Little Miracles of Life: fashion/skincare

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the 8th day, and according to the Chinese, number 8 is always "ong" (prosperous) right? :)

Have been procrastinating on this post for quite some time...but here goes! :)

Many of you might (or might not) have read my last post of thelilacbox. In a blink of an eye, Valentine's has reached and my blind date, aka the very macho/ladylike, whichever you want to think, has finally reached my hands! I'll have lots and lots of pictures, so if you're like me and love pictures...I hope you'll like this post :)

My first beauty box! My first thought was "oh, expected the box to be bigger". But it's ok, it's whats inside that counts! This was the outer box, which was wrapped to ensure the items would not be damaged on arrival. I'm impressed.

Tadaa! Thelilacbox Debut, Valentine's version. The purple polkadot ribbon utterly steals the show right ? :) I gotta admit, the box is a little plain,but the ribbon and the little sticker "i got you thelilacbox" brightened up the box. Its a seriously nice box, I could reuse it for gifts for others too!

First peek inside the box. The little note there basically said to wrap something nice in this box, tie a lovely ribbon around the box and viola! You can give it as a lovely gift to others. :)

The love letter from the 3 guys at the Lilac Box. Yup, its actually 3 enterprising guys behind thelilacbox. Even the lovely ribbon is hand-tied by them! I gotta say I'm impressed. :) Loved the note by the way, it made the box feel a little more personal.

I bet you can see the contents now... :P Let me tell you a little secret : Even the purple wrap paper itself is scented, although I can't really make out what it is. All I know is that it smells awesome :P

And here it is! The debut Valentine's box! First impression: wow, so many goodies! And deluxe sized too! Me likey! :D Will give you an item-by-item picture and my thoughts on it.

First up: Maxfactor Nailfinity nail polish! The colour is slight grey purplish but not too bright, and looks very pretty. Gotta get a nail polish base before I can use this though.

Next : Keratase Resistance rinse out conditioner for damaged lengths and ends. Personally, I don't dye my hair and neither have I permed or straightened it, so it might not really work for me. Would have loved a volumiser ,or an easy manageable hair conditioner version. But what I liked was that it is deluxe sized. :)

3rd in line: Keratase resistance reconstructing shampoo for brittle, very damaged hair and split ends. The same comments for the product above applies as well for this one. Looking through many of other's blogs on beauty boxes, I have come to a consensus that many do not really crave for (or are interested in) hair care like shampoo. This is because most of us would already have our own hair care regiment, be it Dove, Sunsilk etc. This product had better be good if it's thinking of impressing us.

4th product: Decleor Aroma Cleanse - fresh puryfying gel and fresh matifying lotion, 10ml each.

I saw that many of the other suscribers got the white and pink bottles while I got the green ones. At first, I felt loss (just like for the other products as well) - how to use?? Many of the bloggers have mentioned that the lilacbox should have some product guide, encompassing the products, usage and market price, and I heartily agree with them. Stumbling around thelilacbox website, I found further information here...It had all the information on how to get a second date, what the product is, etc. I gotta say something though boys (if you don't mind) - The website information is too long winded... Kinda feel it should be more straight to the point(especially for the Roberto Cavalli one).

5th sample: Burburry Beauty Fresh Glow - 4 sachets of 1ml samples. Most bloggers I know and other suscribers have one rant : they HATE sachets. Haha. For me its fine - as long as the sachets are easy to use. Having tried it already, my verdict is that it really makes one's face "glow", to the point that it makes the face look a tad bit oily (eventhough it doesn't feel that way). It bodes well with the skin, no irritations, and the skin still feels soft and moisturized, but it looks shiny :P So if you wanna use it, my advice is mix it with your make up to make it look a little more subtle. Overall, I still like it :)

6th and final product: The Roberto Cavalli perfumed body lotion, which is my FAVOURITE of this box. As I wrote in thelilacbox facebook page:
" Roberto Cavalli Perfumed body lotion would be my pick without a doubt. Firstly, it has the heavenly SCENT. Which woman doesn't like a date that smells good? It was a lovely, amazing aroma and was not sickening or artificial..a whiff of this date was enough to send me on cloud 9... Secondly,a girl likes a date who is looks good and is "big" enough to protect her. Similarly, Roberto Cavalli looks good and it came it a super deluxe size, which was absolutely delightful, in my opinion. Allows me to enjoy more time with it! Thirdly, the 'touch' of the date. I for one enjoy the soft and flawless feeling each time I "feel" my date, and how it "melted" so easily into with my skin just had me feeling all warm and gooey inside I have so many things to share, all the way from the packaging to the contents! But for now, lets just say that thelilacbox made a very good blind date for my Valentines, and it brought me joy and laughter, and made me feel loved "

I have used it a few times so far, and still am amazed by how soft it feels and how supple it makes my skin feels. :) Love love love the perfume smell, its one of the most amazing I've ever felt!

My favourite blind date :)

And what I said was what I felt, that this blind date had met (and surpassed!) my expectations, and that it was a very enjoyable Valentines because of all the joy and laughter it brought along into my life.

What I'd like to see more : fragrances, eye cream especially for the panda eyes (no beauty boxes have that so far!), pampering items such as masks, blushers... something that others don't have :)

What I think thelilacbox needs to work on:
1. Delivery - many beauty boxes use Gdex. As do many other companies. So far, it has brought my product safely to me...But it seems like many got their boxes late, which defeats the purpose. I feel that another delivery company such as citylink and kangaroo could be good options too? But in this area, thelilacbox guys would know the best :D
2. product specification : Like I said earlier - a "manual" of sorts for the lovely products would be lovely. Not everyone is tech savvy enough to go hunting for information online...:P

Would I subscribe again? I'm waiting for the next subscription to open, but as of now, my thoughts on the box are "yes, it's worth it".

Note: A big thank you to thelilacbox for this debut box. The thoughts and reviews are entirely my own.
Also, unlike other bloggers etc, I did not receive any vouchers from Keratase / Decleor. (Yup, I found out on thelilacbox website and from other reviews that I should have had 2 vouchers...but I searched high and low and did not find it). But it's ok, the products matter most. :)

In December, one of the little things I won was the Origins mini makeover, for the 50th person of that every day of December. Told them to hold on to mine till I was back in KL since I was based in Batu Pahat at that time.

I finally redeemed it at Origins Pavilion, in Metrojaya. Its actually a comfy place, although in the open (no privacy?)

I seriously can't remember the name of the consultant who attended to me that day (its this lady in the right corner of the picture). All I can remember of that experience was that she was very professional, knowledgeable about Origins products, and made my experience a great one. :)

The set that she used for me. Including cleanser, toner, mask etc. What I was really impressed with was the eye serum (not sure of the name), which really made my dark-eye-ringed and tired and eyes look much better instantly. Blame the late nights and fried foods :P

Part of the set, supposedly for oily skin. I found out that mine was combo skin, which is a mix of oily (in the T -zone) and normal skin elsewhere. Oh, and sensitive too, may I add. Which was why I was really happy that none, and I repeat, NONE of the products caused my face to have an unwanted allergic reaction.

The tall chairs next to the counter, where one can be treated like a queen :D

This was the promo they were having- JOY (31 days of Christmas) or something like that. Seriously, the whole thing looks so happy! :D

The Gift set that cost over RM200. Kinda outta my budget, but it was pretty good. :)

How I looked after the makeover- I felt that my face was literally "glowing"! :) I really loved the experience, and felt really pampered. Really wish it was multiple sessions! (no editing done to any of the pictures!)