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fanserviced started and continues as a kpop blog (over at fanserviced.com), so when I saw the K-Style Memebox, with its references to girl group glamour, I freaked out and bought it immediately. My main question with this box was whether it would be able to capture the unique look of Korean makeup styles and translate them in some sort of new way for the global Memebox consumer. I think that this box struck the right balance between Korean styles and makeup that could also be used by people who aren’t obsessed with kpop.

To help give some ideas for how to use these products to create a girl group look I’ve inserted some of my favorite Korean makeup tutorials featuring kpop and kdrama stars. What’s the girl group look and Korean makeup style? Hmm…in my opinion, youthful, highlighted, dewy, and flawless. Here’s my favorite example of total goddess glamour: Girl’s Generation’s Genie 3D music video. It’s a few years old by now, but OMG WAAAA! GG!

About Memebox

Memebox is a subscription mystery item beauty box company minus the subscriptions. Each box may be purchased individually and the regular Memeboxes come with 4 to 8 full-size Korean products, with most of the products focused on a stated theme.

Info Card The vast majority of the critical information about the Memebox products is in Korean, of course, so Memebox includes a helpful description card with each Memebox that has product and use information along with measures of size and valuation. Here’s the info card (click to enlarge).

Bbia Pigment 1.8g, value: $5 (mine is 04 Sweet)

My pigment is a dark pink-copper-y color. One word of warning: this stuff gets everywhere, it’s basically loose glittery flakes, and wow it’s everywhere lol. Everrrrrywhere.

By the way, this is the most legit value I’ve seen on a Memebox card ever: I’d have to pay more than this to buy it from Beautynetkorea, my go-to place for small hauls and crazily low prices.

Video: 130430 Star Beauty Show with Girl’s Day

If you skip ahead to :39 there’s a magical moment where Hyeri from super hot girl group Girl’s Day gets blinged out amazingly in a minute. I would KILL for those eyelash glitters. They aren’t the same as this pigment, but I just really love sparkly things and want to show this video off. “Bling bling” makeup seems to still be a hot trend in Korea, rejoice, lovers of glitter!



Awesome Aqua Radiance CC Cream 30ml, value: $29

I tried this cc cream and it seems fine for my difficult-to-match skin. I’m in the N15 range, but this is a bit darker than me, which is great because I can layer it under my bb cream to avoid a too-white-face effect, which can sometimes happen with my bb alone.

Resource: My two bb cream masterposts here and here with a combined 30+ comparative swatches to maybe help with finding your perfect bb.

RiRe Luxe Auto Gel Eyeliner Champagne, value: $14

This pencil can be used for highlighting undereye pockets of fat called aegyo sal by Koreans. Now that I’ve become interested in Korean culture and makeup I see that a lot of how I perceive age on a person’s face comes from the state of their undereye area–and not just wrinkles! Children tend to have these cute puffy undereyes (depending on their genetic ancestry of course), but that fat tends to lessen over time and the undereye skin gets thin and wrinkled. My current undereye strategy is concealing dark circles with a salmon concealer, then highlighting my aegyo sal with a light, bright, shimmery pencil and glitter. I feel like it’s THE thing that can make a person look instantly more youthful.

This particular pencil is ok. The best gel pencil I’ve used, TonyMoly’s waterproof gel liner, is softer and smoother, which is critical for highlighting that delicate undereye skin without weird drags that do the reverse of the intended effect. This may not be ideal for undereyes, but it should be fine when used elsewhere.

Video: Girl’s Day, Female President

This isn’t a tutorial, but it’s pretty clear if you watch this hit from last summer how to combine dark eyeliner with aegyo sal highlighting. Watch, learn, and highlight.

RiRe Luxe Auto Gel Eyeliner Choco Brown, value: $14

I used this pencil as eyeliner and in my lower lashes and brought the lines together to create a puppy eye. Ok, my eyes are never going to be able to do a Girl’s Day Minah or EXO Baekhyun puppy eyeliner look, but this was a change to my usual eye look that tends to involve some sort of tiny wing or lift at the end, as is the typical Western style.

