I recently went on a bit of an online shopping spree at Space NK to buy makeup for my wedding as I’m planning on doing it myself. At checkout I decided to join their N.Dulge membership scheme and had no idea just how awesome the perks of it are.
I got an email few days later welcoming me and also presenting me with the chance to redeem the N.Dulge Members Deluxe Birthday gift as August is my birthday month. Turns out if you are an N.Dulge Member and subscribe to their mailing list, they give Deluxe Samples of a few select skincare, makeup and/or haircare products every year for your birthday.
You can either redeem it with a code on your next online purchase or pop into one of their stores and just show the email and your membership number without needing to purchase anything. I chose the in-store option as I already placed an order online prior to receiving the email and didn’t need anything else. The email did say that the birthday gift is subject to availability/ while stocks last, and luckily the day I popped into the Regent’s Street flagship store they had plenty.
This year’s deluxe samples are:
- Drunk Elephant A-Passioni Retinol Cream (5ml)
- Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum (5ml)
- Kate Somerville +Retinol Vita C Power Serum (8ml)
- Sol Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream (25ml)
I never thought I’d ever try Drunk Elephant products due to the insane prices and also there’s a lot of controversy surrounding the brand so I’m just not sure how to feel about them. I’m glad I get to try 2 of their products for free just to see what the hype is about, although I’ve heard that the 1% retinol cream has been quite harsh for some people in this particular formulation so I probably won’t test it until after my wedding.
The Kate somerville retinol/ vitamin C is also very expensive and looking at the ingredients list I’m not sure I would like. It does seem like it will be a weaker retinol compared to Drunk Elephant but again I wont try it until after my wedding just incase.
The Sol Janeiro cream is probably the only product in this gift that I’ve actively thought about purchasing before so I’m excited to try it and should have no problems testing it out straight away, however I do have 2 body creams to finish as part of my K-Beauty No Buy Challenge, so I won’t open this sample until they’re finished.
Have you tried any of these products before? I’d love to know your thoughts and if you think any of them are worth it.
Simply Saima 
Oh wow how exciting! When’s you’re wedding? Will you going all out or will it be more of a courthouse wedding?
I recently tried a retinol serum and it completely ruined my skin, maybe I didn’t use it right. Excited to hear thoughts on those retinol products in the future.
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Im getting married in October so not long to go 😀 It will be a simple registry office ceremony, sadly they said we’re not even allowed guests because of the virus, but when we move back to Korea we plan to celebrate properly so finger’s crossed. Ooh which one did you try? I’m a bit worried about these 2 1% samples being too much for my skin to handle so I’ll probably mix it in with a moisturiser as a buffer the first time I try it to be on the safe side… it’s so tricky… but at the moment I’ve been testing out the ordinary 0.2% retinol in squalane once a week and luckily because the percentage is so low I haven’t experienced anything bad with it.
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The man and I had a registry wedding 9 years ago and I loved it! Hope you enjoy your special day!
Have you been to a wedding in Korea? ….Did you like it if so? I kind of… prefer British weddings!
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Thank you 😀 I think i’ll like it more than a full blown event too, fingers crossed everything goes well.
Yeah I’ve been to one and I was so surprised at how quick and almost factory like it felt. Very different to weddings here for sure 😀
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I had a factory wedding. If you decide to have one, you probably won’t remember anything because they rush through the entire thing. Mine was over in a flash. I actually wanted a very simple one with just family and friends but of course couldn’t have things my way since my in-laws weren’t fond of that idea.
When do you plan on returning to Korea?
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I’ll be back in April so still a while to go 😀
Oh wow, I’m curious did it feel stressful at all being rushed or was it better that way? I’m excited to experience his culture more but also nervous at the same time as I don’t know exactly what to expect as an actual bride in a Korean wedding.
I’ve just experienced it once as a guest and although it was super quick everything was beautiful and the buffet was delicious.
I think I will be in a similar position as you when I’m back because his family will want to plan things the way they know. Luckily my parents are okay with a small wedding here because of that but I did have to persuade them quite a bit 😀
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It was rushed but organized so it wasn’t stressful at all. If you decide to do it at a wedding hall, I recommend checking out a few because they offer different “packages”. For example we didn’t have to take our photos at a separate studio since the place we booked had their own in house studio. Makeup and hair was included for both the bride, groom and mothers (unfortunately not the fathers in my case).
I got married in 2014 but went to my sister-in-law’s wedding in 2018 and it was almost identical to ours even though hers was done at a different wedding hall. Aside from that I’ve probably attended over ten of them and they’re all very similar. That’s why they say if you’ve been to one Korean wedding, you’ve been to them all. 😆
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ooh Thank you so much for sharing the tip I’ll definitely take a look at a few different options – I like the idea of the studio being in the same place seems like it would be a lot less running around and I want everything to be as easy as possible 😀
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Hey did you delete the LaRoche gel cleanser review? I was trying to comment but it says page not found. I was going to say that I was shocked to see sodium laureth Sulfate in a face cleanser marketed at people with sensitive skin, on second place no less!!
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Ahh my wordpress was playing up last night and posted it as 3rd June so I’ve rescheduled it for today, should be back up in 10 mins.
And you’re right, although Sodium Laureth Sulfate is considered a gentler derivitive of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, it can still potentially cause irritation in high concentrations – it’s also probably why it felt so soapy and long to wash off too.
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