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.
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?