Before this pencil I didn’t own a brown eyeliner (I know, I know!). I don’t subscribe to Western beauty boxes, which tend to feature a lot of liners, because…why?–they look terrible compared to Memebox in my opinion. So I have a brown eyeliner now. And I like it a lot!!! I have to say, for $14 I’d spring for a slightly higher end gel liner by TonyMoly or Clio, but the liner is good. I’d say that I’d pay $7 including shipping for these pencils.

Video: 140430 Get It Beauty: EXO Baekhyun’s Burgundy Eye Makeup

Byun Baekhyun, singer in EXO-K, is known for his amazing eyeliner (that never seems to get messy, so jealous). This tutorial from top Korean beauty program, Get It Beauty, shows how to get the look. Get It Beauty is somehow associated with the Korean Memebox–the Korean monthly box is called the Get It Beauty box, but I still haven’t figured out exactly how they’re related.

Video: 1307 Nana demonstrates her So Natural Good Girl vs. Bad Girl looks

I’ve got to be honest: if After School and Orange Caramel member-slash-model-slash-goddess Nana is selling something, I’m interested. Plus it’s fun watching idols do their own makeup.

A’Pieu Full of Nature Mascara 4.3g, value: $3

This mascara is good. It took about 40 coats to build a strong lash fan rather than my usual 20 with my go-to mascara, L’Oreal Voluminous (yeah, I’m like a lash-building machine). This still ended up less clumpy and thick (which I want). This was a nice change though and I think that the $3 price tag is really on-point. That’s about a third of my usual mascara’s retail price, so this is a great option–if it can be found as cheap as $3.

Video: So Young’s Beauty Room, Korean vs. American Makeup

This is a fun video that quickly demonstrates the differences between American and Korean makeup styles–they really do look very different on the same person!

Shara Shara Feminine Single Blusher, value: $7 (mine is OR01 Warm Apricot)

When I first encountered this blush and used the included pouf, I thought that it swatches as virtually a pink whisp. Now that I’ve put it on my face and used a blush brush, whoa! It’s like lusty pink-peachy vitality in a compact. Again, this price seems super legit–a $7 blush from a known Korean brand? Awesome.

Video: Get It Beauty Blind Test: Violet Blush

I really need to stop by the TonyMoly shop in New York and pick up the #1 choice violet blush. I can’t even imagine what it would look like on my skin!

Secret Key Sweet Glam Tint Glow 3.5g, value: $24 (mine is 02 Juicy Orange)

I received a watermelon-ish color tint, which actually looks really youthful and refreshing on my lips. As in, it’s bright but not too bright and in a color I don’t usually wear. The formulation of this tint is maybe 70% lip gloss, 30% pigmented lipstick, despite the lipstick appearance. I love the sheer look. It’s probably not going to stay on one’s lips long, but that’s where the cute Dior knockoff case comes into play. The case does not particularly interest me.

Video: Get It Beauty Self, My Love from Another Star Yoo Se-Mi Lip Makeup Tutorial (by the actress who plays Se Mi, who happens to be the host of GIB, Yoo In Na)

While watching My Love from Another Star I realized that Yoo In Na’s gradient lip game is KILLER. Here are her secrets for building color from the inside of your lips out.

Swatches

Final Thoughts

I’m on the train home from work right now and I’m literally wearing every single thing from this box. It’s about 7pm, so the makeup has had time to destroy itself a bit. The eyeliner is holding on strong with zero movement. Scoreeee. The blush is just as flushed as this morning. I’m seeing zero fall-out from the eye pigment (keep in mind that I used Etude House’s Proof 10 primer to lock it down). The lip tint is long gone, but my lips are still moisturized somehow. How even. Waa. The cc cream has fought a battle with my peeling skin (peeling= happiness because my PocketDerm acne meds are working awesomely) and lost. I’ll have to try it again when my skin is less peely. Overall, as a fan of hyper girly makeup and kpop girl groups, this box hit the spot. WOO!

Overall ranking:

Whole Grain From Nature Luckybox 2 K-Style Memebox Global 13 Minibox 3 Luckybox 1 Memebox Global 12 Minibox 2 Makeup Edition Memebox Global 11 Memebox Free from Oil & Troubles Free from Oil & Troubles 2 Superbox Dermocosmetics 1 Memebox Hair & Body 2 Dermocosmetics 2

Anyone else get this? Are you feeling as happy as me about it? Rocking the gradient lip and puppy eyes all over town already?

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