Facebook PixelHandmade Beauty Box Review + Coupon - June 2016 | MSA
My Subscription Addiction
My Subscription Addiction
Our reviewers research, test, and recommend the best subscriptions and products independently; click to learn more about our editorial guidelines. We may receive commissions on purchases made through links on our site.

Handmade Beauty Box Review + Coupon – June 2016

Ragan Buckley
ByRagan BuckleyJul 14, 2016 | 6 comments

hbb-june-2016-box

Handmade Beauty Box
4.2 overall rating
6 Ratings | 1 Reviews

Handmade Beauty Box is a subscription that sends you everything you need to make your own beauty supplies (one product type per month, often with the possibility of making scent or color variations).

This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Handmade Beauty Box

The Cost: $32 per box on the month-to-month plan (save with longer subscriptions)

COUPON: Use code ADDICTION15 to save 15% off all subscriptions and single boxes!

The Products: All the ingredients and instructions you need to make DIY beauty projects from scratch!

Ships to: US only

Check out all of our Handmade Beauty Box reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great craft supply and DIY project boxes!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

hbb-june-2016-card1

hbb-june-2016-card2

The instructions for this month’s project – nail polish – were printed on the information card, along with a list of items you’ll need to provide from home (basically rags, paper towels, and potentially gloves). I do like getting printed instructions since I don’t use a smartphone or tablet and don’t want to spill stuff all over my MacBook Pro!

Please note, this is June’s box. Handmade Beauty Box shipped on time (they generally ship late in the month) but UPS did something strange and decided to return the box to them (in Washington state) after it reached Georgia, instead of sending it on to me. So Handmade Beauty Box sent a new package, but because of this snafu, it got here a bit late. Customer service was friendly, prompt, and effective, though!

hbb-june-2016-base

hbb-june-2016-bottles

hbb-june-2016-labels

hbb-june-2016-pigment

Here are the materials that came in the box. You got a 3-free polish base, 8 bottles (they look just like the ones from Butter London), mixing balls, brushes, scoops, glitter and four pigments, labels, and instructions.  At first I wasn’t sure what I thought about the colors, and then I opened my most recent Zoya order…

hbb-june-2016-zoya

So I guess those colors have been on my mind lately anyway!

Moving on, I prepared my work area.

hbb-june-2016-workspace

This is my kitchen counter. I put down a large piece of packing paper before I got started. As it turns out, this was an excellent idea (more on that later).

hbb-june-2016-fillingbottle

The first step was to pour the nail polish base in the bottles. Sorry the picture is blurry but it is difficult to pour that stuff without making a mess while simultaneously taking a photo!

hbb-june-2016-filledbottles

Here are some filled bottles. You were supposed to leave a little room at the top for the pigment.

hbb-june-2016-ballsinbowl

hbb-june-2016-ballsinbottles

Next you put the little mixing balls in each bottle. You could use one or two. 16 total were provided.

hbb-june-2016-scoop

You then used the little scoop (two were provided) to put pigment into the funnel.

hbb-june-2016-funnel

Only, the pigment packed into the nose of the funnel and wouldn’t easily come out. I tried pushing it with the scoop, as suggested, but I also tried poking it through with a toothpick. Neither worked well so I abandoned the funnel after a few minutes.

Once you put the pigment into the bottle, you fitted a brush to the cap, closed it, and shook it. And shook. And shook. It took quite a long time to mix. Actually, because of the way the pigment sat in the necks of the bottles, I had to stop and shake multiple times during the process of adding pigment.

hbb-june-2016-polish

Here are my completed polishes. As you can see, I need a bit more mixing – some of that red, in particular, really stuck to the side of the bottle. I was clearly interested in purple this day, although I think the light  blue one is my favorite. The purples weren’t quite as vibrant as I had hoped, but perhaps with multiple layers or over white they will improve! (You could either make up your own colors or use formulas that were provided on the information card.)

hbb-june-2016-swatches

And here are swatches of my completed polishes!

hbb-june-2016-mess

As I mentioned earlier, I’m really glad I put down the paper. Because this was messy! I would also strongly recommend putting a drop cloth down on the floor. I spilled pigment on the floor twice and a bit of it ended up getting rubbed into my kitchen rug. I couldn't really vacuum it all out again.

hbb-june-2016-hands

And, I didn’t wear gloves but I really should have. Here is what my hands looked like partway through.

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for this Handmade Beauty Box. If you went out and bought eight full size bottles of nail polish, you’d probably pay more than $32. I think this was a fun project and it was also basically successful, although I would probably change a few things. I also note that the colors were chosen wisely. Not only did I like them, but it is hard to make something ugly by combining the colors that were provided, so even if you don’t have a great grasp of color theory, you can come up with some pretty shades.

