FabBag April 2015 Contents and Unboxing

The last week of the month usually sees the arrival of the subscription bags and boxes. I received  the Fabbag April 2015 edition with the zebra printed waterproof pouch yesterday. The theme for this month is 9 to 9 which I initially thought would mean long wear makeup and high performance skincare. What actually means is “It’s time to ditch the regular 9 -to -9 routine and try something new for rose-flushed cheeks, blemish-free skin and fresh, fragrant days!” Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Let’s see what’s in the bag.

 

My April 2015 Fabbag had the following:

• Malavara Shower Gel 60ml (₹300) and Body Lotion 60ml (₹390) Duo in Lime Vetiver
• City Color Blush Quad in Baby Pink – Full size (₹500)
• Chambor Body Mist in Mystic Magnolia 10ml (₹595 for the full sized 200ml)
• Denman Black Hair Brush (₹475)
• Bonus: Parachute Advansed Aromatherapy Oil 75ml (₹99 for full sized 175ml)

Let’s take a look at each of these…

Malavara Shower Gel and Body Lotion Duo in Lime Vetiver

The reason why I took such a close-up shot of these bottles is because I loved the peacock design on the bottle. Malavara is a new Indian bath and body range and currently has four fragrance variants in the shower gels and body washes inspired by the four compass points of India, North, South, East and West. Lime-Vetiver that I have received, is a lovely refreshing citrusy-woody fragrance and you can actually smell the vetiver (khus) in it making it ideal for use in the hot, muggy summer days.  This duo is a generous 60 ml each and are perfect for travelling. Oh, and the shower gel is SLS and Paraben-free while the body lotion is Paraben-free.

City Color Quad in Baby Pink

I haven’t heard of this brand City Color and it appears to be a super economy brand. I did Google it and checked out it’s website but couldn’t see this particular blush among all the blushes and cheek palettes on the site.

At first glance, the blush and it’s packaging look very pretty. But underneath the seal, I noticed some fallout of the blush. And this was on the edges of the palette (I’ve marked them in circles in the picture). After taking this picture, as I was opening the plastic seal, the blush slipped out from my hand and….

…totally shattered. Pity isn’t it? since the colour looked really pretty. I can, of course, try and fix it like I did with the broken Sigma eyeshadow here, but I would have to mix all the individual shades together to do that. Hmmm, but that would also make quite a nice shade. Will try it and show you.

Chambor Body Mist in Mystic Magnolia

I have used the Magnolia range of bath and body products from Marks and Spencer and those smelt delightful. This Chambor body mist however, has a synthetic smell like some kind of cheap hair oil. Thankfully the smell ( I won’t call it fragrance) doesn’t last too long. Of course, like I always mention in my perfume reviews, fragrance is a matter of personal preference and what one person detests, another might like so, don’t take my word for it. Sniff it yourself (if you want to).

Denman Hair Brush

A hairbrush – No comments!  This one is supposed to give your hair volume when used during a blow dry claims to have an anti-static rubber pad at the base of the pins as well. There is no rubber pad  in this one however. Oh well, a hairbrush always comes in use though…

Parachute Aromatherapy Hair Oil

 

This was a bonus product in my bag sponsored by Parachute. I think nearly every house will have a bottle of the standard Parachute coconut oil so this isn’t a product to get really excited about. But since I saw it was the Aromatherapy variant, I decided to try it out and used it to oil my hair last night. Since this is a review for the Fabbag, I won’t say anything about the oil here, but I shall do a separate post on my review of this oil.

My views

To be honest, I found the April bag to be quite disappointing. The only thing I liked from the bag were the Malavara shower gel and body lotion duo. The blush, while an economy brand, also seemed nice but unfortunately, it broke. I shall try fixing it of course but it won’t be the same. The hair brush is very ho hum and as for the Chambor mist, the less said the better. I did see quite  a few people getting the LA Splash lipstick and Iraya eye cream/pimple cream in their bags and I would have surely preferred those. Since the Parachute hair oil was a brand sponsored product, I am not saying anything about it here. To sum it up, this month’s bag could be good depending on the combination of products you receive. I didn’t get lucky in the product roulette this time….

Price

For just ₹599 per month (less if you take any of 3/6/12 month plans), you get 4 products which are a mix of full sized and sample sized. It is a good option for those who want to try out products from new brands or who are just starting out with makeup and want to slowly build up a collection. But as with all beauty subscription boxes/bags, there is a certain risk you take regarding the kind of products you get.

What did you get in your Fabbag this month?