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Sephora Italia Card Programme, GWPs and Experience

Sephora Italia Card Programme, GWPs and Experience

Travel Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Some weeks ago, I showed you my haul from Sephora Italy - see here - and said they gave me quite a few GWPs. Today, I am going to show you the gifts and samples and talk about their card programme.
I visited three different Sephora outlets in Rome. The largest store, near the Spanish Steps, spans three floors - the ground floor for makeup, the first floor for skincare and the mezzanine floor for hair care. My hotel was a two-minute-walk away from the Sephora at the Termini Station and I popped in every evening, to relax after a long day.
Believe it or not - makeup is cheaper in Europe than anywhere else. I expected a gargantuan four-digit bill and instead had to pay an amount for just three figures. Plus, I got my VAT back from Customs, so yay!

Scroll down for a detailed look at the Sephora Italia Card Programme and GWPs.

Beauty products used up in June/July 2015

Beauty products used up in June/July 2015

Sunscreen Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, August 03, 2015

Because I was travelling for the major part of the last two months, I decided to combine my empties. Also, I had to photograph products in batches, because there was no way of saving them or bringing them back home and wasting precious luggage space.

I have divided this month's empties into three parts, depending on what products finished at the same time. Some of these products were purchased from Europe and the UK while I had packed the others. Check out what I had packed here. During my trip, I discovered some amazing European brands, and the best conditioner ever - and sadly may never see it again. You will find the sorry tale further below.

Check out the beauty products I used up in June and July 2015 and my quick thoughts on each.

Tess Giberson for Beauty.com 2014 Winter Forest Bag

Tess Giberson for Beauty.com 2014 Winter Forest Bag

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, December 11, 2014

I recently shopped from from Beauty.com and received a gift card, so there was an excuse to make a second haul! My haul post is coming up within a week or so - the fact is that I am receiving an early Christmas present in the form of a new camera, and have pretty much stopped taking photographs until then  - but meanwhile, you can take a look at an amazing GWP I received from Beauty.com.
The gifts at Beauty.com are not the odd perfume vial and foil sachet. Each GWP is a designer bag, exclusively from a recent collection, and the bag contains travel, deluxe and full-sized samples from top brands sold on Beauty.com. Recently, I got the Adam Selman for Beauty.com Baby Backpack as a GWP - check out the contents here.
I am thrilled to receive the Tess Giberson Winter Forest bag, the first Holiday 2014 GWP from Beauty.com - as you can see from the photo above, the functional makeup pouch is a looker, with the lovely tree silhouettes!

Check out the contents of the Tess Giberson for Beauty.com Winter Forest bag below. 

Adam Selman for Beauty.com GWP Miss Baby Backpack, samples

Adam Selman for Beauty.com GWP Miss Baby Backpack, samples

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, November 29, 2014

With all due respect to every department store around the world and every Sephora outlet there is, the fact is that Beauty.com has amazing gifts with purchases. Where are you going to get a gorgeous designer collaboration bag with some 15 deluxe samples? Sephora Dubai has a very generous card programme, as you can see here and here, but you need to watch out for the offers to turn up, and only Black Card (equivalent to Sephora USA's VIB) or Gold Card (VIB Rouge) owners are eligible for the best gifts. On the other hand, anyone buying from Beauty.com can avail of the generous GWPs they have.
These are not random vinyl pouches with a dozen sachets. I am talking about designer bags exclusively made for Beauty.com, by Richard Chai, Cynthia Rowley, Lela Rose, EDUN, Tess Giberson and others. Today's post features the Miss Baby backpack, which has a print from Adam Selman's Fall 2014 collection. Adam Selman, for the uninitiated, is Rihanna's costume designer.

Check out the Adam Selman Miss Baby Backpack and the deluxe beauty treats inside, further below.

Benefit They're Real Push-Up Eyeliner review

Benefit They're Real Push-Up Eyeliner review

Samples Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, July 23, 2014

I was somewhat surprised to find that Sephora ME was giving out travel-sized samples of the Benefit They're Real Push-Up Eyeliner from the Benefit counter. I had expected sachets of The Porefessional, minis of They're Real mascara or That Gal, vials of perfume, even mini kits as gifts with purchase, but not something this recent.
I am someone who does not really mind any kind of black eyeliner, as long as the fiddly thing is pigmented and black enough, if you get my drift. I'm not into pencil eyeliners except on the lower waterline, but apart from that, I am not fussy about liquid or gel eyeliners. In fact, I can even put up with wonkiness or gloopiness or thickness. Who is going to examine my eyeliner that closely?
Very few people like the Bourjois Erasable Eyeliner, whereas I do - reviewed here - and have used it in quite a few eye looks I have done. I draw the line (pun intended) at an eyeliner flaking and spreading all over the place of its own free will. But apart from those, anything from an eyeliners goes with me.  I'll take anything, although I reiterate that I do not like pencil eyeliners.

