Daebak Box - Summer 2020

Well, if this year hasn’t been the Bitch of the Century…

Luckily, my Summer Daebak box arrived pretty much on schedule (despite that fucking corona virus) and it was a much needed spirit lifter!

For those who don’t know, the Daebak Box is a subscription service that send you a box jam packed with Korean goodies - pop culture, snacks, skin care, makeup, kpop, and more. You can either sign up to renew every season or pre-pay for a full year and save about $20. Right now, seasonal is $54.99 and annual is $199.96. I get the annual because I cannot see, in the foreseeable future, ever canceling this service!

(The same folks who run this also do SnackFever - all Korean snacks and goodies, as well as Daebak Jewelry. I can’t speak to the jewelry service, but SnackFever is fucking awesome - UNFORTUNATELY, for the foreseeable future, most of the SF subscriptions have been cancelled due to the Korea Post increasing their shipping prices by 50%, and some customers being total douche knockers who refuse to pay for the extra fees involved for customs, thereby costing the Daebak folks losts of $$ in restocking and return fees.)

I pay for this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones.

So let’s take a peek and see what came in the Summer box!

All…the…things….

Etude House Moistful Collagen Emulsion: I was almost expecting this to be more like a watery serum, but it’s like a thin moisturizer. Smells heavenly (clean and soft) and absorbs well. Hasn’t screwed up my skin yet!

Duft and Doft Sunscreen: I have had the chance to use this once since I received it. It’s probably one of the best sunscreens I’ve tried. It does smell like a typical sunscreen (which I don’t mind at all) but it soaks into the skin like a moisturizer. I didn’t feel sticky or greasy, or that it would all slide off my face the second I left the house.

Moonshot Lip and Cheek Cream Paint: I’m usually leery of these kinds of products. Any kind of multitasking makeup stick/cream/etc., is usually dry on one part, patchy on another, useless on yet another. But I’m here to say, this cream paint is a dream! The color is gorgeous and makes a fantastic lipstick. If you blend it out, it looks great on the cheeks. BUT BEWARE! If you use more than a pin head sized dot on your cheek, you WILL look like Bozo the Clown. So just be careful. It’s a bit of a learning curve, but worth the effort!

Shil Note Notebooks: Um, I’m a writer so anytime I can get another notebook, I AM ALL IN. The orange one is like any regular lined notebook. The Made in Korea one is set up for writing hangul, or the Korean alphabet. And I just signed up for a language app to help me learn Korean. THIS IS PERFECTION. Each notebook came with its own stickers but…

i Style Design Stickers: Moar Stickers! It’s always fun to get stickers, and play with them. I’m not mad at these designs, either.

Jeju Fabric Perfume: We got one of these in the Spring box as well, just a different scent. I can’t say these work in any way. But as a room freshener, they’re very nice! This one smells like perfumed fabric softener. Not something I want my person to smell like, but it’s not bad for a general scent.

Wiggle Wiggle: Not sure what kind of bag you call this, but it looks like some kind of waterproof travel bag. Which is perfect. It feels very sturdy and I actually love the color combination!

YouUs Cheese Ttokbokki: Someday I hope to have some real ttokbokki, but in the meantime, these ramen style packages will have to do. I haven’t had this yet but I read that a few people struggled with cooking it because it requires a microwave (usually you just dump hot water and let it sit, but this one needs a little more cook time apparently). I’m super excited to try it.

Tio Peach Tea: These are delicious. If you like sweetened, instant iced tea, and peach flavor, you’ll love these.

Metal Chopsticks: Funny that the hubby and I already have a dozen pairs of Korean style chopstick, but I’m not mad to add another set to the family! These are a little more difficult for me to use as the ends are squared off. The other ones I have are rounded and smooth, making them easy to grip. These are slippery little suckers, but I’m working on my technique!

As usual, I loved the items I got in this box (though the fabric perfume is just…okay). Since it’s a little difficult to physically travel anywhere in my own country, let alone overseas, this quarterly service will have to suffice and give me the Korea culture fix I need.

Have any of you signed up for this? Are you digging it as much as I am? Let me know!

