The Look Bag - October

I used to subscribe to The Look Bag. They had many issues, but nonetheless, I always liked the bags that I received. Then, a few months ago, they stopped their subscription service. They soon announced that they would start up the service again, with some changes.

After revamping the program, they relaunched this month.  So far, the changes I've noticed are decent. The price has increased from $10 to $12.95. Along with the price increase, they now promise at least two full sized products per bag! They also promise higher quality products, better shipping, and a charitable donation for each bag sold. Out of curiosity, I resubscribed. I just wanted to see what they would come up with!

I received their first bag since their relaunch yesterday. Here's what I got!

They still come in these little organza bags. I love these - I keep them to store hair ties, bobby pins, and packet samples. This was in a padded envelope and was also wrapped in bubble wrap, so everything was safe and secure.

The cute card explains some of the changes at The Look Bag and talks a little about fall products. On the back is a list of this month's products.

The first thing I pulled out is the only thing in the bag that is not full sized this month! It is an either/or product - you either received this body wash sample, or a sample of their Bare Foot scrub. I actually own the full size of the scrub, so I was happy to get this body wash. I tried it out today and I really liked it! It smells great - cucumber, melon, and ginseng. It lathers well and left my skin nice and smooth. 

This lip balm by York is nice and also appears to be full size. It has a light peppermint and chocolate scent and a slight flavor...it's not overwhelming at all! It feels nice on the lips, and I love that it does not contain petroleum. I love the square shape...makes it easy to find in a bag!

This is a full sized polish from POP Beauty! It promises not to stain the nails, and contains nylon to strengthen and lessen chipping. This is a black crackle polish! I tried it out over an orange polish yesterday and it was so cute for Halloween!

This is the Lip and Line Primer by Pixi. It's a two in one product! One side is a nude lip primer that neutralizes lips for product application, and the other side is a clear lip liner that prevents feathering and bleeding. I love pixi products, and I'm excited to try this one!

And finally, a full sized stila eyeshadow! The color is Sajama, which is a matte dark bluish gray. It's part of the mineral matte line, which is no longer available. The color is so pretty, and it works well wet as a liner or dry for contouring. Great for fall.

All in all, I am really happy with this month's bag! Four full sized items, three of which are makeup - that's pretty impressive! It seems that The Look Bag has really improved their service and offerings. I can't wait to see what future months bring!

Disclaimer: I bought this product with my own money. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are my own.

The Look Bag - June

Well, after weeks of waiting, I finally got my June Look Bag! This sub normally ships out by the 12th, I believe, and in past months I always had it by the 15th. This month, I got a shipping email on the 15th, and then nothing came. Emails were ignored. Then I finally got another shipping email on the 26th. I'm not sure what exactly went on, but I know many others had the issue as well. Things happen, but the fact that they did not send out an explanation and apology really irked me, and so this is my last Look Bag for a while. I have enjoyed the service, but I value honesty more than products.

That said, it is a good bag and I will use everything in it! Here's what I got.

The card talks about the importance of taking care of your skin in the hot summer months. I love good skin care, so I'm cool with this!

The first thing I pulled out was a Korres eyeshadow. This is the sunflower and evening primrose long wear formula, which contains sunflower oil to care for the eyelids. I received the shade "Golden", which is a pretty champagney gold color. It feels nice and soft and velvety.

I'm glad to get this shade...it's great for summer and will be amazing for the brow bone. I do see that Korres has discontinued their eyeshadow line. I don't mind getting discontinued products from services like this, and I think it's a great way to distribute these products rather than letting them go to waste, but it is something to keep in mind. I know some people hate to get discontinued products.

The original retail price of these shadow singles was $16.

I was pleased to get a sample of Atopalm Intensive Moisturizing Cream. I had seen other ladies get samples of this and I wanted to try it. It replaces lipids in your skin and helps restore your skin's protective barrier. I love things like this for my hands and feet - I wash my hands about a billion times a night at work and they get so dry, and I'm on my feet all night, so they really get a workout. 

