NSFW Bulu Box Subscription Review + Coupon – January 2019

Bulu Box is a monthly fitness and weight loss subscription. The original Bulu Box is focused more on fitness and general health supplements, and they also offer a Weight Loss box that focuses more on diet products.

This review is of the Original Bulu, $10 a month, box.

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

(FYI – not all the product literature in the box is suitable for viewing at work. Just a heads up!)

About Bulu Box

The Subscription Box: Bulu Box

The Cost: $10 on a month-to-month plan; save with longer subscriptions

The Products: 4-6 health and fitness items such as vitamin samples, fitness gear, and healthy snacks.

Ships to: U.S. (free)

Bulu Box January 2019 Review

There isn’t a theme for Bulu Box and there is some personalization involved, so the contents are usually a surprise:

Because of the variations with this subscription, there’s not a traditional information card listing the items.

There are also usually some coupons and/or product literature with this subscription. They don’t always relate to the items in the box. One piece of product literature was of an adult nature (you will sometimes see things like this in Bulu Box). I feel obligated to point out here that homeopathy (the last ad) doesn’t actually do anything because there are no active ingredients of any kind in any of the treatments.

Defunkify Active Wash (0.7 oz) – Buy a 28 Load Package for $11.99

This allegedly gets rid of blood, grass, and sweat stains, and allegedly uses “the principles of green chemistry” but the manufacturer is pretty cagey about what the product actually contains. (I note that the product description on Amazon says this is engineered for synthetic fibers but a lot of my clothing is cotton.) If you dig a little bit, you can find an MSDS. This has hydrogen peroxide which may work on blood stains, although I find I have the best results with that if I just pour hydrogen peroxide 3% solution from the drugstore directly onto the stain. There are also some non-sulfate detergents in here and allegedly some enzymes, though I have not usually found enzyme-containing cleaning products to be effective. (I do not have any laundry with blood or grass stains with which to test it out. Used on a regular load, I didn’t notice much of a difference from All Free and Clear, but my laundry doesn’t get super dirty, not even my exercise clothes.)

This product was also in the weight loss version of Bulu Box this month (review coming soon).

Florastor Daily Probiotic Supplement (20 count) – Buy 50 Capsules for $28.37 (found on sale here for $26.95)

This is a probiotic with a yeast strain instead of a bacterial strain. The benefit of this is supposed to be that it will work during antibiotic use, whereas antibiotics might kill off probiotic bacteria. I haven’t been on antibiotics since sometime last year, so I can’t test that aspect out, but these are vegetarian so I am trying them. The thing about probiotics is, they can take weeks or months to show any effect, so there is not much I can say here other than repeat product information. (Note for those who are lactose intolerant: this product says it is safe for people with lactose intolerance, but it contains lactose, so I’d probably avoid it if I were you, especially if very small amounts set off your symptoms.)

This product was also in the weight loss version of Bulu Box this month (review coming soon).

Lavle Belgian Dark Chocolate (2 squares) – Buy 15 Squares for $14.90

This product shows up in Bulu Box regularly. It is a 65% cacao dark chocolate (normally guidelines for eating dark chocolate for health benefits recommend 70% cacao or greater) but it is supposed to have 200 mg of flavanols (active compounds in dark chocolate). Anyway, this is fine but I can buy 90% cacao (or higher) Lindt bars at the supermarket for about 1/3 the cost of this, per square.

This product was also in the weight loss version of Bulu Box this month (review coming soon).

Go Macro Macrobar in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (2.4 oz) – Buy 12 Bars for $27.35 (found on sale here for $25.98)

For vegan, gluten-free protein bars, these actually have a decent texture and flavor. They are about 50% higher in calories than the average protein bar, though, at around 300. Since I count calories, this is a concern for me, but if you are looking for a meal replacement or something, this may be high enough in calories and nutrients to work instead of, say, breakfast. This is reasonably well balanced in fat, protein, and fiber, but has much more sugar than I would like, at 14g (the first ingredient is brown rice syrup). But, different people’s caloric and nutritional needs are different, and this will certainly work for some.

