Chiconomical

Fab Bag...ahh, the leader in the beauty subscription boxes market in India. I was extremely excited when I saw the theme for this month's Fab Bag was "The Beauty Addict". So exciting when a beauty bag actually decided beauty is it's theme for the month. I expected lots of makeup products (well, more than one tbh) and also some exciting beauty bits that could expand my ever increasing beauty stash. So did I get what I imagined?


Sadly, not at all. Oh, the bag looks absolutely amazing, I'll give you that. It almost certainly builds up a crazy excitement that I can't quite put into words with its amazing quote that says "Eat Sleep Makeup Repeat" and sleek black look. The inside? It quickly killed my enthusiasm. Let's take a look at the products received in my June Beauty Addict Fab Bag:

1. Be A Bombshell Eye Shadow Crayon - Black Jack : Rs. 1200


This is honestly the only product that made me happy however, one swipe and you'll realise that it's less black and more dull black. It is a terrible crayon and even after multiple swipes, doesn't really give you a dark black look. I'm not quite sure if this is very useful seeing as it will at the most give you a smudged out eyeshadow, in a not so good way. This is a classic great expectations, disappointing reality situation.

2. Skin Yoga Coffee Body Scrub: Rs. 845


I absolutely loved skin yoga's products in one of my other subscription boxes. This body scrub comes in a almost blinding golden metallic sachet and claims to be a 100% natural body exfoliator. It's fragrance free, preservative free and paraben free. I'm quite excited to try it out since my normal body scrub is almost over.

3. Karite Buerre Pure Shea Butter: Rs. 199.6 for 20g


I've never heard of this brand before. so I'm happy to get this sample sized product to try it out. It's a 100% natural "Wild East African Shea" butter. It smells like most shea butters and looks the same too. I haven't yet used it (probably because the weather is too humid for me to even consider applying any kind of body butters at the moment) but I shall tell you what it's like once I get around to using it.

4. Ital Veloce - Midnight Kisses & Valvatina: Rs. 57 (for both)


Two little bottles of fine fragrance mist. I don't know how this relates to being a beauty addict which is the theme of the bag but I suppose its important to smell good. Midnight kisses is a lot more floral than valvatina which is a much more subtle fragrance. These aren't anything extra special as far as mists go, but I suppose they can be used while we desperately wait for the monsoons.



And that's it folks! Honestly, I'm not at all happy with this month's bag. Seriously, if you're a monthly subscriber, give it a miss. It's completely not worth it. Other than the coffee body scrub, everything else is pointless. The shea butter is interesting but I'm sure you probably have an equivalent already so it isn't that much of a novelty either. Oh, and I think the bag is pretty great in terms of looks. One of the best looking bags this year. Still, overall, give it a miss if you can.

The May Fab Bag is themed summer escapde and while this is something I've been dreaming about since the start of summer, the bag doesn't exactly live up to its theme. This month, the Fab Bag comes in a neon green,clear plastic bag which simply reminnds me of the little pouches they sell on the local trains in Mumbai. It doesn't impress me that much but I do think it can be used to store your bath essentials, so it does have some reuse value.


Onto the products in this month's Fab Bag, lets take a look at what I got!

1. Nyassa Tea Tree Face Wash: Rs. 82.75 for 30ml

Tea tree face washes are a crowd favorite these days. While I've heard everyone I know rave about the Body Shop Tea Tree face wash, I really haven't yet tried it simply because I find the Body Shop products to be very expensive. Instead, I'd much rather find a street substitute for it and I think this face wash will be an interesting contender. This deluxe sized sample should be enough to give me a good idea about its results. So a good product in this month's Fab Bag.


2. Inveda Sunscreen Cream Gel: Rs. 250 for 75 ml
I've already raved about how much I liked the Inveda  BB cream when I received the sample sized product in last month's MSM box so of course I'm glad to get this in this month's fab bag. Its 100% veg, paraben free and isn't tested on animals! This is a product I think everyone would be happy with, no matter what type of makeup products they opt for.



3. Cuccio Naturale Butter Blend Duo: Rs. 302 for two tubes of 9.24 g each:
So body butter is something that everyone seems to have jumped on recently. This month in the May Fab Bag, I received two tubes of body butter, one in milk and honey and another in papaya and guava. I particularly like the delightful smell and travel friendly sized. The packaging is a little too strange for my taste and I am not very sure if giving a rich body butter is the right thing for a summer beauty bag.



4. Seasoul Dual Eyeshadow Palette (SS11): Rs. 900
The Seasoul eye palette is something I absolutely love in this month's Fab Bag. The colors are dark and light purple which I would never go out and buy on my own, That's why, its such a delight to receive this product and while I haven't tried it out yet, I'm just waiting for that nice dinner invite where I can take it out for a glam test run!


