March NMNL Unboxing

WOOT!! I am so happy! Not happy because of the content of March's No Make No Life box, but the fact that I got it before most subscribers! It's always been the situation where I would order something as soon as it comes out, but I would receive it well after everyone else and it bums me out a little bit. But that's what you get for having Canada Post as your postal service. -__-.

Anyways, with NMNL, if you subscribe near the beginning of each month, it's most likely your next month's NMNL box is shipped out toward the beginning of the month. That sounds confusing, so let me use this months' box as an example.

Everyone have up to Feb 28th to order the March box, which has the theme of sakura. Then everyone is supposedly guaranteed to receive their boxes by end of March. But in my case, I accidentally renewed my subscription on February 3rd, the March box was shipped out Feb 8th, and I received it Feb 21st.  So I got it before most of the subscribers. Yay!

Enough gloating, let's move on to the contents. As I have said the theme for March is sakura, as it is usually the beginning of the sakura season in March. I was quite excited by the theme and accidentally renewed my subscription, paying full price of US$29.99, or C$41.67. Uh,.. Damn you exchange rate, it really added up the cost.. ;___;

A post shared by @addictedtocrafts12 on Feb 21, 2017 at 2:06pm PST

The box was so pink! I don't usually like pink but I loved opening up the black box to see so much shades of pink! And as soon as I opened the box, this light sweet floral smell hits my nose. It just really add to the sakura theme of the box! However! There are couple of items of concern! But we shall discuss down below.

Goshu Sakura bath salt

 Oh this packaging is gorgeous! 😍😍The large sakura blossoms on top and the fine sakura outlines on the bottom! So gorgeous! 

I am confused regarding the texture these bath salts are supposed to be. I can see the chunky sea salts, but it is soaked in a pink liquid? Is it supposed to be "wet"? I thought bath salts are usually dry. No matter, it is just an interesting texture to be packaged in.

This cost 145 Yen, or US$1.45. (I know the conversion rate is different, but for argument sake, let's say it is 100 Yen is US$1.00.I'll use the current day conversion rate for the total at the bottom of this post.) 

Ichikami Moisturizing shampoo & conditioner travel set

 This is such a cute set! And I think the smell is actually coming from this set! 

There is actually quite a bit of floral ingredients in this set! If I am reading the chart correctly, there is sakura, camellia, peony and different types of rice in it. It sounds promising! I can't wait to take it with me next time I travel somewhere. 

This cost 270 yen, or US$2.70. Okay price for a travel size I guess. 

Sakura Harenohi hand care gift pack 

 This is a gorgeously packed hand care set, with a hand cream and hand soap. Not sure about including hand soap, but alright. I can deal with that. 

 Downside is that these are dinky little things! I have put the Missha Love Secret hand cream and a special quarter down for sizing references. As you can see, it's TINY at 11-12mL each. 

An issue with this gift set is that the products are actually made in China. Nothing against China, I mean I am made in China. 😆 But I wasn't expecting a Chinese product in a box of Japanese stuff. 

This set cost 648 Yen, or US$6.48.

Maru Tatsu Sakura hand towel & cleaning cloth

 This is a pretty looking set of towel and cloth. It's big enough to fit the bottom of the box, so I feel like the little pile of blue shredded paper was unnecessary. 

The towel on the left is probably a microfiber cleaning cloth, as it has similar feel to it. It is not a very big towel, it is roughly the size of the box. The towel on the right is a smoother feeling towel that is supposedly made for hand and face, but I would probably just go with hand to be on the safe side. 

This little kit cost 173 Yen, or US$1.73, and it's made in China of course. 

Gensen Labo hydrating sea kelp toner

This is where I am starting to have a problem with the content. First of all, this has NOTHING to do with the theme of sakura! Sea kelp and sakura are nowhere close to each other! Secondly, I chided Kira Kira Crate for their continuous usage of Pure Smile/Choosy products, including one of their sister brands 5Lanc. Then NMNL box just have to put in Gensen Labo, which is also one of Pure Smile's brands. =__=. 

Don't get me wrong, I like Pure Smile. I have nothing against putting in quality products at a low cost. Heck, this toner got 4.9/5 stars on Cosme. But I do have a problem when it is put in there for the sake of putting in an "expensive" and large item rather than continuing with the theme. Everything was following along with the theme and then bam! Toner made with sea kelp from Hokkaido! Just because! No reason at all! That makes me grouchy. 

Oh, this is the most expensive item in the box at 980Yen or US$9.80. 😒😒

Choosy peach lip pack & gold pearl lip pack

Urg, This is the second item in the box that I had the most problem with! Again with the Pure Smile/Choosy items! I'll be okay with it had it gone along with the theme. But it doesn't! Peach and gold pearl has nothing to do with the sakura theme! WTF! 😡😠 Heck, I even jokingly added an line about hoping they won't include the Pure Smile facial mask in sakura in my email to Tokyotreat. I didn't think my joke would be true and they actually put in Pure Smile/Choosy masks in there! It's nice they included two, but come on, these can be easily found on eBay. I am not pleased. 

The lip packs are 120Yen each, so 240Yen/US$2.40 in total. Oh, these are made in Korea for those who cares about where it is made. This is also probably why it's included in some Korean boxes. 

Overall Value

The total value for the March box is.... 2,456 Yen. Using today's exchange rate as per Google, it is US$21.69/C$28.50. Considering I paid US$29.99/C$41.67 for this box. I am more than annoyed that I spent US$8.30/C$13.17 on shipping. Yah I get it, these free shipping boxes include shipping in its sale prices. But I would've liked a little bit more value to my box, especially when the company is bulk buying these products at a discount. -___-. 

