So, on to the pictures and reviews!!!
September Green Grab Bag
16 oz bottle for $8.39 and 32oz bottle for $13.99
This stuff is pretty
amazing, actually. According to the website, "In West Africa,
authentic black soap is known by its Yoruba name, Ossé Dudu. "Dudu"
means the color black, which comes from the extensive "cooking" of
the soap to the point of charcoal. [It is] an "all in
one" option for cleaning, and is ideal for faces and babies, shaving, shampooing,
and as a general hand & body wash." So pretty cool! They've got
a peppermint scent, which I think would be great for guys, since the tangerine
citrus is rather fruity. I still love it though! I used this to clean off
my eye makeup one night when I ran out of towelettes and it worked. I
scrubbed a bit at the waterproof stuff, but that's a given. But this is a
GREAT alternative to nasty AXE-smelling shaving creams for guys.
And it's multi-use, so if you get the big bottle, you can do all sorts of
things with it!
8oz for $9.99 or travel size 2oz for $2.99
This scent TOTALLY reminds me of Orange Julius! Have you ever been to Orange Julius? They only have one that I know of near me, and it's about a half hour-45 minutes away. It's a smoothie shop, essentially, but they're famous for their signature smoothie/shake, the Orange Julius, which has a very distinct smell. And this smells like it! So interesting! I learned that they actually sell Hugo at my local Ulta, but since it's natural and not organic, there are a couple of fishy ingredients in there. Xanthum Gum, Cetyl/Stearyl alcohol BUT Hugo gives you what it's derived from, which is from vegetables and coconuts. So maybe I will breathe easy after all.
$2.99 for a little bottle with over 100 sprays
Say sayonara to unknown gum ingredients, breath mints and those weird strips that were soooo popular in high school. This is a potent little spray that quells morning breath for me before I go to eat breakfast and brush my teeth. I have this weird quirk that if I don't eat breakfast first, I won't brush my teeth until after I eat breakfast. So if I leave the house to meet someone for breakfast, I am conscious of my morning breath and use this instead of mouthwash! That and I can take this little guy with me in my purse! And it's all organic ingredients!
$29.99
This stuff is free of gluten, parabens, artificial colors, fragrances
and talc. Never-tested on animals and hypo-allergenic. Now I don't wear
ANYthing on my face except for moisturizer, SPF and eye makeup because of
toxins and I just don't like the feeling of foundation, this was intriguing.
I have a tan so it didn't make a difference on my skin tone, but I know
I'll be using it during winter when my skin loses its summer glow. I like
this because it goes on smooth and doesn't feel like I'm wearing anything on my
skin. Pricey, but compared to the junk in other bronzers and how they
feel, this is the best.
8.5oz for $8.99
I haven't tried these yet because of all the things I've received so far, it's the one thing I don't want to try. I'm already hooked on my Acure Organics s/c and this has a couple chemicals that I'm wary of. But I'll use it for the sample size when I go on vacation! Whenever that may be. :P
8oz for $9.99
This is actually the cheapest I've seen a lotion so far. Acure has lovely lotions for $9.99 but you get 7oz compared to 8oz. I like this lotion because of the sample size (which I can throw in my purse) and because it's got all-natural and organic ingredients! Not a single foreign word I can't pronounce. Although I'm not partial to this scent (reminds me of a grandma's perfume, but not as bad) I am excited to try their other scents, Lavender Mint, Wild Berries, and Fresh Fig.
October Green Grab Bag
Kohana Wild Ginger and Alea Salt Scrub
8oz for $18
I love this. It's so refreshing! Just like Angelina's coconut hazelnut sugar scrub, it has shea butter in it and also make my skin feel so refreshed. I actually like this one better than the sugar scrub simply because of the scent and the fact that I feel like I'm in Hawaii because Kohana is from Hawaii! Isn't that awesome? It is cheaper than the large version of Angelina too. They have this Coffee Body Polis that sounds amazing and I totally want to try it because I've heard you absorb caffeine through your skin and I certainly don't want to become addicted to drinking coffee every morning. I'd rather absorb it. Sounds weird, but if I drink coffee every day, it will give me coffee breath and make my teeth turn yellow. No thank you. That, and I have to deal with the bitter taste every day. I'd rather smell it. I love the smell of coffee grounds.
