Hey betchins! Gosh. I missed that greeting! Anyway, I'm feeling pretty sick today *cough, cough* but please don't let me use that as an excuse to skirt my blogging schedule. Heaven forbid I get a "boo, you whore" comment.
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So let me do a post that will surely chase my sicks away! I'm sharing this unboxing from a very bleak September. Make no assumptions: I got this box on time but it's something that unfortunately got pushed aside due to my horrible sleep as of late. I'm praying that the cozy monsoon weather will: 1.) not bring harm to people, livestock and produce but 2.) bring just enough cool air to lull me to sleep!
On to the unboxing!
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| September 2013 Glamourbox: Beauty SOS |
This release's theme is Beauty SOS. The contents are curated to aid your skin's biggest distress signals.
For anyone who is still not in the know, Glamourbox stopped being a monthly service since around June or July this year, and they now sporadically release boxes. My last Glamourbox arrived last July, and it was the Avon special. You can revisit that here.
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| September 2013 Glamourbox: Beauty SOS |
If you follow my unboxings closely, you will know that I always give a side-eye to boxes who gush about the importance of skincare in order to gloss over the fact that they have no makeup sample. The theme terrified me BUT one sample made such HUGE impact on me that I don't even care about the skincare highlight.
In fact, there's even a lipstick sample in here! And no, it wasn't the lipstick that sold me on the box ;) Read on to find out the hits (and misses) of Glamourbox's September Beauty SOS box!
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| September 2013 Glamourbox: Impressions |
Here's What I Got (Sorted by Favorites):
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| VMV Hypoallergenics ID Monolaurin Gel Php 710 / 120ml. 50ml sample provided. |
This, ladies and gents, is what won me over to the September box. VMV is a great brand which I unfortunately don't have much of an inclination to try. I'm not going to lie and pretend to know so much about it when I really don't. Anyway, I think it's probably because I don't see a lot of their stores.
Getting a 50ml acne treatment sample is GREAT! That's a generous amount but considering this is meant for both face and body, I assume people with backne might go through it faster than me.
This review from Liz of Project Vanity is pretty thorough and educated me as to why a lot of people venture to put this on their HG list. Next to the usual cleanse-tone-moisturize items, acne treatment is pretty important to me as it is my number 2 skin problem (dryness being the first.)
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| Kanebo Impress Concentrate Mask 3D 6pcs / Php 6000. 1pc sample provided. |
I had my first experience with 3D masks with Missha's Red Ginseng Sheet Mask (review here). I love 3D masks as they allow the sheet to hug your face more accurately, thus trapping the essence more effectively along the dozens of contours on your face.
This sample pack is pretty huge as the Kanebo Impress is a 3D sheet that reaches up to your neck! Neck-sag-o-phobes will go wild over this newfangled slosh they can slosh onto their necks.
Despite this being #2 in my list, I am a little bit pessimistic if it will live up to the Php 1000 per mask price tag as I am quite adamant about my Php 50 budget on sheet masks.
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| Ofra Lipstick #205 Php 650 / 4g. |
This looks classic red on the tube but actually swatches a little bluish / cherry. I don't really know how to wear these kinds of reds so that's kind of dampened my spirits a bit about this tube. What has me excited, on the other hand, is the GREAT texture. You can see below that I did a couple of hand swatches going with one, two and three swipes from top to bottom.
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| Ofra Lipstick #202 without flash |
It was a little difficult on first swipe but after getting what I suppose was the dried up portion, the tube glid on veeeeery smoothly. It has a very lightweight yet moist feeling so I predict this will be great for my chappy lips. The swatches only caught a lot of the fluorescent light where I was swatching but it doesn't come up nearly as glossy in real life.
Is it just me or does it look great with wrinkles and skin crevices? I am excited to try this out on my unbalmed lips :) Ae of an Artechoke reviewed #205 (pink) here and I am getting major lipstick envy :(
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| Mustela Stellatopia Emollient Cream Php 1190 / 200ml. ~15ml sample provided. |
This is actually reserved for the first 150 subscribers. I have always been curious as to how many subscribers these boxes manage to hold but sadly, I might never get to know unless I ply the numbers loose from the owners themselves (with the help of liquor, of course.)
This is the third box out of a quarterly subscription I got ages ago, so I was pretty sure to get one. I found a lot of my online blogger friends had it too but I don't really know for sure if there were a lot of people (over the 150 mark) who didn't get it.
I had a good experience with my Mustela Stelatopia cleansing cream that I got from the Bridal Bliss box (unboxing here) that I'm pretty sure I'll have a good experience with this too. The cleansing cream had no indication about where to use it, and neither does this emollient cream. So I will once again, use it on my face. Wish me luck!
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| Rejuvalash Eyelash Growth Serum Php 2860 / 5ml. |
At this point, the only exciting thing for me about this serum is the 21-day promise.
Don't get me wrong, I would hazard to venture that this is probably the most exciting item in the SOS box for a lot of ladies out there. However, I've grown a little disenchanted with eyelash serums (aside from Talika Lipocils, my HG eyelash serum reviewed here) and personally don't find them exciting anymore. They're too tedious to use and the results are limited based on genetics (LORD Y HAVE I NO LASHES).
Still, I'm quite cool with this as I like the eyeliner-brush applicator.
Other Stuff In Here:
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| Avon Anew Genics Gen-Protect SPF 15 Treatment Php 1299 / 30ml. |
This was a last-minute addition to the Other Stuff in Here list. I mean, yay for day creams, right? But I don't really think I'm all that interested in a standalone sun treatment that only has SPF 15. Some foundations have SPF 15 in them already, I would expect at least SPF 25 on a dedicated cream.
However, like with the Rejuvalash eyelash serum, I'm not as put off with this product as I want to be. I really like day creams with SPF as I mostly only complete the PM skincare routine and need an AM security blanket piece.
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| Saforelle Gentle Cleansing Care Php 159.75 / 100ml. |
a.k.a. feminine wash. Really? I'm not experimental with my bikini region and I'M GONNA STOP THERE BEFORE I GROSS YOU OUT.
But Glamourbox, please don't take the Saladbox route of including WTF items.
RECAP:
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| September 2013 Glamourbox (Beauty SOS) Curation Card |
Another hit from Glamourbox! I felt down about this box when I first heard the theme because I'm quite over skincare samples (for now.) It's good that the actual box is leagues apart from what I expected. I like that they didn't fail to include a piece of makeup despite going heavy on the skincare route.
Box Value: Php 4928.75 (around 8x the Php 595 subscription fee!!!)
As a final observation, Glamourbox has a brand profile that simply can't be beat. Although they consider budget brands, they usually have more elite and/or imported brands. Yes, they have Avon samples, but I can't ever imagine getting a Mustela, Ofra, Kanebo or VMV sample from my other subscriptions.
I directly relate their box value to their brand profile, so I understand why their box value is always off the charts. When you consider that they give out upper class brand samples in at least deluxe sizes, Glamourbox definitely amounts to a great return on investment!
I'm still a little bummed about the sporadic box releases, but in the long run I think a box containing deluxe-to-full size samples once every three months (-ish) is the best case scenario in sampling.
You may visit Glamourbox at glamourbox.ph