Korean Beauty Subscription: Beauteque April 2015 BB Bag Contents

I have a soft spot for Korean beauty products - so when I was asked if I'd like to feature the new Beauteque BB Bag*, a monthly subscription service featuring 7-8 full sized products from popular Asian brands, there was much excite and eager anticipation for the parcel to arrive. Which it promptly did, right on Easter Monday, so I'm kind of treating the bag as my suprise gift from the Easter bunny :)

The theme of the April BB Bag is Mad for Plaid - but to be honest, the plaid make-up bag most of the products came in (there were so many one came packaged separately in bubble wrap) is where the theme ended. The BB Bag also comes with a card showing all the products and their pricing, as well as usage suggestions; very handy given that some of the products have little to no English on the labels. Here's everything I received - I haven't had a chance to actually use any of these products yet, but I'll follow up if any clear favorites emerge through the testing process.

The Beauteque Bag came with two Magic Garden Series Sheet Masks from Hanaka, a brand previously unknown to me - from what I can see online, it's a Taiwanese skincare brand with cute packaging and lots of active ingredients. There's a Rose mask with Tranexamic Acid to brighten and hydrate, and a Marigold Vitamin A mask to purify pores and increase cell turnover. These are priced at $4 (judging from eBay pricing, $4 each). I love trying new sheet masks, so I'm looking forward to using these.

I also got the Holika Holika S-Body Maker Jiggling Patch (somehow the name brings to mind my jiggly belly fat... not particularly enticing), which Beauteque explains as a firming treatment with carbonated bubbles. Sounds like a lot of fun, but let's be honest - it's not going to budge that bacon pouch I have as a mid section. I'm trying the gym in our building for that. On that note... would it get rid of sore (lack of) muscles? Now that's a thought.

There was one more product from Hanaka, the Camellia Powder Wash ($11). It's one of those fizzy cleansing powders which foam up when mixed with water that have become all the rage this year among Western brands like Nude Skincare or Josie Maran. I appreciate that Beauteque is bringing such a trendy item to their subscription, although for me personally, it'd be difficult to find something better than the luxurious TATCHA Rice Enzyme Powder. But, back to Hanaka: there are seven individually wrapped packets in the box, and the card advises to use one packet a day for a week for flawless complexion. I'm a bit skeptical after spotting SLS as one of the ingredients, so I'd probably end up using these on my shoulders and chest.

The sight of this lilac Macaron Lip Balm from It's SKIN ($9) brought a huge smile to my face; I received the grape scent, but I believe there were other options to choose from. It's SKIN is a Korean skincare brand with products ranging from affordable, like this cutesy lip bam, to more luxe both in packaging and price.

I was excited to see this Hydra-Full Solution Water Volume Aqua Gel Cream ($12 for 45ml) from Mizon in the April BB Bag. Mizon is a Korean brand best known for their Snail excretion line; by the way, a lot of Mizon's products are available in the US at Urban Outfitters, both in store and online - although the pricing is significantly higher than Amazon, eBay or dedicated Asian beauty etailers. The Aqua Gel Cream is a lightweight moisturizer with Alaskan glacial waters, and that sounds perfect to use in the daytime during the hot New York summer.

Lastly, I was thrilled to find this Holika Holika Canola Honey Sleeping Pack ($19 for 90ml) in my package. Holika Holika has three versions of these Honey Sleeping Packs, or overnight masks, if you will: Canola to moisturize the skin, Blueberry to combat blemishes, and Acerola to stimulate collagen production. This freakin' adorable glass jar boasts '40% canola honey', as per Holika Holika's own website - sounds suspicious, but the second ingredient is honey extract and the third is rapeseed extract, which has emollient and antioxidant properties and is a rich source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (fantastic stuff for your skin and body). I'm definitely looking forward to introducing this product into my routine in lieu of a night-time moisturizer one or two times a week.

The final item, which I'm continously puzzled by, was a razor, priced at $8. I mean, it's a cute aqua color and comes with an extra cartridge, but it still looks like a very inexpensive razor. I'll use it... but I'm not excited. I generally experience very low excitement levels over shaving my legs and underarms - but maybe I should try dropping a silk scarf to glide down my calf after shaving, as shown in commercials. Pfffft.

Now, for my overall thoughts: I definitely enjoyed the contents of this bag, valued at $70. The Beauteque BB Bag, available at beautequemonthly.com, has four subscription options: month to month, priced at $24 per bag/month, prepaid 3 months (same price), prepaid 6 months at $23 a month, and a full year for $22 a month. The bags are shipped out starting on the 15th of each month, and if you subscribe after the 5th of a given month, you'll be receiving the next month's bag (so if you wanted to subscribe now, you'd be receiving the May BB Bag). The cool thing is that each month on the 15th, you'll be sent a survey where you can choose from a couple of options regarding the products in your bag, like a lipstick shade or lotion fragrance.

Do I think it's worth it? If you like trying out various Korean beauty products both from more popular and lesser known brands, I think it's a good value for money. While the April BB Bag turned out to be very skincare-heavy, Beauteque says the subscription also includes make-up, fashion and lifestyle products (I wish there was one make-up item in the April bag!). The obvious comparison would be with the Memeboxes, but I've never personally tried those - and I've heard the service is actually no longer available in the US due to problems with shipping from Korea. I believe that BB Bags are better priced compared to Memeboxes, and shipped from the US, so there are no issues such as long delivery times and mysteriously vanished parcels. Would I order a BB Bag myself? Yes, I think I would - it would probably be too many products for me to get a bag every month, but it'd be fun to get a bag once in a while. You can also shop their sister site, Beauteque.com, for specific Korean products if you dislike the random element of these subscription services - they have free US shipping over $35.

Have you discovered any new interesting Korean beauty products recently? Or do you prefer to navigate the safer waters of Western brands?

*Disclaimer: The item marked with an asterix (*) is a press sample I received from Beauteque for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate, however I've been asked to include a referral link so that if you guys happen to use it, I may have some more products from Beauteque to show you in the future. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!