Starlooks Starbox June 2013 Review

The Starlooks Starbox is another of my regulars; one that probably won’t be canceled anytime soon. I LOVE this subscription. For $17.68 per month ($15 for the box, $2.68 for shipping), you get 3-4 full sized items of makeup and usually a smaller bonus item or sample. To me, the makeup is really good quality and I absolutely believe I’m getting my money’s worth each month. Each month has a theme that is tied to the items in that month’s box. June’s theme, in addition to being their 1st anniversary, was Modern Warhol, and promised “staple products” that would be useful every day. Starlooks does tend to rotate their boxes between brights, neutrals, and mixes – I suppose this was a neutral month. Being that this was their anniversary month, I think everyone had pretty high hopes that it would be a special box with awesome contents, since other subscription boxes seem to put a bit more effort into their anniversary boxes, often making them a bit more valuable. So, without further ado, the June 2013 box:

Opening the box

June's info card

Hrm. Well, ok, not an amazing first look (especially when compared to something like, say, December’s box, with it’s awesome 15-piece eyeshadow palette, a $109 value, which was actually the reason I signed up – love that palette!) but let’s look a bit deeper at the contents.
The first item is a Precision Eye Pen in black. A basic for sure (as the box said it would contain), but for me, awesome! I use liquid eye liner daily. My 2 must-haves are liquid eye liner and mascara. I can never have enough! So, yeah, I’m certainly a fan of this! It goes on very precisely and with it’s fine tip, you can apply it as thin or thick as you’d like. And with a $16 value on it’s own, my box is basically already paid for!

Starlooks Precision Eye Pen in black

The second item, another eye product, was the Eye Liner Pencil in white. I’m a little less enthused about this one, since I usually rim my waterlines with a nude pencil, but I can give white another shot! It was creamy and easy to apply, which I loved. This has a value of $12.

Starlooks Eye Liner Pencil in white (also, egads, I apologize for having my damaged nails in these pictures - too much polish!)

The third, and final makeup product was their Bronzer in Montego Bay. <sigh> Oh, bronzer. Ok. So, in my Beauty Box 5 post, I noted that I’m really not a fan of bronzers and self-tanners. I’m just not a tan-look person. However, I do think powders are better for me than lotions. With powders, at least I can control the darkness and I can use it more to highlight and contour. So, while this isn’t my favorite item to get, I’ll definitely try it. And this one is very nice, as bronzers go. It was really silky and a pretty shimmery bronze color, which should work out nicely to highlight, or maybe even as an eyeshadow. This product is valued at $19.

Starlooks Bronzer in Montego Bay

Swatches of the 3 products in the June 2013 Starbox. From left to right: Bronzer in Montego Bay, Eye Liner Pencil in white, and Precision Eye Pen in black.

The bonus item this month was this peace pin:

??

I’m sorry, this is just lame. In the past, bonuses have been things like samples of their lip scrub, lip balm, and a bracelet. All useful, cool stuff. I have no idea what they were thinking with this pin. I certainly won’t use it. <shrug>

June 2013 Starlooks Starbox (they always include a little crystal - I'm not sure why!)

Overall, this box had a value of $47 (not including whatever the pin might be worth – cents?), well over the $15 price of the box. Ignoring the fact that it was the anniversary month, I’m mostly happy with this box. Given that it’s a summer month, the bronzer is spot on and eye liner, of one kind or another, is something a lot of people use in their daily routines, so as a staple providing box, this is great. I LOVE the precision liner and I’ll certainly play with the white liner and the bronzer. However, taking into account that this IS their anniversary box (the box even says so in big letters!), I really would have liked to see something a bit more special. Maybe one extra item or a cool color of eye liner instead of the white (especially given that little insert about us asking for turquoise! Don’t make it a special offer for us to buy – put it in the box!). And certainly something better than that pin. Come on!
In spite of my small sense of let down about the anniversary box, I’m definitely continuing on with this subscription. And with the 35% off discount we got with Ipsy this month (Starlooks is actually advertising it on the site, too, so I guess everyone can use it), I ordered the Regular Russ set for $16.25! Can’t wait for that to arrive! If you’d like to sign up for the Starlooks Starbox, go to their site here! If you’re already a subscriber, how did you like the June box?

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)