Note from Liz: I am SO excited to introduce Ragan (AKA Sneaky Burrito) as the newest reviewer to join the My Subscription Addiction team!
The Whole Foods Spring 2015 beauty bag is a curated collection of beauty products selected from offerings available in Whole Foods Market stores. This was a one-time purchase, but I hope it will become a regular thing. Language in this blog post suggests it might be!
My Subscription Addiction paid for this bag. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Box: Whole Foods Beauty Bag
The Cost: $18
The Products: Deluxe samples of natural and ingredient-conscious makeup, skincare, and haircare.
Ships to: In-store only purchase at US Whole Foods Market locations starting at 10 AM on March 21, 2015. While supplies last.
Check out the Beauty Subscription Box Directory for more great natural beauty deals!
There’s not really a theme to the products that I can tell, other than that they’re ingredient-conscious. You could pick up the list pictured above in-store if you wanted to see the ingredients for each product. (You can also view it here.)
The bag came with an information card describing Whole Foods Market’s quality standards when it comes to beauty care products and also listing the items from the bag.
RIJIgreen Large Organic Cotton Makeup Bag– Value $11.99
RIJIgreen is a company that produces eco-friendly fair trade bags and t-shirts. They partner with businesses and non-profits that hire survivors of human trafficking and they donate a portion of their profits to anti-human-trafficking causes. While I have a surplus of makeup bags due to subscription boxes, I like that this one’s cloth and I think the cause is great, too.
Gabriel ZuZu Luxe Mascara – Value $10?
I can’t find a size listed on the package. It looks larger than most of my other deluxe mascara samples but smaller than a full-size mascara. The full size has a retail value of $16.25 on the Gabriel Cosmetics website. I definitely got a little bit of lengthening and some added volume, and the pigment was pretty good (and buildable with additional coats). I don’t really think it added much curl, though.
Pacifica Eyeshadow Duo – Value $5?
Bags contained either a Pacifica eyeshadow duo or a Pacifica lipstick. I got this same product (in the same colors!) in an Ipsy bag last year. The shades are called “unicorn” and “moonbeam” and, while you can’t buy these duos on the Pacifica website, they appear to be color selections from larger Pacifica palettes. It’s vegan and free of gluten, parabens, phthalates, petroleum derivatives, etc. I though the pigment level was a little low. The off-white shade was visible over primer but I really had to pile on the purple to get it to show up.
Derma e Microdermabrasion Scrub (0.5 oz) – Value $7.31
I’ve tried this scrub before (from an Ipsy Me offer) and I love it. I’m glad to have more. It’s gentle and has a light scent and exfoliates using a combination of volcanic sand and Dead Sea salt. It’s also free of parabens, sulfates, mineral oil, and gluten, plus it’s vegan/cruelty free!
Trilogy Vital Moisturizing Cream (1.18 oz) – Value $30.80
This brand is new to me. I’m not sure I love the scent of this (it’s somewhat “herbal” to me, for lack of a better word), but it’s all right. I tried it on my hands right away and it absorbed quickly and was non-irritating. It’s one of those products that I think will take a little time to show effects on my face, but it’s packed with natural sources of vitamins and antioxidants so I have high hopes. Also, it’s vegan and free of artificial dyes and fragrances.
Giovanni 2chic Blackberry and Coconut Milk Ultra-Repair Shampoo (1.5 oz) – Value $1.59
This brand is also new to me. This shampoo is free of sulfates (so it’s safe for color-treated hair) and it smells fairly strongly of coconut (which is fine by me!). This lathers really well for a sulfate-free shampoo. It’s difficult to assess the repair abilities after only one use, though, and without also having the matching conditioner. The “keratin” in this product is from a plant source so this product is vegan, as well!
Acure Cell Stimulating Facial Mask (1 oz) – Value $9.59
I’ve sampled the Acure brand before thanks to other subscription boxes, and I’m a fan. This is a clay mask so it dries on your face and becomes a little bit stiff, and I thought it did a good job at reducing pore size. It also has some moisturizing ingredients (like argan oil and cocoa butter) and it’s a deep green color from chlorophyll and an algae extract. I put on a fairly thick layer, but I should still get a couple of uses from this tube.
The bag also came with a coupon for $5 off any BioSil product (redeemable only at Whole Foods locations).
Verdict: The Spring 2015 Whole Foods Beauty Bag had an overall value of about $75 if you count the makeup bag (but not the value of the coupon). That’s outstanding for the $18 cost! I’m happy to have a mix of old favorites and new-to-me brands as well as a pretty good ratio of makeup to skincare to haircare. I’m also happy that products were chosen from a variety of price ranges, and that the sizes are large enough for multiple uses.
I shop at Whole Foods for cheese and eggs and pantry items every week but I’ll admit to walking right past the beauty section because I just assumed everything was too expensive for me. However, after having researched the products in order to write this review, I was pleased to see just how affordable some of them were! And if you’re ingredient-conscious, Whole Foods is a wonderful place to shop for makeup, skincare, and haircare. Here’s a list of the ingredients the products Whole Foods carries will never contain.
What did you think of the Whole Foods Beauty Bag? Were you able to get one?
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