Sunday, June 23, 2013

From The Lab - Premier June Box - Pictures & Review


So I was sent a new beauty box for review. This is the first box from "From The Lab" a new beauty subscription. This subscription is a little different than others though. I am not so sure I fully GOT the purpose of the box or how it worked before receiving it, and am not quite sure I am on board with it.


Let me start by saying the packaging is fantastic. Simple (pink but you cant get everything!), clean, and sturdy enough to support the products yet not all the excess stringy stuff that can get everywhere. And it came via FedEx, NOT Canada Post. That is a big plus in my books!



A nice thank you letter that was actually personalized. A nice touch!


And it looks like the box is all about primers! An eye primer and a face primer.


FULL SIZED products. The face primer comes in a nice heavy glass bottle with a pump. The eye primer in a tube the size of a mascara tube with a doe foot applicator.




FACE PRIMER:
This face primer is a brightening primer. On my skin it turns my skin slightly whiter. Which is not great since I am already Casper The Friendly Ghost. Ironic since I am not so friendly. But anyways...yeah. I was not such a big fan of this. My mom on the other hand really likes this. This has migrated from my makeup station in my bedroom to her makeup station in her bathroom and there it will stay. So while it didn't work for me, I am very happy it works for her. And the packaging on it is really fantastic! I love the heavy barely frosted glass jar with the pump.







Now a friend of mine recognized the ingredients as looking very much like her favourite primer, the Sonia Kashuk Perfecting Brightening Primer. Upon googling it turns out another blogger noticed that herself and contacted From The Lab about it and apparently it is no t quite the same. Apparently the CEO contacted her  (the blogger) and it turns out it is not the exact same as they use a different polymer in the formula even though the ingredients look the same.






If you look, you can see the line where I smoothed out the face primer. My skin looks obviously whiter where the primer is.

EYE PRIMER

This primer I really like. Its a nude foundation like colour that smooths out quite nicely. Its thick, but sheers out really easily. Ironically, I really like this, my mom HATES it. She said it irritated her eyes and really bothered her! So it was an easy box to share! She likes one and I like one!






Now the ingredients of THIS product seem identical to Long Lasting Cream Eye Shadow by Rouge Bunny Rouge in the colour Brocade Skipper.



So since I seem to be pretty happy with the products (two full sized products that are liked by me or someone in my house and will actually get used) let me tell you more about the service and why I am not too sure about it.

ABOUT FROM THE LAB



A decent price for guaranteed full sized products. You will get between one and three full sized products each month in the realm of skincare, haircare or makeup.

My understanding of this was that it was new high end (not drugstore) products that were not yet on the market. I was expecting Guerlain, Fekkai and other HIGH END products that were not yet for sale to the general public. That was my understanding of it.

After getting this box, I noticed that there was no branding. I was kind of confused. What products did i get. Then I REWATCHED the video on the From The Lab website.
"these are all products that are going to be bought by people like Prada and Estee Lauder. these are not drugstore products by any means...." 
"....these are high end boutique or department store brands"
Hmm....... things that WILL BE BOUGHT? At this point, I don't think these products ARE from brands. Which kind of bothers me because they are selling them as non drugstore high end products. If they have not yet been bought by a brand, how can they say that they ARE high end products? Are they not just PRODUCTS? They aren't ANYTHING yet. My new understanding, and I could be totally wrong about this, but basically we are the guinea pigs trying out these products to help them sell them to high end brands. My assumption (again, I could be totally wrong) is that we are the test market that many companies either pay people to be or ask for volunteers for to test the water and see if its worth putting in to production. The only difference is that we are paying for the privilege? Again, maybe I am misunderstanding this, but that is how this seems to be. If you love a product, you can apparently repurchase it. They will apparently make a special to order run just for you if you want more of the product but I am unsure of how much that costs.

OVER ALL SUMMARY:
Things I liked:

  • Full sized products
  • The products were nice and they did not skimp on the packaging. Glass bottles and such
  • The box was well protected and arrived very safely in one piece
  • It was shipped FEDEX and not Canada Post/USPS
Things I don't like:
  • I didn't love one of the products, and if its a month that only has one product I would be pretty bummed if I didn't like it
  • The products are not available to buy anywhere else since they don't exist yet
  • From what I see, you are paying to be a guinea pig
  • The entire idea of being a test subject kind of weirds me out. I was under the impression these were already BRANDED products. 
What do you guys think? Would you sign up for this? Do you like the idea of trying things that are so far away from being marketed yet? And if you do, would you pay for that privilege?

11 comments:

  1. I agree, who is to say a cheap brand did not buy this formulation right after.. OR high-end brands rejected them due to it being unsafe, not meeting standards OR other reasons??
    too much thought/worry is needed to even try to buy this box to test.. - Mir

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  2. Now that I hear more about what it is, I really wouldn't be interested in this. Like Mir said, the products might not actually meet the standards of the HE brands. It just seems like a weird concept to me.

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  3. I agree with the others, weird concept that makes me quite uncomfortable...


    writingwhimsy.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm not too sure i'd wanna be a guinea pig. Also what if I love a product and wanted more, would that even be possible? probably not :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I'm not sure the cost but they say in the FAQ that if you want to repurchase they will make one up in the lab just for you.

      Delete
  5. I don't have a problem with this idea at all. There are so many companies who buy from the same labs and sell under their own label. I don't think this concept is any different than the other beauty boxes that send you product hoping after you try it out that you will buy it- you are still a guinea pig but the only difference is you know the brand name

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  6. I think there is a BIG difference. The products that other beauty boxes send out have already been tested for safety and health concerns and you are trying them only to see if you like it. With "From the Lab" these products have not yet been tested (whether on animals, other humans, etc) and YOU, the consumer, are paying to test these products on your own face. What I am confused about though is if you have to provide feedback on the product? How does the Lab benefit from this without knowing how the product preformed? Did I miss that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ^Above was in reply to Anonymous comment above me (posted 12:33).

      Delete
  7. Yeah I would definitely not pay to be a guinea pig :p
    Do we know where these products are made at least?
    I don't doubt that they arent safe, but I think this should be somewhat of a free service? Or it seems like you should be compensated to do this :p It reminds me of like taste testing or something like that

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't know about this. Before I even saw the products or ingredients I wondered if they were being honest. Who says they aren't just repackaging other products and passing them off as some luxurious new formula? So now when I see reviews mentioning that the ingredients are the same as other brands that really sets off the warning bells. Even if one polymer is different or whatever (not the first time I've heard this excuse) that doesn't really make it some new innovative formula that someone is going to want to buy up. I am very dubious and not sold on this concept at all.

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  9. From the website:
    "Our process begins with selecting the most exciting and innovative products that our labs are offering to the international beauty industry. These products are fully approved, tested, and ready for release before we ask beauty editors and focus groups of women just like you to help us make our final selections."
    These products have been tested and are ready to be sold to retailers. In my opinion, it wouldn't make sense for labs to create products they couldn't sell. This company will also be providing us with the name and retailer of the products we try once they go to market. That will be ongoing proof of the validity of the products.
    I choose to look at this as an exclusive opportunity to try the newest developments in products before the rest of the world has a chance, rather than "a guinea pig". The world is all about perspective, and that just happens to be mine and I'm sure many others.
    At some point when you choose to be a part of a new company, you have to decide what level of trust you are willing to place in them. We aren't all capable of giving the same level and there's nothing wrong with that. These are the world's top labs and the ingredients are clearly listed. You were even able to compare them with other top-brand products. That is further support that these are comparable to high-quality brands. All of this and more is why I feel comfortable placing my trust in this company.

    ReplyDelete

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