Medusa's Makeup September 2017 Review

For those who don't know, Medusa's Makeup is an indie brand that has a monthly subscription service. For $16 you get 3-5 full-sized makeup products that are vegan and cruelty free. Check them out here: MEDUSASMAKEUP

I pay for this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones. And if I'm remembering correctly, the each of the remaining months of 2017 will include a brand new MM product.

I love that MM includes an information card that tells you about the products you've received AND how much they're worth. I seriously think the only service NOT doing this is Ipsy. WTH. From the dark berry colors it looks like this month was going for a Fall theme. I think.

Eye Glitter in Key Lime Pie: This is the 3rd glitter I've received and just like the others, I'm less than impressed. The color is cool but as you can see, it's hard to get a full non-patchy application (yes, I put glitter glue down on my hand first). And I tried for several minutes to build it up but it just never got there. $8

(NEW) Luminous Creme in Star Bright: At first, I loved the look of this. Not so much reflective or shimmery but more like a wet look. I figured it might be too waxy but it's very smooth, softer than I thought. Unfortunately, once the wetness absorbed into the skin or evaporated, all that was left was glitter. I had glitter all over my face after I used this - and no, I didn't use it the same time as the eye glitter so it wasn't that. $12

Totally Baked Eye Shadow in Awesome: Though this is the 4th eye shadow I've received, I LOVE THIS COLOR! Gorgeous magenta berry shade, on the info card is says it can be used as blush and that's how I've been using it. It is beautiful! The swatch on the left is the shadow used with a wet brush and the swatch on the right is with a dry finger (ouch). I can't wait to try this on my eyes. $9

Lip Paint in Bang: After getting three meh colors in other months, I'm totally digging this! I love the formula of these lip paints but I haven't been super excited about the shades. Again that fall berry/magenta color is gorgeous! The lip swatch got a bit messy because I was trying to avoid my Invisalign appliances but otherwise, I love it. $9

After going back and looking through the past 6 months, I'm getting a lot of repeats. I know this is a smaller brand so I can't expect a bazillion different products, but there are a lot I haven't received yet. I've probably donated half of what I've gotten so far so I'm not sure if I'll continue through the rest of the year. Sure, I'm excited to see what NEW products they'll include each month, but will it be worth another 3 glitters or eye shadows or lip paints? I just don't know.

Medusa's Makeup July 2017 Review

For those who may not know, Medusa's Makeup is a monthly subscription service. For $16, you'll get 4-5 full sized cruelty free and vegan beauty products of the indie brand, Medusa's Makeup. Check them out here: MEDUSA'S MAKEUP

I pay for this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones.

I love how MM switches up the package envelope. The flamingos are so cute! This month we also got a free beach bag (or looks like it could also be a reusable grocery bag). How fucking cool is that?

Lip Paint in "Cowgirl": FINALLY a lip color I will wear! Sure, it's a corpse nude but I much prefer that kind of look when I do really dark and/or dramatic eye makeup. This is the same formula as the others so it's super comfortable. It's a little streaky and when it dries down you can see it gives that "asshole" look to the lips (because the product won't stick to the inner most wet part of the lips, when you purse your lips, it looks like a butthole - I didn't coin the expression, dammit!). But I can work with this for sure! $12

Brow Wow Wow: There's only one brow product on their site and it's this brow definer and highlighter in one. The brown is a cool dark shade, which is fine. The highlight is gorgeous. It doesn't show up on camera but it has this almost white/blue duo-chrome to it. But it's also very soft and powdery, as you can see. $12

Angle Eyeliner Brush: Not sure I could use this for gel or liquid liner. It's a very soft and bendy brush. It would probably absorb too much liquid and not be stiff enough to stand up to gel. However, this will make a great eyebrow brush. I don't like the look of harsh, strong, drawn on brows. As you can see in the swatch, it makes a soft line of color, which is perfect for me. $8

Glitter in "Mystique": I wasn't blown away with the purple glitter last month (I loved the color and the name but the product itself ended up being kinda meh). I anticipate the same from this. But the color is stupendous - blue/green/yellow/purple. When all packed on, it is stunning. $8

According to the card, it's a $45 value this month (I guess they're counting the bag at a $5 value). Hooray!

Medusa's Makeup May 2017 Review

For those who may not know, Medusa's Makeup is an indie brand in beauty that has a monthly subscription service. For $16 you get 3-5 full sized vegan and cruelty free makeup products. Check them out here: MEDUSA'S MAKEUP

(I purchase this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones)

Ooooohhh....GLITTER!

