Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Memebox Christmas Collection #3 Winter Essential Masks

**FYI - Memebox no longer ships to Canada.  I'll leave these reviews for posterity but any links or recommendations are sadly no longer for us :( Many of the products can be found elsewhere - check out my post on where else to shop for k-beauty products!


Memebox is a Korean Beauty Box company with a different model than most beauty boxes.  Instead of subscribing to a monthly box, they periodically release new boxes and you can purchase as many or as few as you like.  Boxes usually range from $23 - $29 plus $6.99 for shipping to Canada (shipping can take 10-20 business days so be prepared) although at the moment, they've been on the higher end of that scale and even above it.  Whether this is the new standard pricing remains to be seen.  If it is, I don't know how many boxes I'll continue to purchase since they have also been decreasing the number of items included in each box (most seem to include 5 these days while they used to have 7 or even 8 sometimes).  Express shipping is available for an extra cost or with bundles (more than one box purchased and shipping at the same time).  Memebox also offers many of the items from their boxes in their shop - a warning to Canadian shoppers, some of the shop items are for US customers only so don't get your heart set on anything until you check the tag under it!

This box is not currently available for sale, although restocks do happen from time to time.  Current boxes can be found here.

Although my current stock of Asian beauty products is pretty healthy thanks to Memebox, masks are one thing that I could always use more of.  Masks were never really something that I used much in the past but since discovering we're expecting, I've swapped out my luxury glass of wine in the tub with a luxury face mask in the tub.  It makes me feel a little special and definitely helps me to relax.  Plus, I've found some great masks that actually do good things for my skin which is novel.  Of course, as soon as I saw a special mask box, I had to pick this up! This box was priced at $23 plus $6.99 shipping and handling.



This box contains 6 full-size items (although a few of those items include multiples - hooray!), some of which are one-time use.  Thankfully, a few of those one-time use items include more than one (ie. 3 sheet masks count as one item).

Memebox usually includes product cards which indicate what each item is, what it is valued at (sometimes these are a little inflated but since I can't get most of these products where I live, I'll cope with that) and how to use it.  I can't stress how valuable the "how to use it" aspect is since I haven't heard of many of these items before and would have no idea what to do with them!  Plus sometimes the packaging is not in English :)  Since this was a special box that shipped almost immediately upon ordering it, they did not do a traditional product card instead offering that information through their website - not my favourite as I like to keep my cards for future reference.



Velieve Girlish Mask (3 masks, $7 value)

These sheet masks were randomly selected from 4 types.  I got the shining (lemon extracts), soothing (aloe) and moisture (honey extracts) versions and missed out on the lifting one (marine collagen).  I am okay with that.  For those who haven't used sheet masks, inside each envelope is a cottony mask soaked in essence.  You unfold it and spread it over clean skin and let sit for 15-20 minutes then remove the mask and pat in the remaining essence.  This is my favourite way to mask - perfect for a lazy soak in the tub and not too messy.  The soothing was my favourite of the 3 but they were all solid and pleasant to use.

Inoface Real Natural Pulp Essence Sheet Mask ($2 value)

This was selected from 4 types.  I got the collagen (not my favourite) and missed out on the snail, Q10 and aloe versions.  I think I would have preferred the snail as snail mucin is one of my new favourite things to put on my face (I know it sounds gross. . . it doesn't smell gross and it does really good things for my skin!).  That said, I really liked this sheet mask and found it to be a bit higher quality than the other three - the fit was better and it felt a little thicker and stronger.


Esthetic House Collagen Jelly Mask Pack ($13 value)

This is a mask pack intended for use on a clean face.  It does not need to be washed off after use, just massage it in.  I haven't tried this yet for a few reasons.  Mostly, I am not sure about rubbing pig collagen on my face - I don't eat them so I don't feel great about using them in this manner either.  Additionally, collagen is supposed to be great on mature skin which is not my main skin concern.  I haven't decided what to do with this yet but am leaning towards re-homing it in the near future.

Rire Patting Water Pack ($42 value)

This is an interesting product - to use it, you combine 1-2 capfuls with water in a basin (I'll try a bowl in my sink when I get around to trying this out) and then splash and pat the mixture over a clean face 15-20 times.  No rinsing required.  I received the Brightening version which includes violet extracts to balance and brighten my skin tone.  Given that the other options were Lifting and Moisturizing, I am happy with that.  While some people reported issues with leaking during shipping, mine arrived full and in good condition.  I haven't tried this yet but am a little staggered at that price!


Lassie'el Raspberry Age Defying Yogurt Mask ( $6 value)

This is a wash-off mask to be used on clean skin and massaged in until the microbeads disappear then washed off after 5-10 minutes.  It really does look and smell like yogurt and that's awesome.  This apparently removes dead skin cells and impurities as well as diminishing the appearance of wrinkles and sagging skin.  My favourite part is that there were 4 packages included, plus a lid! I could never use an entire package at once (maybe 2-3 uses) so the lid keeps it tidy and neat for next time.

Pure Smile Jewelry Bubble Ruby and Pure Bubble Royal Jelly ($2 value)

Two more wash-off packs, these are intended for use on clean, dry skin and are rubbed into skin until they stop foaming then washed off.  The Bubble Ruby version is skin soothing and replenishing while they Royal Jelly is good for acne-prone skin (so I used that one immediately!).  These are neat and I enjoyed them although I wish they also came with a lid.


Overall Verdict:

According to Memebox pricing, this box had a value of $72 which is not the highest value Memebox I've ever purchased.  Over half of that value comes from the astronomically-priced patting water - which I admittedly have not tried yet but for that price. . . yikes, it better be awesome! That said, while this type of valuation would ordinarily bother me, I did love this box.  Some of my favourite items happened to be those with lower values but, for me, they were exactly what I was hoping for in this box so I'm a happy camper!

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