And that's it folks! That's all I got in the May "Summer Escapade" Fab Bag. While its got some good items individually, like I said, I wasn't completely sold on the bag as a whole. Somehow, the theme didn't come through for me in the products and I honestly wish they'd made a little more effort to customise the bag to summer's needs. All in all, if you have a chance, you could give this month's bag a miss.

This month, I received all three of India's Top Subscription boxes and when I saw them all together, I thought it would be a good idea to have a faceoff between the three and see which one is actually better.
I feel that most subscription boxes at the moment follow a system where the products fall in three broad categories: Beauty, Makeup and Others. There's also a bunch of other things such as appearance, delivery, overall customer care and I've listed those too. All the individual ratings are on a scale of Meh, Yeh, Brillinat where Meh is the lowest, Yeh is Average and Brilliant is well, brilliant! So lets see how each of the boxes scored on my various scales.



1. Looks: While all three were in shades of pink this month, here's what I thought about each.

Fab Bag: The most useful box of the three, because its not really a box but a bag that can be easily reused, I think this month's bag is quite lovely with its bright pink color as well as the almost woven texture. This was a Yay for me!

MSM Box: Its a pretty box, I'll give you that, but then they use the same box every month and there aren't a lot of interesting things to see or get excited about how its gonna look when you open it packaging each month its decidedly boring. A definite snooze and a Meh for me.

My Envy Box: While this is still a box, I absolutely love the pink packaging. As this month's box was curated by Bipasha Basu, maybe she had something to do with the distinctly girlie yet pretty box design. (I think the Label Life logo helped make it prettier too). Honestly, it's brilliant its month!

2. Makeup: For beauty boxes, the April boxes did have a good number of makeup products, lets take a look.

Fab Bag: This month, the fab bag gave not one, but two full sized makeup products! There was a lovely catrice eyeliner in copper and a Makeup Revolution concealer. Thankfully, this time everything was in shades that suit my skintype and can be used immediately. A big Yay for me!

MSM Box: The MSM box had one hard core beauty product (okay, so maybe you could consider the cleansing moisturiser as a beauty product but I think of it more as a skincare product tbh). It had the Inveda BB Cream that I've been using since the day I received my box and honestly, while its only one, its multiple ticks such as Parabens Free, Cruelty Free and all natural ingredients make it a yay product for me. However, since its a beauty subscription box, I expect more makeup products So it sadly comes out as a Meh for me.

My Envy Box: Okay, so this box had the Fran Wilson Moodmatcher lipstick in Orange. I've never used the Moodmatcher lipstick before, so while I'm excited about it, I still think they could have added another makeup product sample if they'd tried. A Meh for me.

3. Skincare: Skincare is something that seems to be big with all subscription boxes and this month's no different. For beauty boxes that usually show images of makeup products, they always seem to have more skincare products. Let's take a look.

Fab Bag: Fab Bag gives you Soul Tree Cleansing Milk and a O3+ whitnening mask as its skincare this month. I like the Soul Tree Cleanser but I've already received the O3+ whitnening mask before. So its just a Meh for me.

MSM Box: From the sinfully fragrant Rose and Almond Body Bar, the Jasmine scented face mist to the luxurious Fuschia Cleansing moisturiser, I love the skincare in the April MSM Box. It is sure to make you smell like the queen of Egypt with its floral scents and luxe feel. A big Yay for me!!

My Envy Box: A Milk scrub is something I haven't tired before so it definitely intrigues and excites. The Rene Furterer Parish is also another brand I haven't tired before, so in terms of wow quotient, it definitely was a Yay for me.

4. Other Benefits: These days, most subscription boxes come packed with other than beauty products too. This month, we had some amazing products (looking at you there BBlunt) so lets quickly list them down.

Fab Bag: We got some goodies from Style Fiesta this month and also a pair of use and throw lenses! Definitely something unique. I got a pair of golden earrings which I'm a little on the fence about but the lenses are gorgeous and I'll hopefully wear them in a post very soon! This is somewhere between brilliant and yay for me!

MSM Box: The MSM box gave a lovely makeup brush this month and while I may be quite clueless about the perfect way to use it I'm sure makeup enthusiasts will love it. For me, its a little Meh.

My Envy Box: My favorite of the lot, I love love love both the other things in this box. The lovely BBlunt Hairspray and the smells better than sin Roberto Cavalli perfume sample are absolutely Brilliant!

5. Overall Satisfaction: So lets sum up what I felt about each this month and of course, the winner!

Fab Bag: A good mix of things, this month's fab bad didn't disappoint me and was a overall Yay for me.

