Today I have the Starlooks April Starbox to show you. This box was a neutral set and the promo image has a pretty music festival vibe.
another cute box!
The goods
The picture has beautiful “hippie chicks” who look like they’ve just arrived all fresh-faced at Coachella or some other festival.
The info
The image made me dream of heading to the Voodoo Music and Arts Experience since the musical loves of my life will be there!! I can dream…..
This month’s box was valued at $50 which is a great deal! I was quite excited that there was a mascara primer in the box. I had been wanting to try one, but am on a crazy tight budget right now. The purpose of mascara primer is to smooth, soothe, and prep your lashes for the mascara of your choice. The Sensation Mascara Primer (retail $15~I couldn’t find a link for you) from Starlooks also has a polymer that helps thicken your lashes. For me, the primer helped lengthen a bit since the fibers latched on to my lashes and extended past the ends a bit. It was a bit interesting having the primer on without immediately using mascara. The fibers made my lashes pretty dense and the extra length seemed weird to look through since it was white.
Note: Covergirl Lash Blast Clump Crusher does not like these fibers. If you want to benefit from the fibers, use a mascara with non-rubber bristles. I used the primer with Starlooks Lengthening Mascara, Reviva Labs Liquid Mascara, and Urban Decay Supercurl Mascara with no issues.
Fibers aplently!!!
Another item I was glad to see is the Mineralized Powder (retail $19) which came in “translucent/nude”.
In the top middle pic I have just puffed the product on my hand, the top right pic is after blending out
I use a translucent powder currently that does not have any kind of coloring to it. I was curious to see if this would help with skin tone correction. I did not use any foundation or BB cream on my face for this post, only the Mineralized Powder. In general I do not wear foundation. I have started using BB cream regularly. I feel like this powder would be a nice combo with BB cream. It’s light and definitely feels smooth and velvety while I’m wearing it. It really stands up to a muggy Florida day too. This powder didn’t run on me and make me look all melty faced. I didn’t really notice any color correction, but honestly didn’t expect to. I was just curious if the coloring would make this any different from a white translucent powder. This is definitely a product that is great for all skin tones. It also has SPF 15, which is a major plus for me!!
The container is packed full. It only takes a very small amount so I see this will last me a very long time, YAY! The jar is very sturdy and came with a pretty powder puff. I personally prefer to use a brush as it works better for me.
Tender gloss lipstick in Polish PM417
Starlooks included a lippy, it is a Tender Gloss Lipstick. These are sheer, glossy lipsticks. There were apparently four different colors of tender gloss lipstick that you could receive. I got a delicate and shimmery champagne pink one called Polish. The color is very subtle and is a sheer, shimmery, shiny color to enhance your lips, without overpowering them (say that five times fast!!!). This lippy is quite moisturizing too!
It reminded me of a lipstick I currently own, Nyx Galaxy. I wanted to compare the two to show you the difference.
Starlooks Polish Tender Gloss on left. Nyx Galaxy Lipstick on right.
The Starlooks Tender Gloss is more sheer than Nyx Galaxy. Which is expected since this is a gloss product vs. a lipstick. They are similar, but not a true dupe. Polish leans more pink and Galaxy has more of a mauve or lilac undertone. Both are nice and shiny. Nyx Galaxy (retail $4) is more opaque if you prefer more color. I find the Starlooks lippy much more moisturizing. Not to say that Nyx lipsticks are dry, because they definitely are creamy and non-drying. The retail on Starlooks Polish Tender Gloss Lipstick is $11, there are 24 different colors of Tender Gloss available.
I definitely didn’t miss the crystal this time!
There was an extra item in the box. A new lip balm with SPF. The retail is listed as $5, which seems high IMHO. The lip balm has a nice thick texture, so it doesn’t immediately rub off. The texture reminds me of Sugar Lip Balm from fresh. I use it when heading out in the sun since it has SPF 15. I happened to leave it in the car and was really glad it didn’t completely melt in the ridiculously strong Florida heat. I’ve lost many a lip balm this way, LOL!
If I was going to a music festival, or Disney, or just hanging around outside in the heat, the items from the box would be handy!
Face: Starlooks Mineralized Powder and Starlooks Fluid Blush in Barbie (used VERY sparingly!!!)
Eyes: Belleme Cream Eyeshadow in Sparkly Beige; Starlooks Satin Infinity Pot Liner in Princess Diaries; Warpaint Beauty eyeliner (no longer available); Starlooks Sensation Mascara Primer; Starlooks Lengthening Mascara. Brow filled in with WnW (Wet N’ Wild) pencil in Taupe.