Ferro Cosmetics Mineral eyeshadow in Champagne and Sapphire Smokey Rye
$17
So this is expensive, but definitely an alternative to toxic, chemical eyeshadows, but not my favorite only because of price. Alima Pure is much cheaper and with a larger range of colors. It does go on smooth though and blends very well.
Angelina Organic Skincare
Coconut Hazelnut Sugar Scrub 1.7oz for $6 or 16 oz for $27.95
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way the scrub made my skin feel. Some of the shea butter leaked out, but I still got the full effect of it. It was so soothing! It made my skin feel lovely and the smell was lovely.
Dark Chocolate Body Butter 1.7 oz for $7.95 or 4oz for $19.95
The body butter made me crave chocolate! Or brown sugar truffles! A combination! From Sees! It was wonderful.
Me and the Girls Lanvandula Foot Softening Creme
1.5oz for $25
This will cost you a pretty penny, but this is for the ladies (and gents) who have very hard, dry and cracked heels. A little goes a very long way and leaves your skin feeling baby-butt soft!
Beeseline alternative to Petroleum Jelly
4oz for $7.99
I was never fully aware of the dangers of vaseline until recently. But it makes sense; a by-product of oil drilling can't be good for you! If gasoline (petrol) itself is bad for us, what about by-products!? And who thought it was a good idea to put that on your skin!? It smells horrible too! You can imagine my intrigue and happiness when I received this in my grab bag. An alternative to that horrible stuff? Organic? Three ingredients? Coconut oil, beeswax and wildflower honey? YES YES YES! I love this stuff. It's just like that nasty vaseline, minus the smell and horrible greasiness. Believe it or not, this stuff is nowhere near as greasy or oily as vaseline. It's better for you, the environment and everything else, and I believe has some, if not most or all, of the same uses that petroleum jelly claims to have. I'm buying a huge jar! The only problem is, it doesn't look like the website sells it online (it says it will the catalog will be available shortly, which makes me think they must be a brand new company BUT the Natural Beauty Store sells them online. Otherwise you'd have to go to or live in Canada to get some and only at two or three store locations.
Pangea Organics Facial Cream and Cleanser!
Australian Wild Plum and Willow Facial Cleanser 1oz for $8 or 4oz for $28
For combo/oily skin. I sorta have combo skin. It's often dry (especially my nose and around my lips), but also oily in my T-zone. I recently broke out in this weird rash thing. It's right where someone would do a Marilyn and about as big as my pinky. It's red, blotchy, dry and often little white bumps pop up. I have NO idea what it is, but it won't go away! Until I used this cleanser. It was awesome. Immediately the spot shrank. Since it was only one sample, I couldn't use it again to see if it went away completely, but I'm glad I know I can get rid of this ugly blotch.
Moroccan Argan with Willow and Rosemary 1oz for $16 or 4oz for $36
Fo oily/blemish-prone. This stuff is CRAZY. This is the first cream I've tried from Pangea and one sample was too much for my face! I had so much cream I had to rub and rub to get it all absorbed. So a little goes a looooong way with this. I'm not too sure if I like this cream though, because once it absorbed it felt like my skin was tightened over my bones. You know that feeling? It was strange.
I'm subscribed to Green Grab Bag too! Loved this months (Octobers) box. I got the Beeseline in a different box before, August of The Natural Beauty Box. The Natural Beauty Box is also a natural subscription service - they have a ton of natural samples too, I got 11 very usable samples this month. I also used to be subbed to BirchBox but cancelled for some of the other boxes I subbed to - Beauty Army, The Natural Beauty Box, Eco Emi and Green Grab Bag. Trying to use natural skincare, and plus, I think these subs are WAY better AND they're natural too!! :) Are you subbed to any other natural boxes other than GGB? Gina <3
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking the time to read and comment on my blog! <3 This is my first and second GGB! I'm super happy with it. Much more happy than Birchbox. I am grateful to Birchbox because my first ever BB gave me a sample of Juice Beauty and that kickstarted my natural/organic obsession! But no, GGB is my first "green" subscription. I've heard of Ecco Emi and I think Natural Beauty Box but I wanted to try out GGB first. What are your thoughts on EE and NBB? I'd love to hear the differences, pros and cons! Again, thank you so much!
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