Handmade Beauty Box Subscription Box Review – March 2015
Handmade Beauty Box is a new subscription service that sends you everything you need to make your own beauty supplies! I love all things DIY, so I was excited to try it!
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process postto learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Handmade Beauty Box
The Cost: $31.50 per month with free shipping
The Products: All materials needed to create several containers of one DIY beauty product per month
Ships to: US only
Check out all of our Handmade Beauty Box reviews!
This month we made lipstick! I wear lipstick almost every day, so this was a good project for me. My sister-in-law was at my house when I was making this, so we made it together and had a great time!
The instructions come folded into a little card, so it was hard to take a great picture of them, but they were very straightforward and easy to follow. There was only one issue. I think when they were planning this box they were planning to send two heat-safe containers, but in the end they only sent one, but the instructions said you needed to provide your own, so that was a little confusing. In the end, we decided to just make it in two separate batches and use the same container.
These are all of the materials that were included. I needed only to supply scissors, a couple of spoons and my microwave.
Like last month, the most time-consuming part of this project was cutting out the labels and adhering them to the tubes. I really wish the stickers were perforated!
Creating the lipstick was super easy. In two batches, we melted the lipstick base in the microwave, added the colors (in two different recipes), and stirred. Then we poured it into the tubes. That’s it!
Here’s my finished product. The two batches made two different shades. One they call “A lady about a town” (I think they meant “Lady about town”), is a sheer pink color, and the other they call “Date night,” which is a dark purple-y red.
Here’s a better look at the colors of the lipstick. The colors looked kind of scary in the tubes, but they actually are quite pretty on.
Verdict: We had a great time making these lipsticks! They turned out great, I’m happy with the colors, they are unscented, they feel good on the lips, and the color lasts quite a while (3-4 hours). In this case, lipsticks can be quite expensive, so the value is definitely there. I plan to keep a couple of these, and of course I gave my sister-in-law a couple, but as I mentioned last month, I’m going to make gift bags for the teachers at the end of the school year, and these will be a perfect addition. The materials allowed me to make about ten of each color. The only thing I didn’t like this month was that the project was quite messy! I used the same bowl for both batches and it was a feat to clean it out between batches. I also spilled little drops and they were hard to clean up. I guess if I had been more careful, this would have been a perfect project!
What do you think of Handmade Beauty Box?
Written by Anna Rodriguez
Did you see the spoiler for April’s box?? I totally can’t wait… Woohooo!!!
For $31.50, I expect a bunch of makeup that someone else already made. š Also for $31.50, I can get ten different lipsticks by e.l.f. or New York Color.
It’s not just about the end product value. A huge bonus for me is knowing exactly what’s in these lipsticks (versus the mystery ingredients in elf or nyc products!) Also with this kit, you can customize the colors and generate quite a few cool little gifts to share as Anna mentioned.
No mystery at all – just read the ingredients list.
Anna, Did you know you are now quoted and pictured on the company’s homepage? š You are famous.
Thanks for the heads-up chris! LOL
I actually this this would be alot of fun to make with friends
Thanks for reviewing this – it sure sounded like fun! I can definitely see giving these to all my girlfriends on my birthday for a little reverse-present :)!
Awww, that is so sweet of you! What a thoughtful idea!
Thanks for letting us know about the box. I saw the spoiler for April and got excited and signed up.
What’s the April project?
Thanks Chau!
They have the link on Facebook for the spoiler. Today’s the last day to sign up. I always thought it would be interesting to make the spoiler, but will pass for now.
Thanks PA Anna. I wouldn’t use the April kit but I’m glad to see that they still offer past kits for sale on the website. I may get the lip balm kit from March.
Can you only make those two colors, or are there many options based on the supplies you got? I mean, I can’t imagine loving a color so much I wanted ten tubes! But I would love the chance to play and make other variations.
Hi Shanna! No, they sent four pigments, so you could play and make an unlimited number of colors. – Anna
It looks like there are 4 colors in the kit.
If you want more, Bramble Berry sells a kit that has 10 colors plus some other items, but it’s $40 (http://www.brambleberry.com/Lipstick-Making-Kit-1-kit-P4387.aspx) Of course, you can always buy the mica separately.
I guess you have to plan to give some away because who needs 10 lipsticks of the same color? (I don’t even need two of the same color. But my stash of lip colors is enormous.) On the other hand, it’s probably not worthwhile to send only enough product to make 1 or 2 of each color (because if you mess up, there’s not enough to try again). I would probably start mixing colors together and see how many different shades I could come up with.
Hi Ragan! In my case, I’ll be making gift bags for about 8 different teachers, so it works out, but you could totally make a bunch of different batches and mix colors all day long if you wanted. – Anna
I like making cosmetics but this one is kind of boring as you are mixing just two things. Still, it’s all about having fun.