If you signed up for the Loose Button March 2012 Luxe Box, you got a First in Line e-mail where you could pick one of your guaranteed items. (However, you had to reply quickly because there were limited items for each choice.)
I chose the CARGO single eye shadow because I’ve never tried any eye products from that brand. Also, the full-size product is $16 CAD, which means that it literally pays for the price of the entire Luxe Box.
Even though the March 2012 Luxe Box looks emptier than boxes from previous months, don’t be deceived. There’s good value here, in my opinion!
Loose Button March 2012 Luxe Box Pictures
I've showed you the Luxe Box many times. This month's box is the same as usual - black, chic & modern. It slides out at the side.
Loose Button always takes great care in personalizing the packaging with a sticker that has your name on it.
Ta-da! Here are the contents for this month's box!
The box is full of these little black crinkle-cut strips of paper.
Loose Button Luxe Box card
I love that you can plant this card and grow a plant!
Vera Wang Lovestruck Eau de Parfum (4 mL / 0.13 fl. oz.)
Here's the vial. Look how generous the size is - it's so long!
CARGO Eye Shadow (3 g / 0.105 oz.)
Unfortunately, my flash washed out the colours. On the left, picture it as a shimmery taupe. On the right, it's a shimmery light pink. (I couldn't find any names for the shades in the box.)
OPI Top Coat (3.75 mL / 1/8 fl. oz.)
Here's how the mini polish I got (on the right) compares to the full-size 15 mL OPI Natural Nail Base Coat (on left).
CHI Silk Infusion (15 mL / 0.5 fl. oz.)
Claims: BUSTED, but Products: Very Good
√ Comes in a chic box
X Box contains 4-5 deluxe-sized samples of beauty products (I kept debating this claim. Yes, there are 4 great products in the box, but I didn’t consider the OPI polish to be a deluxe-sized sample.)
Key Notes
- Name: Loose Button Luxe Box (March 2012)
- Number of Samples: 4
- What I Paid: $12 CAD + tax
- Where to Sign Up for a Subscription: Loose Button website
Loose Button March 2012 Luxe Box Review
Packaging
I like the sleek, modern, and minimalist design of the Loose Button Luxe Box. It definitely puts the “Luxe” in Luxe Box, and to me, the design defines the brand as classy. And you can tell that they pay close attention to the fine details because the inner sides of the box features a tiled Loose Button logo pattern.
There is, however, a lot of packaging. The black box you see is actually shipped in another cardboard box. So, I can’t say that it’s environmentally-friendly…even though you can recycle and reuse the boxes. (If you want to see what the outer cardboard box looks like, check out my other Loose Button Luxe Box posts. I’ve included detailed shots in one of the posts.)
Products
I didn’t want to “BUST” the March 2012 Luxe Box because technically, there are 4 samples, however, I can’t consider the OPI Top Coat to be a deluxe-sized sample.
Vera Wang Lovestruck Eau de Parfum
I’ve never smelled this perfume before (or any other Vera Wang fragrances for that matter), so I was curious about this. It’s a sweet floral that surprisingly doesn’t turn me off. You see, I’m usually into candy-vanilla-sweet kind of scents. I don’t usually go for florals, but upon first sniff, it smelled really nice and a slightly more mature scent than I’m used to wearing. I’m going to give this one a shot!
It was also nice that this wasn’t just the sample size that you can get free from a department store. This was a generous 4 mL sample. The tube was so long that it made me laugh. (Maybe I’m fragrance-sheltered, but I’ve never seen a tube fragrance sample this long.)
Also something to note: it’s just a tube – there’s no spray top, so you have to dab the fragrance directly onto your wrists from the tube.
Edit: I tried it out. Click here to see my Vera Wang Lovestruck review & pictures!
CARGO Eye Shadow
The description says that it’s a single eye shadow, but there are actually two colours. (One is a shimmery taupe and the other is a shimmery light pink. Sorry that my photo isn’t accurate. I may update it later if I get a chance.)
I like the silver tin the powder shadow comes in. It feels very secure, so you don’t have to worry about it opening up by accident in your makeup bag or purse.
OPI Top Coat
Okay, you all should know based on the nail-polish and nail-art posts on here that I’ve practically tied the knot with the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. It literally changed the way I give myself manicures.
However, I will try out the OPI Top Coat for those times when I need an extra top-coat layer to smooth out a gritty polish.
CHI Silk Fusion
I’m glad to see this because it’ll give me a chance to compare it to the MoroccanOil Oil Treatment that I’ve been using religiously. 🙂
Seeded Card
I think this month’s included seeded card is really cool. You can plant it and watch it grow! I don’t have an extra pot with soil at my place, so I’m going to give this to my mom who has tons of pots. I’m curious to see what will sprout up!
Pros
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Cons
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Final Verdict: 8.5/10
This month, I can use everything, and I was happy to see the big vial of eau de parfum and the full-size eye shadow. The CHI Silk Infusion is a product that everyone’s been telling me to try, and the OPI Top Coat was a bit of a snooze since I already found my Holy Grail top coat. I was disappointed that the mini top coat counted as a ‘deluxe’ sample.
You’ll notice that even though I “BUSTED” the claims on principle, the Final Verdict score is high. That’s because I liked the majority of the products! 🙂 For me, the value of this month’s box was great.
What do you think of what I got? Are you a fan of Lovestruck? Do you use the CHI Silk Infusion or another leave-in treatment?
