Glymm: January Box

I received my December Glymm box last week. For those who haven't heard of Glymm, it's a beauty subscription program very similar to Luxe Box. It's $10 a month, and you get a box of four to five deluxe beauty samples sent right to your door.

This month, I received:

Burt's Bees Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion (sample size, 7 ml x 2): This is a nice, simple body lotion that's not too heavy but hydrates quite well. It fast-absorbing and non-greasy. I'm sort of indifferent to the scent, which smells like honey and beeswax. I probably wouldn't buy a full size tube because there's so many other body lotions that I want to try or like better, but this is a good option if you like natural beauty products. The two sample sizes in this box might not be enough for the whole body (I would probably need both samples for one use on my body), but is more than enough for multiple uses on the hands and will most likely be enough for you to judge whether you'd want to buy the full size.

Kaia Naturals 100% Natural Bamboo Facial Cleansing Cloth (one cloth): I'm not a huge fan of make-up removing wipes because I just don't find them as effective as good ol' cleanser and water, but as far as make-up removing wipes go, these ones does an effective job. I tested this with lipsticks and lip liners (bright, dark, and long-wearing), eyeliners (pencil and liquid, waterproof and non-waterproof), as well as foundation, and it took off all of it. It also leaves skin feeling clean, with no oily residue afterward. I would still recommend using an actual eye make-up remover with a cotton pad to take off mascara because there's just not enough product in the wipes to take it off, but otherwise, it's a decent product. I personally don't like the scent of these, though, which has sort of a synthetic plasticky beeswax smell to it. If you like natural products and are looking for make-up removing wipes, this might be something to look into. Otherwise, MAC Wipes (the same price at $18 for 30 cloths) do just as good a job (though they leave a slight residue) and are much more widely available.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel (sample size, 2.5 ml): I don't normally use brow gels, but I gave this a try and actually really quite liked it. I use an eyebrow pencil regularly without anything else on top, but this gel does make my brows look neater and more groomed and keeps hairs in place. My brows felt slightly stiff with it applied, but not uncomfortably so. However, at $21 for the full size, I am positive that you can find a cheaper alternative that does exactly the same thing with the same results. I feel that this brow gel, which is essentially clear mascara, just isn't worth $21.

Vasanti Cosmetics Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator (sample size, 12 g): This is a facial exfoliator with a "triple action formula" that has "powerful papaya enzymes and microderm exfoliating crystals to help smooth your skin's surface to uncover a bright, youthful glow." I have used this once and it did make my skin feel nice and smooth, but it's not enough product to test any long-term results. That having been said, it's a really nice scrub with micro-crystals, so if you like face scrubs with very small beads/grains, you might want to look into this.

Cargo Cosmetics Eye Pencil in Black (full size, 1.1 g): This is "an incredibly high pigment pencil that delivers intense colour combined with a smudge-resistant formula for immediate and long-wearing results." I will agree that it has good pigmentation with opaque colour pay-off. It goes on smoothly and evenly, but I wouldn't say that it's smudge-resistant. There are definitely pencils out there that have the same colour pay-off, go on smoothly and evenly, and are smudge-resistant and water-resistant (MAC's Powerpoint Eye Pencil is one example). I personally wouldn't re-buy it because I don't really wear pencil eye liners (I am a liquid eye liner girl, through and through), but I reckon there are tons and tons of brands that offer black pencil eye liners in better formulas or are cheaper.

Overall, this month's box was decent. I wouldn't say it's phenomenal, but there were lots of products that are worth trying. They're all products that I probably wouldn't buy the full size version of, but I'm glad I got to try them. As far as the purpose of all of these products, they all did a pretty good job in terms of efficacy. And I like that all the skincare products were not age-specific or skin-specific, and the make-up products were all basic (clear brow gel, black eye liner). I have yet to get a box as good as last October's box, but this month's wasn't bad. I am, however, glad that they didn't send more jelly beans!