Unboxing : July Lola Box

11:39:00 PM

Hi everybody!

I just got back from a three days, ahem, business trip with my friend Donna (some of the Surabaya Beauty Bloggers met her at Collection focus group, and you will hear a lot more of her in future posts) to Jakarta. I didn't expect the short trip to be... so much fun *LOL*. It defines the sayings "It's not where you go or what you do, it's who you are with" to a T. Donna's such a sweet and nice gal, even though i only met her for the first time five days ago, it feels like we've known each other forever haha.

Since it is a business trip and stuff, obviously i cannot talk too much about it (it's important and confidential! LOLOLOL, makes me feel so important saying this :p), but i can tell you that we went to a meeting :p (yes, that's as far as the information goes). But don't call me #Pink if i can't turn a short business trip (with the main focus being something i cannot talk about) into a little blog entry with fun stuffs *huge grin*.

So yeah, i will blog about my latest trip to Jakarta (three times in the past three months *sigh*, it's honestly too much for me, seriously... i can only take so much dosage, i cannot live in Jakarta, mainly because of the cray cray traffics!) , but as usual, it'll have to queue. I guess i'll blog about it before i blog about my family JB-Singapore's trip though :p.

Now that you've been filled with what i've been up to the last couple of days, let's get on with business, shall we? We're unboxing July Lola Box this time 'round. It arrived sometime last week (just a few days after i got my Platinum BTI, and as we speak, i haven't receive the Gold Box yet WTH), but before i got it i already saw some other girls' boxes and had a pretty good idea what i was going to get.

Seems like a pretty nice box, eh? Yep, i kinda like it... Except for the color choices. You know i'm a pastel and bright color lover, earthy tones aren't really my cup of tea. But they did featured some great products!

The usual outter cardboard white box that always reminds me of a cake/bread box :p.

Real color's light cream, but it looked like dull white somehow in the picture so i... hit the auto correct button (ya lor, were you expecting me to say craps like "adjusted the colors" or whatever? I cannot lah LOLOLOL, maybe one day, when pigs can fly. Oh wait, they can. In a plane :p. Oh by the way, i so LOVE the way Donna says "COLOR", it sounded so much like "COLA" with her British accent! Now i cannot stop imitating it WTH) and it became super bright. Haih, i dunno lah. At least it looked kinda cream-ish now. Or isn't it? Haish, even if it's not let's pretend like it is, keep me happy lah hor!

Let's open it!

I love the way Lola always personalized their boxes with a card with a message that always got hints of humor in it :).

To be honest with you, the theme itself didn't excite me too much. Because... well, like i said, when it comes to beauty (or any other things, really), i love a pop of color (OMG, i am so perfect to be Collection's brand ambassador LOLOLOL, in case you do not know yet, their tagline is "Work the color". I will tell you more about Collection in future posts, okay!), and natural beauty.. Well, i always associate natural with earthy tones, which totally my least favorite color group...

Even the wrapping paper represents the theme, made the whole look classy and pretty. Even though it's not my cup of tea, i'd say it's really pretty and would please lots of girls (like #Undecided)

First items is from a brand i've never heard about before, Juara.

Inside the exclusive looking brown pouch :

I read other bloggers raved about this Juara brand inside Lola Box, i read them saying it's a Balinese inspired skin care range and at first i thought it was local-made but turned out it's a New York-based (i hope i didn't remember this wrongly, i think i read it from Endi Feng's twitter) skincare and my pride of my country just flared up after reading this! LOL. Seriously, our culture even inspires other nations to create a skincare line! We should be prouder of our own culture! It saddened me that being nationalistic, loving our own culture and even local made brands seems to be "uncool" and at times even seen as "embarrassing". What's embarrassing really is that way of thinking!

Rice Facial Cleanser and Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturizer (4 ml each)

I do love the unusual and unique sample's packaging! And see! It's stated "Inspired by Indonesian Botanicals". So PROUD! Now more Americans will hear about Indonesia (or at least they'd now realize that Bali is located in Indonesia! Coz lots of foreigners recognize Bali but not Indonesia, sadly), and their ethnic looking packaging also embodies Bali nicely.

Sweet Black Tea Eye Creme 4 ml

I am a little bit obsessed with eye-area treatments, so i am always pleased to get any eye-area related samples! And all these three counts as one sample, so it's all good (considering i do not like sachet samples, not a lone sachet that they would call "one deluxe sample" WTH). I am actually very very pleased with those items! Like i always admit, i am very prone to suggestions. And those bloggers' enthusiasm (especially Phanie's and Endi's) totally affects me! Plus all of those other reasons i stated above (being Bali inspired and all), i hope they're really good products to top it all off!

My Click House Facial Wash (100ml)

Never heard of My Click House before either. Seeing the way the bottle and the writings on it, i guess it's like a dermatologist clinic's skin care? (Lots of those dermatologist clinics use the same kind of bottles for their products, my own clinic, Dermasense, use a very similar type of bottle) Yeah, it's kinda... plain and unattractive? There's no reasons for those clinics to put their products on fancy containers, i guess :p.

This one is generously sized (i'm pretty sure it's full sized, and they stated it's worth IDR 40.000), but unfortunately doesn't suit my skin type. It stated for normal skin whereas my skin is super oily. I'll give it a try and hope it won't break me out, or if it's not drying then i'll make hunny (who has a very dry skin, LOL, nobody here has normal skin, unfortunately) use it.

I don't want to sound extra fussy, but i just hope they'd pay more attention to those kind of stuffs. Again, i do not understand why beauty boxes would make us fill in those beauty profiles if they are not going to use it to guide them on filling the right kind of stuffs in our boxes (that at least suits our skin types). I usually can get away with any kind of facial wash, but i can imagine a lot of people would be upset, if they have a fussier kind of skin and get cleansers/skin cares that doesn't suit them, some people might not be able to use it or they'll break their own skin out!