This month’s box was excellent, in my opinion! I’ve never tried Lovestruck, but Princess was my signature fragrance for a couple of years–Vera Wang turns out very nice, feminine fragrances, I think. It’s nice that the eyeshadow is two neutral colors. The CHI silk infusion product looks useful as well. And the seeded card is just awesome!! I wonder what plant it will grow up to be?
Hey Jessica!
A lot of people seem to like Princess…and the bottle is adorable – perfect for Valentine’s Day, actually!
If I remember, I’ll try to take pictures of the plant as it grows. I’m curious if there will be flowers or something green and leafy.
I have to agree, I loved my Luxe Box this month, too! I mean, sure the OPI top coat is pretty tiny (heck, not even 5mL, really?) but I’ve been agonizing about how to pack for an upcoming trip, so getting it was definitely timely! And I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous about the Chi product. I got Redken instead and while I know it’s amazing, I’ve already tried it already so it’s nothing new. But yay that you can compare it to Morroccan Oil! I’m looking forward to that review! 😀
First time I’ve heard of that first in line business. Is there any other way for you to sign up for it (seeing as I got my subscription as a gift)?
Carmela recently posted: The Hunger Games and China Glaze Capitol Colors: The Hopeful featuring Mahogany Magic, Dress Me Up, and Smoke and Ashes
Hey Carmela!
Gotta love when the timing is perfect like that, right? 😉
Hmm…I don’t think I signed up specifically for the First In Line e-mails. They just send them to me whenever there’s an opportunity to guarantee a single product in the current box. You should e-mail them about it to make sure you get them!
Not bad, but I share your opinion regarding the topcoat. Would it be snarky of me to mutter that it wouldn’t have hurt OPI’s bottom line to chip in full-sized bottles of topcoat?
I was a longtime lover of OPI topcoat until I discovered CG Fast Forward. Then a little birdie who shall remain nameless (but she lives in Canada and writes a wonderful blog about Swatching :P) introduced me to Seche Vite and turned everything around. I still have my OPI topcoat and you are right, it’s good for smoothing out glitters before using Seche Vite.
Hey karen!
Nah, not snarky at all. Who knows? Maybe they were testing the water to see what the response would be like first. I hope that one day, Loose Button teams up with OPI to provide full-size colour nail polishes. That would be like icing on the cake!
Hehe, I like that little birdie. 😉
I’ve found the past few months my Loose Button box has been the winner between the 3 boxes I subscribe too – but this month was a dud for me. I got the CHI sample, a face cream I haven’t heard of, Cargo mascarra, and 3 vials of perfume advertising the my scent program. My box is supposed to be scent free – so in my case I only got three products. I emailed them and asked why I received the perfume samples and they said oops, our bad – hope you enjoyed your other 3 samples……….I realize it can’t be easy to constantly try and find new products each month, but I’m kind of tired of hair products and face creams……it would have been awesome if they could have gotten some China Glaze Hunger game polishes this month (wishful thinking). Can’t find them anywhere here!
Hey Nicole!
Sorry to hear that this month’s box was a dud for you. And that’s so strange how they sent you perfume even though you chose to not have any scents sent to you.
I’m actually really disappointed (and surprised!) that their customer service replied like that to you. I feel like if a company makes a mistake like that (which is okay – people can make mistakes), it’s still important to show your clients that you care. I think they should’ve somehow compensated you somehow instead of just saying oops. :S Because…you’re paying for this subscription, and you should at least be getting what you signed up for.
Do you think they considered the future plant your 5th sample? LOL
Hey The KnitMaster!
Hahahahahaha, they’d better not! 😛
I loved this months box, too! I got the same Cargo shadow, as well as the OPI topcoat. Last month I received the sample of CHI Silk Infusion, and I’ve been using it almost everyday since. It makes my hair feel super soft, and I still have nearly half the bottle left. Enjoy!
Mandi recently posted: March Luxe Box
Hey Mandi!
A little of the Silk Infusion goes a long way – I’m so excited to try it out. 🙂 Glad to hear that you’ve been enjoying it, too!
I am so jealous of your box this month! It is quite different from mine; mainly that I got a giant bottle of CK shock for MEN – and a card that said ‘share with a special guy in your life’. Ok, so my husband got a good product, but it was the largest sample in my box!
Margo recently posted: April Loose Button Luxe Box review
Hey Margo!
Bummer about the men’s cologne. 🙁 If I got that, I would’ve been so disappointed because I’d like to be able to use everything from the box. I’m not married, and there’s no longer a ‘special guy’ in my life right now, so that sample would be pretty useless.
Okay, it’s nice that they gave a huge bottle of it, but…could they not have given you a CK perfume for women in that deluxe size instead? :S Hmm…
I have been experiencing their growing pains for a while now…I get notifications of my shipments but none of the others. I practically had to stalk them to get a link to change my gift to a regular subscription. I was late to choose my first in line item as I hadn’t received the email. There was only one item left but I received the Cargo shadow instead of my choice.. An error I was glad about! I received Redken samples. I already use this product so it will be useful for travel. They spelled Redken incorrectly on the info card! I received hand lotion for the second month in a row….boring! I am happy to try out the OPI topcoat! 4 items seemed more like 3.5. I will keep my subscription as I think they will work through this successfully & I feel I received enough value.
Hey Allison P!
That’s really strange how you have to get after them. I just signed up like normal and got the First in Line e-mails and other e-mails automatically.
But at least you got the Cargo shadow that you really wanted…haha, even if it was because of their error! 😉
Oh boy – spelling errors are quite embarrassing for the company. They probably have really tight deadlines so they can send material to the printers, but, they should double-check. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen all the time (at least not since I subscribed).