3.4 oz of this cream retails for $32.50, so this .25 oz sample is worth about $2.39.

The card lists Snowberry Cellular Regeneration Night Cream, but I actually got a sample of Snowberry Intensive Renewal Face Serum, which I'm perfectly okay with. This serum promises to repair stressed skin and ward off wrinkles and fine lines with peptides. Sounds good to me. 

This serum retails for $102.00 for 1 oz, so this little .14 oz sample is worth $14.28.

This is a lip and eye pencil sharpener by Prescriptives. There's not a lot to say about this, as it's a sharpener. It's always great to have another of these around. I like that it can accommodate both thick and thin pencils. You can get one of these for $3.

And finally, my favorite item in the box. The 5th item was different for a lot of people, and it's just listed on the card as "your personal item". I got the Too Faced Sparkler Glamour Gloss in Pink Bling. It's full sized and SO PRETTY. It goes on clear, but with a ton of tiny pink sparkle and sheen. It has great pink flash, which is hard to photograph. It's plumping, and only slightly tacky.

Here's what it looks like on bare lips...super shimmery. This is another discontinued product, but it retailed for $18.50. I really love the applicator and want to seek out a few more of these before they completely disappear.

In all, I love the products I got from The Look Bag this month. This bag had a total value of $54.17 when considering the original value of the two discontinued products, which is pretty awesome.  I have unsubscribed for now due to the shipping and communication issues, but perhaps in the future I'll give them another shot. 

The Look Bag - May

I was really excited when I woke up this morning and found my May Look Bag in the mailbox! If you don't know what the Look Bag is, it is another monthly beauty subscription bag. Like many others, they promise you around five beauty samples a month for $10. I feel that The Look Bag is one of the more overlooked subscriptions. I've now received four bags from them, and I've actually been happy with all of them.

The last few months, they've shipped in a bubble mailer, which I do prefer to boxes. They just take up less space, actually fit in my mailbox, and these are a more green option.

I pulled it out and found the usual pink organza bag with quite a bit of stuff in it! I love these little bags, I use them to keep hair ties, pins, small samples, and other small items organized in my drawers.

Along with the usual greeting card and list of included items, this month they included a card about aromatherapy, which lists some common scents and their benefits. As I really enjoy aromatherapy, I thought this was a cute little addition.

The first thing I pulled out was The Hollywood Collection by Erno Lazlo. This is a set of five foil packets inspired by (and apparently used by) some legendary starlets: Greta Garbo, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Katherine Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe. These look and sound really luxurious! They include a Morning Beauty Rescue, a Refresh Moisture Infusion, an Instant Eye Repair, an Intensive Porcelain Veil, and a Velvet Night Cream.

I tried Monroe, the Morning Beauty Rescue one, this morning, and it was wonderful! A light pink colored rejuvenating gel that really did brighten up my skin and moisturize it. It did have some small glitter in it, but nothing obnoxious. I can' t wait to try the others! The full sized set retails for $125 (for .5 oz of each cream), so these packets are a really neat addition to the bag. The packets don't list an amount, but judging by the price of the full size, I have to assume that this has a value of at least $15!

Next, I pulled out this cute little box. It is about the size of a small soap or something, but it actually contained four mini glosses by Naked Princess! These are the Shinelucious lip gloss sampler. I got the following colors: Barely Coral, Barely Nude, Barely Coco, and Barely Blush. Each is exactly what it sounds like! I sampled a couple of these and really loved them. They are nice and smooth, and have a slight sweet vanilla flavor and scent. They are not at all sticky or greasy. They are infused with shea butter, sweet almond oil, Moroccan vanilla, and antioxidants. They have a collagen producing Peptide to help plump the lips, as well. I love that they are paraben free and cruelty free.

