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Boxycharm Makeup Tutorial – September 2017

BoxyCharm
4.3 overall rating
1949 Ratings | 195 Reviews

BoxyCharm is a popular full-size beauty and makeup subscription box. (Check out our full review of the September 2017 Boxycharm box to learn more about each of the items this month.)

Today, I'll be showing you how I used some of the items in my September BoxyCharm box. I'd love if you shared what products and techniques worked for you this month in the comments, as well!

But first, here are the box basics:

The Subscription Box: BoxyCharm

The Cost: $21 a month

The Products: 5-6 beauty items that will include nail care, skin care, makeup, haircare, fragrance and more. (At least 4 of those items will be full-sized).

Ships to: The US and Canada

Check out all of our BoxyCharm reviews and the Beauty Subscription Box Directory!

I'll be using several products from the September box for this look:

BoxyCharm September 2017

BoxyCharm September 2017

After applying tinted moisturizer and concealer, I started my eye look.

BoxyCharm September 2017

First, I used MAC Cosmetics Eyebrow Pencil in Lingering to draw in the shape of my brows. I start with the bottom line and then work my way up to the arch drawing feathery strokes along the way. MAC pencils are terrific for the light touch that you want to achieve here! The pigmentation is there, but the very fine tip of the hard pencil allows for precise, hair-like stokes. This Lingering shade is also quite universal. My go-to shade in the past has been Spiked, a slightly cooler, richer brown, but Lingering is great for a softer look. I always finish my browns with some tinted brown gel and fully embrace the that they're sisters, not twins.

BoxyCharm September 2017

Onto eyes! The star of the show here is the PUR Cosmetics Soiree Diaries Eyeshadow Palette. This is my first BoxyCharm box, and I was super impressed to receive a full eyeshadow palette (though, apparently, that's a thing of theirs - awesome!). All the colors this month are extremely wearable, to boot. Lately, I've been loving a neutral, slightly shimmery eye for everyday, and this palette has the perfect hues to achieve many looks in that realm. If you want to stick with a matte look, the light shades in this palette make it easy.

I began by mixing Socialite and Gala along my brow bone to create an even base. The bareMinerals Eyeshadow Brush is perfect for this type of application. I also used it to add a mix of Splurge and Stunner to my crease, blending out with a looser bristled brush. I then used the previous eyeshadow brush to apply Glitzy and Twinkle to my entire lid. I wet my brush with a setting spray prior to dipping it into the powder to intensify the color a bit. Add more liquid for more vibrant sparkle, or use the shadow dry for a still shimmery but less metallic look. Finally, I used an angled crease brush to apply more Splurge and Stunner, and I added a bit of Snazzy to darken up my outer corners as well.

From there, I added black liquid liner in a subtle cat eye shape. While the liner was still setting, I reached for my bareMinerals Angled Liner Brush, dipped it into the darkest shimmer shade in the PUR palette, Cosmo, and pressed this deep brown hue into the liner to soften it a bit. I finished the look by lining the bottom lash line with Glitzy and adding my favorite black mascara. Any fallout was easily buffed away with the Studio Makeup HD Setting Powder on a fluffy brush. Last touch: ColourPop Ultra Satin Lip in Strut.

BoxyCharm September 2017

I love the way this look turned out, and I can't wait to experiment with more combinations from the September 2017 Boxycharm Box!

What looks did you create with the September Boxycharm Box? What's your favorite item?

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BoxyCharm ($30 per month) is one of the most popular beauty subscription boxes that we review, with lots of loyal customers. They promise 5 full-size beauty products each month from a variety of both indie and... read more.

Jess Cole Payne
Jess Cole Payne
Jess's love for subscription boxes began with a makeup and skincare fixation. She's looking forward to broadening her horizons in discovering new products within the lifestyle and food world of subscription boxes.