Here is my review and swatches of the Benefit They're Real Push-Up Eyeliner.

Sephora ME card programme and gifts with purchase

Sephora ME card programme and gifts with purchase

Sephora Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, July 17, 2014

Call them gifts with purchase, freebies, samples, or whatever you like; we all love receiving beauty goodies!
Remember my December haul from Sephora Middle East? I had signed up for their card programme and received a few samples/gifts with purchase back then. I had also said that the US outlets had been more generous sample-wise, when I visited about three years ago, with a dozen or so foundation, skin care and perfume samples from Seattle and D.C. outlets. I have changed my mind! I have been to at least a dozen Sephoras on three continents now. The Sephora outlets in Spain and Portugal and the ones in Singapore and Malaysia palmed me off with perfume vials or a couple of 2ml tubes and sachets.
Sephora Middle East has several outlets across eight countries (there are eight Sephora outlets in the UAE alone). The haul posts can wait. Here is a quick look at my samples and GWPs from Sephora Middle East.

Lip Factory Box June 2014 review, unboxing

Lip Factory Box June 2014 review, unboxing

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, July 01, 2014

There is nothing like the feeling of relief you get when the packages you were expecting turn up a day before you travel. I have had a fair number of packages turn up over the last three or four business days, and will be reviewing the products in due course.
I cannot find a theme for the June 2014 Lip Factory Box - normally, the theme is printed on the product card. Next month, however, is their anniversary special box, so that ought to be something to look forward to. By law of averages, it should be the all-lips box, but I don't think they will do the all-lips during the anniversary month, since they did not combine the two last year.
Be that as it may, Lip Factory is a makeup-centric beauty box that ships worldwide. They are best-known for brilliant customer care and a greater degree of customisation than many other beauty boxes. Read on for more details.

Here is my unboxing and review of the June 2014 Lip Factory beauty box.

A Beautiful World Spring-Summer 2014 box unboxing

A Beautiful World Spring-Summer 2014 box unboxing

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, May 18, 2014

If the Autumn/Winter beauty box from A Beautiful World sold out in six hours and the Christmas 2013 box, reviewed here, sold out in four hours, the Spring/Summer 2014 beauty box sold out in a little over one hour after it was released! It was thanks to my friend Lorna that I got mine.
A Beautiful World is a UK-based half-yearly beauty box that ships worldwide. Products are always natural and cruelty-free, and the boxes are in high demand. The Spring/Summer 2014 box cost £20 in the UK including shipping, and £32 worldwide including tracked shipping, though I had a £4 discount code to use.

Here is my review and unboxing of the Spring/Summer 2014 beauty box from A Beautiful World.

Memebox Makeup Superbox 5 unboxing

Memebox Makeup Superbox 5 unboxing

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, May 01, 2014

You are probably sick of the spate of beauty box posts by now - I can't help it, eight boxes arrived within four days and I have to show you the lot! You will get a little respite next week, once the remaining boxes are done, and we'll go back to seeing reviews.
You are probably as sick of reading the intro to Memebox as I am of typing it, especially after the giant spate of Memebox unboxings I have been doing recently. For all information about subscription and shipping, check out previous Memebox posts here. 
Now this is a box I really like. This is Memebox's makeup-only Superbox #5, with Memebox's favourite shades for Spring. Superboxes are Memebox specialties containing full-sized products. I was a little iffy about Korean makeup, although their lip products are as good as those of many mainstream brands.

Here is what I got in my makeup-only Superbox 5 from Memebox.