The full size of these glosses are $26 each, so this sample set has a value of about $8.32. Not bad!

This is Kelly Teegarden Organics Intense Tightening Serum. This is the world's first chemical free skin care line! All the products are made from certified organic and natural ingredients and are great for all skin types. This is, obviously, meant to tighten the skin. It is full of good things like aloe, cucumber, and essential oils and the smell reminds me of lavender!

The sample size is not listed, but the full size is 1.18 oz, and retails for $67. This looks to be about .25 oz, which is a $14.19 value. I can't wait to try it!

This is a L'oreal Paris Wear Infinite Pressed Eyeshadow single in Sweet Chemise.  This is a limited edition product, and is full size. It's a pretty buttery light yellow/gold color, looks like it will be great on the browbone! The formula is nice enough - not super buttery, but not super chalky. I can't find a price for this, as L'oreal only does these singles once in a while, but I will give it the same value as the other singles I could find, at around $5.

And finally two mini polishes from the Spring 2012 Runway Color Barometer by The New Black. These are eco friendly polishes with no parabens or synthetic fragrances, and promise a long wearing, ultra glossy formula. These come in a rainbow of colors, and at first I was a little disappointed to get these two, as I just never buy red or orange. Then I realized that is actually a good thing - I have nothing like these two. And they are actually gorgeous!

I plan to wear these together. These tiny little .125 oz. bottles actually retail at $22 for 5 of them, so these two are worth $8.80.

All in all, I think this was a great bag! The estimated value is about $51.31 (keeping in mind that I don't have an exact value for the Erno Lazlo or eyeshadow), and I will happily use everything in it.  The Look Bag really seems to be improving, and I hope enough people stick around and give them a chance to keep impressing!

The Look Bag - April

I was surprised today to go to my mailbox and find April's Look Bag!  This is only my second month of Look Bag, but I have been happy with both bags!  The Look Bag is a monthly subscription service similar to Birchbox - you get around 5 deluxe beauty samples per month.  One big difference to me is that Birchbox tends to focus on more well known luxury brands, while The Look Bag seems to be a mix of known brands and smaller, more independent ones.  I love both, and actually tend to find things I get in the Look Bag to be more useful and practical for me.

April's bag came in a little pink organza bag, as did last month's, along with the usual introductory cards.

The back of this card (which I forgot to photograph) lists the items in the bag.  You can find information on most of them on their website.  Their site has a store and they offer a 20% discount on products for members. I haven't bought anything there, yet.

The first thing I pulled out was this perfume sample from virga botanicals.  This is a new brand to me and I could not find information about them on The Look Bag's site, so I found virga's site for information.  They say they "use the ancient science of Chinese acupuncture herbal practice, combined with the botanical secrets of Western herbalism to bring you a unique skincare line of astounding effectiveness and perfect natural balance."  Now, that's a lot of words, but they sound good! :)

Their botanical fragrances are made with natural organic essential oils and are designed to enhance positive states of mind and well being.

I received Water Garden.  I haven't tried it yet, as I already have another perfume on today.  I'm not huge on florals, but I'm willing to give this one a chance.  These perfumes retail at $24 for a .75 oz spray. I estimate the value of this sample to be about $1 since the size of the sample isn't listed/marked.

This is Laura Mercier perfecting water in the rich formula.  It is a hydrating formula that claims to temporarily over-hydrate skin in order to allow the skin to allow deeper penetration of treatments and moisturizers.  It contains deep sea water. I've never tried a product like this before, and I look forward to trying it out.  It also comes in a light formula, which would probably be better for me as I sometimes have slightly oily skin, but I'll try this one out!  This sample has a value of about $1.92.

I have been dying to try Orofluido beauty elixir for months!  It is a hair treatment designed to leave your hair soft and silky.  It's a mixture of three natural oils with a vanilla amber fragrance. I can't wait to try this out, and the bottle will last me a while, as a little goes a long way.  It smells fantastic. The sample has a value of about $1.49.

