Are you looking to try before you buy some new natural beauty products? Why not build your own beauty box by the Cruelty Free Beauty Box? It is a really reasonably priced beauty box where you get to choose from a wide range of well-known and up-and-coming green beauty brands. There are loads to choose from and most of them are normally only available in the full size version. It is a great way to get a feel for new natural beauty products before deciding whether to fork out for the full size item. The trial sizes are generous and last a good while so it is great value for money.

I decided to build my own box since there were some really fab products that I wanted to try out and I couldn’t believe I managed to get a PHB Ethical Beauty foundation brush and 3 award-winning natural beauty products for £19.95. I was delighted to discover they had a 10% off your 1st order coupon code too so it only worked out at £18. There are 5 products and you choose them all yourself. They have a range of full size, travel size, trial size, mini’s and samples and they give you the price below. They are normally priced up to £10 each for the first 4 products and the last product is priced normally £10+ so you save loads!

I had been researching natural beauty subscription boxes for quite some time and this was my final choice. They seemed to be such fantastic value plus I really loved the idea of being able to choose exactly what I wanted! They are vegan and cruelty free and although not all the products are natural, the selection of natural products is huge. It took me a while to decide which products I wanted because there were so many good ones to choose from but I narrowed it down eventually. I will definitely be back for more once this lot run out. I was so impressed with it.

I accidentally ticked the box to say I was already a subscriber to the monthly box as I was confused. I assumed it meant subscribed to the newsletter so I wasn’t charged delivery. I realised the next day that I had accidentally not been charged for delivery when they emailed me to say they didn’t have my subscriber details on file. I only had to pay £3.95 for delivery but I had claimed my 10% off coupon so it ended up only costing my £20.95 altogether which was still less than I had expected to pay. I paid the delivery via PayPal and it was sent immediately. They were great about it and even sent me a free product in the box! Another nice freebie I wasn’t expecting was a little packet of sweets. Cool!

Here is a picture of the box and I will delve into the contents, explaining and reviewing each item in detail below.

Greenfrog Botanic Natural Bodywash in relaxing geranium & peppermint. It won an award as Editors Choice for the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2017. It is enriched with organic aloe vera, which I love. See my post on Aloe Vera and the benefits here. It is a plant based formula with organic soap berries sourced from the Himalayas. The fact that it won the award appealed to me and the ingredients sounded lovely so I chose it. It is a good size as you can see but also airplane safe travel size so perfect for hols. I LOVE the smell of this, it is so potent for a natural body wash, I think this may be why it won the award! I look forward to showering with this every morning.

The PHB Foundation Brush is a lovely quality, ethical foundation brush with soft and perfectly shaped tapered bristles. This costs £9.50 to buy normally, so a brilliant bargain! That covers half the price of the box already so I’m delighted with that. It gives a nice flawless finish and you can buff with it so ideal for coverage whether it is light or full coverage you need. It is vegan, eco friendly, Halal certified and as with any PHB purchase, 20% goes to charity.

Evolve Organic Superfood Shine Shampoo for normal to dry hair. It was the winner of the Beauty Shortlist Award 2017. This has Baobab and pomegranate and is 98% natural. I have been hearing great reports about Evolve Organic Beauty so I decided to try this. Granted, I don’t use much shampoo but when I do, I use natural ones. If you happened to read my post on Natural Curls, you will know I follow a method that involves conditioner rather than shampoo but I do dye my hair with henna every 8 weeks and that is hard to remove so I use shampoo for that. I really liked this shampoo as it lathers up really well but doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals or sulphates and gives a really good clean. I need to use shampoo sometimes when I use oils as a mask too, especially castor oil as it is hard to remove so I’m glad to have this one on hand.

The Naissance Organic Chia Seed Oil was my freebie product that I wasn’t expecting! They were very kind to add this and it was a lovely surprise. I had actually been considering choosing it since I love Chia seeds, they are chock full of protein and goodness. I have been using this after cleansing instead of a moisturiser and leaving it on for around 10/20 minutes before applying my SPF and it is working really well as a moisturiser without being oily. I will report back in a few weeks as to how it is working but so far I’m enjoying using it.

Evolve Organic Beauty Nourishing Hair Elixir for normal to dry hair. This is another award-winning product. It has Argan oil, organic Baobab and Monoi so it appealed to me for the ingredients as well as the award. I love Argan oil and often use it in my hair as it is a fab natural oil for hair health and condition. I have been using a few drops of the serum in my hair when damp and raking it through with my fingers. It seems to give a nice shine and is gentle on the hair with easy application so I do like it and I’m happy to have it for the shine. It is also very nourishing and smells nice.

I chose the charcoal pumice foot scrub as it seems so handy to have in the shower. I love charcoal and even wrote a whole blog post on it here. It has a natural pumice which is perfect for scrubbing your feet with in the shower or bath. It feels great and gives a deep clean. I love the ease of use and keep it in its little pouch when I get out of the shower so it stays intact and doesn’t turn to mush like most soaps in our shower.

My daughter spotted the sweets straight away and ran off with them haha! I didn’t manage to taste them but they were a nice touch and my little girl was happy with them. All in all I was delighted being able to build my own natural beauty box. It was fun and also really practical since I could order exactly what I wanted and needed. I will definitely be shopping at The Cruelty Free Beauty Box from now on as they have a shop too so you are spoiled for choice with all the bargain natural beauty products there. I highly recommend The Cruelty Free Beauty Box, whether it is the Build Your Own box or the subscription, both are wonderful value and top quality. I love that their ethics match mine and their product choices are cleverly curated. This would make a fab ethical gift for someone too.

Have you tried The Cruelty Free Beauty Box before? Would you consider building your own natural beauty box? Let me know in the comments!

Stay tuned for more natural beauty coming soon,

Ciara x

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