The February 2014 Beauty Box Five is my first month of this beauty box. Actually, other than Julep, it's my first beauty box since I cancelled Loose Button over a year ago! One of the major reasons I chose Beauty Box 5 was due to their high customer service rating, and based on the opinions of friends and bloggers who subscribe to multiple boxes like Ipsy, TopBox and Birchbox. The consensus is that while BB5 favours drug-store and less high-end products, the boxes are always worth the price, and they DON'T send wrinkle cream/anti-aging nonsense that other boxes rely on. BB5 sends the kind of products that are practical and everybody will use.
Plus, for three months it came down to only $10 a month, so I was sold. I also received a bonus box for my 3-month subscription, so for $30 I get February, March and April and they mailed me an extra January box for good measure (I received that a bit later, I'll review it soon!) So really, I paid $30 for four boxes, I couldn't refuse!
So for now, here's February!
I'm going to review it in order of the good, the bad and the ugly. While there are no big losers in this box, there are no big winners either, but I'm pretty happy with the variety of products.
Aveeno Positively Nourishing Calming Body Wash - This was a big win in my books because I love Aveeno products and regularly use their body wash. Calming is a great formula that does exactly what it says, the lavender and chamomile work together for a relaxing, aromatic wash. It's a great product that offers a lot hydration and moisture as well as a nice scent pay-off. Yay! Perfect for this drying, awful winter.
John Freida Luxurious Volume Shampoo and Conditioner - I'm a fan of John Freida's Brunette line so I was excited to try this one out. I currently use Pantene Aqua Light right now and I'm pretty happy with it, but two full foil packets like these are good to take travelling. I finished one shampoo and one conditioner, each packet has about 3 washes with it (I have hair that goes just past my shoulders), the smell is nice, but I didn't find it gave much volume (and I NEED IT), but others have reported good results.
Rockstar Nails Nail Polish & Caviar - I'm glad I received the teal set because the pink version looked pretty tame when swatched. I haven't used this yet because I've heard some really horrific things about the formula and scent of this polish and it's too cold to crack a window while I do my nails these days. But swatches show that the colour looks like a lovely robin-egg blue, despite the smell. Worth it? I think so :)
Elizabeth Mott It’s So Big Volumizing Mascara - Honestly, if there was one thing I was less than impressed with in this box it was this mascara. Maybe because I've got enough higher-end samples like Benefit and Clinique to last me an eternity, but I saw some reviews of this wand that are pretty meh. I'll probably trade this with somebody.
$10 off an order at MyNameNecklace.com - Really and truly, this is not my thing, especially since I've recently gotten addicted to making my own jewelry like this awesome tie necklace!
Here's the card for all the products:
So all in all, I'm happy with BB5 so far. The hits were great, the misses were alright, here's to March! You can get your own Beauty Box 5 subscription here.
Did you get BB5 in February? What did you think?