No, I mean May. It’s past mid-June, and I mean May.

See, Beauteque has been having some issues lately. For whatever reason, April’s bag had some “importing issues,” and the bag didn’t go out until early May. Mid-May, an email came out stating that from now on, all bags would be sent out on the last day of the month… Meaning May’s bag was ready to ship on June 1 and didn’t actually ship out until later. So yes, this is May’s bag technically, but it’s essentially June’s, as June’s bag will get to me mid-July and so on and so forth.

Enough clerical talk; let’s unbox!

This month’s bag is super cute. The theme is “May Flowers” (following up from “April Showers” I’m sure). This bag is non-offensive to the eye, has no visible branding (a huge plus for me), and is actually quite large- almost everything below fits easily!

Inside, we have:

It’s Skin My Bottle Soothing Gel in Vita-P Grape. This product either came in Vita-K Kale or Vita-P Grape, and I’m happy to get the grape as I just like the idea of grapes more. It is a gel that is very, very viscous. We’re talking as viscous as the green aloe vera gel that isn’t actually mostly aloe… you know the ones I’m talking about? I’m disappointed to report that this does not smell like grapes. Instead, it smells astringent, like cosmetic alcohol. The usage info was just “apply head to toe, as needed.” Full-size; 245g. Retail value: $20.99

Sofnon Willowherb Wash-Remove Mousse. This is another product that came in two varieties (the other option was Tsaio Camellia Mousse, which I honestly would’ve preferred). I haven’t used this one yet, as I want to finish my current foam cleanser first, but like the Vita-P gel, it smells a little astringent. Full size; 150ml. Retail value: $16.99

EH Strawberry Choux Blusher

Etude House Lovely Cookie Blusher in #2 Strawberry Choux. This is the last of the variable products. Each bag contained one of these blushes, but in a random color. The color I received, Strawberry Choux, is a light pastel baby pink. It comes with a cute puff to apply it. It feels very powdery, but I really like the color. Full size; 0.3 oz. Retail value: $10.

Lindsay Lavender Modeling Mask. This is a powder product. You add water, stir it up, and then put the mix on your face. Once the mask solidifies, you pull it off! I’ve been wanting to try one for a while. I’m not a huge fan of lavender, but I’m hoping it can calm my skin down a bit too. Full size; 28g. Retail value: $6

Shimeiyi Oval Face Brush. This looks a lot like those Artis brushes, but it’s from a much more affordable brand (although I will admit, I’m not sure how this quality compares to the $1 ones you can get off of eBay). This looks to be roughly the same size of the one I use from Royal and Langnickel to blend out cream highlight, so I’m assuming I can use this one for the same purpose and be even lazier with washing my brushes… 😉 Full size. Retail value: $6.99

Peripera Speedy Eyebrow Auto Pencil in #1 Brown Black. This product reminds me a bit of Benefit’s Goof Proof pencil or even ABH’s Brow Wiz in that the pencil “applicator” tip is ovalish, with a thin side and a thicker side, and it contains a spoolie on the opposite end. While this says it’s Brown Black, it looks quite warm and not quite dark enough for my dark hair, but it might be nice to give some dimension? It’s a very thick, almost waxy feeling formula as well. Full size; 0.14oz. Retail value: $8

    And now, finally, a swatch pic of the two color products!

The top is the brow product and the bottom is the blush; sorry that it’s hard to see as I didn’t have great lighting available.

Overall value: $68.97. This is, of course, based off of Beauteque’s pricing on their storefront. This bag costs $24 + $3.95 S&H for month-to-month and three-month subs (I have the three-month), so you are getting over twice the value of what you pay, even after you factor in shipping costs (and ignoring the value of the bag itself). That said, you can often find K-beauty products for cheaper on other sites- these are some prices I found on the front page of Google!

Peripera Speedy Eyebrow Auto Pencil: I was able to find this for $4.41 with free shipping on eBay.

Lindsay Lavender Modeling Mask: $35 for a pack of 8 on Amazon Prime ($4.38 per mask).

Etude House Cookie Blusher: $7.80 on Etude House’s US website. $8 on Amazon with Prime.

It’s Skin Vita-P Gel: $10.20 from Cosmetic-Love.com

Even though I couldn’t find much cheaper prices on the other two products, if I used those retail prices for those four items, we’d have an overall retail value of $51. This still gives you more value than what you are paying, but my point is that often for these k-beauty subscriptions, you are getting what you are paying for in terms of products; you aren’t usually getting the best “value” for your dollar. I’m okay with this as I love k-beauty and the value for me comes in the curation and trying new products I might not know even existed.

#Beauteque #BeautyBag - January 2015 Review #SubscriptionBox

Beauteque isn’t new in the beauty box world – they’ve been selling very popular one-time Asian beauty bags for quite a while. They just released their subscription service beginning this month, woo! It’s partly customizable, and they ship to multiple countries! woo!

Beauteque Beauty Bag 24$ Per Month + Flat Rate Shipping (Varies by Country) Ships between the 5th and 15th

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