New Beauty Test Tube November 2013 Review

New Beauty Test Tube is a subscription box that used to be just a twice-a-year service, but now arrives every other month. For $29.95 plus shipping, you get a box with a big pink tube (and often an extra bag of stuff that didn't fit in the tube) filled with deluxe samples and a few full sized items as well as a copy of the New Beauty magazine. It appears now that they're sending the magazine separately, so that you get something from them monthly. Sadly, this may be my last month (for now at least) with NBTT due to holiday budgeting. Technically, I wouldn't be billed again till January, but I cancelled just in case so I can decide then.

Opening the box

So, like always, I started with the little bonus bag. In my bonus bag, I had:
- A foil packet of Eraclea Pure Hydration Serum/Zinc (<$1). This is supposed to be good to calm and hydrate irritated skin. A single foil packet won't tell me much, but my skin doesn't get irritated often anyway, so I probably won't get to try this soon.
- A foil packet of Rodial Stem Cell Superfood Facial Oil (<$1). I almost see the name of this and think they're just using words that are "hot" now to get people to buy it. It contains antioxidants, vitamins A, B5, C, and E, and Phytocell Alp Rose designed to nourish, hydrate, protect, and reduce wrinkles in skin. I may give this a try. My biggest problem with it is that they advise using 2-3 drops for your whole face and that's kind of hard to accomplish with a FOIL PACKET!
- A good size sample bottle (1 oz vs the full size 3.5 oz) of John Frieda Frizz Ease 3 Day Straight ($2.53). This uses keratin to keep your hair frizz free and straight. I do love to straighten my hair, so this is great for me! Yay!

Bonus bag products - Eraclea serum, John Frieda 3 Day Straight, and Rodial Face Oil

My first real product didn't fit in the tube and was a pretty good size Votivo Aromatic Travel Tin candle in the scent Icy Blue Pine ($12). Not sure why they don't seem to be selling the travel tins in the scent I got. Anyway, it'd definitely piney smelling and it reminds me of Christmas, which I like, but I generally like my pine scents mixed with something else, otherwise it's just a bit too strong. The site does say it's a mix of "a potent powerful punch of prickly pine pleasure with the underpinnings of sweet and spicy stripped cedar bark topped with merry crumbles of crystallized, ice cubes", but really all I smell is pine. What are ice cubes suppose to smell like anyway? I may try this out in our family room when we put the tree up, since we use a fake tree and it's always nice to have a little bit of pine scent. Hopefully since our family room has a raised ceiling and is open to the kitchen (more room to fill with scent), it won't be too overpowering, but just right!

Votivo Icy Blue Pine Travel Tin

Onto the tube!

Totally full!

Unlike last month's tube, this month's tube was chock full. We got:

• A deluxe size sample of StriVectin-EV Get Even Brightening Serum ($52.35!!). When I say deluxe size, I mean 1 oz vs the full size 1.7 oz. This is a good size tube! And super expensive! As something I'd probably never buy on my own simply due to price, I'm super happy to get this in NBTT! This one thing is well over the price of the tube. Anyway, this is designed to combat uneven skin tone and age spots. I don't really have many/any (?) of those yet, but maybe it will brighten a regular skin tone as well?

 

StriVectin-EV Get Even Brightening Serum

• Full size Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips ($2.50). This is new and doesn't appear to be on the US site yet, but is shown in a different tube on Amazon and the UK site (linked above). This is something I can definitely use. I like nice, simple lip stuff like this. It really didn't seem to have much of a color at all, but that's ok for me. Perhaps a little disappointing for someone who bought it so that it could give them a tint as advertised, though. I have to admit, I kind of wish I had gotten one of the special edition blinged out ones ($45) NBTT showed in their video and said 20 lucky subscribers would get!

Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips

Blinged out special edition!

• Deluxe size sample of Glo-Therapeutics Refresh Facial Polish ($14.12) - This is an exfoliator that is supposed to work without irritating your skin and contains mint oil to leave your face tingly. Sure, I'll try it!

Glo-Therapeutics Refresh Facial Polish

•  Sample tube of John Frieda Frizz-Ease Straight Fixation Smoothing Creme ($1.34). While not nearly full size like the other samples I've talked about so far, it's still a good enough size to try it out for more than one hair drying. Like the 3 Day Straight, this is designed to help reduce frizz and keep your hair straight. This also blocks humidity, which is big where I live! Thankfully, it isn't so bad this time of year, so I'm getting to straighten my hair more, but I think this would help even more to keep it straight even when it's still warm out (it was 85 degrees on Sunday. 85.).

