nomakenolife

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 £22.08, £21.35, £20.86, and £20.25. 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.

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

On top is their menu booklet.

This contains a list of items, plus useful information about each one. This can include ingredients and instructions as to use.

Let’s have a look at each item properly.

This is the biggest item in the box.

Ayurbio Damaged Hair Mask is the perfect thing to treat your hair after the summertime rigours of sun, sea, and swimming pools.

This hair mask is sulfate-free, and contains extracts including amino acids, collagen, and apple stem cells!

Not only that, but it has a lovely natural apple scent that lingers on your hair after use.

These are, as you can see, false eyelashes. The brand is Rosy Rosa, and they are made with a mixture of black and brown nylon to retain a natural look.

(Eyelash glue not included.)

This is a Cezanne Easy Eyeliner in a lovely soft brown. The pencil is retractable, which is extremely useful, and it is an elliptical shape so you can control the thickness of the line.

I always use brown eyeliner, so this is the perfect shade for me!

This is a fun item.

I’m sure you’re familiar with Jelly Belly jelly beans.

Well, in Japan you can get Jelly Belly eyeshadow!

There were two possible options, green kiwi-scented and blue berry-scented.

It’s well pigmented and slightly shimmery. There’s also a little mirror inside the compact, and the whole thing is shaped like a giant jelly bean!

Hurrah, another face mask!

Not only does this S-Labo Face and Neck Care Mask cover your face, it’s also designed to treat the skin of your neck! It contains nourishing and moisturizing ingredients, including hyaluronic acid and ceramide.

Ingeniously, it actually hooks over your ears to keep it correctly positioned.

The final item is Delicious Lip Cream. With colder weather coming, lip balm is something you want to have with you at all times.

There were two options, chocolate mint and this one, ramune soda.

This creamy lip balm contains olive oil and jojoba seed, plus it really does smell exactly like ramune soda!

So here you have another lovely nmnl box.

I like all the items, but there are a couple of things that are of less use to me.

The Jelly Belly eyeshadow is seriously cute, and the quality is excellent, but they’re not colours I would really use. That being said, it will go into the dressing-up box! I’m sure there are plenty of people for whom this would be fantastic and completely usable, but it’s just not quite my thing.

Ditto the false eyelashes. At the risk of sounding braggy, I’m very fortunate to have long eyelashes, and so I’ve never used false ones. I also think that glue should have been included in the box, because it’s a relatively specialized item. If you decided to try these out you’d have to make a special trip to buy the glue. But again, this will be a fun addition to the costume collection!

As for the other items, they are awesome.

I adore the eyeliner, it’s totally my colour, and it’s beautifully easy to apply. I’m also very happy that it’s retractable, because I’ve been caught out before my the non-retractable kind.

The hair mask is lovely. I’ve not spent much time in the sun or sea this summer, but it’s still lovely to have some extra pampering for my hair. And the smell is delicious!

I always carry lip balm, and I’m so happy to have another to add to my collection! It’s especially useful now the weather is getting colder.

Finally, the mask. I can’t wait to try this one out. I’ve become a huge fan of Japanese sheet masks (more please nmnl!) and I’ve never seen one before that is also for your neck! Of course this is an excellent idea, because the skin on your neck is just as delicate as your face, and frequently neglected.

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.

The Jelly Belly eyeshadow is only available in Japan, so I couldn’t find a price for it. It’s not available online anywhere, so this really is a very exclusive product for the Western market.

I couldn’t find any other items an any non-Japanese websites, so I’m confident that their availability is very limited, and as with pretty much all Japanese beauty products, the quality is excellent.

There’s no doubt this is terrific value, and even if a couple of the items aren’t quite for me, I’m very pleased with the wide array of beauty items!