nomakenolife is a monthly subscription box of Japanese cosmetics and beauty products. Japanese women take their skincare very seriously, and their beauty products are superb quality. They are also very big on products which contain natural ingredients, including collagen, and avoiding harsh chemicals.
It works like this:
They have one-, three-, six-, and 12-month subscriptions costing $29.99, $29.00, $28.33, and $27.50 per month respectively. At current exchange rates this is £22.24, £21.51, £21.01, and £20.39.
Shipping is free.
nmnl is part of the TokyoTreat group, who also produce TokyoTreat, a lovely box of Japanese snacks, and YumeTwins, an equally lovely box of kawaii Japanese goodies.
Their shipping box is nice and sturdy, with simple monochromatic branding.
(As a tiny digression, see that tiny dent on the top of the box? I commented on an exactly similar dent in last month’s review, and there’s the same dent once again. How strange!)
Everything always arrives in perfect shape, despite the rigours of the international postal service.
There is attractive blue shredded paper in the box, which acts as padding and also looks nice!
On top is their menu booklet.
It contains useful information about each item in the box, including descriptions and ingredients.
I like the look of that face mask sitting right on top, so let’s see that one first, shall we?
This is an S-Labo Face and Neck Care Mask. Not only does it cover your face like a regular sheet mask, it also covers your neck!
There are little loops to put over your ears to keep it in place. Ingenious.
If you’re lucky I’ll Instagram a picture of me trying it out!
Here is a set of five Rosy Rosa False Eyelashes.
They are made from a mix of black and brown nylon, to produce a more natural look.
The set, however, does not include glue.
Ayurbio Damaged Hair Mask in a generously-sized tube.
Like so many Japanese products it contains a panoply of different natural ingredients. This is ideal for treating hair which has perhaps not been treated too gently over the summer, what with sun, sea, and swimming pools.
Among other things this mask contains keratin, amino acids, and many botanical extracts. It also has a gentle apple scent, which matches the apple stem cells (seriously) which form part of the formula.
This adorable jellybean-shaped package is eyeshadow!
Jelly Belly produces a number of non-edible items, but this Jelly Belly Eyeshadow is only available in Japan.
Each box contains either this blue version or a similar one in green.
It’s quite pigmented but not immensely strong on the skin. It is also slightly shimmery. There is a useful little mirror on the inside of the lid, which is a nice design touch.
Fantastic, a brown eyeliner. This Cezanne Easy Eyeliner is in retractable pencil form.
It’s very smooth going on, and a beautiful natural colour.
The pencil itself is elliptical in shape, so you can vary the width of the line.
Finally, the Delicious Lip Cream in Ramune scent is going to be very useful as the weather gets colder.
The alternative possibility was chocolate mint, but I’m very glad to get the ramune (Japanese soda) because it’s not a common flavour in the west. Plus it also reminds me of Japanese candy, which I adore!
This box has a great variety of items, and a couple of seasonally-appropriate things such as the lip balm and hair mask are extra thoughtful.
There are a couple of items which don’t quite appeal to me.
The eyeshadow is incredibly cute, with very kawaii packaging. nmnl is a sister company of YumeTwins, which specializes in kawaii items, so this looks like a bit of a crossover!
While it’s a fun item, beautifully packaged, and I’m sure plenty of people will love it, I’m not really keen on blue eyeshadow. I think it’s likely it will go into the dressing-up box, as I think my daughter, who adores playing with makeup, will get a huge kick out of it!
Ditto the false eyelashes. I’m fortunate to have been blessed with rather good eyelashes, and with the right kind of mascara they can look fake! I also think that glue should have been included, as it’s a rather specialized item that would require a trip to the shops. Again, they will be great fun for dress-up, so I’m sure they will be used at some point.
The rest of the items I love.
I’m a huge fan of sheet masks, and I’ve never before seen one that also treats the neck area. Of course, the skin of your neck is as delicate as the skin of your face, yet it is frequently neglected. So this is a wonderful item.
This summer has not had nearly enough sun, sea, and swimming pools for my taste, but the hair mask will still be useful because I like giving my hair a good deep condition on a fairly regular basis. The smell is beautiful, too.
I always wear brown eyeliner (I find black too harsh) and this pencil is just perfect for me. I love that it retracts, and the shape is very useful, especially for my preferred natural look.
Finally, lip balm is never not nice to have. It goes on great and smells delicious. A TokyoTreat crossover perhaps?
nomakenolife only sends Japanese brands, and frequently they are totally unavailable outside the Asian market. As I said before, the eyeshadow is exclusive to Japan, and I haven’t been able to find any of the other items on non-Japanese websites.
So no price breakdown, though I’m confident the value is excellent as always. I think the Western equivalents would easily set you back the price of the box and more.
Japanese beauty products are always of superb quality, and nomakenolife always send a great selection!
A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk.