Glitter in "Pegasus" ($7): It's kind of hard to tell but this glitter has a purple base with blue, green, and gold sparkles. And it's called Pegasus. PEGASUS! I cannot wait to try this (excuse my dry and flaky hands).

Lip Paint in the color "Shag" ($12): This is my second lip paint. And while I like the formula - not too dry, fells comfy - these kinds of watermelon or salmon shades look shitty on me. But it would make a nice base for another color on top (oooh...dirty).

Lip Paint Remover ($10): This is simply a colorless oil that will remove the liquid lipstick once it's dried on your lips - and it works well. Sometimes those things are a BITCH to get off (ooooh...dirty...what is wrong with me?). It basically feels like any kind of oil so if you've already got some of that, you might not need this. But does yours smell a little like cotton candy/burnt sugar? I didn't think so. It's not a strong scent so don't worry about that.

Totally Baked Eyeshadow in "Bitchin" ($9): I had to show you the back sticker on this. So cute! (I accidentally scraped the sticker so it WAS in tact when they sent it) Gorgeous gold shadow, which is one color I don't have and have always wanted. Thank you, MM! Smooth feel, great shine but not glittery, and doesn't fade throughout the day. I used this as a brow bone highlighter and it was perfect (for my skin). It might work as a regular highlighter too. Hmmm...

Aside from the color of the lip paint, I'm in love with this subscription service this month. And it's a $38 value so that ain't too shabby!

Medusa's Makeup March 2017 Review

All righty folks. I was researching a bunch of cruelty free subscription services and came across this one. I've heard of the brand, Medusa's Makeup, from Tori over on YouTube (I think). It's made in the US and all cruelty free and vegan (the vegan part doesn't mean that much to me - just the CF status). They have a monthly subscription service where for $16, you get 3-5 full sized MM's products. Pretty awesome. Check them out here: MEDUSA'S MAKEUP

I purchase this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones.

I took a ton of pictures for this first review so you can get an idea of how everything comes each month. I won't be quite so detailed in the future.

Similar to the Ipsy pink bubble pack (this one has a little more purple to it - not that it matters but...shut up), all the items come in this envelope with extra bubble wrap around the products inside. And UNLIKE Ipsy, the card included has all the product info WITH pictures AND pricing! See the size comparison of cards below between MM and Ipsy. Fucking weak-ass Ipsy card...

Anyhoo...

The products I got in my first month are pretty fucking tits. Granted, I don't like half of them but the sizes are great and the products themselves are cool. Let's get into it.

Stick It Eye Primer: This I don't like. It's one of those wax based eye primers that just don't work on my oily lids. When I first used it, and put the eye dust over it, the green pigment really popped! But within an hour or two, it had faded and creased like a mother fucker. This probably works better for people who have normal to dry eyelids. I'll see if I can find another use for it because it feels nice on the skin. Maybe for my nails/cuticles...? 

Lip Paint in Get Lucky: I like the product itself. Goes on rather smooth and it's pretty dang pigmented. But I don't like the color. A little too bright/neon for me and it can look kind of streaky at first. I think that's an issue for most bright or neon colors because of the white base needed to create it so it probably takes a little practice to get it to look really good (though I got it to look good for the swatch). But it didn't feel super dry. It was very comfortable!

Lipstick in Lydia: Now THIS is right up my alley. Love love love the shade, a soft lavender. The lipstick is very creamy, pigmented, and felt so great on the lips. A little similar to Colourpop's Marshmallow but a bit brighter with less grey. The packaging for the lipstick is freakin' awesome.

Eye Dust in Wasabe: My final product is a loose mineral pigment in a gorgeous bright green shade. The swatch below does NOT do it justice but it's a nice alternative if you want to go soft. It works best with a wet base underneath (like the primer but I used a glitter glue the first time I wore it and that shit didn't budge for 12 hours). That's when the color really explodes. Gorgeous! 

That's it for the first month. A $39 dollar value (see, the math is already done for me on the card!) for $16 is fucking sweet. I'm super happy with this service so far. Yes, it's just one month but what a first month! If anyone wants the lip paint or the primer just let me know. It's yours.