Una Biologicals Muscle Rub (0.35 oz) – Retail Value $7

This is an herbal product but I do see some ingredients that may have an effect. Arnica is sometimes used for bruising. Cayenne has capsaicin, which is used in some pain relief rubs. And there’s peppermint, which has menthol, which can also be soothing for muscle pain. I tried it out on my aching feet after exercise one night and I didn’t notice a big difference; however, I should say that (1) foot skin is much thicker than elsewhere, so perhaps it would be more effective, say, on the shoulders or neck and (2) products like this almost never work on me. If you are interested in trying this, I’d go for the 2 oz full size instead of the travel size because you get about six times as much for less than double the price of this travel size. (This has beeswax so it is not vegan.)

Sulina Shop Uplifting Facial Oil – Buy in Full Size for $40

This is high in vitamins and antioxidants. This is the sort of product that you really need to use for a period of time to see results. (What you can determine from this small sample is whether it causes irritation. It didn’t for me.) I like skincare with antioxidants so I was happy to see this. You can use it anytime but the manufacturer recommends trying it at night, so that’s what I did. My skin did feel rather soft in the morning and I don’t think this rubbed off all over my pillow, so I guess that’s a good start. This can also be used as a cuticle oil. (If you don’t think you can use facial oils because you have oily skin, well, I have terribly oily skin and I found that as long as I regularly exfoliate, facial oils don’t clog my pores at all.)

Uroval Mannose Acute (10 capsules) – Buy 30 Capsules for $24.99 (found here for $16.99)

The advertising copy on the manufacturer’s website is a little misleading. The actual best way to combat antibiotic resistance is not alternative therapies but is instead for medical professionals not to prescribe antibiotics when they won’t help (antibiotics don’t do anything for colds and flu and other viruses, for example) and for people to take needed antibiotics as directed (finish all of them, don’t share, don’t take antibiotics prescribed for your pet, etc., etc.). Also, for agribusiness to reevaluate how things are done so that animals that are not sick don’t get treated with antibiotics.

That being said, D-mannose may actually be useful at preventing urinary tract infections. It is a sugar that goes mostly undigested through your GI tract and passes out through the kidneys and into the bladder, where it aggregates with bacteria, preventing them from adhering to the bladder wall and causing an infection. My dog, Nyx, is on D-mannose constantly because she’s immune-suppressed and prone to UTIs. But I buy giant 240 count bottles that are vegetarian (this is not, and the dog is not vegetarian, the capsules just happen to be) on Amazon for a lot less per pill than this product. This also has proanthocyanidins but there is not a lot of evidence supporting their effectiveness just yet (though they are unlikely to be harmful, either).

Verdict: This month’s box had seven samples, so they’d average about $1.43 each. It should be noted that the muscle rub, which is the only item available as-is, in this size, sells for $7, which makes the cost of the remaining samples about 50 cents each. Obviously, the probiotic and the Uroval pills are worth more than that, as is the protein bar. So I think you are getting your money’s worth, even if you pay full price for this subscription. I don’t think I have ever tried a yeast-based probiotic before, so I’ll be interested to see long-term results for that one, and all the snacks were vegetarian, so this was a decent month for me.

I’d strongly recommend using our MYSUB799 coupon code when you subscribe and choosing either the regular or the weight loss box, but not both since there is a lot of product repetition between the two.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, February would be your first shipment. Also, keep in mind that there are variations in the boxes, so your box might not be exactly like mine in any given month.

Coupon - Use our coupon code MYSUB799 to get your subscription at $7.99 per month, for the lifetime of the subscription!

Value Breakdown: This box had seven items, for an average value of about $1.43 each.

Check out all of our Bulu Box reviews and the Fitness Subscription Box Directory!

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

What did you think of the January Bulu Box?