Today I have another Finnish cosmetics box for you. This was sent to me and I was very excited to check it out. As usual the products inside are international so I’ll give you my opinion of them on this English side of my blog too. This is a one-shot box that is available in Finland only.

 

 

The two ladies that put this box together are makeup and hair professionals with years and years of experience. They wanted to find a collection of products that they love and use themselves and that also work for many different people.

The box itself is very pretty. It was also quite big compared to the usual cosmetics subscription boxes and felt really light for the size. Thankfully the weight is insignificant this time.

 

 

Regardless of the lightness of the box, it was packed nice and full. My first impression was very positive. I could see good quality brands and full size products plus some generous sample sizes. It was clear that the real value of the box was much higher than the price tag.

 

 

Most of the brands were familiar to me but before this I only owned and had tested Beautyblender and Compeed Blister Cushions.

I was very excited to dig in and start testing the products.

Next I’ll tell you my own opinions, test results and first impressions of the products.

 

 

THE ORIGINAL MAKEUP ERASER

“THE MAKEUP ERASER REMOVES 100% OF YOUR MAKEUP WITH WATER ONLY.  JUST WET THE CLOTH AND REMOVE YOUR MAKEUP”

Ok, I have to admit that even if I have read good reviews I was still very skeptical and really didn’t believe this would work well enough. I mean it’s a a wet cloth with only water on it so how could it possible clean all of the makeup from my face? Yeah right….

What sorcery is this!??

How is it possible that it takes all the makeup off that well? (I did some reading and I now know how and why it works, kinda, but I’m still convinced it’s mostly magic :D ). The cloth just absorbs everything without making a mess. Your mascara goes into it and there’s no panda eyes. Wow! The warm cloth feels so relaxing and heavenly soft on your skin. I expected this to irritate my sensitive skin, but no rubbing was really needed and my skin felt good after the makeup removal. At first I tested this with the Vichy Dermablend foundation. This really well pigmented and good staying power foundation came right off. Then I tried MakeUp Eraser with a full face heavy duty makeup glued on with setting spray.  The result? Clean face without much effort or rubbing. Of course I used my Philosophy Purity after this but this did replace the cleaning oil completely.

Now I’m a believer!

An amazing product that does exactly what is promised. I washed this by hand now but you can also machine wash it (directions in the package).

 

 

VICHY DERMABLEND FLUID CORRECTIVE FOUNDATION 16H

I have also read many good reviews of this foundation and I have been meaning to buy this for a while now. Very highly pigmented, full coverage makeup foundation that applies thinly and didn’t feel tight or dry on my skin. This foundation is on the dry side though so it requires very well moisturized skin to look good. First I tested this with primers and couldn’t get it to work at all. The foundation kinda just sat on top of my skin looking patchy.

In the end I decided to try it on to just a well moisturized face, no primers and it worked. It blended into my skin perfectly creating a full coverage semi-matte result. It didn’t get stuck to my dry patches cos of good moisturizing and it covered all the redness I have on my face (I have type 1 rosacea). Staying power was also excellent

This was actually such highly pigmented product that I don’t need that much coverage on my whole face, only on my cheeks and chin area. So next time I applied a semi coverage, dewy looking makeup foundation thinly on my whole face. Then I added some Dermablend to the semi coverage foundation and layered that on the red areas using a beautyblender. Dermablend added so much pigment to my lighter weight foundation that I needed to add very little product to cover all the problem areas. I think you could also use this as a concealer on spots etc. Very multi functional product!

I got the shade Opal 15 and to me it’s a pretty light neutral shade. Testing it on my hand it looked more yellow toned than it actually was when I applied it on my face. I will definitely use this regularly from now on.

 

BEAUTYBLENDER ORIGINAL

There was also a beautyblender in this box and I’m so happy about that cos you can never have too many beautyblenders. Nothing else works as well for me or makes my foundation look as good. Perfect shape and texture! Copies of this makeup sponge never work as well for me. This helps to apply your foundation so thin and smooth. With the damp sponge you can also apply your loose powder, cream blushes and liquid highlighters. You can blend your cream contouring using this. My HG makeup sponge!

