Product Review: Violet Box – January 2014

It is that time of month again – where the monthly beauty box subscription boxes start to arrive, and this morning I received the first beauty box for the year, so here are my thoughts on the *January edition of the Violet Box;

What They Say:

Violet Box brands promises to every month include 4-6 premium beauty and lifestyle samples from well-known and trusted Australian beauty brands as well as exciting new International brands, one in particular is a revolutionary product currently trending in New York and has been featured in Vogue and on the Today Show!

RRP: You can subscribe to Violet Box for:

1 month – $22.95

3 months - $66.00

6 months - $130

12 months - $250

http://www.violetbox.com.au/

What I Say:

This month’s Violet Box arrived in the now standard narrower sized black matte box, which closes with a magnetic closure and a purple ribbon, and this is what was in the December Violet Box…

Do you remember my review of the December Violet Box….well if not, you can see it here…

Anyway, in last month’s box there was a note with an apology saying that unfortunately the planned Jelly Pong Pong Wide Awake Palette that was supposed to have been included on the box, and which was mentioned on the product card, unfortunately had been damaged during the transit. Violet Box instead included two Sweetpea & Fay eyeshadows as a replacement in the December Box, and made a promise that the Jelly Pong Pong palette would be included in the January box.

And as promised, this box did indeed include the Jelly Pong Pong palette!

Jelly Pong Pong Wide Awake Palette – Full Size (RRP: $32.00)

The palette is not mentioned at all on the card with all the product descriptions, so you can truly call this a bonus product, and at $32.00 how amazing value is that! This month’s box has more than paid for itself there and then! The palette contains a highlighter and a concealer along with three brow sculpting shades, and a small brush, all presented in a pale pastel pink palette with a large mirror. This looks interesting, so I can’t wait to test this out!

So Susan Water-Based Pure Luminizer – Full Size (RRP: $49.00)

I have never before heard of this UK brand, but I love it when I read that the products contains no sulfates, mineral oils, phthalates, triclosan or animal by-products.

It is a water-based liquid illuminiser with micronized pearlescent pigments to add sheen to cheekbones, or brow bones . As this is a new brand to me, I cannot wait to trial this luminiser ,and even more so knowing that it doesn’t contain any chemical nasties. This is another full sized products with a massive value of $49 – Wow, this box is starting out well..

So Susan Nail Lacquer – Full Size (RRP:$10.00)

Another product from So Susan, and this nail polish is also free from all the chemical nasties, as well as it contains rosehip fruit oil to strengthen the nail and the skin around it.

I got the colour Pink Guava, which is a lovely cerise pink, absolutely perfect for tanned summer hands and feet, so this definitely won’t go to waste.

Lush Gorgeous Facial Moisturiser – Sample Size 10g (RRP: $74.95/45g)

This cream moistures, softens and nourishes, which provided it is not too rich for my combination skin sounds perfect. Truth is that I have only ever tried the bath products from Lush, and so long wanted to try the skincare products from Lush, but just never gotten around to it, so can’t wait to put this one to the test. It comes in a cute little tin – and the first challenge will be to work out how to open it, maybe it is me, or perhaps my clumsy little fingers, but I will need to enlist the help of my husband to open it up for me to I can put it to the test!

The box also included a card where if you spend $40 or more on Lush products online, you get free postage. Tempting…

MOR Essential Collection Hand Cream – 2 x sample sachets, 3ml each (RRP: 14.95/80ml)

I am very happy to receive not one, but two sachet samples of these hand creams. I got Basil & Grape, as well as Black Currant Iris. I am already familiar with the MOR hand creams, and love them, and as I don’t know these two scent, I am quite happy to be able to test them out too. The hand creams always smell gorgeous, - although sometimes so nice that I cannot stop smelling my hands, LOL!

Villainess Soaps in Dulces en Fuego – Sample – (RRP: $8.50/90g)

Another brand that I have never heard of before. This one contains black pepper and cinnamon sprinkled throughout, and consequently has a slightly spicy scent. It smells nice, and the spicy scent is a refreshing change from the always floral varieties. However, I must admit that I generally prefer to use liquid hand soap as I find them less messy in the bathroom, but still, I will definitely put it to the test, and actually, I could imagine that it would be right up my hubby’s alley, not being sweet and girly scented.

Acorelle Eau de Parfum – Sample vial 1.5ml (RRP: $$69.95/50ml)

I love perfumes, and I have more than I can count, and there is always room for another one. In my opinion there are simply too many gorgeous perfumes around to limit yourself to just one signature scent, so I like to swap and change every day depending on my mood, outfit and occasion. I have never heard of this brand before, so I am always excited to trial out a new one. And especially when I read that it contains mandarin and jasmine – and citrus scented products are on the absolute top of my favourite scents.

Overall I am extremely impressed with the contents of this months Violet Box, including the Jelly Pong Pong palette, it contains a whole three full sized products, with a combined value of $91 – how good is that when you only pay a maximum of $22.95 for the box –that is over four times the value. I am obviously aware that the Jelly Pong Pong Palette is bonus, but to quite honest, although Violet Box had promised that it would be included in this month’s box, I didn’t expect to be a bonus product, but that it would a part of the regularly included products! Very impressive and generous of Violet Box!

And in addition the box also contains a full five samples in the form of the soap, a facial cream, two hand creams and a perfume. Of course, it is only value for money if you intend to use every single one of the included products, and I definitely will, and am quite excited about them all.

If I have to be negative, it would be that there are two products included from the So Susan brand, and while I love discovering unknown brands, I would personally have preferred just one So Susan product and have the second product replaced with another brand that is new to me, if that makes sense. But really, that is just me nit-picking, as with the value of the contents of the box, Violet Box could easily have simply omitted say the nail polish from the box, and it would still have been extremely good value.

So all in all, I am very impressed with this month’s box – what a fantastic start to the New Year, well done Violet Box!!

*Product was kindly provided for consideration, and has reviewed in accordance with my Disclosure Policy.

What do you think of the products of the January Violet Box? Did you get this months’ box too? What did you think? And if not, would you consider subscribing?

And of course, as always, if you’d like to see an in-depth review of any of products in the box, leave me a comment below..