I absolutely LOVE and am addicted to subscription boxes! I was beyond thrilled when I discovered a brand new one, the BCdation Box by Meikoko! Meikoko is an online beauty shop that sells 100% authentic Korean beauty and makeup products. They recently started their beauty box subscription service on May 15, 2015 and I was sent their very first one to review.
*UPDATE
WHAT IS THE BCDATION BOX?
The BCdation box is a beauty box that is delivered to your doorstep every month at the cost of $16.99 (per month). The box will contain a mixture of 7-8 full-sized, deluxe-sized, and regular sample items. The actual breakdown of the box is 1-2 full-sized items, 1 sheet mask, 2-3 deluxe-sized items, and 3-4 regular samples (sample packets).
As stated on on the website, all of the products and samples are carefully tested and curated by the Meikoko team. Each box will always contain at least one BB and/or CC cream product/sample. All boxes are also shipped by the 15th of every month and mine arrived in just 3 days! That's super quick compared to other beauty box subscription services I've been a part of. There is no extra shipping cost or etc... all you pay is $16.99!
WHAT'S INSIDE:
SKINFOOD Good Afternoon BB Cream Peach Green Tea NO.2 (FULL SIZE 30g; Retails for $15.99 on Meikoko.com) - Meikoko only sells this in one shade, the NO.2 which is Natural Beige. Looking online, I found that there is another shade, NO.1 Light Beige. Luckily, Natural Beige is somewhat close to my actual skin color, but I don't think it's good to include a BB cream that's NOT universal into the beauty box. Not everyone is the same shade and it would suck for someone to get a product that they can't even use or try out!
The Face Shop "Lovely Me:EX Dessert Lip Balm" in Orange (FULL SIZE; Retails for $9.99 on Meikoko.com) - I just have to say this... this lip balm is THE cutest lip balm EVER. The brown top flips up and inside is the coolest lip balm applicator in the history of lip balm applicators. It's in the shape of a honey dipper and to get to the lip balm, you just twist off the top part. I received the Orange version and it smells orange-y and DELICIOUS. This is my favorite product out of the whole box because it's just so perfect.
HOLIKA HOLIKA Juicy Mask Sheet in Mango (FULL SIZE, 1 SHEET 20ml; Retails for $1.99 on Meikoko.com) - Mask sheets are incredibly popular right now in Korea and it's also gaining popularity here in America! I'm happy this is included in the box because I can never have too many mask sheets!
Etude House Collagen Moistfull Emulsion (DELUXE SAMPLE, 15ml; Retails for ~$1 *Full size - 180ml, retails for $12* )
Missha Super Aqua Ultra Water-Full Control Emulsion (DELUXE SAMPLE; No weight listed, Price Unknown)
Missha Time Revolution Aqua Youth Cream (SAMPLE PACKET)
Nature Republic Super Origin Complete Control Tinted Cream (SAMPLE PACKET)
Etude House Collagen Moistfull Cream (SAMPLE PACKET, 1ml)
TOTAL VALUE*: ~$29+ (Using prices from Meikoko.com)
*In calculating the total value, I did not include the price of sample packets. The total value is an ESTIMATION. Prices are approximate and may not be completely exact.
**Looking at other people's reviews/unboxings of the May BCdation Box from Meikoko, I saw that they also received a SKINFOOD My Short Cake Liquid Eyeliner in the box. I did not receive it in mine and I'm not sure if it's for people who paid (instead of mine being sent free of charge for review) or they just completely forgot to put it in my box! SO, the value might be higher for other people who received this box, but it was not for me.
REVIEW
I love the fact that this is a beauty box that sends you sample-sized items to try out, so you don't have to waste your money on a full-sized product you don't have experience with. However, I do NOT like the fact that out of the 7-8 items promised in the box, 3-4 are sample foil packets. I feel like these foil packets almost always come free with any K-beauty order I make on Korean beauty websites or even with Ebay sellers. Even though I received this box free of charge to review, I don't think I would pay for a beauty box that counts sample packets as items in the box. I feel like Meikoko should upgrade the box to at least deluxe samples and if the cost is too much, then change the 7-8 items per box to a lower number. It's very difficult to see if you like an item if you're just trying it from a foil packet because that means it's a one-time use.
Other than that, I think this has the potential to be a great beauty box subscription service! Of course K-beauty is booming all over the world especially in the United States. It's a great way for people to try and sample the products before diving head-first into purchasing full-sized products. This box had 2 full-sized products, 1 sheet mask, 2 deluxe-sized samples, and 3 sample packets which is pretty good for the price. The box was good since there were 2 full-sized products and I hope it stays that way. Like I've mentioned previously in the post, some people have also received the SKINFOOD My Short Cake Liquid Eyeliner in their box, which I'm kinda bummed I didn't receive it in mine since I love liquid eyeliner. I'm not really upset, but that would have meant that the box had 3 full-sized items! The addition of the eyeliner would have made the value of the box MUCH higher and much more worth it because a lot of these items can be found for cheaper online. Ultimately the BCdation box is cheaper than buying each item separately, but judging from what I received in MY box (without the eyeliner), the cost of buying each item separately from Google/Ebay is about the same as the cost of the BCdation box. It's hard to rate the box because just by looking at my box, I wouldn't think it's worth joining the subscription service, but after seeing people who had the eyeliner in their box too, I think it would be good to subscribe because then the value would be much greater than the cost. The value of my box was ~$29 (using prices from Meikoko), but only about ~$18-19 when searching from trusted Ebay sellers. Keep in mind though, Meikoko does ship from the U.S. so it will arrive weeks earlier than ordering from Ebay sellers in Korea! Overall, I think it was a good start in joining the beauty box subscription services, but leaving out the eyeliner (even by accident) made the value really close to just the price of the box. I want to see what Meikoko has in store for next month before totally writing them off!
Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for reviewing purposes; all reviews are, and will always be, my own 100% honest opinions.
Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for reviewing purposes; all reviews are, and will always be, my own 100% honest opinions.
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your honest review and detailed pictures. We are really very sorry we under delivered for you. You are the first blogger that contacted us for a possible product review. We kindly sent you a sample of our first BCdation Box completely Free of Charge. The eyeliner was not included in your particular box just because it was a FREE BOX, A GIFT and it simply wouldn't have been fair to our customers/bloggers that did pay for their subscription. Also, the breakdown of the box is fully listed on our website. It was stated that there would be 3-4 foil samples. We apologize for any misunderstandings and inconveniences it may have caused you.
Best Regards,
Meikoko
Meikoko,
DeleteI do appreciate being sent the free box ("a gift"), but as stated in the email, I am always honest in my reviews, even if I am sent something free of charge! As promised I have spread the word in many beauty communities that there is a new Korean beauty subscription service and have gave my true opinion on your box. I am not upset at the fact that I did not receive the eyeliner and I'm not complaining or saying that it's unfair for me, but I was saying that it's hard to review the BCdation because if I WAS a paying customer and received the extra item, then YES it would be a good box in my opinion, but by reviewing what I received in MY box alone, then I did not think it was worth it. Do you see what I am trying to say when it is difficult to give a full review because customers received different things than I, so I'm not actually reviewing the box everyone gets. I hope you understand that I do not mean to attack your box or anything, but I was just being sincere and honest.
I also know of the breakdown of the box and have also stated that previously under the 'What is the BCdation Box?' section, but I was just giving my opinions on the box and the inclusion of the foil samples in case you were looking for improvements or what people liked. I did not mean it in a bad way, but was just trying to be helpful if you tried to improve on your box in the future.
I'd like to thank you once again for the opportunity to review your box.
Best wishes,
Mary Vu