As for changes, first, I would love it if there was a better way to put pigment in the bottles. The funnel didn’t work well (maybe if I’d had four hours to do this…) although I appreciate a funnel with a wider nose wouldn’t fit into the bottle. When I just used the scoop, it mostly worked, but I did dump quite a few scoops out on the work surface rather than into the bottles, too.

Second, I would recommend putting the pigment in the bottles first, then pouring the nail polish base in. Because of the relatively high level of polish base in the bottles, when you did get pigment in the neck of the bottle, it kind of stayed there (creating a bottleneck in the true sense of the word, I guess). So you’d close the bottle and shake, but pigment would get all over the brush (if you had the brush in yet) or the inside of the lid. This would’ve been easy to wipe off if it was dry, but it kind of got everywhere when it started mixing with the polish base. This made it messy to actually USE the polish later. Plus, I think it would be easy to mix around different colors of pigment in the dry state so each color was more evenly distributed prior to putting the polish base in.

Anyway, despite a few issues, I thought this was a fun project and I felt that the value was definitely there.

What did you think of the June 2016 Handmade Beauty Box? Do you subscribe to any DIY or craft boxes?

Starting at $32.00
Active Deal
Save 15% off all subscriptions and single boxes!
Use Coupon Code ADDICTION15
Subscribe Now
"Handmade Beauty Box is a subscription service that delivers DIY beauty and spa projects right to your door. You’ll receive monthly shipments with everything included to make the most popular DIY beauty and spa projects from scratch. Boxes always include high-quality ingredients and easy to follow ... read more.
Ragan Buckley
Ragan Buckley
Ragan stumbled across My Subscription Addiction in late 2013 and immediately subscribed to way too many beauty boxes. She's now focused on boxes for her cats and dog, vegan/vegetarian food boxes, and craft subscriptions (and she didn't give up beauty boxes entirely).

Join the Conversation

Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.

6 comments

Steffy

I love the colors you made 🙂 This excites me even more to dig into my June box! I just haven’t had enough time since I got mine to get good and messy but hopefully this weekend 🙂

I have to compliment their excellent CS before I even got a box too. I subbed the day after the June end date apparently; couple hours later I got a friendly email from Courtney at HBB who, since the cutoff was so close, asked would I like June’s box or did I want to start in July? No pressure either way she said, up to me.
This hadn’t even occured to me (assuming like most subs it would start the followiing month & it was already the 21st or 22nd). So, I checked their FB page June spoiler, saw np and went for it 🙂 I just thought that was really cool of them to even offer the option, had not been into it or budget didn’t allow, no harm no foul.
But making my own polish has been on my craft bucket list for awhile now and I think the box is great; has everything you need, plus labels, fun! I know I’ll use some and gift some. Courtney also answered my questions about glitters and pigments, micas etc. that I already have which might also work if I test them using a little of the polish base first, without risking goofing up a whole batch.
I skipped July because I’m still enjoying this one and some other crafts from HBB’s supplier (Brambleberry, whom I also love) similar to the July box spoiler. But now I’m really looking forward to what August brings us! Sorry for the novel!

Reply ButtonReply

Tina

If you mixed everything in a small bowl first then poured it into the bottle it would be easier that way, you can make homemade polish with eyeshadow and top coat or base coat using that method.

Reply ButtonReply

Teresa

When I made polish I would add about 1/2 my base and then add and shake the color a little with the top off and add the rest of my base. Also that funnel was very small, They should have sent one that was slightly larger, that helps alot. I have a couple sizes of funnels, some are for the pigment and some are for the glitters(chunky glitter needs a larger funnel.

Another hack is to take a straw and cut it at a slant, use the slanted end to scoop up pigment and pour it straight in the bottle. Again a 1/2 full bottle is easier to add to.

Would NOT suggest putting the pigment into an empty bottle unless you won a shaker(they are similar to a paint shaker but for nail polish) because you will never get all of the pigment off the bottom.

It is fun to create, enjoy your pretty new colors

Reply ButtonReply

Steffy

The straw is a great idea, thank you! I was going to try folding an index card or something if the funnel was a PITA! I also have a lot of those plastic bubble syringes, but they are provided better for liquids (like the base perhaps) than dry pigments. I might still try it just out of morbid curiosity though 🙂

Ragan

Yeah, mixing the powders with the liquid first would definitely also have worked. Pouring the liquid in the bottle was not particularly difficult.

Reply ButtonReply

TiaMarie10

So cool! Great review!

Reply ButtonReply