#RANBonusBox Bloomingdale’s Unboxing (Fall 2016)

Disclosure: I received this box complementary from RAN (Rakuten Affiliate Network) There are affiliate links in this blog post

I am a member of Rakuten Affiliate Network and every year, they produce Bonus Boxes ~ some quarterly, sometimes affiliated with a store. This is the 2nd year in a row I was lucky enough to receive the very exclusive Bloomingdale’s Box. I loved the first one so much and I am thrilled to get another one from RAN and Bloomie’s.

Once again, what a lovely selection of products from Bloomingdale’s! I haven’t tried any of these before and in fact, one of the products here I had been lusting over for a long time now!

Clinique City Block Purifying Charcoal Clay Mask + Scrub Clinique makes my HG mascara ~ High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara and my HG lipstick ~ Black Honey. I am always happy to get something from Clinique as I feel they are a very solid and dependable brand. I have used this mask+scrub by Clinique several times now and I have to say that Clinique did a really great job here! This is not only a purifying and clarifying clay mask which will remove excess oil and dirt from your skin as it contains bamboo charcoal and kaolin clay, but it is a facial scrub too, so once it is dry and you rinse it off, there are little scrubby bits of natural silica beads to help exfoliate your skin.

This scentless mask+scrub (for those who need a scentless product, you might want to check this out) did not pull or tighten my skin in an uncomfortable way and it was easy to apply ~ squeeze out from the tube and it looks smooth, but I can feel the little beads under my fingertips. This mask dries down quickly and rinsing off, I just gently massaged the mask so that it would exfoliate and rinsed off. My face felt smooth, the texture felt more refined and my skin didn’t feel dry or tight. My pores also looked much tighter and smaller ~ always a PLUS.

This also contains soothing plant extracts: Laminaria Saccharina (Brown algae) is an oil controlling, anti-blemish ingredient that helps balance your skin and Gentiana Lutea root extract which is an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial, helping to reduce swelling, redness and heal blemishes.

This clay mask is for oily/oily-normal combo skin. Due to its scrubbing bits and the matte finish, I would not recommend this for dry skin. Have you tried this mask+scrub combo yet? I really like it and I feel that I will be using this up quickly!

Description: A 5-minute dual-action detoxifying and exfoliating clay mask. Purifies and polishes skin for a delightful deep-clean treatment. Natural bamboo charcoal and kaolin clay help remove pollution and impurities, while natural silica beads gently refine texture. Allergy tested, 100% fragrance free, dermatologist tested.

Ingredients: Water, Kaolin, Butylene Glycol, Silica, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Charcoal Powder, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Gentiana Lutea (Gentian) Root Extract, Laminaria Saccharina Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Acetyl Glucosamine, Sucrose, Caprylyl Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide cosDNA analysis

Kevyn Aucoin Eyelash Curler I am not one to wear false eyelashes or use an eyelash curler on a daily or even weekly basis ~ I usually use an eyelash primer product ~ my favorite is Dior Diorshow ~ but when it is a big night out or fancy holiday parties, I do use an eyelash curler ~ I cannot handle false eyelashes! This curler by Kevyn Aucion won the 2013 Allure Best of Beauty Award and it has a stainless steel body and tongs. It has a curved red rubber pad ~ you get a refill as well ~ and it shapes nicely to my lash line. The curler opens up nice and wide, so that I can jiggle it into place without pinching my lash line.

How to use an eyelash curler: Some people like to use their curler after they put on mascara and some like using it on clean lashes. If you use it after mascara, you will need to make sure the rubber pad is cleaned after use.

Open the curler and place your upper lashes in-between the tongs.
Working your way to the inner corner of your eye, you want to place the curler as close as you can to your lash line ~ I usually gently “wiggle” it into place.
Close the curler on your lashes for 10 seconds ~ if you feel a pinch, open up the curler and move it away from your lash line a bit. The pinch means you got to close to your skin.
Repeat until you get your upper lashes curled.

Description: Create wonderfully curled lashes with this slim, professional quality eyelash curler. Its sleek, stainless steel frame provides a firm grip while its curved rubber pad bends lashes to perfection. Plus, you can turn the curler upside down and curl your bottom lashes for a Hollywood starlet look.

