Unboxing My First Box from Violet Box! February.

Oh how I was waiting for my first ever Violet box! For those of you who have liked the Beauty Bee Facebook page (and if you haven’t, you should!), I switched over from Bellabox to Violetbox. I had been with Bellabox for a good while and I was finding some of the boxes a little repetitive (in regards to brands and products) and seeing as sample boxes are supposed to be a way to introduce you to *new* brands you may not have tried/heard of before – I thought it was time for a change. Violet Box is a little more expensive than Bellabox, but I hope this will translate to more upmarket samples (Bellabox is $15 monthly – Violet Box is $22.95, so there’s an $8 difference between the two).

So, my first impressions? Well before the arrival of my Violet Box, I really appreciated that the debit made from your account, for the box is taken on the same day each month (on the 5th I believe) and you receive an email confirming the debit. I appreciate this because A) I loose track of my purchases, B) I can’t automatically see on my net banking account who the debit was made by (that appears a few days later). Also – when I signed up, I received a lovely email from one of the staff asking if I wanted to start of my subscription with the previous months Violet Box (I signed up right after boxes for the month had shipped). I told Violet Box that I was happy to wait until the following month for my box and they were very accommodating. So there’s a tick for customer service! 🙂 I have a feeling they are a smaller brand compared to Bellabox and I think this may actually be a good thing (perhaps better customer service and specialty samples to make them stand out of the sample box crowd?)!

In regards to the box – I am glad that it is an actual sturdy box. I was really disappointed when Bellabox moved from hard cardboard boxes (but high quality ones which were re-useable) to one off, cheap boxes (that looked like a mail envelope). Now the design of this particular box could do with some design changes, but nevertheless, it’ll do 🙂 Now onto the goodies!

Be a Bombshell “The One” Stick in Girl Crush – RRP: $21.00 – Full sized sample (7.3g). It’s always nice getting a full sized product in your sample box 🙂 This product is one of those multipurpose colour sticks (like the famous Nars Multiple), which can be used on the lips or cheeks. It’s quite creamy and smooth in texture. The light pink shade has some silver shimmer in the formula, but luckily it isn’t to grainy. It looks like it could work well as a blush or even as a highlighter.

I don’t *really* enjoy cream blushes for the cheeks with sparkle in them, but this one isn’t to obvious and the pink is nice and wearable (on the sheer side), so I will give it a go!

Be a Bombshell Lip Crayon in Trophy Wife – RRP: $19.00 – Full sized sample. Another full sized product! I like lip ‘crayons’ but this pink shade is very shimmery – almost metallic, so it has a little bit of an 80s vibe going lol It could be fun, but it’s not a shade I will wear very often which is a shame.

Above: Top swatch is of the lip crayon in Trophy Wife while the bottom swatch is the One Stick in Girl Crush. 

Be a Bombshell seems to be a relatively new brand from the US (founded in 2011) and I can’t say the brand itself interests me all that much, both from an aesthetic point of view and product range (product innovation) but it is affordable and who knows, maybe I will find something I find interesting (though I doubt I will myself be ordering from them).

Aphelia Oasis Acne Solution – RRP: $49.00 for 50ml. 2ml sample. This looks like a really interesting product. It’s a natural spot/acne treatment full of ‘Oriental botanicals’. It comes with a rollerball for application and apparently it shouldn’t irritate your skin like some other spot/acne treatments can (mind you, you can still have a reaction to ‘natural ingredients’ so always be careful when using new products/ingredients to see how your skin reacts). The ingredients are in fact full of Chinese herbs (most are a little unknown to me) as the company specialises in skin care based on traditional Chinese medicine (however combines this with Western scientific research and production techniques). The product smells quite herbally (I don’t think it’s unpleasant as such). I will happily test out this product. The company has quite an extensive skin care line which might be interesting to check out (check them out here)!

Nuxe Creme Nirvanesque – RRP: $49.95 for 50ml. 15ml sample. This is a decent sized sample which I like! Nuxe products always look lovely and are full of natural ingredients (over 80% of the creams ingredients are of natural origin). This cream can be used morning and/or night and targets first fine lines and expression lines. The star ingredients are Peony and Mauve Root; Blue Lotus, Rose Muscat Oil, and Poppy Seed.

Red Carpet Kolour Body Glow in Medium – RRP: $49.95 for 150ml. 2 sachets (doesn’t say how much product is in each sachet). Red Carpet Kolour is another US brand which is somewhere in-between a body foundation and a instant tanner, which is meant to ‘set’ and not rub off on your clothes. Another interesting product. I will give it a go for the ‘glow’ factor but I won’t be able to comment how it goes with covering ‘imperfections’ (veins, pigmentation etc.) – unless it magically works on bruises, which I am always getting!

WOTNOT Natural Organic Facial Wipes – RRP: $7.95 for 25 wipes. Sample of 5 wipes. 100% organic and natural ingredients to help cleanse, soothe and hydrate your skin. The stay ingredients are aloe vera, sweet almond oil, rosehip oil and vitamin E. I have tried these wipes before and they are great. Effective and gentle. They are also much softer texture/material wise than any other wipes I have tried before (and I’m a big fan of facial wipes!) almost cloth like. While they don’t leave your skin parched and super dry, they won’t moisturise your skin like a moisturiser would. WOTNOT is a great Australian brand if you are looking for ECO products which are great for the environment and great for you! They do baby wipes, sunscreen, makeup brushes and facial wipes (obviously). Their products are also very reasonably priced which is great 🙂

This month’s Violet Box actually reminded me a lot of Bellabox (in a good way) because they have included WOTNOT wipes as a sample in their boxes and a full sized lip crayon before (but from a different brand). I think it is a good selection of brands and products and I should be trying out each one (it’s a good sign when you don’t plan to bin or give away any of the samples/products upon receiving them).

If you are interested in joining Violet Box, you can get $10 off your first box by using the code VIOLETBOX10  at the checkout 🙂

Oh – and I also received a lolly pop, which I ate hehehe

Do you receive any sample boxes? Tried any of the mentioned brands before?

Catch ya next time beauty bees!

Beauty Bee~

Join me on Facebook! 😀

Please follow and like us:

#Wotnot #RedCarpetKolour #VioletBox #Nuxe #BeaBombshell #ApheliaOasis