December 2011 Luxe Box Arrival and Review

Hey everyone,
This is going to be my unboxing and review of the December 2011 Luxe Box by Loose Button. I won't have pictures of everything, except for the actual products but if you do want a visual walk-through of everything then definitely be sure to check out my November 2011 Luxe Box post. So what beauty products did I get in the mail this month? Keep reading to find out!

Before I begin my review of the products, I'd like to just address the delayed shipping of the Luxe Boxes this month. If you're interested in subscribing to these boxes or already are a member, then you would be aware of the complaints customers had about the delays in shipping, on Loose Button's Facebook page. The boxes were supposed to be shipped out between December 12th to the 16th in waves but this month there were delays and not just for customers on either coast but even those living in Ontario. I, myself received my tracking email around 10pm Friday night and was told that the box would be expedited so that everyone could receive their boxes as soon as possible. I was waiting all day Monday for Canada Post to deliver my box and then my brother actually found it in the post-box. Now, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the boxes were to be delivered to your door. I don't mind if they're delivered to the post-box but this lack of communication isn't the perfect situation - if boxes are supposed to be delivered either to your post-box or to your door, then that's absolutely fine, as long as customers are relayed this information or any relevant changes/updates . Because people were complaining about the delays on Facebook, a few people argued that the delays were to be expected because of the holiday season and that Canada Post is to some extent involved as well, but what I'm trying to understand is that knowing how busy the holiday season is, especially with regards to mailing documents and parcels, why couldn't the company ship it out sooner? I understand that this is a newly-established and growing business and I appreciate the fact that not everything will run perfectly all the time, but this isn't the first holiday season Canada is experincing and there should have been better planning and management of the December Luxe Boxes. Every person or company deserves a chance and mistakes will be made, but something as simple as planning ahead to ship out the boxes sooner, should not have been overlooked by the company. Loose Button has provided superb customer service, ever since I joined as a member, but it was just this particular month's performance that was quite disappointing and hopefully their service will only get better.

Anyways, we shall now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

The December Luxe box contained a "Holiday Edition" card where it was explained that given the holiday season, all customers would be recieving a full-sized product. I thought that was a really nice touch, especially given that I received two full-sized products! Also, the only other "seasonal" touches to the exterior of the box was that the personalized name sticker was silver, tissue paper was white and "confetti" was blue instead of all being black.

December 2011 Luxe Box

One of the first products I recieved was the full-sized Yves Rocher Rouge Dragee Lipstick (3.5 grams and a value of CAD $5) in the color Framboise sorbet. After swatching it just once across my hand, it seemed to be quite  quite a semi-sheer lipstick with more of a waxy texture. Also it's quite buildable and you can achieve a semi-opaque coverage if you pile on the layers. The color is a bright pink and it looks ridiculously scary in the tube but once you swatch it, it's not that bad; the finish is more creamy than glossy. I think it would be a good choice for someone who prefers bright colors, and is comfortable with building up the coverage. 

Yves Rocher Rouge Dragee Lipstick in Framboise Sorbet

Yves Rocher Rouge Dragee Lipstick in Framboise Sorbet

Yves Rocher Rouge Dragee Lipstick in Framboise Sorbet

Top: Heavy swatch. Bottom: Light swatch.

Top: Heavy swatch. Bottom: Light swatch.

The next product was the Yves Rocher Italian Mandarin Shower Gel (sample provided was 50ml/1.7 fl.oz. and the full-sized product (400ml/13.5 fl.oz.) retails for CAD $12. I don't even know if my mini-review will do this product justice! It smells absolutely divine and has a beautiful scent of clementines and mandarins. It doesn't smell synthetic whatsoever and I absolutely can't wait to try it out tonight! This was definitely one of my two favourite products in the box.

Yves Rocher Italian Mandarin Shower Gel

Yves Rocher Italian Mandarin Shower Gel

Next, I received two samples of Nina Ricci eau de parfums - one being the Nina L' Elixir and the second was the L'Air Du Temps (both samples provided were 0.04 fl.oz. and the 50 ml bottles retail for CAD $65 and $72 respectively). I'm not very good at describing fragrance notes so I'm not going to attempt it as part of my review but I'd like to note that both fragrance samples were half empty. I had heard other customers mention this and I have the same problem. Why would anyone include in a half-full fragrance sample, if the intention is to get customers to sample the products and then possibly purchase the full-sized product?

Nina Ricci L'Air Du Temps

Nina Ricci L'Air Du Temps

Nina L' Elixir

Nina L' Elixir

My last product was a full-sized NYX Slim Eye Pencil but on the actual product it's called an Eye/Eyebrow Pencil. (the product received was 0.04 oz./1 gram and it retails for CAD $4). The shade I received was 901 Black and I'm really glad I got this prodcut because I've been meaning to try out the NYX pencil eyeliners for sometime but never had the chance to go pick it up. I think for the price it's a decent product, it's not the blackest of black eyeliners, but rather more of a soft black (think maybe lead pencil black). It's semi-soft so the pencil may drag just a little bit across the eyelid when you're applying it so I'd suggest maybe warming it between your fingers or just even passing it through a lighter for literally a second and then waiting before lining your eyes. Other than for the pigmentation, I don't have any other complaints, I'm happy that I have a staple pencil eyeliner to keep in my makeup bag for everyday wear.

NYX Slim Eye Pencil

  

NYX Slim Eye Pencil

  

NYX Slim Eye Pencil

NYX Slim Eye Pencil

   

Top: Blended out. Bottom: Regular swatch.

Top: Blended out. Bottom: Regular swatch.

So that's the end of my unboxing and review of the December 2011 Luxe Box, I hope you've enjoyed reading and definitely let me know in the comments below what you got in your box this month!