I received a second complimentary February 2016 3b (Beauty Beyond Borders) box for review/feedback purposes and I’m so glad to get reintroduced to this $12/month K-Beauty subscription service again! I tried 3b for three months as an unsponsored customer and you can read my prior reviews here in 2015. 3b wanted to get my honest opinions on their new offerings so I tried mostly everything in the bag in the past 2 weeks. February’s bag has a very hyped up product from Benton and Leaders’ most popular sheet mask. Click on to see the all the contents!
About 3b (Beauty Beyond Borders)
Beauty Beyond Borders is like an Asian Beauty Birchbox where you get 4-5 deluxe samples (sometimes even scoring a full sized product) to rotate into your routine. They are currently still working to get interested people off their wait list so you can sign up now and decide if you want to start your subscription once they contact you. I waited three months before I was contacted in 2015. There’s a mix of high, mid and low-end products as well as products coming either from Korea, Taiwan or Japan. At $12 a month, it’s an affordable way to try out a ton of goodies before committing to a full-size bottle. However, their “Full-Size” section still has not launched since they started and it doesn’t look like it will be live anytime soon so you’ll have to hunt down any favorites online elsewhere. The information card has English descriptions but no translated English ingredients so that’s another hurdle to go through if you’re sensitive to certain ingredients (or have a need to see a list if you’re skinsane like me).
3b Beauty Beyond Borders February 2016 Contents
You can click on each item to get a deeper review/first impression:
- Benton Snail Bee High Content Steam Cream
- Leaders Black Aqua Pore Scaling Mask, 25ml
- Lioele Eyelash Curler
- Etude House Look At My Eyes Cafe Eyeshadow
Benton Snail Bee High Content Steam Cream
This was the cutest little tube! This face cream is one of the most hyped about products in K-Beauty. There’s a lot of air in tube so I finished using the tube in a week, morning and night. It’s so thick that it was pretty perfect for the chilly, windy days as of late. There’s no scent at all and it’s formulated with 64% snail mucin which helps moisturize, heal and even out complexion. It’s good for all skin types (acne and sensitive especially). There’s also bee venom to promote healing and stimulate collagen production. It’s called a steam cream because the ingredients are blended using high temperatures from steam technology that supposedly makes the product perform better. I’ll warn you that other bloggers who reviewed this have broken out before so remember that not everyone’s skin is the same despite being hyped about online.
Snail you later. I didn’t fall in love but I have plans to drop some serum with it to make spreadability better.
I thought the product was just okay because it was harder to spread over my face since it’s thick. Don’t use a lot at once since it will drag on your skin. I wish it melted over my skin more or had a whipped texture. I just didn’t think this was anything too special. I have a full size tube of this waiting in the cabinets because Memebox screwed up my order months ago and sent this as an apology. I’ll still use it up but I think i’ll add a drop of facial oil or serum to loosen up the thickness a bit to make it more spreadable. There’s only one ingredient that rates a 2 as an acne trigger on CosDNA.
Leaders Black Aqua Pore Scaling Mask
This mask had one of the best fits for me! The black cotton sheet is thicker than average and really hugged my curves. The instructions say to wear it for 15 – 20 minutes and the mask started to dry out at the upper lip and chin area so it’s not a mask that can stretch past its recommended wear-time.
Bonus: the sheet mask is black! I really have no idea why it’s black, maybe because of the volcanic ash?
Key ingredients are Volcanic Ash, Sugar Maple Extract, Soybean Extract that will help control excess sebum (oils and gunk) and even your overall complexion. I must say that my skin felt very refreshed and clear. I really liked how my skin felt lifted, fuller and even looked brighter to me. It has 25ml of essence and there’s a enough essence leftover to continue patting in. I would repurchase this again! Full list of ingredients are here on CosDNA.
Look at the perfect fit!
Lioele Eye Lash Curler
Ugh, ANOTHER eye lash curler I don’t want. I already own my all-time HG favorite eye lash curler from Shu uerma (I own THREE of these) and I just don’t need another one. I haven’t opened this yet because I’m going to give it away. The description card says that “it’s made with soft, anti-bacterial rubber to protect lashes you curl.” Don’t all eye lash curlers have that soft rubber thing to do that same thing? I also don’t like getting beauty tools in a beauty bag because it’s not really makeup or skincare. From the Lioele Texas website, it costs a mere $3.50 so it’s affordable if you ever want to grab it. I don’t have much else to say about this item.
I just don’t really see us working out. I’m already seeing 3 other eye lash curlers.
Etude House Look At My Eyes Cafe Eyeshadow, BR401
This is a pretty single eyeshadow in copper! It’s shimmery and works well with other warm toned shadows like browns and gold. It works best with eyeshadow primer so that it has something to stick onto. Throughout the day, it has transferred to my under-eye area and it will fade a bit but it doesn’t crease. It definitely has fall-out and fading issues but if I’m just wearing it for work I don’t really care. I don’t have oily lids so maybe that’s why this isn’t a problem for me but it’s an average eyeshadow that will give you a pigmented look if you keep tapping on the lid with color to build it up. This copper/bronze color might be too orangey for some people (I did at first) but you can use your finger or fluffy brush to blend it outwards so it’s not as harsh.
Coppery, bronzey – good for warm-toned skin
My favorite way to wear this is to use a dark brown matte shadow as my outer-V color and blend it into my eye socket area for a more dramatic effect. For going out at night, use a matte black shadow instead. It feels velvety if you swipe your finger across the pan, not chalky. Can’t really complain about it given it’s retail value of $4.60 on the Etude House website. It can be a good everyday shadow if you’re wearing a warm-toned outfit.
Used some matte brown shadow in this shot for the outer-V color. Don’t look at my eyebrows, ick!
Conclusion – Is This Worth My Money?
This month’s bag was a bit of a disappointment because one of the items was a beauty tool instead of makeup or skincare item. For those who were always curious to try out a Benton item, they have included other Benton items like the Foam Cleanser in the past. They scored really big points with the Leaders Black Aqua Pore Scaling Mask because I really liked the after-effects. The Etude House eye shadow was average and it’s nothing stellar. They have a pretty good pulse on what’s trending in K-Beauty but I can imagine that it’s hard to get sample sizes of everything that’s on the radar while maintaining a profit. Even though I didn’t like the Feb bag, I liked January’s bag a lot more so you won’t really know what you’re getting since it’s a surprise every month. With that said, I wrote a list of reasons why you should or shouldn’t subscribe to 3b in past posts so I’ll repeat it below:
I think subscribing to 3b is great for someone who:
– Wants to start sampling Asian Beauty (Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese beauty) in an affordable way
– Wants to slowly build up a skincare routine that will work for them
– Wants to try out new makeup looks and products
– Wants experts to curate the best that Asia is offering and have it delivered to your door
– Doesn’t have time to sift through tons of online reviews and feels overwhelmed with too many options.
I DON’T think this is good for someone who:
– Is past the age of 35 (arbitrary number but someone who is in the older demographic who’s skincare needs lean towards anti-aging)
– Already has a buttload of Korean Beauty products
– Doesn’t like surprises
– Doesn’t want to try anything new or too picky with products
– Is NOT a beginner in the Asian Beauty world
– Has ultra sensitive skin (too much risk in getting a lot of products that will flair up a reaction)
Comments Below!
Do you currently subscribe to 3b? Have you used any of the products featured in this post? What has been your best find from past boxes? Please share below!
