2019 LUCKY BAG EARLY ACCESS CLICK HERE

Lucky bags are a Japanese new year custom where merchants fill grab bags with random contents and sell them at a steep discount.

Every year on the day after Christmas, Beautylish offers customers their take on the tradition. I’m a self proclaimed expert since this is my fifth year in a row purchasing one of these bags (check out my 2017 review). For the past two years they offered two different versions of their lucky bag, the regular version (which costs $75 and is guaranteed to be worth at least $150) and the XL (cost-$150, value- $350+). I’ll be reviewing the XL bag and Emma will be reviewing the regular. It’s also worth noting that we went in to this knowing that there was a good chance that we’d receive some items that we already had due to blogging. But we run weekly giveaways for our followers on Instagram so we figured that whatever we didn’t want could get added to the giveaway stash.

Here’s what I got this year….

Tada! A Wayne Goss brush! Three palettes! Winner, winner!

Bioderma ($6.90)- pretty sure that I’ve gotten a little bottle of Bioderma in my lucky bag all five years. But I’m not complaining. I can never have enough micellar water or makeup remover wipes.

Sulwhasoo Brightening Mask ($13)- these brightening sheet masks are sold in packs of ten for $130. I don’t usually like sheet masks as I never notice a difference after using one. But this Sulwhasoo mask is way more expensive than the sheet masks that I’ve used in the past so hopefully it will convert me into a sheet mask believer (but I kinda doubt it).

Wayne Goss 12 Sculpting Brush ($53)- yay! I love Wayne Goss brushes. I’ve got a bunch of his older brushes that are mostly blue squirrel but only a few of his newer goat brushes. I love the softness of blue squirrel but I find goat more practical since I like to wash my brushes regularly. Welcome to the squad #12!

Oribe Travel Essentials Set ($98)- this little set includes samples of Oribe’s Gold Lust shampoo, conditioner and dry shampoo as well as their Balmessence lip treatment and Côte d’Azur fragrance roller ball packaged in a canvas toiletry bag. The only Oribe product that I can recall using is their dry shampoo, which is really good. However I’ve got a fuckton of samples like this and with the set being valued at $100, I think it’ll be an ideal giveaway item.

Kevyn Aucoin ‘The Art of Makeup’ palette ($98)- this is a LE palette inspired by Kevyn’s book of the same name. The palette includes four essential Kevyn Aucoin face powders and six brand new eyeshadows. I’ve always liked Kevyn Aucoin makeup but it seems to me that a lot of it ends up on the Sephora clearance page and Hautelook. I already have the face powders in this palette so this will be a giveaway item as well.

By Terry Sun Designer Palette in 03 Tropical Sunset ($82)- By Terry released three of these face palettes around this time last year. This one is 03 Tropical Sunset. The larger side of the palette has three warm toned bronzers. The smaller side has a sparkly gold highlighter and two vibrant blushes, in coral and fuchsia. It’s an absolutely beautiful palette and By Terry is known for having high quality products. But I’m pretty sure that these palettes were LE so I can’t help but to assume that Beautylish was trying to get rid of them. Gorgeous palette but I don’t see myself using it enough to justify keeping it. Giveaway pile!

Viseart 10 Warm Matte palette ($80)- this palette had a loose pan that ended up scratching the surface of a few of the other eyeshadows while being jostled around in the mail.

I mostly likely would’ve included it in a future giveaway if it didn’t have those minor flaws. It’s no big deal for me but I can’t use a blemished item for a giveaway. Not that I don’t love Viseart eyeshadows, of course I do. I just have so many palettes that I would’ve been compelled to give it to a follower that would cherish it. But now I can keep it, guilt free!

I’ll do a review and swatches in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

And there you have it! The retail value of the seven items included in my bag comes to a grand total of $431. Not too shabby for a $150 investment! I’m keeping the brush, the Viseart palette, the Bioderma and the mask and you’ll be seeing the Oribe set and the By Terry and Kevyn Aucoin palettes in future giveaways.  I know that as a blogger my perspective on these items is different than the typical consumer’s. I have a ridiculous amount of makeup and I fully expected to receive items that I didn’t need. But I think that the average makeup lover would’ve been thrilled with this bag. And to wrap things up, here’s a pic of one of my dogs photo bombing my lucky bag photoshoot…