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41 comments

Sarah

I love that you did this, very helpful to see the products in use if you’re not sure how to use them! Beautiful look too 💖

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chris

I liked this once I realized what it was- a still life makeup tutorial! What a terrific idea! I really don’t care for you tube videos- but this is nice. Thanks a bunch. I hope that you do it for coming month’s too. Don’t worry about the negatives, they can check it out, or not. To each his own.

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Liz

Same here, in fact I was iffy on this box because I’m bad with shadow in general but this helped me. I don’t often have the time to sift through all the endless YouTube videos for that one tip that might help (although sometimes they are fun, I just find video is not a useful medium for when I need a quick tip).

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Jess Cole Payne

Thanks for reading, Chris! Glad you enjoyed our trying something new!

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Gracie

I just cancelled cause Dr Brandt tests on animals.

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Karenkk

MAC, too.

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June

Thanks for this tutorial; I really liked it! I don’t always know quite what to do with my new goodies to make a cohesive look, so I appreciate that. As for this month’s Boxy, I loved everything except my Colourpop, just because I received that awful taupe grey color (mess around). I’ve tried everything I can think of to make it wearable, from different liners to different gloss toppers, but I still end up looking sickly. Anyone else have any luck?

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Nancy

I got the same grey lippy…ugh I tossed it..

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Lori

I love everything in my box except for the lippie too… Hmm 🤔 🤔 🤔 I’m sensing a theme here lol 😂 😂 😂 honestly though I got a nude color that I’m just not into. I like my lips looking like lips off that makes sense? Guess I’m a lil old fashioned that way 😅

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Jessica

I also received mess around. I tried mixing it with other liquid lipstick shades in my collection until I found a combination I liked. The winning combo was mixing a small amount of an oxblood red shade with mess around. The color is now brown-maroon instead of brown-gray, which is more wearable for me. Good luck!

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June

Hmmm I haven’t tried actually mixing another liquid lip with it. It’s worth a try…thanks!

Sarah

Loved everything too except the color pop Lippie. I didn’t even try to make it work. I’ve tried too many similar colors . Considering they are only 5.00, I gave it to one of my blonde/ blue daughters. Looks much better on her! Overall I love the box!

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Teresa

I love this! I hope to see more of this in the future. For those people who don’t like it-don’t read or open the link. It’s not hard to be nice or kind-sprinkle that stuff everywhere-we have enough meanness in the world today. Makeup and this site is my way of excaping all the negative things we read online. Things like this continue to make this site my “happy place”. On a side note-I’m ready for the next Boxy spoiler! Anyone else?

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Anna

100 % agree!

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Ariana

OH what a cool idea MSA! I love that you guys are agile and brave enough to try new things but still consistent enough not to feel like a violent black hole of internet click bait. Rally awesome idea and great tutorial!

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Anna

Thank you for this review I love it!

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Pingping

Great review! I was so obsessed with this palette that I returned my ABH Modern Renaissance and UD Naked Smoky… Now I just stick with this palette all the time. Thanks BoxyCharm!

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Stefanie

Omg, You really loved this palette! I think the UD smoky & abh renaissance palette more so, are almost collection staples. I definitely felt i had to dip into other palettes when i was creating looks with the PUR one. I wasnt blown away with this one at all. To each his own!

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KimberlyB

What a cool review! I really do appreciate seeing lippies (and nail polishes) on the face (and hands), because, as others mentioned, it can be so darn hard to tell what they’ll look like on. I love seeing all the different ideas MSA is trying out lately.

There are a few boxes I know of that try have everything, or almost everything, in a month’s box all come together for one or more look, and I like that idea a lot, especially since I’m still new to makeup and don’t know a lot about many of the products in my new big stash.

I would have liked to see a pic of the open palette, and, not as important but somewhat, the open jar of powder. I appreciate the links to their sites, but I have the attention span of a gnat, and whilst trying to find that particular powder on the page, i got distracted, as I often do when I have to click away. I know that the tutorial must’ve been a LOT of work, but I think given an either/or choice, I’d actually go for the extra still pics. Just one opinion in many, obviously.

