Thursday, May 17, 2012

Kara's Way - May (first!) Box


A couple of months ago, I learned of a new beauty subscription service that was preparing to launch. I'm sure you all know by now that I am a sucker for these services, so I decided to look into this one. It sounded great, so I jumped to try it out.

Kara's Way is an eco-friendly, natural subscription service! Their monthly boxes cost $15 , and consist of 5-10 handpicked organic, vegan, or natural beauty and body care samples. They include a combination of makeup, skincare, body care, and fragrance.

I read an interview with the founder, and she said that she has very sensitive skin and eczema, so that gives me hope that she will be truly picky about the products she shares. I'm trying to reduce the chemicals I use on my skin and body as much as possible, and services like this can prove priceless when it comes to discovering new things. The founder stated that she wanted to focus heavily on up-and-coming indie brands, which is awesome and right up my alley.

One cool thing about this service is that they will not post your box's contents until the next month. This is pretty awesome for people like me, who love to be surprised, yet can't help but peek at the spoilers. Maybe I'll actually get a chance to be completely surprised by my boxes with this one! The other cool thing is that literally 10 minutes after it was delivered, I had an email talking about the contents...it seems like they might have it set to send it when your tracking is updated to delivered. Awesome.

As this is the first box, I don't yet know if everyone is going to get the same box each month, or if there will be random selection or customization. I do know that I received a nice variety of products at a good value.

I love the eco-friendly packaging. Instead of an inner box, the shipping box is lined with tissue paper (big sheets, great for reusing) and the goodies are wrapped in tissue paper as well.

Love the cute little tag and the ribbon! The tag is seeded with wildflowers, which is an adorable touch. I'm so going to plant it tomorrow!

I'm glad this eco-friendly company walks the walk when it comes to packaging

Opened up, I found a cute little pile of goodies. A couple of these things were wrapped up like little presents, cute!

The first thing I pulled out was this Cucumber Witch Hazel toner from Thayers. This is a big bottle for a sample! This is an alcohol free toner that contains aloe vera and non-distilled witch hazel extract. It promises high levels of therapeutic tannins. I need a good toner, and I cannot wait to try this! Alcohol based toners can be so drying, so this one sounds great.

A 12 oz. bottle retails for $9.95, so this 2 oz sample is worth about $1.66.

Next, I found a full sized keeki lip shimmer stick! It is made of all organic, food grade ingredients and natural minerals. It contains beeswax, cocoa butter, coconut and sunflower oils, peppermint and vanilla oils, mica, iron & titanium oxides. I tried this and I love the texture, nice and soft and moisturizing, with a slight cooling feeling from the mint but not what you'd really call "minty". So cute. I got the color Sassy, which is a golden honey color. 

I love the oblong shape! It will make this easy to identify when reaching for a balm. The label and branding is just adorable, as well.

This shimmer stick is full sized and it retails for $6.99.

Next is Daily Active Sunscreen by beyond coastal. I am super pale, I burn incredibly easy, and so a good sunscreen is a must. This one sounds awesome - it contains aloe, shea butter, and vitamins C and E to keep the skin healthy. Excited to see how this works out for me!

This 1 oz. bottle retails for $5.99.

In this cute little organza bag, I found 3 samples from Native Touch. This is basically a 3 step skin ritual for feet or body- a DreamCatcher soap, a Blue Corn Sugar scrub, and a Rooting Bear Rub salve/moisturizer. These products look really neat and are made of great ingredients. I'm really excited to try the sugar scrub on my body and the salve on my cuticles and feet!

I opened the scrub up to check it out and it looks amazing - grains of sugar and lots of visible seeds for scrubbing, with a nice citrusy scent.

The samples aren't labeled for size, but the full sized soap is $6 for 4 oz, the scrub is $20 for 16 oz, and the rub is $14 for 2 oz. While I can't estimate the value of the samples, I can say that they are definitely a good addition to the box.

I am familiar with the La Fresh makeup remover wipes, but I have never tried either of these, so I'm excited to. One is an oil free face cleanser wipe, and the other is acetone free nail polish remover. I love products like this to keep in my purse and for travel, so convenient. I love that they are biodegradable and include healthy ingredients. 

The face wipes are $9.99 for 30 and the nail wipes are $9.99 for 18, making the face wipe worth about .33 and the nail wipe worth about .56. 

I was really excited to find this sample of Naturelle D'Argan argan oil! I love argan oil for my hair, and this is a decent sample size, and contains antioxidants. I love that this is good for your skin AND hair, most products I have tried have other ingredients making it too heavy for the face. I'm excited to see what this does for my skin! It promises to fight aging and sagging skin and combat free radicals.

A 1.7 oz bottle retails for $48.99, so this .27 oz sample is worth $7.78!


And finally, a full sized polish from Honeybee Gardens. This seems cool - it is a water based polish! And even cooler - it removes with rubbing alcohol or grain alcohol. I love the pink color and the idea of NOT putting harsh solvents on my nails, so if this works for me I will be a happy camper.  It does have some different tips for usage and application and removal, and upon receiving your box, you receive a link to that information. I am excited to try it! One polish retails for $9.99.

All in all, this is an impressive first box! I love how truly green it all is, and how healthy all of these products are for my body. This is a $15 dollar subscription, and if it keeps up like this I'd say it is definitely worth it! This box has a value of approximately $33, and that doesn't include the three Native Touch products. Definitely a great value.

If this looks good to you, go sign up at https://www.karasway.com/. 


Note: I received a free box for review. I was not otherwise compensated and my opinions are 100% my own.

14 comments:

Lennon917 said...

You got a lot of awesome products girl, I would totally check them out if they were here:) New happy Follower:)
Sara xx http://beautifulworldoflennynb.blogspot.ca/

Kate Septeowski said...

So tempted! That looks like a great box and good variety of items. I do see almost every box have a tinted lip balm or shimmer now. LOL.

Ashley said...

This is really impressive! I keep seeing really cool eco friendly boxes I'm tempted to sub to one. Also extra points for printing her little tag thing on seed paper! I love that stuff even tho I don't have much of a green thumb lol

Danielle S said...

My box is waiting for me at home, I hope that I get the same items as you because they're awesome!  I especially love the nail polish and the Keeki Pure and Simple lip balm.

yousoldtheworld said...

Hope you loved it as much as I loved mine! What nail polish color did you get? I saw that a few people got different shades!

yousoldtheworld said...

It's definitely a nice one, I am impressed with it. I have less guilt about green and eco friendly subs! :)

yousoldtheworld said...

Get it, it's great!

Yeah, there have been lots of the balms lately, but that's cool with me - I love them! I'm way too low maintenance for lipstick, and glosses are too messy. :)

yousoldtheworld said...

They're great. I really hate when I see a sub from another country I love and can't have! :)

Followed, as well.

Sarah said...

What a promising first box! I'd use everything sent! If only I had the space and money to add another!

Ashley said...

 Oh yeah I hear you there for sure!

yousoldtheworld said...

Definitely worth checking out when you're able. I can't wait to see what future months bring.

Angela Scooler said...

Thats alot of $15! After seeing your review of the look bag, I've been really tempted to sign up.

yousoldtheworld said...

This one and the Look Bag are among my current favorites!

mattabellax3 said...

How cool! I've never heard of this til now! Looks so nice!