Value aside, my view on the March box is meh.😑😑 4/7 items hit the theme of sakura (I am counting the two lip packs as two separate items). 3/7 items are made in Japan (bath salt, hair & conditioner set, and the toner). I would most likely use all of the items except for the bath salts so it's not a bad box in that aspect.

I am just a bit burned by the fact that majority of the box are low costing, and the fact that 3/7 items are from Pure Smile. I chided Kira Kira about it so I am not afraid to chide NMNL about it too. STOP PUTTING IT PURE SMILE ITEMS! Most of us know that this brand is used often due to the cheapness factor! It just annoys me, to the point that I am not going to resubscribe until I see improvements in product selection. I don't want to pay $40+ CAD for a box that has mostly Pure Smile products, which I can easily obtain from eBay and other online retailers. 

Update: Peeps, don't blog while you are upset... >_< The end result is an angry rant like above.. T__T Now that I am a bit calmer, I would just like to re-state some of my comments.. 

I would like both Kira Kira & NMNL to stop putting in so much Pure Smile products for the simple reason that they are cheap items. I really have nothing against Pure Smile. I really have been hoarding the discontinued snail hand cream and lip treatment. So yes, some of them work pretty well and it's a good thing that the brand is easily accessible. But PLEASE include it if it goes with the theme! That's what got me so angry. The curation was really on point with the sakura theme! I didn't even care that the products were low value, I was just happy for the pretty pinks and sakuras that I was promised. Till I hit the three Pure Smile items which just seemed to be thrown in there for no reason. =__= So.. If you want to include Pure Smile/Choosy products, at least make sure it goes along with the theme... 

That being said, I am not going to re-subscribe. I am going to wait a few months and see how it goes before I consider it again. Because $40 a month for a mystery box is a bit much. 

Choosy Night Lip Treatment

I done review on the Pure Smile lip treatments before, and was saddened to see that Pure Smile has decided to discontinue the line. So imagine my surprise when I saw a post on r/AsianBeauty stating there is a new lip treatment that is comparable to it. And to make it even better, the eBay page has it on sale for 1+1. I snagged it up rightaway! However, this wasn't offered through eBay Canada so I just did it through eBay.com and those lip treatments were on their way to me!

A photo posted by @addictedtocrafts12 on Oct 3, 2016 at 7:15pm PDT

The seller was nice and included some point pads as free gifts. I was quite mifted as to why I connected Pure Smile with Choosy. Then I realized, all of the eBay listings label it as Pure Smile Choosy. NO WONDER!!!!

Anyways, moving on.

To make things easier, I'll refer to the Choosy Night lip treatments as the Choosy lip treatments and the Pure Smile Snail lip treatments as the Pure Smile treatments.

The Choosy and Pure Smile has similar packaging, with similar sizes. The Choosy treatments are 10ml each, and the Pure Smile treatments are 10g each, which is essentially 10ml as well.

The lip treatments comes in two flavours, milk vanilla and bergamot. I got one of each. Bergamot is a type of orange, so I expected it to smell like orange. It actually smells like those cheap No Name brand vanilla wafers. That cheap but super sweet vanilla smell with a tinge of tartness to it. I like it actually. Whereas milk vanilla smells of very sweet artificially flavoured coconut treats.

The Pure Smile treatments came in a variety of flavours. They were milk, honey, assorted fruits, chocolate and strawberry. I only got the milk as I couldn't tolerate the honey smell from its lotions and loved the sweet milk scent.

Both treatments has the same applicator, which is not surprising given how they are the same packaging. But this is where the similarities end.

Difficulties in photographing transparent product on a white background while using flash.. =__=

The Pure Smile treatment comes out in a thick transparent gel like consistency. It goes on sticky, and remains for hours. I always put it on when I leave the house for the day, as I tend to roll around too much during my sleep and I don't want to rub it everywhere. Every time I put it on, I have to make sure I have my hair tied up, as it it will cling onto everything that comes into contact with it. It is THICK! But it does wonders. Every time I use it, my lips are just so much more moisturized afterwards.

The Choosy lip treatment is different. It is also a night treatment but it doesn't perform as well. It is a tad bit opaque compared to Pure Smile. It is more of a thinner consistency, and it is quite slippery so it applies more like a lip gloss. I would apply a thin coat of it over the Peripera velvet lip tint for a nice glossy look. I would also apply a thin coat over bare lips right before I leave the house. By the time I reach the office, which takes about 1.5 hours, the treatment is pretty much "gone".

Dry, chapped lips 

A coat of Choosy lip treatment 

2.5 hours later, no drinking or eating. 

Let me put it this way, I would always want to but won't actually put on the Pure Smile treatment when I leave the office, despite how much I wanted to. This is because I know, despite the 1.5 hour travel time, the treatment will still be sticky as hell when I get home. This wouldn't be a problem except the fact that I have a super hairy dog named Panda, and one of the first things I do when I get home is to shower him in kisses. So if I had the Pure Smile treatment on, my lips would have been covered in dog hair, or as I like to refer to it, Panda hair, and some of it would have rubbed off on my dog.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no problem with putting on the Choosy treatment before I go home. In fact, I often find myself reaching for it while I wait for the bus. This is because I know it will most likely be "gone" by the time I reach home and I don't have the risk of being covered in Panda hair.

Why did I put gone in quotation marks you may ask? Well, I am not sure if it actually sunk in, I am not sure what actually happens to it. I don't eat or drink while on the bus ride so it can't have rubbed off. I also know it haven't sunk in as my lips often feels dry when I get home. So it must have evaporated? I am not sure. Hence the "gone" reference.

Overall, I would say this is not a replacement for the beloved Pure Smile lip treatment, despite being made by the same company. But the highlight of these treatments is that it is not sticky and can act as a nice light gloss for everyday wear.