Banila co. Memebox review

Banila co. Memebox review

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Beauty boxes are hit-and-miss. But when there is a track record, or when most reviews say something similar, it is best to ignore gut feelings. As I ought to have done.
You know of my irrevocable love for Memebox, the Korean beauty box that ships worldwide. They have regular Global Edition boxes, which rock. They have Superboxes with full-sized products and themed boxes (hair, oily skin, makeup) which are also awesome. But they also have brand-only boxes, where all products are from a particular brand only. I had seen reviews of the Etude House box and the Face Shop Box. To say that both were below-par would be an understatement. So when the Banila co. box was put up for sale, I should have avoided it like a sensible girl and stuck to regular boxes. But that is just what I did not do. Banila co. is a Korean beauty brand launched in 2005 and is best known for the Prime Primer and Clean it Zero makeup remover.

Here is what I got in my Banila co. box from Memebox.

Vegan Cuts Beauty Essentials box unboxing

Vegan Cuts Beauty Essentials box unboxing

Vegan Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, April 28, 2014

Since I am black-and-blue all over after yesterday, I decided to unbox a very special beauty box, which is cheering me up no end. I know I have been loving quite a few beauty boxes of late, but wait till you see the contents of this one! 
Don't you love it when you buy a surprise box and the results pay off? For a while now, I have been considering trying out the Vegan Cuts box. This is a US-based monthly beauty box that ships worldwide. They also have a snack-box, but I don't think they ship eatables everywhere. And, the defining feature of this beauty box, if you had your eyes closed till this point, is that the products are entirely vegan!
I didn't pick the monthly box because I saw the Vegan Cuts Beauty Essentials kit on their website and fell in love with it. This is a specially curated vegan beauty box packed with makeup and skin and hair care products to start you off on vegan beauty. You are going to have to spend some time on this page, for the goodies are many!

Here is what I received in the Vegan Cuts Beauty Essentials box.

Memebox Luckybox 2 unboxing, review

Memebox Luckybox 2 unboxing, review

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, April 27, 2014

I was going to do this unboxing on video. However, I am/was helping Gramps and Gran move house and fell from the stepladder today, with an ancient Remington falling atop me, and will be out of commission this week. It was bound to happen with all the climbing and carrying over two days. I have a bump on my head and my back hurts badly, but the X-rays are clear, so I only have painkillers and muscle relaxants. I am knackered and bored already, though the laptop and half a dozen books should help. There are times when I appreciate the internet almost as much as printed books.
Anyway, by now, you know all about Memebox, the Korean beauty box that ships worldwide. This is my first Lucky Box, featuring the best of products from Memeboxes 2-7. I already have Memeboxes 4 and 5, but picked this box because I had missed box 7 by seconds and I particularly wanted a tin containing eye and lip colours and nail wraps. As my luck hasn't improved in 10 years, that product was conspicuously absent in this box.

Here are the contents of my Lucky Box 2, from Memebox.

Memebox Global Edition 9 unboxing

Memebox Global Edition 9 unboxing

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, April 24, 2014

 

There is going to be a veritable unboxing fest on this blog over the next 10 days, though I will take breaks for smoky eye looks, a tropical manicure and other posts. It never rains, but it pours, and I have received six beauty boxes this week alone, of which you have seen two so far. And I expect another two to show up next week.
Today, it is the turn of Memebox Global Edition 9 to be unboxed. For those who haven't heard of Memebox before, they are a Korean beauty box that ships worldwide. The boxes are always jam-packed and you can order whichever box you like before it sells out (in seconds, sometimes - yes, really). The Global Edition Memeboxes come for $23 each with international tracked shipping for $7.99, though you get regular discount codes, such as $5 off for Easter, or $2 off for just signing up. Do mention that you were sent by Renu of My Beauty Junction
The good news is that Memebox now ships to more countries, thanks to a bit of work by some of us. If your country has not been included yet, please sign the petition here. Even if your country is included, please sign it anyway to support beauty box addicts across the world - we need 100 signatures to tell Memebox to ship everywhere!

Here is what I received in my Memebox Global Edition 9 beauty box from Korea.

Beauty box from HQHair unboxing, review

Beauty box from HQHair unboxing, review

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Some days ago, HQHair.com, one of my favourite online shopping destinations for makeup, had an irresistible offer - a free beauty box as a gift with purchase, containing their editors' picks from high-end brands, if you buy for £45 from their website.
Who can possibly resist a free beauty box, especially a beauty box addict such as yours truly? I was going to get myself the full-sized GlamGlow YouthMud Tinglexfoliate Treatment anyway, after loving the sample, so I ordered the pack and the GlamGlow Brightmud Eye Treatment (will review after using).
British-based HQHair ships worldwide and has express shipping with full tracking, so my order arrived within a week - just after the Easter break - and I didn't pay customs'duties for this. Best of all, HQHair - and their sister website LookFantastic - have similar offers from time to time. I got the entire Real Techniques Core Collection free once, and several other goodies.

