I may or may not have bought every single Cultbeauty Goody bag for the past year. They are too good! So I tend to try to save my purchases for when they release a goody bag. It makes it feel a little less over-indulgent to spend that amount on beauty products, when I know I would spend the same throughout the year anyways. Probably. Maybe.
They are such a great way to scratch the itch of wanting to test a million new products a day, have fun, find some new favorite products (I end up buying replacements more often that I want to admit) and also save some money on the products I have wanted to try but end up realizing don’t actually work for me. Win.
Anyway, this one was a good one! This one was a £425 value goody bag with a £180 spend, so it’s a good idea to save your purchases for these. First off, the products I bought. I have been thinking about getting a NuFace device for a while, so now was the perfect opportunity. I got the mini device, as it was almost half the price of the trinity one, it has the same strength and if I really – I mean really – love it, I’ll spring for the larger and all the attachments later. I also finally got my hands on the Charlotte Tilbury Iconic Nude lipliner (it feels like it has been out of stock for forever!) and the Patrick Ta eyeshadow brush, since I was so pleased with the other two brushes I bought. And finally the Inkey List oat cleanser, another product that keeps selling out. So only four products, all products I was going to get anyways, and the goody bag was mine! Yay!
So for the free stuff, what you’re here to see! This goody bag had 25 pieces, which is actually a ton of stuff! This includes the black makeup bag and the £15 gift card. I think it’s so cool that they include a gift card – I’ve gotten one before and they are good for a few months and with no minimum spend. Love.
The goody bag has 10 full sized items, but some of these are face/sheet masks, just keep that in mind. Some of these products, I already have (and love). Like the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask (click here to see my review of it). It is so wonderful, and great for almost all skin types. This 30ml is so cute and actually works great as a little gift / stocking filler if you want someone else to see how good it is as well. You also get another product from the same brand, the Glow Recipe Pineapple Bright Serum. I have wanted to try this for a while, but the full size is a little spendy, so this is perfect. You get a 4ml sample size, so you get more than enough to really test it out.
Another product from a brand I have wanted to try for a while, the Versed The Overnight Facial Peel. It is – unsurprisingly – an overnight peel mask, that contains lactic and glycolic acid. The texture is beautiful, smooth and it feels hydrating with just a faint scent. This feels so luxe, I am obsessed with the packaging. And you get 15 ml! This tube is way larger than I anticipated and I am itching to try it.
One of the full sized products is the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Diamonds Lipstick. I have a friend who is a pillow talk convert (I seem to be the only person in the world that this shade isn’t the most beautiful on sigh), so I will gift it to her. It seems like it’s a very loved and flattering-on-most shade, so it’s a good addition to the goody bag. But it also has another lip product, the Honest Beauty Lip Crayon in “Marsala”. It is a stunning shade, and I love that it is a demi-matte lip crayon. I also have never tried anything from the brand, so it’s a nice introduction!
You get 3 sheet masks! I resisted to urge to try them all as I sat down to write this blog post. Firstly, you have the ridiculously decadent ByTerry Baume De Rose Mask, which retails at £14. Way more than I am comfortable with paying for a single sheet mask, so fingers crossed I hate it. The Sweet Chef Ginger + Vitamin C Fresh Pressed Sheet Mask is way more affordable at £3.50, and I am really hoping this is going to deliver on its promise of brightening dark spots and uneven tone. I have been trying a lot of different vitamin C products lately in an attempt to fade acne scars and even my skin tone, so it’s a very welcome addition. Finally, there’s the super Instagram-worthy Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Mask, which I intend to use for just that; an Instagram selfie. It’s 2020. I don’t tend to find any eye masks I have ever tried to be a must-have, but maybe these will change my mind.
The only nail product is one I really needed as I was running low; the NCLA So Rich Vitamin E Infused Cuticle Oil. It retails for £15, and yes it does feel that expensive. It comes in the scent peach vanilla and the scent is strong. Pros: it smells like my favorite candy. Cons: I now want candy. It comes in a dropper bottle, one drop on each hand is enough to massage into the cuticles of all my nails, and it feels super nice. My wallet will cry if I can’t go back to my cheap cuticle oil after this.
There are 3 eye makeup products, and two of them are mascaras. I tend to change out my mascara at least every other month, so for me this is super convenient. The It Cosmetics Superhero Mascara (travel size) I have tried before and I really like it, so I’m happy to get a backup to the one I am already using. The Iconic London Triple Threat Mascara is full size. Despite having been recommended this mascara several times, I have never actually tried it. The final eye makeup product is an eyeshadow palette, the Huda Beauty Emerald Obsessions. This is, despite being very much palm sized, a full size product. I am on the fence about this product. I love when they include an eyeshadow palette in the goody bag, and the last one I got was a Natasha Denona mini palette (I was floored as they are among my top 3 eyeshadows ever). But I have also gotten the red Huda Beauty palette in a goody bag a while back and I felt the quality of it was so-so (just because I am spoiled by Tom Ford and Natasha Denona, which are obviously in a totally different price range). I know people love them, I am just extremely picky with eyeshadow. On the other side, these shades look absolutely beyond gorgeous (and a bit more versatile than the red one I have laying around in some drawer). I may keep it, or I may gift it on to someone who isn’t as much of an eyeshadow snob as myself. I am tempted to keep it, just for the top left glitter eyeshadow alone, it is so pretty.