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Straight Fixation Smoothing Creme

• Full size Lumene Time Freeze Anti-Age CC Cream ($11.24 on Ulta's website). Everywhere I looked the packaging was different, so I'm not sure if this is very new or they just changed the packaging recently. Either way, this is a color correcting cream. According to Ulta's website, "it protects against the signs of aging with arctic Lingonberry, nourishes, hydrates, covers imperfections, evens skin tone and illuminates all while providing Broad Spectrum SPF 20 coverage from the sun.". I got the color Light and it seems to be a pretty good match. I may try this one out to see if it beats my Loreal BB cream.

Lumene Time Freeze Anti-Age CC Cream

•  Deluxe sample size bottle of Molton Brown Nourishing Body Lotion in the scent Pink Pepperpod ($13.86). This is a great size bottle (3.3 oz) and smells really nice! I will absolutely use this!

Molton Brown Pink Pepperpod Nourishing Body Lotion

•  Full size Camille Beckman Morelia Monarch Glycerine Hand Therapy ($4.99). I'm a bit unsure of the description of the scent of this - "Mandarin Green Tea, Sensuous Amber and Vanilla Orchid". Green tea and amber aren't really my go to scents and I'm not sure if vanilla orchid smells floral or vanilla (I do like vanilla). I'm just not sure I want to open this when I'm not sure I'll like the scent. It does sound moisturizing though. I do think a few different varieties went out - I've seen Midnight Monarch (Jasmine Tea, Bergamot, Orange Orchid Nectar, Damask Rose, Midnight Patchouli and Vanilla Amber) as well as French Vanilla (no big long scent list here). I really would've preferred the French Vanilla.

Camille Beckman Morelia Monarch Glycerine Hand Therapy

• A duo of travel size Dove Daily Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner ($0.73 for the set based on Amazon prices). Not the most expensive set of samples, but useful nonetheless. I'll definitely stick these in my travel bag. As useful as they are, I do sort of wish they had not included this set. I'd rather see a new brand I'm unfamiliar with. Even at the same value. 

Dove Daily Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner (they came in that little organza baggie)

November 2013 New Beauty Test Tube (bonus bag not pictured, whoops)

 I'm pretty happy with this tube. Lots of new stuff to try, and a great value at $116.66! I'm a little sad to let this sub go...It was one of the pricier ones though and if I have to choose, I'd rather keep the ones that have more makeup and polish. Maybe I'll resubscribe next year though - my birthday is in early January (when the next tube is out!) after all! :) What did you think of this month's products? Did you get anything different?

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

New Beauty Test Tube September 2013

Last September box, finally! And actually, I couldn't have written this one until today anyway, because I was waiting on a missing product to arrive. The day my package arrived, I noticed I was missing the eyeliner (gotta have that!!) and I called up to ask about it. Customer service was easy and nice - they agreed to send one out right away! They did warn me it might take a couple weeks, but I was ok with that. Today it arrived in its own padded envelope!

New Beauty Test Tube is a subscription box that used to be just a twice-a-year service, but now arrives every other month. I love that I get them more often now! For $29.95 plus shipping, you get a box with a big pink tube (and often an extra bag of stuff that didn't fit in the tube) filled with deluxe samples and a few full sized items as well as a copy of the New Beauty magazine. It appears now that they're sending the magazine separately - I'm not really sure why. It seemed at first they wanted to have us get something from them every month, whether it was a tube or a magazine, but my magazine arrived not very long after the tube did, so who knows.  This month, they also changed the style of the tube a bit. I think it's the same size, but it opens differently and has a new pretty pattern on it. I like it!

Outer box - a little smooshed, but the contents were fine

Opening the box

Info book - each product gets a full page!

Every month, in addition to the Tube, we get a bag containing bonus products. The bonus products are usually very small samples. Though I'm not the hugest fan of foil packets, I'm happy to have a few more things to try, so I'll take it! I noticed this month's bonus product bag is a bit sturdier than last time. I'm not sure I even saved the one from last time, honestly...but I could probably use this one with it's zip close top. Inside, I found 5 samples (well, 4 different ones - 1 had 2 packets):

• 2 foil packets of Nip + Fab Viper Venom Wrinkle Fix - we did get some Nip + Fab last month, but it was a different product, so I'm happy to try these. My wrinkles aren't terribly pronounced, but I'm noticing a crease forming between my brows, so maybe this'll help!
• 1 foil packet of Nip + Fab No Needle Fix Serum - Ok, I did get this skin plumping serum last month, but with such a small sample, it doesn't hurt to have another. And again, maybe it'll help with the dreaded crease.
• 1 foil packet of Lumene Vitamin C BB Cream - I'm hit and miss with BB creams, pretty much always going back to my Loreal one, but I've tried a couple other Lumene products from Test Tube and liked them, so I had hopes for this till I saw it was shade 02 (of 2 it would seem - what the heck are you supposed to do if you have darker skin? That seems awfully limited.). Medium (02) is pretty much guaranteed to be too dark for me. 
• Sample size tub of Pacifica Tahitian Gardenia solid perfume - I love Pacifica, but I'm not in love with this scent. It's VERY floral. A bit too much so for me.

