Whoomph, that’s a hell of a title. At any rate, here’s my review before the month is officially out.

This month’s package had a City Color lipstick, an I-Lite pencil, one of MBA’s liquid matte lipsticks, an LA Girl contour stick, and a pressed eyeshadow, as well as a 15% off code. (Is it the same as last time? I think it is.)

As a side note, the price for new international subscriptions has gone up with shipping, so that the shipping is 15 dollars US, making it 30US altogether. Yikes. I know shipping has gone up, but still.

So, before I really get into it, I should mention that I have issues with the MBA curation team. Out of the five products I got, three seem to be concentrated towards a “tan white person” market. As a non-tan white person, this is a bit of an issue. I can imagine if you were a POC, this might be more of one. When they don’t even ask what your skin tone is when you subscribe, they probably should refrain from including so many face products.

Halo is a My Skin But Shimmery colour. It’s opaque over primer, but it’s a sheer wash over bare skin. It’s a fairly unremarkable highlight colour for me.

I don’t know what makes the LA Girl Velvet Contour Stick in Cashmere “velvet” as such. “Velvet” usually implies that something is matte, but Cashmere is pretty shimmery. It’s basically the same colour as Halo, even though it looks a lot darker in the listing photo on the site. It’s also very shimmery and very pigmented.

Another thing- can we talk about how bad the photoshop of the I-Lite Pencil in the listing is? Because yikes. That is not an actual photo. Don’t try and fool me. Heck, that’s not photoshop- that is MS Paint on there. It’s a lot more accurate in colour than the swatch of Cashmere is, though- sort of a My Skin but Darker And Also Oranger. I’m sure it’s a great product for opening up your eyes if you have darker skin than I do, but for me it’s relatively useless. It also doesn’t really stay in place, giving me the unfortunate appearance of dark reddish lower eyelids. You had one job, I-Lite pencil, and you did the exact opposite.

You may have noticed that both the lip products I got are pink. You may have also noticed, if you’re a longtime reader, that I hardly ever wear full-on pink lip products. I only really wear them when I am trying to channel my inner Jem. (Who am I kidding, I’m channelling Pizzazz.) So my opinion might be biased by my anti-pink nature.

Necee is PINK. It’s the same colour as my hair was when I dyed my hair pink. It’s a cool pink, with sort of fuchsia undertones. While I think it’s about as good as a bright pink can look on me, I’m still not naturally drawn to it. As well, the lipstick has a weird almost sticky texture to it. I tried one of those Revlon Ultimate Suede lipsticks a year or so ago, and I got the same thing. It doesn’t ever really dry down, so my lips are always sticking together.

Fiasco is another colour that my father would describe as PINK!!! It’s warmer than Necee, but it’s still really loud. It’s my first time trying the MBA liquid matte formula, and I wasn’t too pleased about it. The third photo is the wear after drinking a glass of water. The lipstick almost flaked off in whole solid pieces. I also found it pretty drying without a balm, and it stained pretty badly.

So, ultimately, this bag was a disappointment. The value was there- this one was worth a total of 32.25 US. However, there’s not too much in there I really think I’ll use. The contour stick is a nice idea, but it mostly just made me look kind of oily, since there’s not really enough contrast for it to be a decent highlight for me. Halo is alright, but not stunning. The pencil is too dark for my needs. And if I’m going to wear a bold lipstick, it’s going to be blue or black, instead of two near-identical pinks. Seriously, MBA, someone there needs to work on your box contents. If I’m going to spend 30 dollars US a month on this (that is 42 CAD with the current exchange rate) I’d want something with a bit more effort put in. You guys have so many unique lip colours- why do we need two pinks? If you were going for a pink theme, why not also a pink eyeshadow? This box was really underwhelming, IMO. (Also, side note, does anyone else get this? Do you get the same products?)