Here is my free Editors' Picks skin care beauty box from HQHair.com.

Estee Lauder and Dior birthday haul, and presents

Estee Lauder and Dior birthday haul, and presents

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, April 15, 2014

It was my birthday yesterday so I took the day off for a bit of much-needed "me-time". I had ended my shopping ban in the last week of March to pick up some treats for myself. The beauty goodies are mostly skin care and a powder compact - I only use pressed powder foundation, which itself gives me a dewy look soon enough, given how oily my face is. If I dared to use liquid or cream foundation, my face would be swimming in oil, even if I set it with powder. Besides, pressed powder applied with the Beautyblender Pro lasts longest on my skin, keeps me matte for longer and saves time on "setting".
Enough about the glories of pressed powder foundation; here are a few things I hauled, and a few prezzies I received.

Memebox Global 8 unboxing, review: Korean beauty box

Memebox Global 8 unboxing, review: Korean beauty box

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, April 03, 2014

While I had plans of unboxing all beauty boxes on video this year, I seem to manage videos for only one out of three boxes, especially if the boxes arrive mid-week. Ah well.
Memebox, a beauty box from Korea that used to ship worldwide until March 31, now ships only to Canada, Japan and the US. However, they will honour all international orders placed before March 31 (and will reinstate worldwide delivery services in a few months' time), so I ended up ordering boxes until October. At first, they messed up and did not send me the tracking number for the Global Edition box #8 and I threw a dozen emails, tweets and Facebook comments at them. They finally sent me my tracking, and the box seems to have been sent by express post, to make up for the delay!

Here is the review of my Memebox Global Edition 8, and what I got inside.

Beauteque beauty sample bag review and contents: Korean products with worldwide shipping

Beauteque beauty sample bag review and contents: Korean products with worldwide shipping

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, March 20, 2014

I am always on the lookout for any beauty sampling programmes that ship worldwide, especially if they carry Korean beauty products - because, so far, I find Korean skin care products actually do what they say more often than other brands. So when I heard about the Beauteque Sample Bag, I decided to get it, without even waiting to read reviews.

Beauteque - beauty + boutique -  is a New Jersey-based online retail store founded in 2014. They sell Korean products from top brands, right from Etude House to Tony Moly. However, they try to keep their inventory five-free to an extent (parabens, benzopenone, animal raw material, pigment and mineral oil) and they'll also tell you what ingredients each product contains if you ask them.

Rose Rose Shop Secret Box review, unboxing: International beauty box

Rose Rose Shop Secret Box review, unboxing: International beauty box

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, March 13, 2014

It was the lovely Amanda of  My Pretty Distractions - she is great for a chat about beauty boxes and Korean cosmetics - who showed me her Rose Secret Box from Rose Rose Shop, thus propelling me into ordering one straightaway. For those who haven't heard of it before, Rose Rose Shop is a website that sells Korean cosmetics at wholesale rates. They have a Rose Secret Box for $25, $50 and $100 - each contains two, five or eleven full-sized items respectively, a pair of earrings and various samples, all worth double the value of the box. The $100 box also contains "one clothes". Don't look at me, I didn't order or write it.
No two boxes are exactly alike. Worldwide tracked shipping for the Secret beauty boxes is absolutely free, though if you order something apart from the box, you pay extra, based on weight.

Here is my review and unboxing of the Rose Rose Shop Secret beauty box.

Lip Factory February 2014 unboxing, review, contents: International Beauty Box

Lip Factory February 2014 unboxing, review, contents: International Beauty Box

Unboxing Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, March 02, 2014

The February 2014 Lip Factory Box is the best they have sent out so far. I know I say this each month. For sheer consistency, value for money, customer care and range, this is my favourite beauty box.
Lip Factory is a US-based makeup-centric beauty box that ships worldwide. You get full-sized makeup products and maybe a sample or two and the value always exceeds the $22 that the box costs ($32 if you're outside the US). They bring in some amazing brands and, every four months, there is an all-lips box. To subscribe, hit their website here. Do mention my reference number 384919 and we'll both get 50 points apiece (can be redeemed for products or boxes).

Here is the unboxing and review of my Valentine's Day Edition Lip Factory Box for February 2014.