Bonus products

Bonus samples

My first real product, one they didn't pack in the tube for some reason, was an It Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Powder Brush ($48!). Holy cow. I LOVE this brush. LOVE. It's so big and amazingly soft and just, luxe, as described! Not going to lie, I kind of want every brush. Or maybe just the No Tug Dual Eyeshadow Brush.

It Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Powder Brush

Onto the tube!

Peeking inside

So, normally, this tube is packed to the gills, so this first peek was a tad disappointing. But, really, that brush was a big, expensive item, so I think that's why there's less in the actual tube. Plus, if they had put the brush in the tube (I think it would've fit), it would've been full. As far as products, there were 5 (supposed to be, and eventually was, 6):

• Amore Pacific Color Control Cushion Compact ($8.00). I got this foundation in my May Glossybox and hated it, but the main reason I hated it was because Glossybox sent me the darkest color possible, which obviously was a mismatch. This is the correct color! It actually blended in well. However, both times, it's pretty greasy. I'll have to play around and see if some translucent powder on top helps. I do like that it's SPF 50.

Amore Pacific Color Control Cushion Compact

•  La Roche-Posay Mela-D Deep Cleaning Brightening Foaming Cream ($2.98) - This exfoliates to fight dark spots. I don't think I have any dark spots, but I'll try it. Hopefully it won't irritate my skin.

La Roche-Posay Mela-D Cream

• Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer ($18) - I've been wanting to try this for ages, but I've never bought it because I don't really wear foundation. I'm hoping it works ok with BB cream or powders. I'm a bit surprised at how much a small tube (as in, not the full size) costs!

Smashbox Photo Finish

•  It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Plus Keratin ($10 retail, ~$8.50 drugstore.com) - We got the Miracle Leave-in Lite last month - I'm noticing Test Tube likes to stick with certain brands for a while. But, that's ok. Chris actually likes the It's a 10 products after his barber (or whatever they call it for guys) recommended it (he has fairly long hair now - I like long hair on a guy), so he'll probably get this. Like the Lite version, this is supposed to protect, defrizz, detangle, add shine, and make hair more manageable. This one also adds in protecting hair's natural keratin.

It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Plus Keratin

• Biosilk Silk Therapy ($10.24 on Amazon) - I'm all for smoothing split ends and protecting my hair, so I'll happily try this one. My hair is probably the longest it's ever been because it used to break really easily. Really, the only thing I'm doing differently is wearing it up all the time instead of flat ironing it several times a week. I can see how less heat damage is good, but I can't imagine the hair band isn't damaging where it holds it up. <shrug> 

Biosilk Silk Therapy

•  Mally Evercolor Starlight Waterproof Eyeliner ($15) - I got this in Starshine, silver. I think the other possibility was Ice Blue, a very pale blue. I'm glad I got the silver. I don't think I'd ever use a pastel blue. This is a great eyeliner though - it glides on super smooth. The color does remind me a bit of the Starlooks liner I got last month (it's maybe a bit darker), but I do prefer a pencil to a pot of liner. Plus, I think I've decided to try to use the Starlooks one as a mixer/base rather than a liner anyway. Mally also has a set of 10 of these liners for $50, which seems like a great deal. I can't tell if they're smaller, but I rarely use the whole liner, so it doesn't really make a difference to me. Tempting...

Mally Evercolor Starlight Waterproof Eyeliner in Starshine

Swatch of Mally eyeliner in Starshine

September 2013 New Beauty Test Tube (Mally liner not pictured since it wasn't here yet)

I'm happy with this Test Tube. Lots of new things to try and I LOVE that brush!! LOVE IT! The approximate value of this tube is $110.72, not including the bonus samples. Great value! What did you think of this month's products? Did you get anything different? If you'd like to sign up, leave your email address in a comment and I'll send you an invite that gets you $5 off your first Tube!

