Look at the gorgeous colors and textures in the August 2019 Mapleblume box! There are five skincare and beauty products with a total value of $256.30.
Contents:
Luxe Botanics Kigelia Corrective Moisturizer (Feature Product. $112)
Malaya Organics Soothing Beauty Bar – Rosemary & Lemongrass ($18.50)
Malaya Organics Moisturizing Body Oil – Citrus & Bloom ($59)
Pure Anada Strawberry Kiwi Lip Scrub ($8)
RMS Beauty Signature Set in MOD ($59)
I’ll start with the most delightful product: the Strawberry Kiwi Lip Scrub from Canadian company Pure Anada. It smells amazing and tastes like strawberry. I love the texture, which is exfoliating thanks to the cane sugar but not too harsh and gritty. It has a list of moisturizing ingredients like shea butter, sunflower seed oil, cocoa seed butter, coconut oil and argan oil. It felt great rubbing it over my lips and made my lips soft and comfortable. I love this lip scrub, and at $8, I want to order the Mango Peach flavour too. Tip : apply the RMS lip and skin balm after exfoliating your lips.
There are two products from a brand that’s new to me and new to Mapleblume called Mālayā Organics. The August box contains the brand’s Moisturizing Body Oil in Citrus & Bloom and Soothing Beauty Bar in Rosemary & Lemongrass. Both products are subtly scented and contain anti-inflammatory and skin soothing ingredients. The Moisturizing Body Oil in Citrus and Bloom contains ingredients that increase skin elasticity, hydrates dry skin, and prevents stretch marks. I thought, why not bring it to a massage? I brought it to my last massage and I left with my whole body soft and glowing. I highly recommend bringing your own body oil to a massage because it elevates the whole experience to spa-level. There’s a hint of citrus scent with what I believe is neroli, but very light. It’s a very rich oil that will nourish your skin. Tip: use on your cuticles.
The Soothing Beauty Bar in Rosemary & Lemongrass is a dense bar soap that feels slightly gritty to the touch. I don’t usually use soaps because so many of them either leave my skin feeling super dry or leave a film that I can’t wash off. I’m happy to report that the rosemary and lemongrass bar foamed nicely, washed off easily, and didn’t make my skin feel dry at all. I like the rough texture of the bar and felt like it gave me a slight exfoliation.
The feature product in the August box is the Kigelia Corrective Moisturizer from Luxe Botanics. The key ingredient is Kigelia africana, a fruit traditionally used by Southern Africans to heal and soothe skin. Luxe Botanics sources organically grown Kigelia africana that’s hand-picked by the local community in Malawi.
Kigelia africana is a long, sausage-shaped fruit that hangs from the towering tree, and is native to tropical African regions
The Kigelia Corrective Moisturizer is described as a “lightweight, vitamin and antioxidant rich gel moisturizer” that “supports cellular regeneration.” In addition to Kigelia africana fruit extract, other ingredients include cucumber extract, Blue Passion flower extract (an exotic fruit native to South America), and a whole list of essential oils such as geranium, lemon, lavender, and peppermint just to name a few. This moisturizer is packed!
The Kigelia Corrective Moisturizer has a texture that’s very different than your typical cream or gel moisturizer, and to tell you truth, I didn’t like it at first. I slathered it on, found it very thin and runny, and it made my face uncomfortably sticky. I had it on for a short time and had to wash it off. I know that Mapleblume tests all the products they include in their boxes and stand by their recommendations, so I kept using it. I later learned I’m supposed to use a small amount after applying Luxe Botanics serums. I don’t have serums from Luxe Botanics, so I used the moisturizer after using a Korean beauty essence. Using a small amount is definitely the way to go and I didn’t experience any more stickiness. I feel like it’s too light on its own and too light even with an essence, though it might just be because I’m used to putting on thicker creams. If you don’t like the feeling of rich creams this would be great. I think it would also be great in a very humid place. For me, layering sunscreen on top made it work for me. Even though this may not feel like a traditional moisturizer, I think it contains effective ingredients and will continue to use it.
The final item is the RMS Beauty Signature Set in MOD. Palettes are the best. I just love the idea of having several products in one compact. Palettes are my weakness when I’m shopping, especially ones that contain face products. This one is very compact (it fits in my palm) and contains five products: a Master Mixer, a Living Luminzer, a Smile Lip2cheek, a Spell Lip2cheek and a Simply Cocoa Lip & Skin Balm, which are all products that are sold separately.
The top two products (The Master Mixer and Living Luminizer) are strobing and highlighting products, one with bronze shimmer and the other with silver shimmer. The middle row contain two multitasking lip and cheek products (the Lip2cheek). The Smile shade is a bright matte coral shade that gives a bright pop of color to the cheeks, and the Spell shade is a darker matte shade that looks brown. I use my fingers to apply them to my cheeks then blend the color out with a beauty blender. Finally, the lip and skin balm is a fantastic lip balm that I’m likely to buy separately when I finish the palette. It contains coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter, cocoa butter and other moisturizing oils. Effective lip balms are not easy to find. This is one of them.
This palette is a keeper. All five products can be blended together or used separately. All the products contain coconut oil and other moisturizing ingredients, so they go on the skin beautifully and give you a healthy glow.
If you haven’t signed up for Mapleblume, I hope I’ve made it clear that they take great care to include great products from high end natural beauty brands (some that you may not easily buy in Canada). Every box is delightful and unboxing each one is like opening a Christmas present. Follow them on Instagram to get sneak peek reveals of future boxes.
Order your August box here!