 

 

CLARINS INSTANT LIGHT NATURAL LIP PERFECTOR

Yet another product that I have read good reviews of. I’m not the biggest fan of lip glosses so I didn’t think I’d need this. Well, I was wrong. This is not your average super sticky gloss that feels like glue on your lips and your hair gets stuck into. This is just slightly sticky and deliciously vanilla scented moisturizing lip gloss. I wore this the whole day reapplied a few times throughout the day. This replaced my lip balm and doubled as a gloss. That night my lips felt moisturized and not dry at all.

The shade I got is 10 Pink Shimmer. To me this is more coral than pink and I don’t see any shimmer either. This brings just enough color to your lips to brighten up your look on otherwise makeup free day. With makeup this adds freshness to your look.

I didn’t find a lip gloss that I liked for the longest time and now recently I have actually found a few, this being one of them. It could very well be that in a future there will be other shades of this lip gloss in my makeup stash too.

 

 

SOPHIE LA GIRAFE BABY OIL

There was also a small tube of baby oil in this box. Yes, baby oil. The product info card said you can use this baby oil to gently remove your makeup. You can use it to protect your skin while shaving your legs. It’s good as body oil, to treat dry hair etc.

I believe it can do all that and more. My testing it was over as soon as it started though. I applied the oil on top of my hand to test it and it absorbed into my skin almost instantly. Ok … let’s add some more for my whole hands. The oil absorbed into my hands leaving them super soft and smooth. That’s it! No further testing needed. I’m going to use this on my hands and I will buy another bottle as soon as this tube runs out. Made my hands feel amazing!

This baby oil is also Natural and organic Cosmetic certified by ECOCERT so you’re just using natural oils on your skin.

 

 

ARTDECO KHOL EYELINER (WATERPROOF)

Very soft and highly pigmented khol eyeliner pencil. This stayed put on the waterline on both, lower and upper lid lash line. Application is extremely smooth and you can also blend this for softer look before it dries down. This will make a perfect and long lasting base for your smoky eye. Very good quality!

 

 

JOICO K-PAK COLOR THERAPY LUSTER LOCK

This is the only product I haven’t tested yet. I actually hennaed my hair again yesterday so now I have to wait for a few days before I can wash it again. My hair is in a really good condition from shoulders up and the lengths below the shoulder level are seriously chemically treated. Ton of bleaching, permanent dyes etc. So I think this will be a perfect product to treat the damaged lengths.

Joico is a familiar brand to me and I have used their products before. I know K-Pak series is perfect for damaged and chemically treated hair so I have no doubt about the quality of this product either.

 

DR. HAUSCHKA CLEANSING CREAM

Well now this was an interesting product to say the least. I expected the tube to have white, you know, cream like product inside and instead what I got was a thick, light brown paste. Thankfully I read the instructions first.

“Moisten face and neck with warm water. Mix 2 cm (1/2 inch) of Cleansing Cream with water in the palms to form a smooth, creamy paste. Press gently into the skin with a rolling motion, starting in the centre of the forehead then slowly working outward and down. Use gentle movements. Do not rub – this is not a face scrub. Avoid the eye area. Dampen your hands again. Repeat several times. Rinse with plenty of warm water and then finish with a splash of cool, fresh water. For sensitive skin use warm water only. Protect against light and heat.”

If I didn’t read all that I would’ve used this like a face scrub. The gritty-ish texture kind of makes you feel like it’s a scrub. But it’s not.

I really don’t know how I feel about this. It’s so different from anything I’ve ever tried. Weird texture and even weirder scent. It did leave my skin feeling good and didn’t feel drying at all. So the first impression is on the positive side but more testing is needed before I can really say how I like this.

 

 

COMPEED BLISTER AND CORN CUSHIONS

I get blisters on my feet just by looking at them. So I always have to have Compeed Blister Cushions and Compeed Anti Blister Stick in my purse just in case. I have never tried Corn Cushions but I’ll throw those in my purse too. Compeed products really, really work and without them my life would be so much more painful.

 

So these were all the products in this Beauty Box X Meikkipäät cosmetics box. All of these I will use and nothing was really feeling like “Meh, I don’t think I’ll use this”. I will keep an open mind when it comes to Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream and keep using it.

The price tag on this box is 49 euros (about the same in US dollars) and the real value of the box is 117 euros (based on the prices in Finland). So it’s a good deal :)

Your opinions about this box? You use any of these products?

 

***PR-sample