I also do not know if it's common for beauty boxes to feature stuffs from independent dermatologist clinics, i imagine it can't be because i do read a lot of beauty boxes reviews and they all tend to feature more of you know, better distributed (or at least will be) brands, the types that you can actually get (or will be able to) in stores and not in just specific clinics. Personally, i don't mind though. More areas to explore, if beauty boxes actually goes into this kind of territories.

The Face Shop Face It Art Nails-Crack Collection

I got it in BK 902

Yup, make up lover here. Nail polish is always a good thing to receive, and this is full sized, that's even better. I also happen to be crack nail polish's fan as well (they're great alternative for people who can't do proper nail arts like moi, with this you just apply it like a normal nail polish and it will create art on its own :p). However, i am not a huge fan or grey colors, especially for nail polishes. I do not own a grey crack polish, so i don't mind it to be in my collection. I will judge whether i can warm up to this color or not when i try it. I am not loving it from the bottle, but i might once i have it on my fingers *fingers crossed, pun intended...*!

It stated to worth a whopping IDR 119.000, but... really??? I mean... The Face Shop is quite well known for their very affordable nail polishes, even at the counters. I really doubt it actually costs that much! But if it is, then this is like, a huge steal, considering the box' price's only IDR 145.000 (and i paid even less because i subscribed to their three months plan).

Britney Spears Perfume-Radiance

I actually got this from the first Vanity Trove already, but if usually i am unhappy getting the same items twice, i can safely say i am happy with this! Because i do love this perfume a lot (if you read my entry of the first VT you'll know that i always love it and been meaning to buy it a couple of times but always got side-tracked somehow...), and this is a perfume i do want to use, so... I think i still will be happy if i got a few more of these (so i can use it quite a lot and not have to buy the perfume :p). Send more if these my way, i'd say!

Sleep Eye Dust (full size) in 700-Starry Eyed

Another make up item, and full sized too! So it's actually pretty fantastic. Plus it's from the brand Sleek, that i also always interested to try (but cannot justify buying because... well, i have enough make up to open a counter-according to Rosemary-and i know #Undecided will amen that in a heartbeat. Any extra space i reserve for crazy cute packaging ones-and the ones that i don't actually have to purchase myself, like this one that came in a beauty box!).

It did come in a color that intimidates me a little bit, it's a shimmery dark gray color, that'd be fantastic for smokey eyes, but you know i don't do smokey eyes! I am also not that familiar with eye dusts (i use very light silver and gold colored pigments from Daiso, but that's it. They're so sheer i just put them on whatever and nobody can see if i applied them messily), but i am still quite happy getting it lah. Would be happier if the color's lighter hahaha. I'll give it a try before saying anything further, but from the container, it looked a little dark for me.

Please feature more Sleek products in the future, dear beauty boxes! And i can give you a list of brands i'd like to try but i'm gonna need a few pages...

Black Hair Velcro

This is the extra thing i guess, Lola Box always seem to feature one extra item (like the luggage tag in June box), but this time (unlike the luggage tag that i don't actually use, i'm done putting tags on my luggage because they tend to disappear and i hate that, so i'd rather not put it up) the extra item i (and i imagine a lot of other girls) actually like and will use.

Always a huge fan of those "magic hair pad" thingy, since the first time they began emerging (been using them for a while now, i already got rid of two pairs because they got dirty and fugly after so many use) until now that you can actually get it easily (and super cheaply) in local accessories stores. I always tend to lose them too (lost like, two on different travels-and that reminds me, i think i left my hair clip in Crowne Hotel this morning WTF, ALWAYS happens. ALWAYS) so it's always lovely to have some back ups (or ten).

If you never tried one of these then i reckon you've been living under a rock? LOL. You should totally give it a try, it's so convenient to put on while doing your makeup (without ruining your hair), i can't remember how i survived before this is "invented".

Oh, they also gave a Luxola voucher... But as you can probably guess already, i am not very interested with vouchers that beauty boxes gave out. They never seems to be particularly great deals anyway.

So, that's what's inside my July Lola Box! I am happy with every single item (would be happier if the facial wash's the variant that's suitable for my skin more, and if the nail polish and eye dust came in more vibrant colors, but then it'd be incompatible with their theme, so forget it anyway), so i... decided to extend my subscription (for another three months).

Lola Box has been a quiet competitor, and even though some people (Rosemary! LOL) said it's kinda dull (compared to the other two boxes), i like how they are consistent (and i love their fast-responsing customer service!) and seems to be improving themselves. I wasn't a huge fan of June box (but i do love their May one), but this month the items restores my faith in them. I think their box' always solid, and featured generous items (size and amount wise), always worth their price (or more!), so i am curious on how they'd grow in the future. This is one box that one should keep an eye on, and if they manage to grow so much (and featured such interesting brand-like Juara) in three months, i can only imagine how much better they'd be in six.

I also hadn't been paying attention but they actually also have an affiliation program, or maybe i have but the points we have to gather seems quite ridiculously high (you need a thousand Lola Dots to get a free box, and one referral will score you only 200 Lola Dots, whereas you only need three referrals to score one BTI free box) so i dismissed it, but i am going to put it here now in case anyone's interested to try out Lola Box. Please use the link below to get you to their website and then proceed normally from there. Thanks a billion, as usual :D.

http://www.lolabox.com/?refid=DVCjo4quJn

That's it for today, folks! I will leave you with a picture of me and the lovely Donna from our little focus group last Saturday :D (will obviously blog about it later, gonna do a joint one with #Undecided ASAP).