Lips: Starlooks Tender Gloss Lipstick in Polish over Starlooks Mint Lip Balm
I had a few people asking me about Starlooks products. Since they are an Independent company, not a lot of people have heard of them. A few people were concerned that Starlooks was a “private label” company. Private label products are manufactured by one company and are available for sale to redistribute and slap your own “branding” on these items. A private label company is basically buying a product to call their own, but has not invested and time or creativity in the actual product. There are LOTS of places that do this. There are also “repackers”. Repackers purchase components that good Indies also use to blend and formulate their own products. There are lots of micas and bases for pigments out there that you can make your own makeup from. These ingredients are purchased in bulk. What good Indie do is then combine and mix ingredients to make their own unique product. Some places don’t. They take the easy way out and either sell you pure pigment, which doesn’t adhere to your skin well. Or they simply throw some of the pigment into kaolin clay and sell you something non-unique at a steep price. There’s other shady things that happen too, but I’ll leave it there for now. You might be surprised what companies employ these under-handed practices! NONE of the Indies I buy from and love!!!!
How about Starlooks? After getting questions posed to me that I couldn’t answer, I turned to the packaging and the website. The packaging lists “distributed by” which can be a sign of private label. The website didn’t tell me what I needed. So, I went straight to the source and asked! What was nice about the reply I received is that it was not general or overly complicated which makes me feel like there’s something to hide. Also, the low cost of the products makes you wonder if it’s too good to be true.
Here’s a summary of what my reply contained. I edited out my questions as the answers speak to what I asked.
Starlooks is completely our own brand with our own formulations. Our lab is located in Canada, we also have a facility in California, and we outsource our packaging from China. Our distribution and formulation facilities all are under different identities, but all the same company. Please let me know how this was insinuated? Our reputation relies on our customers knowing we are our own brand. “Private label” is a term we don’t use and would be inaccurate. In addition lots of makeup brands come from the same labs all over the United States. Many of our brand’s products happen to be the same lab that formulates products for MAC, Bobby Brown, Smashbox, Sephora and many others, which we are very proud to notify you!
We will be including this information on our FAQ page soon, we are currently re-vamping our site.
….Thank you for clearing this up. We do notice often that packaging looks similar between companies. When you are a relatively still growing business like ourselves, there isn’t a lot of packaging out there to choose from with low minimums, so for an indie brand, we have few choices- and a lot of them are “basic” containers that a lot of companies start out with
One day when we’re bigger, we will be able to choose our own unique gorgeous packaging! Hoping the day will come soon….
What we focus on is our formulas. We knew a guy from MAC labs a long time ago in Canada, and have a few of the formulas and were able to improve on them. Also, some of our chemists have formulated products for other known brands. I have personally been formulating these items how I want them for 3 years or more. I am so excited to be able to put out a product (maybe inside a basic container) that speaks to the masses, and proves to be high quality and PRO worthy! We will continue to change the information on our boxes with growth, and also the information on our website to reflect what we are. You would be surprised how long it takes to make a perfect website with all the info everyone wants to know! We really just wanted to get the products up!!!
As we continue to grow we won’t look so familiar, however, I appreciate when people (and reviewers) enjoy indie brands. And I am glad to answer a question like this. Please take all of this information with you and communicate it to your followers. Believe me, not many people ask these types of things!
After reading all of this and trying to summarize it myself I thought it best to use the exact words I read. In my day job, consideration is made on how a person expresses themselves to determine the credibility of the information. I am a somewhat skeptical person. After not only reading all this, but also taking into account that the responses came back to me in a reasonable time, I personally feel that Starlooks is definitely not operating like Private Label or Repacker companies. I leave it to you to be the judge.
I hope this makes sense to you. Perhaps you also got some insight into other companies that you might be buying from. I love a small business myself and try to help support them over large corporations as much as I can. Small business owners have so much passion that they pour into their companies!! You can see that Starlooks products have passion and love inside them too!
All in all, I’m very impressed with the items I have received. The Starlooks products do seem to be a higher end product with affordable price. The products themselves are quality and they come in quality packaging. And they’re cruelty-free too!!
I’m a bit late with this post and the May Starboxes are on the verge of coming out. The teaser pic is absolutely gorgeous!!
You can still get the April Starbox here. It’s $25.
If you’d like to subscribe and get your own box, it’s $15+$2.68 domestic (US) shipping. The boxes are also available Internationally, but you’ll need to inquire about shipping for your country. Click here for subscription info.
What do you think about Starlooks products? Have you subscribed yet? I’d love to see some great reviews on the upcoming box!!!!
If any of you head to the Voodoo Experience, PLEASE take pics of Eddie for me!!!!! If you meet him, tell him to come to Tampa! And tell him not to leave without meeting me. I waited for HOURS! lol
Some products provided for review. Opinion is my own and unbiased. Click button for more info on disclosure.
Affiliate links will be designated with asterisks *around link* Other links provided for convenience.
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