This is Jovie Jubilee luxury body lotion.  I hadn't heard of this brand either, and they seem to be a small company.  This lotion is rich, with shea butter and moroccan oil, as well as tea tree oil.  It smells very shea-ish, which I personally enjoy, but also has a sandalwood, black cherry, and vanilla scent. It is pretty strong smelling.  The texture is nice and thick and will be perfect for my dry elbows and feet.  It's a good size for my work bag! This sample has a value of about .93.

Finally, I got the pur-protect daily moisturizer from purlisse.  I was happy to receive this, as I am already using a purlisse cleanser several times a week and I enjoy seeing how multiple products from the same brand work together.  I love that this one is SPF 30.  It's good for sensitive skin and claims to be anti-aging.  It does  not have a heavy texture or a bad scent as many products complaining SPF do.  I look forward to trying this the next few days and seeing how it works for me. This sample has a value of about $16.17!

In all, I am happy with this bag!  I got a fragrance, something for my body, something for my hair, and two products for my face, which is a decent variety. I will use everything in this bag and I feel it was a good value, as the monetary value for this bag is about $21.51.

Disclaimer - I subscribed to The Look Bag independently. I was not paid for or asked to do this review, and all opinions are my own.

The Look Bag for March

Since I can't resist these beauty subscription boxes, I signed up to try a month of The Look Bag.  I got my bag today!  It's definitely a good bag, and I got two full sized products, and the samples are decent sized as well.

The Look Bag is another subscription service much like Birchbox and Sample Society.  This one is affiliated with InStyle magazine and also costs $10 a month.  However, while Birchbox tends to focus on high end brands, this one focuses more on Indie/lesser known brands, which I think is awesome! These are truly things I would never have tried if not for the bag.  If you're interested, you can sign up here.

Here's what I saw when I pulled it out of the bubble mailer.  Cute little pink drawstring bag.

Like the other services, it came with a little card talking about the service.  I did wish that this had a list of my specific products on it, though, as I haven't been able to find any information about one of them!

This SheaTerra black soap is something I've been wanting to try for a while now. I've heard people rave about it and had considered buying the full size.  I'm glad I'm going to have a chance to try it out, now.  This is a 1 ounce sample.  The full size soap is 4 ounces and costs $18, so this sample has a value of $4.50. 

This is a handmade soap, which I LOVE.  IT is Lady Strawberry Mirror Skin soap in Goat's Milk and Oatmeal.  It's a good sized sample bar. Unfortunately, I can't find ANY information about this product on the internet.  Which is too bad, because I tried it out already, and I love it!  It has a sweet scent, almost vanilla-like.  One side is a little rough with oatmeal (yay, exfoliation!) and the other side is smooth.  I washed my face with this and I am impressed - my face is smooth and soft and not too dried out.  I was especially impressed with the ingredients of this bar, just glycerine, shea butter oil, vitamin E, goat's milk, oatmeal, beeswax, and oatmeal fragrance.  If you know anything about this brand, please let me know!

This is a ChicStix shave stick in Sweet Mango.  This is a full sized product!  I'm excited to try this, it smells great and definitely seems like a great, less messy alternative to shaving cream.  This retails for $9.

Frownies Facial Patches. I had never heard of facial patches before. Apparently these are meant to reduce wrinkles while you sleep!  A cool product.  I'm not sure how many are in this sample, but the full size retails for $19.95.

And finally, I received a full sized Cattiva Dolce Diva lip liner in Nude.  This lipliner is paraben free, waterproof, and anti-aging.  It retails for $20, and looks awesome.  I don't wear lipliner, but if I did, this seems like it'd be a great one.

I definitely think I got my $10 worth with this bag, and I love that these are almost all brand new brands to me.  I appreciate that the Look Bag is promoting smaller more independent companies, but I do wish they included more information on the products.  If you like the looks of this, definitely sign up!