Heyheyhey everyone! Heroine's coming to the country, and I couldn't be more excited to curate you through their Elite BDJ Box debut. I'm glad I attended the BDJ Soiree before writing about this box: now I have an even better idea of the brand's hits and misses! Wait WTF am I talking about. That was Pixy. I keep confusing my brands!!!
FIRST OF ALL, thank the heavens this box seems to be in great abundance!!! If these were as tightly rationed as the Shu boxes, I'd definitely miss this one as well. Apart from deciding to purchase a few days late (unheard of!), I forgot to confirm my purchase. Thankfully, the team checked back with me and waited for me to confirm with my shipping information.
Am I losing my touch? #QuarterlifeCrisis
Am I losing my touch? #QuarterlifeCrisis
Unboxing: Elite BDJ Box - Heroine Makek Box C - Glam Light |
Heroine Make is a drugstore Japanese brand, hence the very reasonable Php 1480 sub fee for this box. If I'm not mistaken, that's the lowest rate an Elite Box has sold for.
This release has three iterations (Fierce, Glam and Sweet) in two shade families (Light and Medium) containing 8 full-size items. Everyone gets the same bunch of stuff; sunblock, BB cream, powder, eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, mascara, eyelash glue and falsies.
There's a billion and one variations across each box. I based my choice on the design of the falsies, i.e. I took the craziest set among the three. I ended up with box C: Glam Light!
Unboxing: July 2014 Elite BDJ Box ft. Heroine Make (Box C: Glam Light) |
This was the ultimate deciding factor in my box choice. Amongst all the available variations, the lashes really drew me in as this would be the first time I'd get falsies from a beauty box. It looked really pretty and glamorous on the promo shot but I think in person, the staggered layers of hair look kind of clumsy.
I did choose the drama, so I hope it still works out once worn on my lashes. Despite the awkward gradation of lash lengths, I can kind of see it working.
It's not that I know HM's eyelash glues to be particularly excellent in bonding nor having a fast cure time, but I think it was very ingenious to add this item to the box. It makes the first sample immediately usable and that's always a great factor to look out for in boxes. Additionally, there's not a lot of eyelash adhesives available in the market so it's nice to know my options.
If there's anything, absolutely anything, that I implicitly trust from Japanese drugstore cosmetics brands it's their eyeliners. Japanese eyeliners operate on a different playing field and even their drugstore offerings are quite budge-proof. I'm hoping this holds up to my expectations.
Eye liner wand, I do not fear you!!! *pisses her panties in fear*
Eye liner wand, I do not fear you!!! *pisses her panties in fear*
The obvious trend in my commentary is that I do not know much about Heroine Make. Though I've spotted the unique anime-laden packaging in my many Sasa scouts, I haven't bothered to pick anything up from them (at least, none that I remember.)
Why is this placed so high up? Again, implicit trust in Japanese drugstore eye stuff. Some of my best mascara are off-label asian drugstore finds!
I just like eyebrow pencils. Unless they're too melty, many of them work fine on me and are my prime eyebrow makeup choice.
I'm most afraid of the base stuff in this box, primarily because I vacillate in that horrible light-to-medium skin tone that can be quite tricky to shade-match. I chose the Light box after reassurances from people who got theirs in advance that I'd be perfect for light...
But people always think I'm the lightest shade and I end up matching one to two shades darker, so.... :/
I'm pretty excited to use this as a retouch powder because it looks so finely-milled. Many reviewers say it leaves your skin feeling extra smooth but oil control is just average, which works out anyway for my dry skin. I like that there's SPF because now that I think about it, I don't really reapply sun protection and I'm pretty sure my measly SPF 15 foundations don't last the whole day.
SPF 50 is giving me anxiety attacks. I think it's too heavy for the face and could result to pore cloggage or *gasp* the dreaded white cast. Still, I'm not ruling the sample out and will line it up for use once I consume my Belo face sunblock.
RECAP:
Box Value: Php 4060 or 2.7x the Php 1480 subscription fee
Heroine Make is a great drugstore brand. The fun packaging and affordable prices (only Php 595 for both the BB cream and eyeliner) are great for young people who want to venture into wearing makeup. If you want something more reliable than extreme drugstore (Nichido, San San, Fashion 21) yet can't commit to full-on signature (NARS, Clinique, Lancome) then this is perfect for you.
I find it cute that the sample selection perfectly embodies the Japanese aesthetic- I'm not sure if the team meant to do that. The Japanese are more about perfecting the base and blackening the eye area, and this box coincidentally has three base products and four non-color eye products. If your comfort zone or go-to look is somewhere along those lines, this box is well worth your money. I know when I was starting out, I only wore powder, eyeliner and MLBB lipstick.
They're still available. You can check in with: elite@bdjbox.com with the subject line BDJ Box Elite. Click here to browse the 6 box variants.
I find it cute that the sample selection perfectly embodies the Japanese aesthetic- I'm not sure if the team meant to do that. The Japanese are more about perfecting the base and blackening the eye area, and this box coincidentally has three base products and four non-color eye products. If your comfort zone or go-to look is somewhere along those lines, this box is well worth your money. I know when I was starting out, I only wore powder, eyeliner and MLBB lipstick.
They're still available. You can check in with: elite@bdjbox.com with the subject line BDJ Box Elite. Click here to browse the 6 box variants.