Sunday, April 16, 2017

April 2017 Target Beauty Box: The Natural Box

Every month Target releases a beauty box full of samples and sometimes full sized beauty products that can be purchased at Target either online or in store. Boxes can range from $5 to $10 and often sell out within a couple of days of release. It's a pretty smart business model that capitalizes on the current subscription box scam craze but I'm still a complete sucker for a practical box with affordable, easily procured items. Target released two boxes this month, the traditional beauty box and the Naturals box (both $7 each) and I was just greedy enough to buy both. I’m making two separate posts because otherwise this thing would stretch from here to China and I’m sure as shit not going to take the time to re-read this later on (I’m blogging as a detailed makeup journal to keep track of what worked and what didn’t), nor should I expect anybody else to. This post is about the Naturals Beauty Box which is now sold out-sorry for the ultra delayed post. I also apologize for the shitty lighting. Our main source of natural light has a giant dying Ash tree just outside of it).

Thank you, Giant Ash Tree for ruining an already bad shot.
I was most excited about this box  because it had more items I knew I would get use out of. The box included

The Juice Organics shampoo and conditioner were supposedly infused with passion fruit but I wasn’t able to tell just based on smell. While they smelled nice and fragranced, for the life of me I couldn’t identify the scent. The conditioner was not the best I’ve ever encountered but it was miles ahead of your generic bottle of Suave. Unfortunately I used up the entire conditioner sample in one use. I got two full washes out of the shampoo sample though so that was nice. It had a very full, heady lather and my ends felt squeaky clean after shampooing. I love that feeling, even though I know I will have to condition the shit out of my hair afterwards just to mitigate that extra-cleanliness.

I am enjoying these Burt’s Bees towelettes but not as a face cleanser. I’ve tried using them as facial cleansers but I felt like I needed to give my face a good rinse afterwards due to the liquid left behind after cleaning. I’m not a fan of residues which probably explains my pretty severe abhorrence of extremely thick facial hydrators and sheet masks. They are however useful to remove swatches or as a general makeup remover. The only thing to be wary of when using these for removing makeup is it takes some scrubbing which doesn’t gel very well with the eye/lip areas.

The Hello Extra Whitening toothpaste has to be my favorite find in this box. Yeah, great, it’s just toothpaste, right? But if you’re actually ingredient conscience or want to have sustainable personal care items or are wanting to be more aware of what you give to your kids, this is definitely a good choice. And seriously, the price is right at $4.99 for a 4oz tube. My current go-to favorite is Colgate Optic White but I can definitely see myself converting over to cruelty-free toothpaste. Now the issue will be convincing the husband to do the same.

I was perhaps most disappointed with Yes to Tomatoes Detoxifying Charcoal Mud Mask. I don’t know what I expected of it. It is a mud mask that washes off afterwards. Usually I use clay wash-off or a black sugar wash-off mask, but I am generally happy with those results. This guy dried down to a rubberized texture and though it is supposed to be washed off, I found out that it could be peeled quite easily (with a little discomfort in some patches). After peeling around the chin and cheek areas I decided it was probably prudent to follow the directions on the back so I washed it off and scrubbed with sub-par results. I doubt my peeling in a couple of patchy areas made any real difference and maybe I would see better results if I had a multiple use size? But overall I was underwhelmed and have no desire to go out of my way to try this particular product again.

Raw Sugar was my second favorite item in this box. Their Lemon Sugar scrub smells decadent. Think homemade lemonade on an incredibly hot summer day that straddles the line of being almost cloyingly sweet. That’s what this is. I’m too focused on wanting to sex up the scent to be almost put off by how sweet it is. Soap is soap (if it suds) but what seals the deal for me with a body wash is how good it smells. It’s also an amazing price for how awesome it smells and the fact that it’s cruelty free. This might also start showing up more in the apartment (see notes from Hello toothpaste above).

I won’t say I was disappointed in the ACURE Red Clay Scrub but I have to admit that I like ridiculously abrasive facial scrubs (hi, St. Ives!). It cleaned, it “scrubbed” but really, it didn’t scrub. And since it’s red clay I let it dry for a few minutes on my skin before washing it off. Instructions say to use this two to three times a week so it’s obviously meant to be a scrub, not a cleanser. I can see this being ideal for sensitive skin, but that’s just not my cup of tea. I like my tea black just like my metal.

Rounding out the box was Shea Moisture. I received the Kukui Nut Facial Cream Cleanser and Kukui Nut Face & Neck Cream. I am not a very huge fan of cream cleansers so this product was kind of “meh” to me. It did have a little bit of lather so that was pleasant. The Face & Neck Cream was just way too thick for me to love. The full system smelled nice but having combination skin leaning to oily depending on the season, this just wouldn’t work for me. 

Sorry about the blur, I was outrunning two toddlers taking this shot.

Ultimately this box was borderline disappointing. It had a total value of $14.47 but at least it was chock full of item types I would likely use: I love masks, hair care, body washes, scrubs, and who wouldn’t use a toothpaste? Unfortunately the formulations of some of the things aren’t ideal for my hair or skin type. This box has however inspired me to try to consider including more cruelty free products in my beauty and personal care. The Naturals Box opened me to this possibility. In the past I’ve always considered completely cruelty-free to be a difficult goal to attain because finding beauty and personal care items tailored for my hair type or skin tone was already difficult enough to begin with, but I realize now that I may have been completely wrong.

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