I was really excited to discover Mapleblume, a new Canadian subscription beauty box that delivers premium skincare and cosmetic products once every two months. They released their first box in December and their next one comes out this week (subscribe here). I received a December box to try out and review for you guys. I love beauty boxes. I love the surprise factor, the giddiness of a new beauty haul, the chance to try new products and discover new brands, and definitely the value you get when you compare them to the cost of buying each product individually.
Mapleblume offers two options for purchase. You can sign up for a recurring subscription at $120/box every two months, or a one-time purchase at $140. Prices are in Canadian dollars. Each Mapleblume subscription contains a minimum of 5 premium, luxury brand skincare and cosmetics products.
Contents of the December 2016 box
– Linné REPAIR face oil (full size)
– Trust Fund Beauty Nail Polish in I Love My#Selfie (full size)
– Herbivore Botanicals Pink Clay Exfoliating Mask (full size)
– Fitglow Beauty Mineral Blush (it’s a small blush but I think it’s full size)
– Pure Anada Petal Perfect Lipstick (full size)
– Hydration Day Cream with Plant Cell Stem Cell Science (travel size)
First Impressions
– $120/box costs a lot more than your average beauty box. However, the value of that depends on what products are included and the size of the products.
– The box came beautifully packaged and it was a pleasure to unbox (follow me on Instagram to watch my unboxing videos and photos on my Story).
– There were 6 products (that’s 1 product more than they promised)
– Mapleblume also included a cute maple candy (yay Canada!)
– I love that so many products are full size. 5/6 are full size and 1/6 is travel size.
– I love the mix of skincare and cosmetics products. There are 3 skincare products, 2 cosmetics products and 1 nail product.
– There’s a distinct focus on natural and organic products.
Now let’s talk about the individual items!
Linné REPAIR face oil. Value of $72 US or $96 CAD. This product made me understand what Mapleblume is all about. This face oil is a luxurious face oil made from all natural ingredients and the price of this alone makes up almost the whole price of the box. The Linné REPAIR face oil helps “reduce the appearance of wrinkles and scars, protect against environmental stress, encourage cellular regeneration and support collagen production”. It contains 100% organic or wild-harvested oils like rosehip seed oil, coconut oil, green tea seed oil and frankincense oil. You massage one pump of the oil into your face and neck day and night. This is my favorite item in the whole box and one that I’ve loved using especially before bed. I love that it comes in a pump dispenser (no spills and very hygienic). My skin loves it and it works well by itself and layered with my creams, including the one in this box. Mapleblume also included a 20% off coupon for use on the Linné website.
Trust Fund Beauty Nail Polish in the colour I Love My #Selfie. Value of $20 CAD. All Trust Fund Beauty nail polishes are vegan, cruelty-free and 10-free. I Love My #Selfie is a beautiful classic red. I had gel polish on so I didn’t get a chance to try it to show you guys but here’s a swatch I found on the internet.
Trust Fund Beauty in I Love My #Selfie. Photo source.
Herbivore Botanicals Pink Clay Exfoliating Mask. Value of 33 CAD. I can’t believe this mask only has 5 ingredients: French pink clay, white kaolin clay, organic rosehip powder, organic rose powder, and organic chamomile power. This is a mask slash scrub that uses French pink clay and kaolin to draw out impurities from the skin. You mix it with water to form a paste, apply it on your skin and wait for it to dry. I went for a cosmetic acupuncturist session recently and my acupuncturist recommended that I do clay masks on my chin as a spot treatment because that’s where I breakout the most, so this was a great product to have on hand to try. I have a couple of other Herbivore Botanicals products and they all smell great. Unfortunately, I didn’t like how this mask smelled. The mask is absolutely adorable in the container but it turns brown when mixed with water and while it doesn’t smell bad it doesn’t smell good. However, I did find it effective as a gentle detox mask. It didn’t make my skin tight and uncomfortable like most mud masks and I liked the exfoliation. I recommend this if you have sensitive skin and don’t react well to other clay masks.
Fitglow Beauty Mineral Blush in the color Cheeky. Value of $35CAD. Cheeky is a matte tangerine color that suited my skin tone. My blush brush picked up this color well and it blended easily. I wore it to work several days in a row. The mineral formula is “suitable for sensitive, acne prone and mature skin; and oil-absorbing and moisture balanced”. I love blushes so I’ll never say no to a blush!
Pure Anada Petal Perfect Lipstick in Sugar Plum. Value of $14. The Sugar Plum was a brown-ish color with a metallic sheen. The color didn’t suit me but the formula was moisturizing and applied with a very creamy consistency.
Organic Nation Hydration Day Cream with Plant Cell Stem Cell Science. 15ml travel size, value of $28CAD. This was another hit! I’m always looking for new day creams and I found this one to be light, easily absorbed, and very moisturizing. A lot of day creams tend to be too light for the dry winter weather we’ve been having but this one was just right. Not so light that my skin still feels tight but not so heavy that my makeup doesn’t go on smoothly. It contains camellia, jojoba and argan oils. If I need a little more moisture I just layer on the Linne oil and voila!
Total value of this box comes to a total of $226 CAD. I think you certainly get what you pay for and a lot more in this box. Each item works out to only $20 with the subscription price. The December box had a strong organic and all-natural theme and I’m really glad a subscription box like this exists in Canada. The facial oil was my favorite item in the box and definitely the most luxurious. I enjoyed trying the other items and a few of them are going into my travel cosmetics bag for sure. If you’re a fan of premium beauty products with an organic and natural focus, I highly recommend this box. I can’t wait to see what’s in the next one!
Sign up for the February box here!