Time for the first BoxyCharm of Fall. This one was honestly very disappointing, but we’ll go over everything anyway. Power picks were awful, completely unknown brands, nothing like the normal heavy hitters that we expect them to offer. Choice was even worse, zero options for any good makeup. In add-ons at least I was able to grab a mascara and a new skin tint to try out. So I really just used this BoxyCharm to restock on some of the things I needed, like more of that moisturizer from Innisfree and the Kinship AHA pads.
People’s Beauty
People are really upset about this being in power picks. Completely unknown brand, not an exciting item, just weird. I hate the website and the yellow color of the packaging. The website basically says, “Luxury skincare was too expensive, so we made copies.”
The item is called the Frontliner Mask+Scrub. I have had scrub masks before and I think they’re an interesting concept, although I don’t actively look for them. The packaging is ugly and comes in a tube with a twist off top, which can get really messy if your hands are covered in mask. It’d be better if it was a squeeze tube with a flip top. These little caps can get lost behind the sink so easily.
This mask+scrub contains kaolin clay like a typical clay mask, and then also some exfoliating ingredients. The instructions say to leave it on for 10 minutes then massage in, but it doesn’t say “with water.” I’m assuming you’re meant to massage it in with water to complete the exfoliation. It also contains three hyaluronic acid types. That’s a great ingredient obviously.
The texture – and stay with me on this – is like scrambled eggs that have been put through a blender. It was so fascinating to put on. Soft and like bouncy? Like scrambled eggs. Blender. It was very dense and sticky. I actually found that I enjoyed how it felt going on. I didn’t feel anything rough like I expected, so I was unsure of how it was supposed to also be a scrub.
After an hour I washed it off and understood. It was pretty difficult to rehydrate to rinse it, but at that point it did break off into a pretty fine exfoliant and I was able to scrub it in as I washed it off. I actually enjoyed how it felt while scrubbing. It was rough but not as rough as the walnut shell type stuff.
It retails for $38, which is a pretty standard price for a clay mask that doubles as a scrub. I wouldn’t purchase it again because there are dozens of other masks and scrubs that I like better – BUT I would take this traveling since it’s two products in one.
V Kosmetik
Another brand I’ve never heard of and an unexciting item with an uninteresting name and look. This is the Eyeshadow Primer. Just the eyeshadow primer. It’s in a little tube and you pull out the wand like a lip gloss.
I love their website. It’s sleek and full of information and products for all areas of makeup. The models are beautiful, and they even have some images on the site without any filtering, so you can really look at their face and their skin. The models and artwork appear to be mostly people of color although there are a few exceptions.
The product is also very good. It doesn’t do enough for my oily lids, but it does mattify and clarify my shadows as I apply them, and it hasn’t gone patchy on me. The only eyeshadow primer that has ever actually locked me in for a full day is the Love+Craft+Beauty primer and I haven’t been able to get my hands on that for a while. But this one is also good. it’s white in color instead of nude like the LCB one, but I really do like how the shadow goes over it. I also don’t need to use much when applying it.
This eyeshadow primer retails for $22 which is a pretty good price. I’d buy it again for that if I felt like I really needed one. Fall is definitely the time that I will be using actual shadow that needs a primer instead of just pops of sparkle for summertime.
Kat Burki
Kat making a comeback! This Rose Hip Intense Recovery Eye Serum is the first item I chose for my box and since I liked the serum last month so much, I knew I’d enjoy this item too. It’s the same packaging as the primer and other products I’ve had from them. I don’t love the design of the pump, as you need to press very hard to move it but then the product shoots out very quickly. It should be an easier pump to push since it comes with a lid also and doesn’t need all that extra protection.
The formula is very serum-y, which is honestly surprising. Most eye serums actually have the texture of an eye cream. This one is decidedly serum. It applies very smoothly and has a cooling effect, so I’d choose to wear it under an eye mask if I were doing it overnight. But I have used it for daytime too. It absorbs very easily, doesn’t have any irritating fragrance (although there is a light scent of flowers) and I notice that my undereyes can take concealer a little smoother when I apply it.
It retails for $135. Needless to say I wouldn’t be repurchasing this even with a heavy discount. But if you’ve got cash to murder and you want a really good eye serum from a bougie brand, knock yourself out of this one.
FENTY
So much to talk about! I chose and added on four total FENTY items to this box. Two new, two re-purchases. I re-bought the Hydra Vizor face cream and the Full Frontal Mascara. I love the feel and fragrance of the moisturizer and am so happy to have it again, and I’m a huge fan of the unique wand shape of the mascara. It lets me fit tighter spaces on my lower lashline because it’s very thin in one direction instead of thick the whole way.
But! These two new items are also very exciting to finally have and try out!
Cookies N Clean Whipped Clay Pore Detox Face Mask
The first thing you’ll notice about this mask is the fragrance. Can you say mint? I knew because it was green it would be a little minty but holy cow you might as well open a box of thin mints. The second thing is that it’s in a tub. This is amazing! Masks in a squeeze tube are just not as good and you can’t finish them or see how much you have. I love that it’s in a tub.
The texture is absolutely fascinating. It looks like a pudding, but it reacts like a jello! The first time I touched it I think I gasped. Had never imagined a clay mask could have this texture. I thought it was just whipped clay, so a little aerated. But it was actually very bouncy.
The main material is obviously the clay, but there are also tiny little charcoal beads mixed in to the formula that pop when you spread it on your skin and change the color slightly darker. It’s kind of fun, even though a lot of them don’t pop and just poke out on my face.
The clay goes on incredibly smoothly and the aeration means it has a very light feeling on the skin, instead of a heavy clay mask like the Umbran Clay from Fresh, for example – WHICH I LOVE WITH ALL MY HEART – which does feel like sticking your face directly into a riverbank.
