The weekly wrap up from The Beauty Desk

Wanting!

Too Cool for School is a brand of makeup from Korea. I love Japanese and Korean brands, the packaging is always amazing and Too Cool for School is no exception. Their packaging is inspired by school supplies and is super cute.  I want one of everything!

Landed!

Almay Eye Makeup Remover Pads. My new must have. I have had a couple of events recently that have required me to tart up a bit. So on goes the eye primer, eye shadow, eye brow pencil and liquid eyeliner, which all looks great when you leave the house, but is not so fun to remove when you come home late after a few bubbly ones. Diane from Almay kindly sent us some of their Makeup remover pads, and when the box landed on my desk, I ripped into it like there was a free Alexander Skarsgard in the bottom! With one or two wipes, all your eye makeup is removed and your eye area is prepared for your eye cream.

Talking About!

Friday the 13^th. Traditionally a day to be feared, there is even a name for those who fear Friday the 13th, friggatriskaidekaphobia. Try saying that three times!

In Defence of Sachets

This week, one of our brand partners sent me a new product to try. I fell in love with it. I wanted it. I had to have it. And then I wanted you to try it.  Sounds easy, right? Not so much...

We get sent a multitude of products from brands to try each week, and we have to knock a lot of them back simply because they don’t have luxury samples, only sachets. Some we knock back simply because we don’t think it is a great product. Some of you might remember Erborian BB crème from November’s International Cult Brands? We included it in the box because I LOVE it and BB crèmes were about to hit the market, big time. We had some complaints because it was a sachet, and then we had lots of excited comments on how it was an amazing product. Erborian BB crème was and is a best seller in the bb store as a result of that sachet. Other sachets we've included because we adored included First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream, Sebastian Haircare, Pangea skincare, and Comvita skincare (and they continue to be bb favourites here in the office!)

The product I am currently enamored with, and want to share with you, is a brand new BB crème - but the only sample our brand partner has is a sachet! Erborian don’t make samples tubes! Would you like to miss out on this great product, simply because the samples only come in a sachet? I know I wouldn’t!

It is often overlooked, but sometimes it is a really costly exercise for companies to produce samples. Believe it or not, the cost to produce a 50ml or a 5ml tube is actually not that different! And  it's not even the product itself that costs the most - crazily, it's the tube, the filling of the tube and the packaging that costs the money! For some brands, this is just not in their budget to make large quantities. Take also into account the environmental impact of yet more packaging. Tubes and boxes equals more landfill, which no one wants to see. Strangest of all, yet true is that sachets can even contain exactly the same amount of product than a small container/packet!

Brands are generally pretty happy that we have chosen their product to feature in a bellabox, but they have to weigh up the cost of the samples with what they receive in return. This is where you come in! Your amazing feedback (good or bad) is valuable to brands and gives them an understanding of where their product sits in the market. Put simply: we love your feedback!

I’m not even going to mention the time that it takes Natalie and I to secure said product. Ok, maybe I will just a little bit because we work hard! One company has taken me nearly a year just to be able to start the conversation about samples, and each sample takes on average a month of emails and phone calls to secure and finalise! But of course we love doing it, because it means you get to try new and exciting products that we think you will love and then you can tell us all about it!

For us here at bb, our job is to bring you the best of the brands out there. Even though the beauty game is fun, we take that job really seriously! Just listen in to one of our conversations about the latest nail colours and you would think you were eavesdropping on the UN discussing the world economies! Natalie and I spend hours researching, emailing and calling brands to find out more about their products, Lauren writes amazing articles on the brands, Bridget answers all of your customer queries and co-ordinates Ability Works to pack the boxes and Lucy brings you all of those useful makeup tips and works with the brands to ensure that you receive the correct information about the products in your box.

We love what we do and get really excited when we find you a new product or brand! We try every product that goes in the box, and we evaluate it based on its efficacy, ingredients, texture and results, regardless of the name on the packaging, or the price on the product.

Long story short; if there is a sachet in your box, please open it and use it. We generally include them as a bonus product anyway. If you don’t use it straight away, keep it for when you travel. My entire beauty regime when I’m travelling comes from sachets - taking them leaves more room for cosmetic, perfume and shoe purchases! That sachet is in your bellabox because it’s a good product. So trust us, and give it a go (we have, which is why we chose to include it)

We hope you love your July bellaboxes and can't wait to hear your feedback. We are here for you, so never hesitate to get in touch.

Wishing you a lovely weekend! - Sam