There is just one hair product in this goody bag, and it is the Living Proof No Frizz Intense Moisture Mask, and it’s a decent 30 ml mask, I’m guessing it will give me maybe 2, possibly 3 applications to really try it. We’ll see how far it goes. I haven’t cut my hair since quarantine started, so my hair is definitely nearing hay-territory and could use a good mask.
I was confused to see the Four Sigmatic Superfood Serum – I have only heard of the brand in relation to an influencer telling me to drink their coffee. I had no idea they did skincare. But looking at the ingredients, it has a lot of nice oils (you can definitely smell the olive oil, though), so I’m intrigued to try it. In fact, I think calling it a face oil, instead of a serum would be a little more correct. It retails for £55, so at least in theory it should be really nice!
You also get a small 5ml size of the Drunk Elephant Lala Retro Whipped Cream. I have been close to purchasing this several times, so even though it’s a small sample, I am grateful to finally be able to see if I can get a new favorite (my previous one was also from a Cultbeauty goody bag, the Omorovicza Night Cream that made my wallet cry).
Speaking of expensive skincare, you get a 20ml size of Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Cream, the full size version of this is 50ml and retails for £135!! This is such a good addition, even though I am praying to the skincare gods that this won’t work for my skin. Of course the initial try on my hand feels heavenly; incredibly moisturizing, light weight and sinks in super fast. Darn it. I’m worried I will need another talk with the wallet.
You may know that I am a sunscreen fanatic. I never leave the house without it – both some on my face and a bottle in my bag for reapplication. I usually always wear it inside as well. So, sunscreen is always a welcome gift! The Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 30 is definitely “unseen”, it’s completely clear and unlike any other sunscreen I have ever tried. It reminds me of a drier version of the Smashbox primer in consistency, and this sunscreen has dimethicone and is supposed to work as a makeup primer as well, so it makes sense. I’m super excited to try this!
The goody bag has a couple more facemasks. First the Oskia Renaissance Mask in a 15ml size. I have used this mask for a couple of years now and I still love it! It’s incredibly luxurious to use and it’s super gentle, whilst still resurfacing the skin. In fact, the first time I used it, I thought it was wonderful to have on, but didn’t expect any change in my skin whatsoever when I went to wash it off. I. was. wrong. My skin felt so incredibly soft. I can highly recommend it, it’s one of my favorites ever! The other facemask is the Fresh Rose Face Mask, also in 15 ml. I am trying my best not to go cleanse my face and try this right away, the texture feels so nice and the smell is so incredibly beautiful. I love anything rose, but still, this smells so wonderful. I’m probably reaching for this tonight!
You also get 5ml of the expensive Dr. Dennis Gross B3Adative Superfoods Stress SOS Eye Cream, which retails at £67 for 15ml. I go back and forth on using eye cream – several derms have told me it’s not necessary and it’s just expensive moisturizer. But I still find that they tend to have a better texture for the eye area than my regular moisturizers. I had to pump a lot before anything came out of the bottle, but the texture seems really nice, but definitely not on the light side. I’m thinking this could be a really nice base for makeup, though!
Almost finished, phew – there are a lot of products in here! There’s the Kate Somerville ExfoliKate, which I have actually had in my shopping cart countless of times, but never pulled the trigger on. It’s on the smaller size at 7.5ml, but still plenty enough for me to see if I like the exfoliating effect and if the scent is inoffensive enough. I’m hoping it’ll be a hit because I love the idea of a quick 2 min facial. The other product is a full size one, The Inkey List Tranexamic Acid Night Treatment. I have found that their products can be quite active, so I will test this with caution as I have not tried anything like it before. It’s an overnight treatment supposed to decrease dark spots and uneven patches.
Finally, the last product in this goody bag is the U Beauty Resurfacing Compound in a trial size of 10ml. I have never heard of it (or the brand), but it looks luxe! This seems to be a resurfacing serum type of product. I just tried this on my hand and it seemed more natural as a quick rinse-off treatment type of product in strength. I will test it out a bit and see how I get on with it, but it definitely seems potent. The retail price starts at £85 (!!) for 15ml (!!), so theoretically this should be a magical product.
Final thoughts
I really like this goody bag, it’s very skincare focused and I feel like there was a ton of value in it. My sparkle loving self wants more makeup, but that’s more a me problem. And I am still really excited about nearly all the products, so that’s a big win! This goody bag had such amazing sizes for products as well, there’s nothing more annoying than a sample you get to try once and still kind of have no clue how works. Definitely grab one, if they’re still in stock when you read this!
One of the most difficult things about these goody bags, is that it’s difficult to not just sit down and try every single product in one go. But I tend to have several weeks (sometimes months) of new products to try, which is such a treat for a skincare and makeup junkie like myself. And when I am through them all (usually before), there’s a new goody bag offer available!
Just add to cart at www.cultbeauty.com for a minimum spend of £180 and the goody bag should automatically be visible in your cart at checkout.
DISCLAIMER: This post is not sponsored and I paid for the items myself (it’s a free gift with purchase bag, but I hope you get my meaning!).
