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.

Here are the basics:

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 £21.09, £20.39, £19.92, and £19.34. Shipping is free.

 

Here is their shipping box. I love their branding; it’s simple but striking, and the box itself is nice and robust.

There’s a menu booklet with details about this month’s items.

This Mapepe Shampoo Bubbling Net is designed to help you get lots of lather from your shampoo.

You apply the shampoo to the net and then rub it on your hair. It works in a similar way to those shower gel net balls, and is very effective at making lots of foam! Using the net is also supposed to stimulate the scalp, plus you can also use it for soap and shower gel.

These Patting Cotton Swabs are like really big cotton buds which are soaked in moisturizing skin essence. The idea is that the large bud means you can apply the essence to your skin gently, rather than rubbing it onto you skin.

This is a Character Silicone Puff, one of four possible characters – I got Hello Kitty. While it’s not exactly a puff, it’s designed to apply foundation. It works like those foundation sponges you can get, but apparently the silicone type is becoming increasingly popular, as it’s very easy to clean, doesn’t soak up and waste foundation, and you can see exactly where you’re applying your foundation!

Peach Body Scrub Soap contains peach seed and konjac scrub to exfoliate your skin. It’s designed for the body, and you might be able to guess from the shape which part! It also smells absolutely delicious.

This is a Dolly Wink Eyeshadow palette, which contains four colours: pink, and three shades of brown. It’s great for earthy shading with a little bit of extra colour!

Finally we have these cute Rilakkuma Blotting Papers! Blotting papers are really handy for removing shine during the day, especially as the weather starts to get a bit warmer. The cute character is an extra bonus!

I love Japanese skincare products, and these are a great variety of items.

The silicone puff is intriguing, as well as very cute! I don’t wear liquid foundation, though I’ve heard really good things about this kind of applicator. The teardrop shape is also supposed to be the best design. 

The eye make up is a nice palette, and I love the colours, but I tend to prefer matte rather than iridescent eyeshadow. However the colours are so good I think it’s worth experimenting with.

The rest of the items I really love. Those soap nets work really well, and the one I have at the moment has torn, so this is perfect timing!

The soap smells delicious, and I really like using body scrub bars. I’ve never seen the patting sticks before, but I think my rather dry skin will love them, especially after this cold weather!

And the blotting papers are great. I remember using them a lot when I was younger, and I had forgotten how useful they can be to have around, especially at the end of a long day.

Now to value. As these are all Japanese brands it’s often very difficult to find prices on these, so I’m not going to do an individual breakdown. I will say that I’ve never had a box that wasn’t good value for money.