Let my start by setting up the scene. Here in Romania we have only a few major beauty stores that you can find in some of the bigger cities and online. We have Sephora (everyone knows it, right?), Marionnaud (a French chain of beauty stores) and Douglas (a German-based chain of beauty stores). There are also other smaller ones like Kendra, but they only have a few stores and they don’t have online shops, so I don’t shop from them.

Douglas is a great store for European-based beauty brands. Sure, they carry all major high end and luxury brands and they have other interesting brands like Winky Lux or Beauty Bakerie, but I didn’t made a purchase from them in a long time just because they didn’t have any interesting sales, only on their own products. Douglas products are not bad, but they’re like drugstore products, only with a higher price tag. They also put out beauty boxes that are seasonal, so they come out around every three months. They contain 6 products, 2 of them being full size and 4 deluxe samples (or mini sizes). However, I didn’t get a box until now because the only full size products they had in their boxes were Douglas products and I wasn’t interested in them. This time, I considered purchasing the autumn box for weeks now, because one of the full size products was an expensive eye cream and I needed a good eye cream. So, here we are.

The box is sold for 119 lei, which is around 26 euros. It’s not exactly a cheap box but it’s also not overly expensive. I got it on sale for 101 lei (around 22 euros) so I saved a little money. Also, because I have a Douglas Beauty Card I got free shipping. The box took 4 days to get to me, but at least it was well packaged and I also got three free samples with it.

The products come in a nice baby blue box with magnetic closure and it only has the Douglas logo on the interior packaging. It’s quite nice and I kept it, although God knows I have too many boxes by now, but they’re good to store all kinds of knick-knacks. Here’s what I got in the box:

SYS Superfood 4 Your Skin Calming Eye Sorbet (15 ml – full size)

This is the product that got me most excited because this one alone is sold on the Douglas website for 119 lei, so I already covered the value of the box (even more if we consider that I got it for cheaper) and everything else are just bonus items. The eye cream is made in Germany. I will do a review on this one. Update: you can read my review of the SYS Calming Eye Sorbet on my blog.

Douglas Fall Lights Highlighter and Blush Palette (full size product)

This was a palette from last year’s autumn collection and it was sold then for 79 lei, but now it’s marked down to 47.40 lei (around 10.5 euros). I don’t mind that it’s an older product because it was sealed and it looks cute. However, all the powders are shimmery so I thought at first that it’s an eyeshadow palette. The palette is also made in Germany. I’ll see if it’s worth making a review on it. Update: you can read my review of the Douglas Fall Lights Highlighter & Blush Palette on my blog.

Clarins Hydra-Essential Moisturizes and Quenches Cooling Gel (15 ml)

Considering that Clarins can be quite expensive, I’m happy with this mini size. I find it odd just that they included it in the autumn box because I think it’s a product that more suitable for the summer. The full size contains 50 ml and it’s sold on the Douglas website for 207 lei, so 15 ml would be about 62 lei (around 14 euros). The face gel is made in France. You can read my review of the Clarins Hydra-Essentiel Moisturizing Cooling Gel on my blog.

Trussardi Riflesso Blue Vibe EDT (10 ml)

I’m actually glad they also included something for men in this box because my husband can also enjoy a little of my beauty purchases. He already tried the perfume on and really likes the scent. The full size bottle (50 ml) is sold for 345 lei, so the mini is worth 69 lei (around 15 euros). The perfume is made in Italy.

Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum (7.8 ml)

This one is just a mini size, but I’m not surprised because Juice Beauty is also an expensive brand. It’s a vitamin C serum, so I’m excited to try it. The full size serum (30 ml) is sold for 499 lei (which is like….bruh, what are you dooooing?), so this little guy is worth 130 lei (around 29 euros!) Now that’s a luxury serum I would definitely not get to try otherwise.

Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner Infinity (3 ml)

Finally, the other makeup product that I got in the box was this mini gel liner from Illamasqua. I quite enjoyed some of the other Illamasqua products that I got in other boxes, like a lipstick and a highlighter, so I’m happy to try this gel liner as well. The full size (5 ml) is sold for 119 lei, so this one is worth around 71 lei (about 16 euros). You can read my review of the Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner on my blog.

And let’s not forget about the free samples that I got. I have 2 perfume samples (I don’t know why everyone is complaining about those because they really help me decide on which expensive perfumes I would like to purchase), both from Dior. One is the new J’adore Infinissime for women and the Sauvage for men. Also, I got a sample of the Dior Forever foundation which I’m sure I’ll like because I have to say all the Dior foundations that I tried so far were a hit in my book. I also received a voucher for 15% off on any beauty purchase made until November 15th, so maybe I will also get to put that to good use.

Overall, this has been a great box. I like all of the products and the worth is amazing. I got products worth around 110 euros and I only paid 22 euros for it, so I have more than 4 times worth of products. This was definitely a nice experience and I will certainly purchase other Douglas beauty boxes if the full size products are appealing to me. It’s not only about the worth but also about the fact that I like and use the products they contain when it comes to these boxes.

Also, I would like to note that I don’t consider deluxe samples or mini sizes wasted money because I don’t know how things are in other countries, but no one gives those out for free in stores here. When you purchase something, you get only sachets and tiny perfume samples, like the free samples from Dior that I received now. So, for me, it’s worth it if I want to sample a product more than just once, especially when it comes to skin care.