Wednesday 21 September 2011

Lust Have It loot: the contents of the September box

After the huge success, in my eyes, of the first Lust Have It box I was wondering just how the second box would stack up. Well, I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised. Value wise, it was going to be difficult to compete with the first box as the BIOeffect EFG serum sample and the Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant samples alone were worth over $65. I calculated the value of this box (based on the full sized RRPs) and it came in at just over $30 - so again, excellent value for your $14.95 subscription fee.

I have tried many a beauty product in my 30 years and 364 days on earth (yep, its birthday eve!!), yet I had not tried any of these samples before so that made this box particularly exciting for me!

So, what was in the September box?


We got the following samples:
  • Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara (2ml)
  • Pure Fiji Coconut Milk Shower Gel (there's no volume on the bottle and I am hopeless at estimating - maybe 50ml?)
  • Kerastase Elixir Ultime 5ml
  • Urban Rituelle Florish Organics hand cream 20ml
  • Nicole by OPI nail lacquer in Save the Last Dance (silver) and Prized Possession (purple)


I don't wear mascara often, so I despise paying full price for it as it always dries out before I come anywhere near finishing it. Therefore, this is a sample that I LOVE to have received in my Lust Have It Box. I haven't taken it for a test drive yet but will do so this weekend and report back but I have heard that Lancome mascaras have the reputation for being the best on the market (though I did hear that from a Lancome sales assistant to my source may be a tad biased!).



I am pretty sure that the Elixir Ultime is Kerastase's version of Moroccanoil - in the list of ingredients is argon oil. I love Morccanoil so am sure will equally love this. If you can see on my hand I have squirted a pump of this oil - it is completely clear - it seems runnier than Moroccanoil though absorbs in just as easily. This sample bottle has its own little pump so it makes it so easy for dispensing the product. It's a good size - I'd say you would get a minimum 2 weeks use out of this.


This hand cream looks rather unassuming, a bit boring even. So much so that it was the last sample that I played with. But OMG does it smell amazing. It contains vanilla, lavender and geranium essential oils and the combination is heavenly and it absorbs in really easily. It has instantly become my new favourite hand cream and this is one sample that I will definitely be purchasing the full size product of. I checked the Lust Have It shop and it is not currently listed there. I so hope that it goes up at the end of the month as I Must Have It!


I assumed that this shower gel would smell creamy because it contains coconut milk...but then coconut milk doesn't smell creamy so why would the gel! It actually smells deliciously fruity of mango.


I have NEVER finished a bottle of nail polish in my life so I LOVE the fact that we got two different mini bottles rather than one full sized bottle - I'd much prefer multiple colours over a larger size. The colours sent were gorgeous to boot. Prized Possession is a bright purple whilst Save the Last Dance is a highly reflective silver. I have swatched the colours and photographed them in both bright sunlight and indoor lighting to show the different hues. Apologies for the dodgy manicure job. I usually scrape where I have got out of the lines off in the shower but I had already showered when I did these swatches so my errors remain!



Prized Possession, 4 coats, sunlight. It took 4 coats of this colour before the streaking could no longer be seen. It is quite a transparent colour so takes a bit of work to build up its opacity, but it is well worth the effort when you do as the colour is gorgeous.


Three coats, indoor lighting. You can see in this pic that three coats isn't quite enough as you can still see the nail underneath.



Save the Last Dance, two coats, sunlight. This is an amazing silver - almost mirror like in it's reflectivity. It is incredibly opaque - two coats was plenty to hide all streaking. I love this colour!


Two coats, indoor lighting. This colour looks equally good in both lighting conditions. Man I love it!

I have to say that I was just as impressed with the September box as I was with August's. It has given me plenty of new samples to play with and there honestly isn't anything in there that I don't like or wouldn't use.

If you would like to get your hands on the September box, I think there might still be a couple left. Check on their Facebook page for updates, otherwise you can subscribe on their website.

Lust Have It are also supporting The Butterfly Foundation and have created boxes to be used by the foundation in their positive image and self-esteem workshops. For $10, you can donate a box to the foundation here.

Another thing that you may not be aware of is that Lust Have It have an option survey you can complete upon receiving your box to give feed back as to whether you were happy with the samples receive. The survey takes all of 2 minutes to complete and you get 10 points that can be accumulated then spent on full sized products in their online store. Here is the link to the survey.

If you have missed all the hype and have no idea what Lust Have It or sample boxes are, this post will explain everything!

Which box did you prefer - the first or second?

This box was provided for consideration.