When I'm in the hiatus-recovery stage, I feel over-excited about packages and makeup... subscription boxes, most of all. It's like I've all this pent up love for makeup that I never get to write about and the resurrection makes room for a new high.
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| May 2015 BDJ Box |
It's basically like that first glorious shit after being constipated for 7 days.
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| May 2015 BDJ Box: Kiss Dry Goodbye! |
So for me to feel so blah about this box after slowing down since April is just alarming. I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye yet but I have been feeling so-so about BDJ Boxes for a while now. I'm just getting disillusioned with the abundance of repeats and the drugstore blockbuster catalogue (i.e. Garnier, Nivea, Cetaphil).
Here's What's Inside, Sorted by Favorites:
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| FS Powder Blush in Warm Chiffon, Php 350 / 6.2g |
Warm Chiffon looks like a great contour / bronzing shade for light medium - medium skin tones. FS has been hit or miss for me: I've had some surprising success with the FS single eyeshadows but not so much with the gel liner. (Both items sampled by BDJ last September 2014)
A bronzer / contour shade would be great to experiment with in the summer months. I've been looking pale as effff good lawd. It's like the more sun there is, the paler I get.
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| Colgate Optic White Plus Shine, Php 115 / 100g |
I don't know why I'm so excited for these whitening toothpastes. I'm not even sure if I'm putting them in rotation because my teeth are softies and whitening toothpastes aren't recommended. Still, I like it, even before picking up one tube and realizing there was a second underneath it.
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| Himawari Dear Beaute Oil in Shampoo and Conditioner, Php 695 / 500ml, 10ml sachets provided. Pure Savon Classic Floral White & Rose Blend Scent, Php 545 / 300ml, 8ml sachets provided. Cure Natural Aqua Gel, Php 1500 / 250ml, 4 x 3g sachets provided. |
This is how sachets should be done. Reasonably sized for product type, and offering variants or complete routine steps. I could've done without the Cure samples as I've been getting them since forever. I'm so glad it was bundled with these 2 completely new and interesting samples. Though FYI, I've tried Pure Savon when I popped by Liz's place and it was drying as effff.
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| Dermal Masks in Aloe, Cherry Blossoms and Cucumber, Php 70 / 23g |
Dermal Masks are forever love, even guys appreciate them! Aloe and Cucumber are perfect for the summer season while Cherry Blossoms can be your Japan-on-tissue experience. These are repeats (May 2014,) but I don't feel bad because they're easily disposable and super effective.
Other Stuff in Here:
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| Nivea 3in1 Exfoliating Wipes, Php 140 / 20 sheets. *my sample is the Alcohol Free, pink variant with 25 wipes. |
Though full-size, these wipes deserve to be in the Other Stuff i.e. Don't Give a Shit category. I found the Exfoliating variant too dry to work with and hatehatehated them.
I'm in fact, hate-using (copyright, Carina) them just to get them out of my sight yesterday ASAP.
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| Cetaphil Daily Advance Moisturizing Lotion, Php 675 / 85g, 2 x 14g tubes provided. |
I lumped these Cetaphil tubes in the Others category not realizing they were moisturizers and not the unsuccessful (to me) cleansers! I'm feeling happier about them now and am willing to bump them up to the bottom of the Here's What's Inside category.
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| Aloe Derma Pure Aloe Vera Gel, Php 280 / 45g. |
Didn't we get a whole bunch of these just last month? It's quite timely for the season, but I'm just feeling like a lil' Bratina Divina over this aloe gel. I don't burn up and never get to use them! I haven't even been to the beach!!!
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| Garnier Skin Naturals Light Complete Whitespeed Multi-Action Brightening Scrub, Php 84 / 50ml. Garnier Skin Naturals Light Complete Whitespeed Multi-Action Whitening Serum Cream with SPF 19 PA+++, Php 265 / 50m. |
I really hate Garnier.
Box Value: Php 1559 or 2.69 the Php 580 subscription fee!
RECAP:
I like only 4 things I like out of 9 samples. This is unheard of! Though technically BDJ serves the most common gripes I have with sub boxes (at least 1 makeup sample, considerate sachet curation and variety) I still feel underwhelmed. They serve their 3x promise (mostly) and get me to try new brands I never would've bothered with.
I feel like they fulfill a certain checklist but I don't feel as happy as a 10/10 subscription should indicate. Maybe because slowly, I am identifying less and less with the BDJ Bella. I like drugstore stuff but I think the sticking point is that many of their partners are overexposed and easily accessible. At this stage in my blogging career, I get to try so many samples and feel like a subscription box isn't worth my money anymore.
My last sub is an annual or biannual ending next year. This is my thought process: make up my mind if I want to quit BDJ, forecast Glamourbox's 2016 shipment schedule and consider an international subscription (LMdB?!) for next year. Wish me luck!
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