MSM Box: While it had some sinfully fragrant products, I wish it was better somehow. An overall Meh Experience for me.

My Envy Box: From the gorgeous pink box, the good variety of products and the overall happiness it got me, I think this month's My Envy Box was pretty brilliant! If you must get one of the three, I'd say go for the My Envy Box this month!

Yep, I signed up for a a few more months of Fab Bag goodness. I did face huge issues with the February fab bag (which I still haven't received)  but I got the March 2016 bag pretty early. However, more on that later...lets talk about this month's Fab Bag.


The theme for this month was more power to you, however I wish it packed a bigger punch. It seems every month, fab bag decides there's one makeup brand/product that will be the star and most of the other products tend to be added as fillers that don't actually do much for me personally.

Here's a look at the products I received:

1. Divo Eyelash Curler: Rs. 125

So everytime I look at an eyelash curler I have an instant flashback to one of the scenes from The Devil Wear Prada and honestly, I'm the girl who didn't even know what these were till a couple of years ago. I've never owned one so this is a welcome addition to my beauty stash. Now if only I could gather up the courage to use it without fear of plucking all my eyelashes out or poking my eye out!

2. Wella Professionals - Elements Renewing Mask (Rs. 215 for 30 ml) & Elements Renewing Shampoo (Rs. 117 for 30 ml)

I've recently seen lots of reviews from bloggers who when to the launch of this new Wella range and have heard rave reviews about it. These deluxe sized samples should be enough to give me an idea about it. Looking forward to using them and figuring out what the deal is.

3. Suganda Neem Green Tea Plant Mask: Rs. 400 for 25 gm

So I don't like receiving two similar items in the same bag but since this is green tea, I can make an exception. I'm a fan of neem and green tea so I just hope this mask has all the goodness of the real thing! Plus, its handmade in India which is a big win for supporting local brands....and did I mention its organic?

4. SUGAR cosmetics It's A-Pout-Time! Vivid Lipstick - Coraline in the City: Rs. 599

Finally, the star of the bag, the SUGAR Cosmetics's much hyped new lipstick. I got coraline in the city which is a coral shade that's surprisingly long lasting (lasted all day through office, although I may have skipped lunch that day so can't vouch for post lunch staying power). It's not very bright as coral shades go which is a good thing in my book. Stay tuned for a full review that's coming up very soon!

All in all, this is an average mix of things. I like the lipstick and the face mask, however I wish they hadn't given two masks in the same bag. If you really want to get your hands on the lipstick, this is a good bargain as everything else is an added bonus.

New years are all about resolutions and so is the very first Fab Bag of 2016! This is actually the last fab bag in my subscription and for a girl who is on a shopping ban, it was like getting a little piece of cake when on a strict diet! Oh yes, this month's bag has a cute off white bag with cartoon make pieces on it. Sadly mine was very dusty and I wish it wasn't because it really is a very pretty pouch. So lets see what the new year's brought...


1. Votre Face Serum: Rs. 1670 for 12 ml

This is the first full sized product and for someone who had to google what a face serum is (yes, I'm not that well versed with makeup) this is a nice little treat. It comes with a dropper type bottle which almost remind me of those eye drops bottles. But I don't mind that because it checks all the ticks in my skincare checklist, viz, non-comedogenic, hyper allergenic, dermatologically tested and natural! Yes, I'm quite excited about using this and seeing if it has some significant results.

2. Natural Bath and Body - Red Clay Mask & Vit. E Whipped Cream: Rs. 90 for 20 gm and Rs. 82.5 for 15 ml respectively:

Yet another natural product these two are supposed to give you heavenly skin and are suitable for sensitive skin. The whipped cream has the yummiest citrusy lemony smell and they're supposed to be used together for best results. Both are made of natural or organic products and I can't wait to try them.

3. Ayorma Spa Daily Scrub & Face Wash: Rs. 44.64 for 8 ml and Rs. 27.92 for 8 ml

I've used the ayorma night cream before and while I wasn't impressed with its results. (See review here) I have heard people recommend these two and the sample size is perfect for my recently busy travel schedules. They're both free of paraben preservatives and promise a spa like experience at home.

4. Bellapierre Mineral Lipstick (Ruby): Rs. 1500

So I recently lost my favorite red lipstick and this is a heaven sent. I actually had a chance to select one beauty product and since I'm in my quest to find the perfect red lipstick I opted for this. I've used it once and while it isn't very long lasting, it has a rich color and doesn't bleed.


And that's my January 2016 Fab Bag. Overall, I'm quite happy with the products this month. I still wish there were more makeup products. For a beauty bag, there's usually just a lot of skincare in the bag. As for renewing my subscription, I'm still not 100% sure. Time will tell if I renew it.