Loose Button Luxebox January 2012

After last month’s review on the December Luxebox by Loose Button, the company asked me to review their January 2012 box.  In case you guys aren’t familiar with the program, basically you pay C$12 a month and you receive a box of four to five beauty goodies ranging from sample size to full size.

There are a number of beauty subscription sample services out there such as Glymm, Topbox, and Birchbox (for all you American peeps out there).  There are a number of pros and cons with the boxes; pros being you get to sample a variety of products and brands you wouldn’t necessarily think to buy, you typically get at least one full-size product, and it’s a nice surprise when you open the box, not knowing what is in there, which is also a con.  Each box is random so you don’t know what you are going to get and there may be some items in there that you feel may not be worth the $12 you paid for the box for that month.

I absolutely loved my December 2011 box and was so excited to receive the January one.  I actually received it in February (February 6, 2012 to be exact) as Loose Button shipped the boxes very late in January because of some supplier issues.  The box may have come late but the company justified it by giving out an extra bath and body box.

The regular box contained the usual little touches like a personalized “Made for Shayna” sticker (love this detail) as well as a card explaining each product.  Here is what I received:

Pur minerals – 4-in-1 Foundation in Tan– Skip the mess and go pressed with this award-winning foundation, powder, concealer and SPF15.  Retail Price: $31(8g).
Benefit Cosmetics – B. Right! Moisture Prep Toning Lotion – For extra radiant skin that smooths & revitalises, allowing skin to fully optimize benefits of your moisturizer. Retail Price: $29(177.4ml)
Donna Karan Beauty – Cashmere Mist Body Cleansing Lotion – Dual-purpose formula both cleanses and moisturizes. Retail Price: $40 (190ml)
Moroccanoil – Fine and Light-Coloured Hair – Utilizing argan oil as its main ingredient this award-winning signature hair care product is now available in a light consistency, perfect for fine or light-colored hair. Retail Price: $41(100ml)
Seattle’s Best Coffee (Bonus Item) – Level 3 – Premium coffee as it was meant to be, finely crafted, tastefully smooth and easy to find. Retail Price: $9.99(340g)
In the bath and body box I also received a Shick Hydro Silk razor and a sample of Fekkai Advanced Brilliant Glossing Shampoo and Conditioner.  There was also a variety of different coupons including a four dollar off coupon for a pack of the razor refills, .55 cents off Shick shaving cream, one dollar off Seattle’s Best coffee, and 8,000 Shopper’s Optimum points if you buy any Frederik Fekkai product (8,000 points equals $10 off at Shopper’s Drug Mart).
Overall, I really liked the January box.  I feel like I have a brand new shower routine as everything I got (aside from the Benefit product, Moroccan Oil, the foundation, and coffee) has to do with the bath in some way.  I really needed a new razor as my other Shick razor is so dull it’s not even funny, so I was really happy to try the new Hydro Silk one.    Here is what I thought for everything else:
Pur Minerals foundation ($19.50 at The Shopping Channel): The colour I received was in the shade Tan and being an NC15 skin tone, this was obviously too dark for me right now.  I did try out the product and it didn’t come out as dark as I thought it would; I applied it over my MAC Pro Longwear foundation as a setting powder and it gave a nice glow to my face.  Would I purchase a full size of this? No, because I already use Bare Minerals which is a mineral foundation anyways.  I may add though that according to the brochure Loose Button includes with each box it says that the foundation I received as full size, however a full size of this is eight grams and the one I got was 4.3 grams, so I was a bit confused about that.
Benefit Cosmetics B. Right! Moisture Prep Toning Lotion – I absolutely love the little sample bottle this came in and it will definitely get put to good use once this runs out.  This is the first skincare product from Benefit I tried and although it smelled great and seemed to do it’s job I wouldn’t purchase a full size of this.  I use Clinique’s Toning Lotion (step two in their Three-Step System) and I absolutely love it and seeing how I use all three steps from Clinique I’m not about to venture off into a different brand for one of the steps.  This toner is almost in-between a gel and liquid consistency which is something I’m not used to.  I was very happy to try this product out regardless of whether or not I would repurchase it.
Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Body Cleansing Lotion – When I first saw this product I actually thought it was a moisturizer and then I read the notes on it in the pamphlet and turns out it’s a body wash.  At first smell it smells like hotel soap but when it foams up you can really smell the fragrance.  The smell is okay, it actually reminds me of Olay body wash.  Would I purchase a full-size of this product?  No, but I am really happy to try it out and it is a very generous sample of it. Apparently you can use it to wash fine lingerie or hosiery, which although is a plus, I probably won’t be using it for that purpose.
Moroccan Oil Oil Treatment for Fine or Light-Coloured Hair – I don’t have fine or light-coloured hair so I’m going to pass this along to a friend that does.  I am very impressed by the size of this sample, at 25 ml you can get a lot of uses out of this.  I’m not a huge Argan or Moroccan Oil fan as I don’t have unruly, frizzy, or curly hair, so I do have another sample of this (albeit smaller) that I have used on occasion.  I don’t notice a huge different in my hair but I have heard it works wonders on others.
Seattle’s Best Coffee Level 3 – This was a nice little surprise as who can’t use a pack of coffee?  I have a Tassimo machine at both work and home so I don’t brew coffee anymore the traditional way, but I’ll probably rip this open and give it a try.  The coffee is pre-ground so you don’t have to worry about grinding the beans.
Overall, even though I wouldn’t repurchase really anything from this month’s Luxebox, I really liked the variety of products I got and the value of the box far exceeds the price you pay for it.  I always like trying new things and new brands so even though nothing got me that excited to run out and buy a full size of, my heart still skipped a beat digging through my box (not to mention the fact that this month included two boxes).
To sign up for your own Loose Button Luxebox head on over to the Loose Button website or visit them on Facebook to see what other people got in their boxes.
Did you receive a January Luxebox?  What did you get?  Also, what are your thoughts on beauty subscription sample services?
Please note: I did receive this product for review, however, it did not affect my opinions on it.  All opinions are my honest own :) .
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