#the pics are a bit crusty in quality but i saved them from the deep web so we can't complain

[hotfuss]

Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci chilling backstage before their show at house of blues, mandalay bay, december 30 2005. photos by john locher.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: NMNL August 19

So.... in the end, I decided to send those pictures after all. I’m not sure if they will do anything about it, but they usually do, I just need to wait for a response. Their usual is to send a replacement of the missing/broken item, but if they no longer have it or can access it, they will lower the price of another box usually.

“Can you believe its August already? We hope you enjoyed the summer essentials from last month’s box. Now hat you’re ready for summer we want to give your skin a natural glow. That’s why we’ve included skin care but also other exciting products like lip care products and of course makeup!“

Contest

This month, those who entered the mini-contest could look forward to products from Innisfree, including Jeju Cherry Blossom Lotion and Moisturizer, while runner-ups could obtain one of the various no-sebum mineral powder, featuring a cute bunny design on the lid.

Glam Gift

Meanwhile, the Glam Gift featured various skin products to enhance and protect its natural beauty from the brands 16Brand and Aritaum.

For August, this months horoscope was “must try face masks“. I couldn’t include a pic this time, so I’ll just write them down:

Aries: Collagen mask - for improving skin elasticity.

Taurus: Snail - for firming and protecting the skin.

Gemini: Manuka Honey - for rich nutrition and moisturization.

Cancer: Pearl - for brightening your skin.

Leo: Tea Tree - for clearing and moisturization.

Virgo: Ceramide - for strengthening and moisturization.

Libra: Hyaluronic Acid - for deep hydration

Scorpio: Green Tea - for calming and refreshing your skin.

Sagittarius: Damask Rose - for brightening and moisturization.

Capricorn: Lemon- for fresh moisturization and vitality.

Aquarius: Pomegranate - for vitality and firming your skin.

Pisces: Aloe - for calming and refreshing your skin.

Awapeccino Foaming tool + cleansing powder set

First up is this fun little tool that brings to mind a drink (the name is based on Cappuccino, a drink, and awa awa, which I think is the “noise” to describe foaming up), but you don’t use it for food, you use it to lather/foam up skin products. It includes 2 sets of powders that you mix with a small amount of water depending on the consistency you’re in search of. Now, I didn’t think to get a picture of them - but the powders are an item we had before. A few months back we got a set of them, and believe it or not I still have one remaining that I didn’t use up yet. They have a lovely peach scent~

They suggest upon using them up, you can replace them with things like body soap and other cleansers, such as another product we also got in this months box.

On one hand, you could say this isn’t a necessity product, but it’s really fun and kind of cute to look at. It also saves you from combining the product in your hands (which is how they suggested doing it before) or in food containers if you didn’t have something else, and in general it’s really easy to use and clean up.

What I found really nice was that you can leave your left-over in the container and it’ll be good later. It does thin down but you can easily re-foam it. Now, this specific product gained a yeast-ish smell by the 3rd day so I discarded the little amount left, but I’m not sure if the same would happen to the other items. 

Snail Essential Cream & Deve Foaming Facial Cleanser

Our next item is an essential cream by eyeNlip, a korean cosmetics brand. This cream is made from snail secretion (this must be a new trending ingredient, I’ve been seeing it a lot more recently) and contains 10 different seed extracts and several other fun things. It’s spout pouch makes it easy to use and bring around, and it not only improves elasticity, but it reduces fine lines.

I’ve been using this after using the facial foam products and I love how it feels. It has a bit of a cooling effect while applying it, and I found a little goes a long way with this, so although its small and doesn’t seem to have much product, it will last you a good while depending on how often you use it. It’s not sticky and the skin absorbs it quickly, and it makes it feel smooth. It also smells really good.

------

This item is the one the pamphlet recommends using once you use up all your powders for the awapeccino. The Deve foaming facial cleansers come in 4 varieties (Honey, deeply moisturizing, rose, charcoal) and uses all natural products.

I normally don’t like honey very much, but when it comes to beauty products you can either get items that smell like honey (a very... pungent smell <_<) or it will smell like a flowery-sweet honey or hair product. In most cases we get the second option, and this fit the bill in terms of scent. The product is thick and foams up very well, it feels very nice on the skin and I think it’s been doing pretty well. The bottle is also very full with product! It’s perfect!