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

New Beauty Test Tube July 2013

New Beauty Test Tube is a subscription box that used to be just a twice-a-year service, but has recently changed to every other month. I love that I get them more often now! For $29.95 plus shipping, you get a box with a big pink tube (and often an extra bag of stuff that didn't fit in the tube) filled with deluxe samples and a few full sized items as well as a copy of the New Beauty magazine.
I unfortunately forgot to take my usual opening the box picture, but here's what I got this month:

New Beauty Test Tube for July 2013 (not pictured is the hefty New Beauty magazine that comes with each shipment)

First up, my "Bonus Products" bag! May's bonus products legitimately didn't fit in the tube and I was thrilled to see the extra bag of stuff. This month, eh, really, it fit. I'm not sure why it wasn't just put in the tube. Maybe to make it look like we got more? Or maybe the bonus bag is something everyone gets the same of while the tube products can vary? Either way, here's what I got:

• Boost-it Instant Complexion Enhancer - this can be used alone or under makeup as a primer and promises to brighten your complexion. When I swatched it on my hand, it looked like a nice color, so I'm looking forward to using this. I'm not sure I'd go full face or if that would just look too shiny, so I think I'll start with brow bones and cheek bones.
• Nip + Fab No Needle Fix Serum - I'm intrigued by this. I do have a few fine lines forming around my eyes and between my eyebrows and this is supposed to plump/fill those up. I wish we got a bigger sample though! This is pretty much only 2 uses unless it doesn't dry out once opened. That's why I hate foil packets - you have to use it all up at once or hope it doesn't dry out. And unless I'm getting like 20 packets, it's hard to determine if something works with such a small sample.
• Dalton Colour Lip Creme Gloss - I believe this is full size! I got it in the color Janie, which is pretty dark, but I can apply lightly or blot and it's not so bad. It's supposed to also plump, which is nice.

Bonus products for July

 Onto the tube!

• Pantene Expert Collection Age Defy Shampoo and Conditioner - we got travel sizes of these. Definitely enough to test it out for at least a week. This is supposed to fight dryness, breakage, and thinning. My hair isn't thinning, but I do wear it up a lot, so I do get some breakage. And I do really like how Pantene makes my hair feel when I use it. So silky! It's supposed to be gentle enough for colored hair too, which is good because I think I'm about to dye my hair. Assuming the color doesn't turn my test patch purple like the last brand I tried out...
• It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Lite - This protects against humidity, heat, and split ends, all while making your hair shiny, silky and detangled! Sure! I'll definitely try this! It's not a bad size either. 

July's hair products

•  ORLY nail polish in Haute Red - It's red. Not the most exciting color for me since I know I have a red I like, but ORLY is a nice brand and this is full size. I've also seen variations with a pale pink and a pale blue-green.
• Perlage Illuminating Primer - Well, I can't seem to find this anywhere to link it (other than samples on eBay), but it's a cream primer. I'm not really sure about the illuminating aspect, since it seemed like a regular lotion, but I'll try it. It's a pretty small sample.
• Your Best Friend Automatic Eyebrow Pencil in Universal Taupe - I have a hard time believing this works for every conceivable natural brow color. I just can't see it working as well for black as it does for red. For my hair, mousy brown, sure. It'll work. The pencil is a twist up on one end and a spoolie brush on the other to comb your brows. My go-to is Revlon's pencil/gel duo in, oddly enough, dark blonde (brunette was just too dark), so we'll see how it compares. 

July's miscellaneous products. (I probably should have put these last since they didn't really fit into the other categories)

•  Philosophy Purity Made Simple facial cleanser - I know I bought this once and had high hopes for it. I bought it along with a few other products in that line and something didn't agree with my skin. That was years ago, and I've since gotten rid of what I bought, so I guess I'll give the cleanser a try on its own. I know this line does get rave reviews.
• Tarte Pure Maracuja oil - Boy, all these different oils (Moroccan, argan, now this) that are popular all of a sudden. I'm not sure what the difference really is between them all. This one is specifically for the face, whereas I know Argan can be used in the hair, face, or body. The Tarte site says "Pure maracuja oil is a hydrating treatment oil known for its anti-aging and healing properties for firmer, brighter, and smoother looking skin, and will not cause breakouts." That sounds nice. I still feel a little hesitant putting oil on my skin, but I will try it. 
• Lumene Pure Radiance Night Cream - I'm pretty sure I got the day cream in my last Test Tube, so it's nice to get the night cream to go along with it! This is supposed to detox your skin to make it brighter. Sounds great!

July's face products

•  MoroccanOil Body Butter - This is supposed to be extremely moisturizing to leave your skin super soft, so I'm excited to try it! Not a bad sized sample, either!

July's body product

Swatches of the Boost-it Instant Complexion Enhancer (not blended very much) and Dalton gloss (also not blended much).

Overall, I'm happy with the mix of products I got. Lots of things I'm looking forward to trying! What did you think of this month's products? Did you get anything different?
If you'd like to sign up, leave your email address in a comment and I'll send you an invite that gets you $5 off your first Tube!

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