February BeautyArmy Box Review

My first ever BeautyArmy box arrived today! I was squealing with excitement because I wasn’t expecting it until tomorrow or the day after. I will show you pictures of all the fabulous things in just a moment! This is going to be a pretty long post, but hang in there, it’s packed with information! So first things first…

What the heck is BeautyArmy?

For those of you who have never heard of BeautyArmy, it’s basically a sample subscription service. Every month you receive six sample size (and sometimes full-sized) items for a flat fee. In my case, I’m paying monthly (they have a yearly flat fee as well) and it costs me $12. Thats including shipping (I don’t know if they charge taxes or anything, I’m an Oregonian and we don’t have sales tax 😀 ) Now, there are other services that offer the same thing like Ipsy or Birchbox (going for about $10/month), and there are even some premium boxes that I heard guarantee a value of over $100. But I can’t compare them to BeautyArmy for the simple fact that I’ve never tried them! However, you can check out Must Have Boxes for her reviews on a number of different boxes! *On a side note, us ladies can’t have all the fun! Birchbox offers a MENS box for about $20/month!

Why did I choose BeautyArmy?

Well, I could have saved a few dollars I suppose going with either Birchbox or Ipsy, but I ultimately picked BeautyArmy because you can PICK YOUR SAMPLES! The other services just send you random samples. Some of you may not care about that, in fact, it’s pretty exciting because it’s a surprise and everyone loves surprises! But I have dreadlocks. So since they send a mixture of beauty products including hair, body, and makeup, if I were to get even one hair care sample, I would have no need for it because most hair care product either contain conditioners (counter-productive for dreadlocks) or they’re for styling (and with dreadlocks, trust me, you don’t want to add a bunch of stuff that will seep in and not come out! I love clean dreadlocks.) So, by choosing my samples I know I’ll get a great use out of everything. I heard about BeautyArmy from Must Have Boxes as well!

So here we go!

The Box:

I was super impressed with the packaging on this box. It was beautifully wrapped and I honestly felt that someone took their time to wrap it all up wonderfully just for me! The white box it came in is very sturdy (and uber-cute) and I will be repurposing it 🙂 Just the packaging of the box alone made me glad that I decided to purchase it!

What I Picked:

Bath and Body Works – Twilight Woods Shea Enriched Shower Gel

This has a sultry woodsy scent that I think is very pleasant. It is, after all, just a shower gel, so it cleaned me, it smells good, didn’t leave residue or dry out my skin. All wins! Bonus: Not tested on animals and I didn’t see any parabens or phenoxyethanol listed in the ingredients. Double win! (Click here to see  a few reasons why I don’t like phenoxyethanol).

Olive Natural Beauty – The Olive Bar, Lemon and Lavender

Let me tell you one thing about this bar–it smells amazing! Like I-want-to-eat-it amazing! Even better than that, I probably could and it wouldn’t hurt me. Nearly all of it’s ingredients are certified organic include things like extra virgin olive oil, fair trade shea butter, oats, and lemongrass and lavender essential oils. The first this I thought of when I smelled it was green tea with lemon. I love green tea. I don’t really pick up too much of the lavender, but that’s okay with me, I’m not really a flowery scent kind of gal. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted this when I ordered my box, but I grabbed it anyway because it was all natural and organic. I am so glad I did! At first I wasn’t sure how it would hold up because it felt very malleable, but I had no problems. It lathered nicely, left my skin soft. This is definitely and A+ in my book!

Ineke Hothouse Flower Perfume

The packaging on this sample was beautiful! I love that they took the time time wrap a piece of purple tissue paper around the perfume. It really is the small things that count! Like I said earlier, I don’t really care for flower scents and perfumes, they tend to give me headaches. But after checking this out on the internet, I decided to give it a try. Now, I must warn you, I don’t pick out scents in a super detailed way. I can’t smell a wine and tell you the thirty different notes of berry and citrus it has, so, suffice it to say, I can’t do that with perfume either! So when I smell this, I smell flowers. I’m going to go out on a limb a say they must be Hothouse flowers. The box says gardenia, so I’m going with that too. What I can tell you for sure is that it’s pleasant and didn’t give me a migraine. I already have a headache, so I didn’t spray this on me today (I want to give it a fair trial!) but I will and I will update when I do. UPDATE 2/14: I used this today for Valentine’s Day and it smelled good and wasn’t overpowering at all (no headache for the first time ever!). My husband really liked it too which is a total bonus!

Mark. – Glow Baby Glow, Hook Up Lip Gloss in Honey

This was a FULL-SIZE product. In the picture it looks more orange/pink but it’s not. It’s more of a nude/neutral peachy/terra cotta color. I was actually looking for a nice nudish color and this is perfect. It has a hint of mint in it’s scent (see what I did there? 🙂 ) and you can feel that freshness on your lips. It’s not off putting because it’s not super strong. I liked the color and texture as soon as I put it on. I believe it’s a great neutral color and would suit many different skin tones. I can see this being my I-don’t-have-time-for-makeup grab it and go item. This is a solid A just for that reason alone. The only downside is that it’s small. Like tiny. The tube just the way it is in the first picture is only about the size of my pinky and it retails for about $6.50 on Avon’s website (yes, it’s an Avon product). It also comes with a nifty connector so you can connect two of them together.

Yes to Blueberries – Age Refresh, Eye Firming Treatment

From the get go, I like that this product is paraben-free and 95% natural. I have been wanting to try this brand, but I haven’t gotten a chance yet. That being said, I haven’t actually tried this yet! I will and will update! UPDATE 2/14: I have used this for the last few days/nights and I have seen an improvement in the firmness in my eyes. It also makes them feel very smooth and, for lack of a better way to explain it, comfortable. It made my eyes feel soft and comfy before going to bed. Weird, I know, but true! I will be buying the full size product soon.

Whip Hand Cosmetics – Camo Colletion, Limited Edition Loose Pigment Eyeshadow in Medal of Honor

I haven’t tried a look with this yet, but I swatched it and I like it! It’s a very shimmery, sparkly, light copper color. The swatch went on smooth and opaque, but I can also see this being blended out for if you just want a hint of coppery glitter. It also compliments my skin very nicely. I’ve never heard of this brand but I look forward to trying it out!

So there you have it! Everything I got in my box this month. If you want to subscribe to BeautyArmy, you can by clicking here! Thanks for stopping by! Ciao!