Today I have a unboxing/first impressions of my very first Luxe Box! A few months ago I decided that I wanted to start subscribing to a beauty box service. In previous years I had subscribed to the Julep’s Maven box and Top Box but I eventually ended my subscriptions, mainly because I just felt like I was accumulating too many products that I wasn’t using.
Since I’ve started blogging I decided that subscribing to a beauty box again would provide me with a some good post topics. I started researching and carefully considering all the big name subscription boxes including Birch Box, Ipsy, Glossy Box, etc.. While they all seemed great and had generally positive reviews, the fact that they were delivered once a month was a bit of a deterrent for me. Then I discovered Luxe Box! First of all, it’s a Canadian and if you’re Canadian like me, you know how much exchange sucks right now! I was looking for a subscription service that would charge in Canadian dollars so I wouldn’t end up paying an extra 30% on my subscription. I decided to sign up for the quarterly plan which costs $26.00 CAD plus GST per box.
Secondly, I like the fact that boxes arrive once every three months, instead of once per month. I’m already behind in reviewing products I bought months ago so this just seems more manageable to me. To me, this seemed to check all the boxes so I decided to sign up. I did experience some difficulties trying to get an account set up on their website but I can’t say if that was their fault or something wrong with my computer because I eventually got it working. So I signed up and eagerly awaited my Fall box to be delivered at the beginning of September.
So I received my Luxe Box two weeks ago but given that I was on vacation, I only had the chance to break it open and give the products an initial try last week. Here’s the box that all the products are placed in; I definitely plan on re-purposing this to store something at some point as it’s pretty sturdy!
Included in the box is a silky drawstring bag. These are great to throw a pair of shoes into and into your suitcase or to contain dirty laundry while traveling (i.e. undies!):
They also provide a card that details all the products included in your box, with a small description of each product and the cost of the full-size product:
Here’s what I received in my box:
Lancome Visionnaire Advanced Multi-Correcting Cream ($92 for 50 mL – received 150 mL)
I haven’t tried this yet and I probably won’t for a couple of months. I have a bunch of moisturizers on the go right now and I don’t want to add another to the mix. Despite this claiming that it can be used morning and night, I would likely just use this at night as I find creams too intense for my skin in the morning (I prefer lotions). This seems like a very luxurious product – I dipped my finger in it to test it out and it was extremely silky and smooth, and left the small patch of skin I applied it to feeling plump and moisturized. The price tag of the full size causes me anxiety though so I’m kind of hoping I don’t like this too much. Anyway, I’ll make sure to report back on what I think about this after I’m able to give it a try!
Delectable Ultra Nourishing Hand Cream – Coconut & Cream ($7 CAD for 60 mL)
Delectable is a line made by Cake Beauty, which is a Canadian company. I’ve actually tried this product and while I feel like it’s actually a pretty good hand cream, I’m not a fan of the scent. Which is rare for me, because I typically LOVE coconut-scented products. But this one just smells overally sweet and artificial, and similar to one of those cheap felt car air fresheners. I’ll still use this because I go through hand cream like crazy and I do like the formula, but it’s not my favourite and I wouldn’t repurchase this particular scent. They do have other scents though, so I’d be willing to give those a try.
shu uemura Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil ($69 for $150 mL – received 30 mL)
I don’t know a lot about she uemura and I’ve never tried any of their products. So I was excited to see this in the box! At first I thought this was a oil moisturizer or cleanser but it’s actually for your hair! Hair oils always make me a little nervous because they can tend to make my hair greasy. I’m happy to report that I’ve used this twice and that hasn’t been the case! I used one pump on my ends prior to styling my hair with my curling iron, and used it all over (except at and near my roots) on freshly washed, wet hair. I definitely noticed more results when using it as a leave-in treatment after washing. My hair was so silky, soft and shiny that I could barely believe that it was actually my hair. It also smells really nice too – kind of like a light floral scent (and I am normally not a fan of floral scents).
Would I pay $70 for the full size of this? Even though I’m impressed so far, that’s A LOT for a hair oil. Because its something I would use sparingly (just 2 pumps a couple of times of week), I do feel it would last a long time but I’m going to see how I feel about it once I’ve used up the bottle to determine if its worth it or not.
Medusa’s Makeup Lipgloss – Loud Mouth ($9 USD for 6mL – FULL SIZE)
Yay lipgloss! This is one thing I’ll never get tired of receiving! There’s a few things I was impressed with in regards to this product – first of all, it’s a full-sized so that’s pretty sweet! Secondly, I’m LOVING the packaging on this – it’s so unique! Lastly, this brand gets bonus points for being paraben and cruelty-free.
