Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August Nailbox Subscription Box*


Today I'm talking Subscription Boxes. As some of you may remember, I was signed up to the LookIncredible Beauty Box a little while ago, and I have to admit to you all, yup it's been cancelled for a long while now. Admittingly I wasn't a fan of getting discontinued products in my box and a lot of the time I wasn't a fan of the shades.

When www.nailbox.com got in touch and asked if I wanted to review their August Nail Box* I of course agreed as I'm definitely looking at wanting to broaden my horizons with subscription boxes and seeing if perhaps it was just the one that let me down and plus I am a sucker for a good nail varnish.

The box arrived and usually with beauty subscription boxes, your box comes within a box. Like you know, your pretty decorated box comes within a postage cardboard box - but instead the shipping box was the subscription box. Now I kind of get that yes that can be seen as a waste of cardboard, but from an aesthetic point of you, your subscription boxes are usually a little bit more 'done up' which is nice to take photos of, but reserving judgement I opened up the box to see what's inside... 

Reading the press release, this was their 'Into the Sunset' box, which included a range of varnishes which are inspired by as the name suggests, sunsets. In the box I received the following:

- Lost my Bikini in Molokini by OPI 
- Carrie'd Away by  Nicole by OPI from the Carrie Underwood Collection
- Orange Création by Bourjois
Apharsec White Nail Polish
Apharsec Stamping Wheel

Starting off with the 'Lost my Bikini in Molokini' by OPI I can say I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not a massive fan of purple nail polishes, but this makes for a gorgeous pedicure colour and even more so a manicure colour now that we are ever so nearing Autumn time. It's a very rich colour as well, so it's quite opaque and definitely my favourite out of all the polishes in the box. It's great to see a higher end polish like OPI in these subscription boxes as you definitely get your money's worth as they retail for around £12 each anyways!

Next is the Carrie'd Away by Nicole by OPI from the Carrie Underwood Collection. I was quite surprised to see a gold-glittery nail varnish in this collection mainly because gold and glitter reminds me a lot more of Christmas time (basically the only time I wear glitter nails). What didn't surprise me was that this is a polish from quite an old collection. I believe this is from their 2014 collection, and as you can imagine is discontinued. Now of course I don't have an issue with discontinued products, but the main reason why I subscribe to beauty boxes is to be opened up to a world of new products that you may fall in love with, and in turn, will want to repurchase. In this case, I've loved a couple of discontinued products from beauty boxes and it's a bit meh to find out that you can't actually repurchase them. Although discontinued I really love this polish colour and can see it looking great during Christmas time.


The Orange Création by Bourjois nail varnish definitely caught my eye as this is what I would describe as a pure sunset colour. A very vibrant orange/coral shade, I thought this would make a great holiday nail colour whether it be a mani or a pedicure shade - I'll have to pop this on my nails asap before we start getting into the Autumnal months but hey, it can make a good Halloween-Orange too! 

Now Apharsec is a brand that I had never heard of until I saw the Apharsec Stamping Wheel
and Apharsec White Varnish and stamping wheel in this box, which definitely intrigued me. My Aunt is pretty much the person I go to when I have any questions about nail colours or products etc as she seriously knows her stuff but we were a little bit baffled by this! The stamping wheel has a few designs on it, mostly surrounding the 'nautical' and 'sailing' theme which included things like a wheel and an anchor, which do look quite cute, but then oddly a squiggle design?? and a fish? It came with instructions and at the time seemed a little complex...I took  a look on their website and there were a couple of stamps which did seem quite cute with geometric designs which I think can be a bit more wearable. I'll let you know how I get on once my shellac nails have come off. The while nail varnish is supposed to be the colour that to use to apply the designs on, but perhaps I'll give the stamping a miss and use it as a french manicure white?



So what are my overall impressions? Well I did a little research, taking a look at the different months boxes that they had previously done, and like most subscription boxes they can be a hit and miss. 
I looked at this years April box which has personally I think much more wearable and month-appropriate colours and March's box had some gorgeous ElegantTouch stick on nails. Personally I'm not much of a fan of nail art so the stamping didn't really get me excited. Saying that, perhaps someone who is a bit more into experimenting would be. Unsurprisingly it came with a couple of oldie products which I know subscription boxes use because they get deals on bulk purchasing for a good price. The box retails at £15 a month and I have seen previous boxes which have caught my eye a bit with ElegantTouch stick-on-nails which I love and other more block OPI, Essie and Revlon colours so perhaps August is a month where your unsure what theme to go in...

Let me know your thoughts on subscription boxes in the comments below! 
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8 comments

  1. That OPI nail polish is such a lovely colour

    Candice | Beauty Candy Loves

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    1. Definitely one of my favourite out of the whole subscription box! xx

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  2. I love the OPI purple shade, not something i would usually pick but it looks gorgeous in the pictures

    https://wineandwhine99.wordpress.com/

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    1. Me neither but I do think it would make a great Autumnal shade! xx

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  3. This is such a great idea, the varnishes are shades I'd usually purchase too!
    jen / enter my too faced giveaway x

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    1. I think if you're a polish lover it's definitely for you! xx

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  4. I would love this as I'm such a nail polish obsessive!
    Kathy x
    www.alongcamekathy.blogspot.co.nz

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    Replies
    1. Sounds very up your street! I love a good polish! xx

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