If you want to check out this product then I’d recommend visiting Japan Haul, the online store for this box brand (as well as TokyoTreat and YumeTwins): https://japanhaul.com/products/deve-foaming-face-cleanser?variant=29119862767668

Choosy Moist Lip Pack

Choosy lips are a fun product that is not foreign to this blog, I’m pretty sure we had this one before too. In this months box they were available in either mint chocolate or chocolate banana, both made with the intention to moisten the lips and keep them feeling smooth after 5-30 minutes of wear.

It smells very yummy, like typical mint chocolate anything. But I love mint chocolate ♥ It makes me want to eat it~

However... in saying that, it might just be me but it seems like whenever use these (for the full 30 minutes) the effect never lasts very long, maybe a few hours if that. They’re really fun and always smell good, but I’m not really sure if there’s a way to improve that or if is just me.

Choco Mint Face Mask

Choco Mint is very popular and trendy in Japan as both a food item and sheet mask. This specific one was part of dessert mask set, which we did have before. It came about a year ago or so with another dessert ask, but this one is made with cacao, which moisturizes the skin, while the mint lightens and refreshes it.

I think I still remember using this previously. It has a very strong mint chocolate scent -again it makes me want to eat it- but if I recall the mask quality itself wasn’t that impressive or the effects didn’t last too long, there was something about it I didn’t like.

Lovely Cookie Blush

Now I know what you’re thinking, “they gave them 2 of those?“ but if you’re a reader of the blog you might remember me mentioning this blush :3 the one not being held is my original one. I’ve had it for a couple years now and its still good, it’s one of the very few blushers I own and use. The one I originally owned is #2 Strawberry Choux, and the new one is PK002 Grapefruit Jelly. Due to the numbers, I’m not sure if they got rid of mine or if this one is a modified/renamed version. The other color available in the box was PK004 Peach Choux Wafer.

I was very excited to get another one; but as you can see (or not, the picture didn’t come out as well as I was aiming for) there are a couple of differences between them:

The original one has an Etude House logo, while the newer one has a logo for the Cookie Blusher.

The ribbon on the puff is different in shape between them.

I noticed the colored part of the container on my original seems to have a very faint pearly finish, while the new ones are plain plastic.

Besides those things I didn’t notice any other differences other than the color itself, which surprised me to see that the new one is a lot more noticeable in comparison to how pale my original one was. But I still really like it in both quality and cuteness factor ♥

Petit Bunny Gloss Bar & Aurora Eye and Lip Topper

To say I was excited is an understatement when it comes to this next product! I’ve been wanting to buy the Petit Bunny Gloss Bars from Tony Moly when I first spotted them a few years ago- but I put it off and I heavily regret it now because before they had a full set and now I can’t seem to find it anymore.

These are ultra-kawaii moisturizing lip gloss bars with a sheer color and glossy finish; they come in a variety of colors, each with a bunny that has a different facial expression. These can be used on top of matte lipstick, or on their own, and they’re also available in perfume sticks, which I also wanted and never bought <.<

On Japan Haul and in the box these were available in Strawberry (which is the one I would have chosen), apple, cherry, peach, and orange. But if you go on Amazon you can find a few more flavors/colors. They are also scented and it smells very good.

The product is extremely shiny (not glittery like the pic would have you believe), and it is moisturizing. It makes the lips very smooth and even though it is orange, it looks pretty natural on the lips and isn’t obnoxious looking at all. I always worry orange won’t look good on me, but I don’t have a problem wearing this.

-----

Our final item of the box (see the first pic in this section) is a little container of Crayon Touch-Me Aurora Eye & Lip Topper, a product meant to be worn over other products or on its own. It was available in silver, purple, or pink.

I like it :3 it feels very light weight on the eyes and lips, and it’s extremely glittery and leaves no bumpy, crusty texture from the glitter in the product. There’s a lot you can do with a product like this.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5. I loved all the products! I had no complaints (unless you count the face mask remark I made, but I’ve had worse) and I feel like my skin has been very pampered and rejuvenated... even though it’s now late-fall/autumn. But it’s very face oriented, which on one hand is a little boring.

Theme: 5 out of 5. I can see how these items would be pretty nice to have during summer and for the “glow“ vibe they fit very well. But they also strongly remind me of products we’d expect to see in winter themed boxes too, or any time of the year honestly.

Total Rank: 10 out of 10. I’m not sure this feels like a summer box to me, only because of how widespread I can see these items being- but I really like them and I think this would be a really good one to recommend if you like facial products. I found the face orientation a little boring because I prefer a nice mix of products, but that doesn’t change how much I like them. 

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

(This might seem like a cop out but I actually liked everything so much that I found it impossible to actually rank them!)