Cravebox - May (my first!)

I have been coveting Cravebox for months! I missed the initial signup, and was sad about it for months, but finally got a subscription after they raffled some off!

Cravebox is another monthly subscription program. Unlike most of the others, however, it does not limit itself to a category. Cravebox sends out a variety of products ranging from beauty products to food to household cleaning items to office supplies. In the past, they've sent out everything from fun colored markers to pedometers and expensive skin care. They send out both full sized products and samples. I love variety, so this is an awesome subscription for me. Cravebox is $10 a month and send out an average of 5 products in each box.

I received my Cravebox about a week ago and I've had a chance to enjoy everything in it! So, here's what May brought.

The first thing I noticed was how big and heavy the box was! It weighed almost 3 pounds and shipped quickly once I got my shipping confirmation. I was so excited to see this on my porch!

Upon opening it, I was excited at the cute packaging! The contents were covered with a single pink sheet of tissue paper, which I saved for future wrapping/packaging needs. I like that it's all in one box, saving some resources.

Okay, how cute is this confetti? I love the colors, saved this as well.

As with most services, we received a card listing the contents and the theme! This month's theme was "A Taste of the Tropics", perfect for summer.

The first thing I pulled out was this sample of Lipton Tea&Honey in Mango Pineapple! I love drink packets like this - I keep them in my bag and use them at work. I am a huge tea fan, so I was really excited to try this. The Mango Pineapple flavor is delicious, super fruity and tropical. I have since bought a box of these and I've been drinking it daily at work! The packet also included a coupon.

We also got two packets of plum Amazins. These are diced dried plums, basically. I love dried fruit as a healthy snack, so I was happy to get these! I love that they are diced, makes them easy to sprinkle in yogurt or cereal. They tasted just like any other dried plums, and the convenient packaging made them easy to pack in my lunch bag.

I was excited to find this Skintersection Intense Repair Cream for cracking skin. This is a great inclusion for me, as my skin gets super dry in the summer. This is a full sized jar!

The texture is great - really thick, and not at all greasy. It doesn't really have a scent, and it seems to work well!

This is a full sized Shea Sugar body scrub by The Tree Hut! This thing is huge - 18 fl. oz. It smells awesome - Coconut Lime - and has a great, thick texture that isn't too oily, and it's super exfoliating without being too harsh. It leaves my skin super soft and smooth, and a little goes a long way, so this jar will last!

I love that The Tree Hut uses natural ingredients.

Finally, there was an item wrapped up like a present. I love when subs do this!

Mmm, Belgian chocolates! These are seashell shaped chocolate truffles. They got just a tiny bit melted in shipping, but barely enough to be noticeable and they still tasted awesome.

My favorite one was the seahorse. These had a super creamy texture, and I would love to have more of them, but they're crazy expensive.

Overall, my first Cravebox is awesome. I will use and enjoy everything in it, and with two full sized products, the value is great. There is currently a waiting list, but if you get a chance, this is a really fun service.

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.

Love With Food March box!

So, I was really excited to check the mail today and discover that I'd gotten my Love With Food box!

 If you haven't heard of it, Love With Food Best Bites is a subscription service similar to Birchbox that sends you 5 or 6 gourmet food samples a month.  Similar to BB, it has a points system to earn free credits, and each item in your monthly box is discounted 40 percent, should you choose to buy the full size.  It costs $14 a month, and offers a variety of sweet and savory snacks.

In my opinion, the BEST part is that Love With Food donates a meal to food banks for every box sold.  So you can actually feel good about snacking!  If this sounds good to you, join Love With Food by clicking HERE.  If you enter the promo code "FBFAN" at checkout, your first month is free.

Anyway, onto the box.  The box itself is small and sturdy.  It was packed full of treats!

Like many others, it came with a cute little card that lists the contents.  This month's box is supposed to be good hiking/nature snacks!

The thing I'm most excited to try is the jerky!  We got Southeast Asian Charcuterie by Little Red Dot Kitchen in Pork and Turkey.  "On-the-go savory, sweet, & smoky".  Interestingly enough, the package suggests that these are tastiest when heated!  I'll give it a try. A half a pound of this is $10.95.

Organic Popped Fuji Apple Chips by yogavive, naturally flavored with strawberry.  Each bag contains a whole apple, and they retail at $6 for 10 bags.  

Update:  I'm eating these right now, and they're delicious!  Crispy but not hard, light, and the strawberry flavor is light and not at all artificial.  I will probably buy these. Mmm.

Fig Bars by Nature's Bakery in Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon.  This is a good sized bar!  They are 100% natural fig cookies blended with a variety of fruits, and they retail for $6 for a box of 8.

73% Cocoa Dark Belgian Chocolate with Coffee by New Tree.  Rich dark chocolate infused with coffee.  These look so good!  They cost $14.50 for a pack of 20. 

Hemp Hearts by Manitoba Harvest.  These can be sprinkled on salad, cereal, and yogurt or eaten as a snack. I also got a $1 off coupon, as pictured below.  It doesn't list a price for these.

 

And finally, Organic Energy Bars by Kate's Real Food.  There are four of these little guys in the box.  Flavors are:  Peanut Butter Chocolate Trail Mix (this comes in milk and dark chocolate)

Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond, and Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate with Flax and Hemp Seeds.  It doesn't list a price for these, but they come in a box of 12.


 Update:  I tasted Griz, which seemed to be the Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate.  It was GOOD.  It didn't have that gritty texture like most energy bars do, it just tasted like a chewy, really well done granola bar. Yum.

In all, I'm pretty excited about this box, and these are all things that I'm excited to try.  I'll update with my reviews as I taste the contents.  For a free month, you can't go wrong with this!