Lip Factory Box July 2014 unboxing, review

The reason I am posting the July 2014 Lip Factory beauty box in August 2014 is that it arrived on the last day of July and then I went a-travelling.

Lip Factory is a US-based makeup-centric beauty box that sends out full-sized products, no samples. There is a very high level of customisation possible, and the customer care is amazing. I mean it. I have been emailing Memebox for more than a month now over a missing box and nothing has come out of it. Email Lip Factory once and you get your problems, if any, solved.
To order, go to lipfactoryinc.com. Make sure you quote my referral code 385650 for 50 points apiece, which you can redeem against products or boxes.
Last month, they had sent out Girlactik Beauty products, as you can see here. July 2014 is Lip Factory's second anniversary month, so I expected another brilliant box. Were my expectations met? Read on.

Here is my review and unboxing of the July 2014 Lip Factory beauty box.

I received the following products in my July 2014 Lip Factory Box:

1. J.Cat Wonder Lip Paint in Blabberwocky (nice name)
   
2. Pari Beauty Eyeshadow in ES 16
3. Pari Beauty Eyeshadow in ES 18
4. Palladio Shadow and Liner Herbal Crayon in Raspberry
5. Palladio Shadow and Liner Herbal Crayon in Silver Bells
6. Palladio Brow Fix eyebrow fixing pencil

Six products in all. A lot of people received eight products, but the other two were lip glosses, which they kept out of my box, thankfully. Others also received the Eco Lips Tinted Lip Balm instead of a Palladio crayon, and an Ofra Lip Liner in place of the second Pari Beauty eyeshadow.

A quick look at each:

J. Cat Wonder Lip Paint in Blabbewocky

JACKPOT! I love you for this, Lip Factory! This is seriously good stuff. I can take a boxful of this next month cheerfully, thank you very much! The formula is runnier than OCC Lip Tar. This shade is slightly deeper and pinker than OCC Grandma. Blabberwocky is a coral with pink undertones. Subtle and not in-your-face. Cruelty-free and lead-free. You need a lip brush to apply very, very little product to cover the whole lips. What pigmentation! And, it is non-drying. I could drool over this in a dedicated review post, but cannot wait to show you, so you will see swatches below.

Pari Beauty Eyeshadow in ES 16

Neutral pearly beige (to the right in the picture). Can go on as a highlighter or even on the lids at a pinch.

Pari Beauty Eyeshadow in ES 18

A really pretty pink that I love on my eyelids. All the pink eyeshadows I have are deeper or brighter than this, so this is a welcome addition to my stash.

Palladio Shadow and Liner Herbal Crayon in Raspberry

I will be using this as an eyeshadow rather than as an eyeliner. A deep berry shade, this will look good in the crease with the Pari Beauty pink eyeshadow above. Of late, I am loving shadow-crayons, such as Rimmel ScandalEyes, since they are damage-proof and spill-proof while travelling. Swatched towards the end of the post.

Palladio Shadow and Liner Herbal Crayon in Silver Bells

The problem with silver eyeliner is that it makes me look witch-like. Not that I need much help in that area, but anyway. This will be used as a highlighter, with a really light hand and a blending brush. I wish they had sent me a neutral or even brighter colour instead of this, even if I can use it somehow.

Palladio Brow Fix eyebrow fixing pencil

My first thought was, argh, who uses eyebrow pencils, now that I have Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade, Benefit Gimme Brow and Benefit BrowZings. I expected this to be a black eyebrow pencil, where you end up with fake-looking eyebrows with visible pencil-marks. And then, I opened the lid to find this:

A colourless wax! I have already broken off the tip while trying it on, the wax is that soft. I have an eyebrow powder or two lying around, so hopefully this will go well with those and prevent fallout or smearing.

Swatches of J.Cat Wonder Lip Paint and Palladio Shadow and Liner Crayons:

Here are the swatches of (from left) the J.Cat Wonder Lip Paint in Blabberwocky, the Palladio Shadow and Liner Herbal Lip Crayon in Raspberry and the same crayon in Silver Bells.

 

I spread out the lip paint with a brush, so there was only a thin layer:

Here are on-lips swatches of the J.Cat Lip Paint in Blabberwocky. Whacha think? Is that pigmented or what? Outdoors, in natural, if cloudy light, no flash, on dry, bare lips.

Indoors, with flash, so you can see the difference with lighting. Ignore the bleeding and the uneven application. I was running late.

Indoors, no flash, in artificial light.

The next product is NOT a part of my box, but something I ordered: I fell in love with the Teeez Trendy Ready To Wear Lipstick they had sent in the February box and wanted more. Also, I noticed that I did not own even one red lipstick. While I only wear subtle lipsticks, a girl needs at least the one red lipstick in her cupboard, so I ordered Romantic Red and asked if it could come with my box, so that I could save $10 on postage. They agreed to include it and here it is.

Summary

For $32 including shipping - $22 within the US - this is not a bad deal, for six full-sized makeup products, all of which I can use. I love that they did not send out the lipglosses, as I keep nagging them about no gloss. But then I had only six products instead of eight. I would have liked to try out the lip balm instead of the Silver Bells shadow and liner, though.
One thing in this box makes my day - the Wonder Lip Paint. LOVE it! That is Lip Factory's second anniversary gift to subscribers and is not listed in the product card. For that alone, I would buy the entire box.
The colours they chose for me have all been good this month. While I loved every single box until February 2014 (check out previous Lip Factory unboxings here), I hated the March box. April was meh for me, but I am glad Lip Factory have sent out chosen useable colours in May, June and July. I hope the August box is brilliant.
Disclaimer: Not a PR sample.