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KimberlyB

Oops, my bad! I didn’t read carefully enough to see that there was a “regular” review and this was in addition. My apologies!

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Beth

Jess, what a great article about using the products in the latest Boxycharm!! Thank you! Love the detailed description and photos.

And thanks for not doing this as a video! I personally don’t care for most makeup videos – I feel like they waste a lot of time. I much prefer articles that I can easily skim and then focus on the points I’m interested in.

Hope to see another one of these next month!

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Sheila

What an excellent tutorial, thank you. It is so late in the month, will you receive the September box if you order up until the 30th?

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cookie

What a neat idea for a feature. Thanks for the tutorial — informative plus great pics! I don’t get this sub, but I have a lot of similar eyeshadow colors so maybe I could try this look.

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Ashby

Well done! You’re very brave to do this. 💋

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Sharon in SE TX

Thanks for the superior tutorial, Jess! I hope this becomes a regular feature.

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Elise

Wow, strut looks much better on you than it did on me! Loving this new tutorial feature btw. 🙂

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Joy

I love this! It’s really nice to see the products on someone’s face. Arm swatches only tell you so much (especially with lip colors!).

And of course people can find tutorials on youtube, but I think this is a great new feature and I encourage you all to continue it!

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Ashlea

I like the tutorial idea! Especially since Boxy has less variation

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FabSB

Nice, I like the look. It’s great to see the box in action, thanks for doing this!

I especially enjoyed your giving alternative ways to use the products. [I never thought to use a setting spray on my shadow brush instead of water — I hate to say I often lick the brush, so I’ll be trying that which is much more hygienic. Since it’s a pet peeve of mine to get shadow on my crisp liner, I’ll skip that tip tho 😉 ]

It’s also good to see the shades on – some lipsticks look totally different applied compared to swatches or how they appear in the tube. It will keep me from swapping something I can use. Like Strut which looked metallic in some pics, or a boring peachy mauve, yet here it seems to be an appealing light mocha hue.

Welcome to the wonder of Boxycharm. I hope to see more tutorials from you in the future!

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Julie

What a great idea to do a tutorial 🙂

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Kc

I’m sure there are a lot of YouTube videos and Facebook videos on this. I’d prefer the site stick to spoilers and reviews but that’s just me.

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Adrienne

I agree!

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Julie

I think this is better than the videos. I don’t like watching videos. I would much rather be able to scroll through look at the pictures and read it.

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Von

Ohh this is so me😄 I can relate. I like looking through pictures and read the step by step how tos than watching the entire vid. The reason I come more to MSA site to see/read spoilers and reviews than to watch it on yt😅 and this tutorial here is an addition to look at🤗

Jessica

I think tutorials tie in well with the swap side of things–seeing makeup items (and colors) in action may help people decide whether to keep or swap, and may boost interest/generate more swap requests.

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justmissjamey

i dont care for the swaps. people pay 21 dollars for a box (maybe slightly more or less depending on bag, box, im using boxy as an example ) so people pay 21.oo on their box, and then list items for swap and expect to swap for items based on unrealistic prices…its like everyone here knows you paid 21.00 for it, why should they expect to get 120 dollars worth of return swaps?! i guess you would have people taking advantage and swapping items to sell on ebay and get more…but i dont know…ive not really had very good luck with swapping, so i just kinda stopped it myself. ~~just my opinion

Joy

Of course there are, but what’s the harm of also having a short little tutorial here? Not everyone likes tutorial videos– some times it’s nice to just see step-by-step guides like this. Idk, I think this is a great addition to the site. 🙂

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Sharon

Agreed.

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Bella01

Looks great…Have you ever plucked your eyebrow hairs below your brows? They will look so much cleaner if you cleaned them up a little. It makes a huge difference. Mine use to be like yours too. Now I pluck all the excess hair.
Your beautiful and love the colors on you.

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Ann

You “pluck” a chicken. You “tweeze” eyebrows. Hahaha! (That’s what an aesthetician that I worked with used to tell me.). 😂

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