It is one of those masks that starts to peel off at my chin area if I leave it on too long, which I do like to do. So it’s not a good candidate for taking a quick nap in, like Supermud from Glamglow. But it does sit everywhere else for as long as I like.
When rinsing off, my skin feels incredibly clean and toned, and my skin soaks up the serums in my routine much quicker. I notice that my skin is so much more receiving of the Fat Water when I apply it.
I would absolutely love to have this again when I run out. I’ll probably use it every other night until then.
It retails for $37 but is on sale for $27 right now because of the Fenty Fam Sale. Maybe grab one!
Cherry Dub Super Fine Daily Cleansing Face Scrub
This is one of the first new scrubs I’ve tried this year. Fenty has historically been a heavy hitter, and I’ve enjoyed I think every product I’ve tried. I don’t usually prefer a jelly type texture like this, and the smell is just a little too strong. The texture is also like honey but even denser, so it’s very hard to get out of the bottle.
The exfoliation is pretty good, but the jelly does leave my skin with that sticky, dehydrated feeling. I had to go back over it with another scrub to lose that.
All in all, not my favorite. It retails for $36 which is absolutely bonkers. I think this might be my first non-slay with Fenty. Awe. I’ll still use it up probably.
Pinky B Cosmetics
I am not familiar with this brand – but I guess that’s the point. This product is called the Had Me At Primer. It comes in a bright pink tube and the primer is a bright silvery white color. It has an unpleasant smell which really turned me off, but the actual formula is very smooth and shimmery. It reminds me of the FAB Coconut Smoothie Primer but maybe a little bit less exaggerated.
I will continue to use it though! There just isn’t much to say. It retails for $21 which I wouldn’t probably pay.
Purlisse Beauty
Finally! An excellent product from this brand! I have tried their scrubs and face washes and been consistently disappointed, but this is absolutely incredible. This is their Sheer Glow Strawberry Vitamin C Tinted Moisturizer in the shade Fair. I have some small tweaks I would make to the packaging, but the formula is absolutely stunning. This is going to be my go-to fall favorite I can already tell.
So it comes in a tube just like their other products, which I would usually like but the formula is so watery that the first time I opened it upside down it literally dripped out all over my rug. Ugh.
The texture is incredibly similar to the Natasha Denona Foundation X which I used to have and absolutely loved. It’s very fair and will match my fall skin perfectly. Even though it’s very lightweight, it has excellent coverage and is the perfect color for my skin as I go into the fall season and get pale again. Sigh.
It retails for $37 which is a lot for a tinted moisturizer but which I would absolutely pay because this tinted moisturizer does a lot. I will absolutely check poshmark first, of course. I just offered a girl $46 for two bottles.
The only thing with very watery formulas like this is that I have to wash my brushes a lot more. They get a lot more sticky a lot more quickly.
Surprise!
I have bonus items to review! Since I used this BoxyCharm mostly to stock back up since the options were awful, I actually went to the shop to look for a few extra things I could try out for fall. I got that delivery a few days ago and am excited to share these with you too!
One/Size Beauty
Remember the last ICON box that was curated by Patrick Star but the very first power pick was left out? I give you, the “out of stock” Turn Up the Base Blurring Foundation in the shade Light 3. I’d been wanting to try this since earlier this year, so I added it on an order of other things I needed.
The first thing is very unique packaging, which I didn’t expect because the photos look like it’s just a normal squeeze tube. But actually, the cap has a button on it that opens the other side to the foundation. Two things about this that are a little weird though. The button is very hard to press, and I have to hold on tight to press it, but once I press it, I’m squeezing the foundation, and it sort of shoots out. So I have to be incredibly careful. The same thing with closing it, you have to press very hard, and pressing very hard anywhere on a bottle can mean spillage.
This foundation is a little bit of a throwback, honestly, to full matte looks. The texture is much thicker than the foundations I’ve been using recently, and the shade is a little too deep and warm for my skin. But a tiny bit of this foundation mixed in with any of my others changes the game. It’s got good coverage, and man does it stay put. After mixing it and dotting it and blending with the brush, it gives my face a very airbrushed look.
Blending other products on top of it is easy as it doesn’t move around much. My bronzer looks great over top of this foundation. Blushes, highlighters, it’s like putting them directly on my skin.
Since it’s much more mattified than I usually wear, it also takes a lot longer to oil through it, and I leave work looking a little less oily. I don’t mind the oily look on my skin anymore, mostly because I like to look at all the texture I’ve lost and it’s hard to see my skin under heavy foundations. But I really enjoy this formula and will probably buy more of it.
It retails for $35 but it is notably on sale right now for 50% off, and the coupon code FIRST15 also works to take another percentage off. I’m thinking of getting a few bottles of the lighter shades to mix with this one. It would be perfect for when I need heavy coverage – which I hope to not need much but stuff happens.
Topicals
I also bought myself a pack of these Faded Undereye Brightening and Clearing Eye Masks to try out and I absolutely love them. They’re the opposite of the ones from Patchology which I still do like. These ones are completely dry and stick to the face like nobody’s business, but feel so cooling and chilling. They’re easy to go to bed in and they just fall off as I roll around.
I absolutely will buy more of these, I love having an option that isn’t very heavy in product that can leave stains on my pillowcase.
And that’s all for this month’s box! It was not a lot of new items, just used it as a chance to get stocked up for the winter on moisturizers and gel masks. I’m looking forward to see October’s products in a couple days. I need to slow down on all the add-ons, but I say that every year. I’m a glutton. I see something I want, I just buy it. I honestly need help lol.
Talk soon!
Dani
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