Powder Beauty Drawer, Season 2 [Review]

I can't remember the last time I went near a beauty box after being disappointed by their lacklustre cofferings; I know that surprise is supposed to be part of the fun, but when one receives products that one simply does not like (I'm very picky), it actually ruins the experience. This is why I prefer beauty boxes whose contents are revealed beforehand, such as the case of the Powder Beauty Drawer.

The box that I purchased is the second release, also known as Season 2 of Powder Beauty Drawer. For a one-off payment of £35 plus £4.95 postage (total = £39.95), you'll receive a box with contents supposedly worth over £120. So without further ado, here it is...

The beauty drawer is literally crammed full of products! I love the shade of baby pink, so I'll keep the box to repurpose.

The fact that you get several full sized products is a huge plus. With most beauty boxes, you're just given a few GWP or sample sizes that you can get for free anyway.

Before checking out, you're presented with a short questionnaire to determine the products best suited to your needs, but the majority are pre-determined.

Contents:

I'll split these into sections, starting with the useless to me products - fake tan. Why. Does. Every. Single. Spring/Summer. Beauty. Box. Contain. Fake. Tan. AAAAAAAAAH! Ahem...

• Vita Liberta Self Tanning Gradual Lotion 50ml (full size = 200ml with RRP £15), worth £3.75
• Vita Liberta Self Tanning Night Moisture Mask 10ml (full size = 65ml with RRP £30), worth £4.62
• £10 voucher to spend on Vita Liberta products, redeemable on orders over £30. As this is a discount code, I'm not including it in the total value of the box. On a side note, if anyone would like this (one time use?) code, feel free to contact me and I'd be more than happy to send it. It's valid until 20th December 2016.

Haircare/accessories:

• John Frieda Frizz Ease Anti-Frizz Primer 100ml (full size), RRP £9.99 - Depending on your questionnaire, you could receive Luxurious Volume 7 Day Volume In Shower Treatment instead.
• Charles Worthington Moisture Seal Hair Healer Leave In Conditioner 50ml (full size = 200ml with RRP £5.99), worth £1.50
• Invisibobble Hair Ring x 3 (full size), RRP £3.75

These are products that I will actually use/try, yay!

Cosmetics & fragrance:

• Benefit They're Real Mascara 3g (full size = 8.5g with RRP £19.50), worth £6.88 - I love this mascara; it's one of the few that doesn't give me panda eyes after a few hours, and the applicator is great.
• Revlon Nail Enamel in Teak Rose (full size), RRP £6.49 - not a fan of Revlon, so this is going straight out. The alternate shade is One Perfect Coral.
• Burt's Bees Lip Crayon in Niagara Overlook (full size), RRP £8.99 - I wasn't too keen on this initially, but the colour grew on me. Would have preferred if it were more pink like the other option Hawaiian Smolder, but this shade is quite pretty and the creamy formula feels very comfortable on my lips. Swatch below.
• Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh, sample vial, free from all good department stores. That said, I do like fruity scents, though this is a bit too floral.

Swatch - Burt's Bees Lip Crayon in Niagara Overlook

Shower & skincare:

• L'Occitane Jasmine & Bergamote Shower Gel 30ml (full size = 250ml with RRP £15), worth £1.80
• Active Gold Collagen x 1 (full size = 10 x 50ml bottles with RRP £35.99), worth £3.60
• Perricone MD Hyalo Plasma 30ml (full size), RRP £110 - Yep, this one full sized product retails for £110. But, depending on your questionnaire, the alternatives could have been Chloro Plasma (RRP £69) or Photo Plasma (RRP £59), in which cases the total value of the box would be £120.37 and £110.37 respectively. I didn't realise this at the time of ordering and lucked out with my options landing on the most expensive, bringing up the total value of my box to £161.37!

While I think this box offers fantastic value (worth it for the Perricone MD alone) and would recommend it based on the wide variety of items, there are only a couple of products that I would have purchased myself and a few that I find completely useless, so I won't be buying another box. However, I am looking forward to what Season 3 might bring!


***Edit***
A few days after this review, I discovered that the Perricone MD Hyalo Plasma has an expiry date of 06/2016 (I mean, it obviously can't be the date of manufacture). I had actually planned to keep this for a while, as I have so many products to get through, so it's a good thing I found out when I did. Having said that, I find it quite sneaky of Powder to include such a short expiry in their offering. No wonder they were able to provide such an expensive item, since it most likely won't sell - I mean, no one wants to buy expensive skincare that expires in less than two months.

Taking this into account, I'm unlikely to purchase the next Powder box unless I can be sure that its (important) products have longer expiry dates.