So I know I gave Sample Room a really horrible review in my Ultimate Guide but I gotta say I am really impressed. It all started when they restocked last Sunday night, Dec. 16. I immediately bought my samples and by Tuesday, Dec. 18, I already got my stuff!
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| Sample Room goodie bag |
Once more, there was no Benefit Porefessional. So I just settled for a Celeteque serum and eye cream set.
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| The contents as they were sent |
I think it's cool that they bubble wrap each item 'cause they just send it to you in brown paper bags. At least your samples have that extra layer of protection.
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| Celeteque DermoScience+ Restorative Ultra-Lifting Concentrated Serum |
I'm pretty excited about this serum. I've always wanted to try a serum for my face and neck because I've never really found an adequate moisturizer.
Most people, and I'm guilty of this, skip serums. That's fine if you have normal skin, but for people like me with dry skin, we should use the serum and moisturizer as a two-step skincare regimen. The serum goes deep into the pores and the moisturizer seals it in. Normal skin can survive with just the moisturizer but people with dry skin have little natural moisture, so it's important to fill that up first with serum.
Once I'm done trying out the Shiseido Benefiance cleanser, moisturizer and toner set, I'll move on to this and see how it goes.
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| Celeteque DermoScience+ Brightening Eye Tuck and Dark Circles Lightener |
This one's is going to be really useful for me. I have really dark under eye circles and as I've been shopping for a new eyebag concealer lately, the make up artists of different makeup brands have been telling me that the skin under my eyes is really dry. They all recommend an eye cream or a primer. I do have the Urban Decay eye shadow primer but I'd rather use this one for under my eyes. Since I'm on vacation, however, I don't have it with me and am making do with moisturizer.
BOTTOM LINE:
You get 100 points free upon sign up and all the samples' cost 35-60 points each. You can get 1-2 items per transaction and if this isn't enough, you do have the option to buy points but that feature is pending as of this posting.
Pros:
With Sample Room, you're basically just paying for the shipping and can make up your own sampling schedule whether you want to try something new weekly, monthly or whenever you have the extra money. Shipping is near-instant, that's a huge plus.
Your shopping cart won't be erased even if you don't pay on that same internet session. I like this feature because when they restock, you can quickly check out the items you've been waiting for and pay for them before samples go out of stock again.
I do like that they offer new and seasonal products. However, I miss the suspense of opening a sampling box. The flip side is that other people will love having complete control over the samples they want to get, it's just not for me.
Cons:
I don't like the facade of honest reviews. Just because they say people have to review five days after getting the product, doesn't mean that buyers have already sampled it or will review it honestly.
It's not like reviews are all that important anyways. The average user won't be able to review a product as effectively as a beauty guru. I'm not saying I'm one but whenever I do background research for something I want to buy, the gurus' reviews are so enlightening because they touch on the product's background, ingredients and different effects on different settings. What I usually see from the reviews section are "It's great, so effective" kind of comments. It could be better if they feature really helpful reviews beside the product information.
I also don't like how they controlled the number of samples you get per transaction. If a multi-piece collection comes out, I won't be able to get more than two samples. However, from a business perspective, I do understand that they have to make money somehow. Since the points are free and we only pay for shipping, they earn more if we ship more often. The first 0.5kg is Php 100 while every next 0.5kg is either Php 30,10 or 40 depending on the final weight of items to be shipped. Sooo it really is more profitable for them to have us buy a few items at a time where they can earn Php100 rather than just Php 30, 10 or 40 if we buy all at once.
Overall I think this will be useful for super-duper hyped up items not available in retail or seasonal collections. Since I don't know any makeup I can't wait to get my hands on, I think this will be my last Sample Room purchase. If they feature more makeup then I'll probably shop like crazy.
If you find that this kind of thing is for you, check them out at sampleroom.ph. Do check out my future review on these products. In the meantime, I'll be posting my vacation make up hauls :)
P.S. Dec. 28, 2012: I feel like I underrated the fact that I PAID ONLY PHP 100 for the Php 299 eye cream and Php 899 serum WHAT THE EFF?! How did I not notice that?!?!?! What a way to save money! Just make sure the samples are full-size and shop away!