The only thing I was kind of disappointed in was the colour – I’d describe this as a reddish-orange shade. Not a colour I’d pick up on my own or gravitate to normally. Its a really warm shade and I tend to feel I look better in cooler colours. However, I’ve applied it a few times and I *think* it actually doesn’t look too bad – it looks a little more coral than red. In regards to the formula, it’s very silky and shiny and glossy and as a result it has about zero staying power. Not many glosses do though so I can’t really count that against it. My only other gripe with this would be that I found it a little patchy after I applied it, and I didn’t just apply one layer. I had to apply a few more layers to get a uniform colour. So I’m not sure if that’s just the case with this shade or with the formula in general. I checked out their website and they appear to have a pretty good shade selection and there’s definitely others that I would love to try, especially given that price is pretty reasonable. I can’t seem to find a list of retailers on their website though, so I’d probably wait until exchange rates even out a bit before I’d place an order.
purdelicate Gentle Soy Milk Cleanser & Makeup Remover ($36 for 165 ml – received 30 mL)
I’ve never heard of this brand before either but my first impression is that this facial cleanser offered a lot of claims – non-drying, makeup removing (including mascara!), toning, soothing and safe for all skin types. My skin is so sensitive that I’m always leery to try new face products. However I’ve used this a handful of times now and I will say it its actually pretty good. It really does remove all of my makeup – including mascara so that impressed me right off the bat. There’s not many cleansers that do that for me. It’s also not drying at all – which is usually something I experience when a cleanser can actually take off all of my makeup. Most important – I haven’t experienced any breakouts or irritation after using this so that is a big plus for me.
Now would I actually purchase the full size? Unfortunately I’m not convinced that it’s worth the large price tag. I feel I get identical results using my Cera Ve Foaming Facial Cleanser which is less than half the cost of this and I can pick it up at my local drugstore. I’m going to add this to my travel products stash as it’ll work well for that.
Ciate London Nail Lacquer – Brocade Parade ($15 CAD for 13.5 mL FULL SIZE)
I’ve seen Ciate before at Sephora but have never tried any of their products. Very rarely will I buy high-end nail products because it’s not just something I see the benefit in investing in. So I was kind of excited to see this in here as it’s not something I would normally purchase. But I was also a slightly disappointed because it’s a glitter polish. And glitter polishes are not my favourite. They’re fun to do once and while but I rarely use them because they’re typically a pain in the @ss to remove, they can be difficult to apply and I just prefer a more basic nail.
According to the Ciate website, there’s purple in this, along with black and white? I definitely see the black and while, but instead of purple I see blue/silver. Regardless, it is a beautiful glitter and I can see this looking really nice overtop of a dark polish – such as black, dark blue or deep purple.
Yves Rocher Grand Rouge Lipstick – 24. Violine Lumineux ($19 for 3.7 mL)
I feel like I may have seen Yves Rocher products before but I cannot remember where. Regardless I’ve never tried anything they make and when I saw the beautiful packaging on this lipstick I was excited to rip it open and see what shade I was given. And here it is…
I think this shade is called Violine Limineux but its hard to read the sticker on the bottom and I cannot find it online. It’s a deep plum/berry shade and the formula is really smooth and creamy. It’s definitely darker that any lip product I currently own and again, it’s not one I would normally pick for myself. However, I’m trying to push myself outside of my natural-looking pink lip colours and this will definitely achieve that!
Tressemme Expert Selection Perfectly (un) Done Wave Creation Sea Foam
For whatever reason, this product was not included on the info card so I’m not sure how much this sells for. When I saw it in here I was kinda meh about it because even though so many rave about Tressemme products, I’ve never found them all that great. The instructions on the back made me laugh because it instructs those with naturally straight hair to apply this in sections and and then use a curling iron to obtain waves. Um ok. I can use a curling iron and get waves without this product, so what do I need this for then? Ultimately, if you have straight hair, you can’t count on using this product alone to obtain waves.
I’ve only used this once so far and I was less than impressed. I applied a few pumps to dry hair prior to using my curling iron. I didn’t notice any difference in my hair after using this – my waves had actually fallen out by the time I arrived at work this morning. This is a very thin, watery mouse and I find that hair products with that type of texture never work on my fine hair. Despite that, I’m going to give this a try with wet hair and see how it performs using it that way.
So the verdict on my very first Luxe Box is that I’m pretty impressed! I think I received a pretty good selection of products that are of a high quality and a good size! I’ve decided to stay subscribed and I’m looking forward to receiving my next box in a few months.
Have you tried Luxe Box? What did you think? Let me know in the comments section below! 🙂
As always, thanks for reading!
Classic Maggie 