Update 6/10: The Cost was updated to reflect $74.95 per quarter instead of per month.
The Black Box is a quarterly lifestyle subscription box offering the unique opportunity to discover and directly support black-owned businesses.
The Black Box includes a curated selection of items ranging from lifestyle, dining, bath, body and home goods products. All items are from black businesses highlighted in each box.
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About The Black Box
The Subscription Box: The Black Box
The Cost: $74.95 per month quarter + $5.00 shipping
ACTIVE DEAL: Get free shipping off your first box
CODE: ADCTN
The Products: full-sized products from 4-6 different businesses each quarter
Ships to: the US for $5.00
The Black Box Spring 2019 Review
Each The Black Box contains an information card highlighting the hand-picked items included in each box. It lists the item name, price, and website. This card also uniquely features the black-owned business owners, their logos, and a quote from the business owner describing their products.
Butta Natural Body Care Whipped Body Butter – Macadamia + Shea, 8 oz – Retail Value $15
Butta Natural Body Care creates products that are handmade in small batches with quality ingredients. This moisturizing whipped body butter promises to remedy dry, dull skin leaving a gorgeous natural glow. It's made with shea, macadamia, almond, jojoba and mango butters, and sweet almond oil.
This whipped body butter is everything! It's lightweight but ultra-moisturizing. It smells fantastic and the scent last throughout most of the day. The best part is that it leaves my skin looking and feeling well hydrated. This is the perfect butter for sandal season!
Butta Natural Body Care Lip Balm, 0.5 oz – Listed Retail Value $5
Butta Natural Body Care Lip Balm is made with almond butter and almond oil and promises to leave lips soft and hydrated. I really like this lip balm. It's lightly scented and leaves my lips soft, smooth and moisturized. I've been using this lip balm for over a week now and it looks like barely any of it has been used. A little goes a long way.
Oatmeal Beauty Gentle Oatmeal Soap, 4 oz – Retail Value $5.75
Oatmeal Beauty creates quality beauty products developed for people with a variety of skin conditions such as sensitive skin, redness, eczema, psoriasis, and acne. The make clean products with no detergents, sulfates, parabens or silicones. This gentle oatmeal soft is handcrafted . with colloidal oatmeal, coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil for all types of sensitive skin.
This soap has a light sweet oatmeal scent, excellent lather that is soft and silky, and it left my skin feeling clean and moisturized. I recently got a bad sunburn while doing rooftop yoga on this soap helped soothe my dry, red and itchy patches.
Posh Candle Co. Create Hustle Repeat Candle – Fresh Squeezed Lemon, 8 oz – Retail Value $15
Posh Candle Co. makes handcrafted 100% soy wax candles with custom blended fragrances in glass jars. I’ve had the pleasure of receiving Posh Candle Co. candles in other boxes but never this full size. This candle has a light, fresh and clean lemon scent. I love it!
Posh Candle Co. Stay Lit Matches - Mini – Estimated Retail Value $0.56 (buy full size here for $3.50)
Thank goodness for the info card because I almost missed these cute matches buried in the box confetti! I love the wordplay with “Stay Lit” on the candle box. The box contains 16 wooden matches that are easy to light and the perfect size for lighting candles.
Reflektion Design Kenyan Olive Wood Salad Servers with Bone Inlay – Retail Value $25 (found here for $20)
I am enamored with Reflektion Design and their broad range of products, especially the household items, inspired by the African diaspora. Her site is chock-full of beautiful and vibrant pieces, some of which I have the pleasure of owning. These salad servers are handmade in Kenya with wild olive wood that is carved with skilled precision. I can't wait to show them off at my next dinner party!
Utopia Tea House Travel Tea Tumbler, 12 oz – Retail Value $30
Utopia Tea House is owned by a black mom and entrepreneur whose goal is to offer a healthier alternative to bad-for-you beverages and spread the good word about the numerous benefits of drinking tea. This 12oz tea tumbler has a built-in diffuser perfect for creating single servings of hot or cold loose-leaf tea. This bottle is well-made and sturdy. The bottle is glass, the top is wood and the filter is stainless steel. I’ve enjoyed using this tumbler over the last few weeks – especially for iced tea.
Utopia Tea House All-Natural Loose-Leaf Tea, Thin Mint, 1.5 oz – Retail Value $11.50
This loose-leaf Thin Mint tea is made with all-natural rooibos, dried apple pieces, vanilla chips, chocolate, peppermint, and natural vanilla flavor. I've been diffusing this tea both hot and cold in the tea tumbler included in this month's box. The tea tastes great hot but it is amazing cold! I drink it without any added sugar – it has a slight natural sweetness. The most prominent flavors are peppermint and vanilla which are two of my favorites. I’m looking forward to trying other flavors from Utopia Tea House.
The Verdict: I am super excited to get the opportunity to review the newly released The Black Box – a high-end lifestyle box featuring products from black-owned businesses. This box is unique in that it not only offers the opportunity to directly support black-owned businesses and try their luxe products but it also makes an effort to feature the businesses, faces, and names behind the products.
The goodies in this quarter’s box are top-notch featuring products that are handmade with high-quality ingredients in small batches. I'm currently using every product in this month’s box! The body butter has my skin glowing. My lips are moisturized and my inflamed sun-kissed skin is calmed with the lip balm and oatmeal soap. I'm practicing self-care with a good book, my fresh squeezed lemon candle and sipping sweet tea from the pretty tumbler. It’s hard to choose favorites but if I had to pick, I’d say the whipped body and the salad servers are my top two. The salad servers are high quality and handmade in Kenya but more than that, they are beautiful and unique. I love them! I love all the products! Was this box made specifically for me?! It certainly feels like it!
This box has an estimated retail value of $107.81 which represents a saving of about 25%. At $79.95 a quarter, this box is expensive but I think it’s worth the price. I appreciate the opportunity to discover and support black businesses and I love the idea of a high-end black box featuring high-quality products. This is an impressive first release and I can't wait to see whatThe Black Box has planned for their summer box!
To Wrap Up:
Can I get this box if I sign up today? No, the spring quarterly box is sold out but sign up by June 17th to secure The Black Box Summer 2019 release.
Value Breakdown: At $79.95 a box ($74.95 + $5 shipping), here’s what you are paying approximately per item:
- Butta Natural Body Care Whipped Body Butter: $11.12
- Butta Natural Body Care Lip Balm: $3.71
- Oatmeal Beauty Gentle Oatmeal Soap: $4.26
- Posh Candle Co. Create Hustle Repeat Candle: $11.12
- Posh Candle Co. Stay Lit Matches: $0.42
- Reflektion Design Kenyan Olive Wood Salad Servers: $18.54
- Utopia Tea House Travel Tea Tumbler: $22.25
- Utopia Tea House All-Natural Loose-Leaf Tea: $8.53
Alternatively, each of the 8 beauty and lifestyle products in the box has an average cost of $10.
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What do you think of this quarter’s The Black Box?
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