CandleLit is a monthly subscription box that features books by authors of color, soy candles, organic tea, and handmade wellness products created by people of color. CandleLit simplifies scheduled self-care despite your busy life. We partner with POC-owned brands to support a holistic wellness lifestyle.
CandleLit Box offers monthly and quarterly subscription plans as well as single box and gift box options. Subscribers have the option to receive an e-book (Kindle) or hardcover book.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About CandleLit
The Subscription Box: CandleLit Box
The Cost: $40 every month or $120 every 3 months. Shipping is free. Boxes ship the first week of the month.
The Products: A new hand-picked hardcover or e-book by an author of color, a soy candle, organic tea, and other handmade wellness products.
Ships To: the US only
February 2019 CandleLit Box Review
Included in the box is a card that highlights this month's box. The front of the card reads:
This box is an ode to women who continue to light our flame. We are here to light yours.
The back of the card highlights the box partners and featured editor for the month as well as other useful information about the box.
All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks - Retail Value $15.99 (found here for $10.19)
Book summary from Amazon:
The word ‘love' is most often defined as a noun, yet . . . we would all love better if we used it as a verb," writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place, she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness.
As Bell Hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explore the question "What is love?" her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, Hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for individuals and for a nation.
I'm completely engrossed in this book! It's not a love story or a collection of love poems. In All About Love, Bell Hooks answers the questions: What is love? What does love look like? And, how can we express love daily? There are so many gems in this book that I find myself highlighting sections and going back to reference previously read chapters. And, in true black girl fashion, I found myself frequently exclaiming out loud “That is a WHOLE word”! What a fantastic book that we all should read.
A few highlights:
“ … we yearn for love – that we seek it – even when we lack hope that it really can be found.”
“Most of us find it difficult to accept a definition of love that says we are never loved in a context where there is abuse.”
“It is easier to articulate the pain of love’s absence than to describe its presence and meaning in our lives.”
Ladies, buy this book!
Lux Living Candle Co. Everything Is Love Candle - Buy a 10oz candle in a glass jar with wooden wick here for $25
Lux Living Candle Co. makes beautiful hand-poured candles using safe and non-toxic soy wax, high-quality fragrance oils, eco-friendly wood wicks, and glass jars. Lux Living describes the Everything is Love scent as a mix of rose and vanilla perfect for the month dedicated to love. I'm not a big fan of floral scents and thought that I would not like the smell but the addition of vanilla perfectly balances out the rose scent. It smells amazing when burned. Since this candle is sample sized, it doesn't contain the wood wicks (which I've come to love) and is in a tin can instead of the signature glass jar.
Cuples Tea House ‘Tea Tube Testers' - Soul Mate Tea, 1oz – Estimated Value $6 (Buy other sizes here)
Cuples Tea House is a family owned business offering loose leaf teas, tea sets, tea accessories and “urban tea experiences." This Soul Mate Tea contains South American mate with ginseng, lemongrass, gingko, nettle, and mint. It contains some caffeine and tastes really good – especially with a little bit of honey. I’ve come to really enjoy Cuples tea but would like to see other tea brands featured in future boxes.
Mint & Ocean Small White Sage Stick, 1.15oz – Estimated Value $2.85
I like the pretty packaging of this handmade and organic smudge stick. Burning sage is a way to remove negative energy from your space. I used white sage and Palo Santo to purify my home, warding off negative energy and inviting positivity into our home. I can never have enough sage but I do recall that this same product was included in the November 2018 box, the January 2019 box and now again in this box. It would have been nice to receive a different wellness product.
CandleLit Affirmation Notes
Each month, the CandleLit boxes include affirmation notes. This month’s sticky notes read: "I have an abundant life and will receive all blessing”. To me, living an abundant life full of God’s blessing is living life to the fullest. It's living a life full of gratitude, one that exceeds all expectations and is more than can be anticipated. I’m onboard with this affirmation! However, these were the same affirmation notes included in last month’s box.
Your Goddess Glow Lavender Body Scrub - Buy an 8oz jar in a jar here for $10
The lavender body scrub is the missing item from the December 2018 CandleLit’s box partner, Your Goddess Glow. There was a delay in delivery so this missing product was promised in the January 2019 box but finally showed up in this month’s box. The lavender scrub comes in a cute but tiny mason jar and contains coconut, rosehip, olive, tea tree and essential oils mixed with sugar, tea, and Epsom and Himalayan pink salts. I enjoyed using this scrub. The sugar dissolves too quickly but the oils in the scrub left my skin soft and moisturized.
Verdict: I love that CandleLit Box highlights authors and partners that are people of color. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite boxes but the last few boxes have been disappointing. I generally enjoy the book selections with the exceptions of last month’s book choice. And, I’m not pleased to continue to receive the same wellness products over and over again. I have 6 tubes of Cuples tea – some in the same flavor. I have three of the exact same smudge sticks, multiple candles by the same brands in different scents and this month I received the exact same affirmation notes as last month. Additionally, this box promises hardcover books and this month’s book is a paperback.
This box, standalone, is a great box that a new subscriber would love. But, six months in, I’m losing my excitement for this box. It feels like more of the same thing. I would like to see CandleLit box switch up their wellness products, include hardcover books as promised and include full-size or additional wellness items in each box.
This CandleLit Box costs $40.00 and includes the book, candle, tea, wellness product, and affirmation notes. I am not able to find values for each product, but I estimated that there is not $40 worth of products in this month’s box making it not a good value.
To Wrap Up:
Can I get this box if I sign up today? If you subscribed by the end of the month you will receive the March CandleLit box. You may also be able to purchase this box as a Single Box order from the CandleLit Shop.
Value Breakdown: This box costs $40 + free shipping, which means that each of the 6 items in the box has an average cost of $6.67.
Check out all of our CandleLit Box reviews and more self-care subscription boxes in the Women’s Subscription Box List!
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What do you think of this CandleLit Box February box?
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