Bobbi Brown Sparkle Eye Shadow in Silver Moon I love Bobbi Brown eye shadows. She curates shades that are timeless but then has a bit of whimsy as well ~ I find that you cannot go wrong with Bobbi Brown makeup items ~ they are great for all ages. Silver Moon looks like a taupe color, not that silvery, but once I apply this shade on my eyes, it is a sheer wash of a warm silver shade, with a very subtle glitter. The formula is almost cream-like ~ it is a silky powder made from pearls and it does crumble a bit in the pan, but it is a very moist powder and there is no fall-out once I apply it to my eyes.

This is not a glitter bomb, so I appreciate that at my age!! haha. It is very sheer on its own, so I like to layer this over a darker matte shade, just to give it a pop of sparkle as well as a little in the inner corner of my eyes, to help brighten up my eye area. It doesn’t crease or really fade that much at the end of the day. It is quite long lasting ~ if you have a Bobbi Brown custom palette, this shadow can be popped out of the pan and placed in that palette.

Using your fingertip, apply shadow by pressing onto the lid.
It can also be applied by using an angled eye shadow brush.
For a more opaque, full sparkle effect, apply on top of an eye shadow base.

In the swatches below, the top shade is Silver Moon layered over a chocolate brown matte eye shadow. You can see how subtle the shimmer is. The lower shade is Silver Moon by itself, heavily swatched, so you can see how shimmery but delicate this color is.

Missoni Eau de Toilette Just look at this bottle!! Seriously, this is amazing ~ Missoni is an Italian fashion house in Sumirago, known for its vivid prints and patterns and they have created a signature scent that is fresh and sunny. The glass bottle, with its fuchsia, yellow and orange shades, gets its inspiration from Venetian blown glass. It has a gold tone collar that has a stitching pattern around the edges ~ in homage to their fashion designs! I read the description on the scent first and it is a citrus, floral and woody fragrance (oh boy!)

Freedom, creativity and joie de vivre. A delicate fragrance inspired by the unique, fleeting moment of daybreak, accompanies her movements and kindles her vivacious reawakening. A magical light bathes and illuminates the woman, who is reborn into the feminine sensuality innate to her being.

Top Notes: Blood Orange, Nashi Pear, Pink Peppers, Water Flowers

Middle Notes: Freesia, Peony, Rosewater Orpur

Base Notes: Heliotrope, Musk, White Cedar Wood, Georgy Wood

I am a bit nervous with the rose middle note, so I did spray it first on a piece of paper and sniffed it. Thankfully, if there is rose in here, I cannot smell it at all! So, yeah, off to really take a smell test on this scent. This starts out a fruity scent ~ I do not smell any citrus, but I do pick up the pear scent with a bit of spice. It quickly changes to a light floral of freesia and peony. The dry down is a bit musky and sweet, not a lot of woody scents there. Overall, I would describe this scent as a light, sweet summery scent, very pretty, but it does not have a lot of lasting powder. This Eau de Toilette was launched in 2016 and the fragrance was created by perfumer Quentin Bisch. And I have to post another pic of this bottle ~ it is so beautiful!

Eve Lom Cleanser I’ve been seeing this cleanser a lot out there and a lot of chatter around it, but I never took the plunge to purchase it. I am so happy to get a chance to try this, as I hear a lot of good things about this. This was described by Vogue as “probably the best cleanser in the world” and its award winning formula was the first cleansing balm ~ it has been around for 25 years. I have used cleansing balms before from Asian brands, but I am now ready to try this one. Now, yes, this has mineral oil in it, but mineral oil is not bad for your skin, as it is a noncomedogenic ~ its molecules are too big to enter into your pores. It also has great hydrating properties for your skin as well. According to Eve Lom, its aromatic key ingredients are: Egyptian Chamomile Oil, which softens and soothes; Eucalyptus Oil will “decongest and lifts away impurities, dirt, oil, and makeup“. Clove Oil is an antibacterial to help clear up your skin from blemishes and Hops Oil will reduce redness and calm your skin tone. This also has lanolin and cocoa butter in it as well, to help condition, emulsify and moisturize.

This comes with a specially woven muslin cloth that you use with the cleanser ~ the claims is that is will help improve your skin circulation and exfoliate. This cleansing balm smells WONDERFUL. I can really smell the spicy clove in here and it is very creamy. This balm is for normal/dry skin types and I have oily skin, so let’s see how this works for me.

Directions: Use once per day for normal/dry skin types. Use twice a day—morning and night—for congested skin. Massage a small amount onto the face and neck over dry skin. Fill your basin with warm water and immerse the Muslin Cloth in it. Squeeze off excess water, then hold the cloth over your face and neck for a few seconds while taking a deep breath. The heat will soften your skin and open your pores, allowing the aromatic oils to cleanse your skin of impurities. For optimum results, repeat this stage three times. Fold the hot, rinsed cloth into a square and work it in small circular movements across your face and neck to remove all traces of Cleanser and makeup. The Muslin Cloth will gently exfoliate your skin and encourage healthy blood circulation. Finally, rinse the cloth in cool water and hold over your face and neck. This helps close your pores and give your skin a more even, toned appearance.

Compared to my K-Beauty cleansing balms, this is much softer and oilier. It melts into my skin without crumbling and I don’t need a lot of product. I discovered that for my oily skin type, the muslin cloth is very important when using this cleanser. The first time I used this cleanser, I skipped the cloth step and felt that my face had a film of oil on it. I then decided to follow the instructions and used the warm, damp cloth, applying to it my face for 5 seconds at a time, it really removed the oil and left my face feeling soft and smooth, without any greasy residue. So, the tip for oily skinned folks is to make sure that you use the cloth as instructed to ensure that all of this balm is removed from your face. I did not experience any breakouts from using this balm.

How does it clean? Well, here is my cleansing test! I used my heavy duty lip tints, matte lippies, mascara and eye liners and then applied some balm to my hand. I massaged it in and you can see that it turned all of the products into a nice oily looking black sludge. I honestly wasn’t sure if this cleanser could remove the makeup at this point ~ It certainly doesn’t look like it, doesn’t it? I then took the cloth, ran it under warm water, twisted out the excess water and applied to my hand for 5 seconds. I rinsed the cloth out and repeated that step 2 more times, wiping my hand clean after the 3rd time.

As you can tell with the photo below, using the balm with the cloth really removed the vast majority of makeup products on my hand. There is still some lip tint residue in the upper right hand side, but a foaming cleanser step afterwards (double-cleansing!) will remove all traces of makeup.

Description: Eve Lom revolutionized the skin care world 25 years ago when she created the first-ever balm cleanser. Formulated with a unique blend of four aromatic oils, the award-winning formula cleanses, decongests and removes makeup without stripping the skin, and offers visible benefits for all skin types. Designed to be used with the unique EVE LOM Muslin Cloth, the Cleanser helps improve circulation, open pores, cleanse, exfoliate and tone the skin in just minutes for a smooth and radiant complexion. Its Egyptian chamomile oil softens and soothes, clove oil encourages clarity, eucalyptus oil decongests, hops oil tones and cocoa butter conditions.

Ingredients: Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), PEG-30 Lanolin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Aluminum Stearate, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, PEG-75 Lanolin, Phenoxyethanol, Eugenia Caryophyllus (Clove) Leaf Oil, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Oil, Chamomila Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Oil, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil, BHT cosDNA analysis

Final Thoughts

What a great box from Bloomingdales and RAN! I love the Clinique Bamboo Charcoal mask, Eve Lom Balm Cleanser and the perfume by Missono. The eye shadow and eyelash curler will be handy for the upcoming holidays and parties #GottaBlingIt! The final value of this box is $235.00 and I am really grateful that Jamie at RAN chose me for this box, as well as Bloomingdale’s for sponsoring it. I loved all of the items in here and I will use them. I hope this review helps you decide if you would like to try some of these items.

What do you think of these products? Have you tried any of them or are you interested in purchasing any of the items? I would love to read your comments!