Mapleblume is my favorite beauty subscription program and one that I recommend for anyone who takes their skincare seriously, who prefers clean and organic ingredients, and who loves great value. I’ve reviewed their August, April, February, and December boxes and in this post I’ll review their October box. They ship out a curated collection of luxury clean beauty products to Canada and US every two months and each box has been a hit so far. The latest Mapleblume box – the October box – is worth over $265 and contains 7 full-size skincare and beauty products. Boxes have been selling out fast so I recommend that you order the December one asap before it sells out. I think this is also a fantastic holiday gift for moms, sisters, and best friends.
The October box contains the perfect variety of products to make it a “spa in a box”. There’s a cleanser, face mask, serum, exfoliator and eye balm to get your face prepped, and a plumping lip color and eye pencil to get you ready to go out. Here’s a list of all the amazing clean beauty goodies in the box:
- Inlight Beauty Super-Food Mask ($63)
- Graydon Aloe Milk Cleanser ($25)
- Kunye BIOFERM Eye Balm ($48)
- Delia Organics Dose of C Serum ($39.99)
- Niu Body Pina Colada Lip Polish ($10)
- Fitglow Beauty Lip Color Serum ($54)
- Au Naturale Swipe-On Essential Eye Pencil in Coco ($27)
The Inlight Beauty Super-Food Mask is October’s feature product. Inlight Beauty is an organic skincare brand from the UK (I love that Mapleblume features products from all over the world). The Super-Food Mask is basically a 100% organic antioxidant packed green smoothie for your face. It includes chlorophyll-rich spirulina for detoxifying the skin and ingredients like rose seed oil, carrot root and barley leaf to repair, plump and refresh the skin. A little goes a long way and my skin started absorbing this mask as soon as I applied it. You know how some masks just sit on your face? This one really nourishes. I was very impressed by how soft and plump my skin felt and looked after 10 min of this mask. I immediately smeared it on my boyfriend’s razor-burned face too.
The Aloe Milk Cleanser from Toronto-based brand Graydon is very true to its name. It contains aloe vera as its name suggests and it has a milky, non-foaming (aka non-drying) texture. It also contains pink grapefruit and blood orange oils for dissolving sebum, cleansing your pores, and infusing a fresh citrusy scent. This isn’t a heavy-duty cleanser for taking off youtube-tutorial level face makeup, but it’s perfect for a gentle cleanse on days or months when your skin just can’t take anything harsher. This is great for mornings too.
I’m writing this on the plane on the way to Palm Desert, where I expect many piña coladas will be consumed. But when I’m back in Vancouver, where it’s literally snowing right now, the Niu Body Pina Colada Lip Polish will be a delicious reminder of vacation. It scrubs lips with sugar and moisturizes with coconut oil, shea butter, and avocado oil. It tastes and smells great. I love using this before applying other lip products.
It must be hard to include color makeup products in beauty boxes because colors are hit or miss, but the Au Naturale Swipe-On Essential Eye Pencil in Coco is PERFECT. It’s a classic warm brown that I’m convinced will work for everyone. I’ve worn it every day since I got it (I’m not kidding!) and it’s super easy to apply. It’s my ideal color. Not as harsh as black but dark enough to define my eyes. The cap at the end of the pencil pulls off to reveal a blending sponge. The pigmentation, application and lasting power are all fantastic. Quite a surprise for a green beauty product to be honest! I like to blend it with a little brown shimmer shadow on top.
The Delia Organics Dose of C Serum (hailing from Vancouver BC woot woot) contains 18% vitamin C and helps to lighten acne scars, discolouration and uneven skin texture. This is the type of product I love to use because I scar from everything. I scar from the tiniest pimples to mosquito bites to, like, air. I’ve been applying this cream on pigmentation on my legs and arms as well as my face. So far so good! I look forward to seeing overall skin brightening.
Next up is an eye product, which is always a treat. The Kunye BIOFERM Eye Balm is an oil-based eye balm that contains borage seed oil, cupuacu butter (cupuacu is a tropical rainforest superfruit related to cacao), mango seed butter, avocado oil, meadowfoam seed oil, camellia seed oil, and black cumin seed oil. To summarize: an amazingly rich, nourishing and natural list of ingredients. The oils and butters work together to hydrate, brighten, de-puff, and protect the skin around the eyes. The texture is hard balm that melts a little on my fingers and I pat and press it on my skin. The black cumin seed oil had a strong smell at first, which I wasn’t a fan of, but I don’t notice it at all anymore or it disappeared. It absorbs easily into my undereye area and makes it look moisturized and rested. It doesn’t interfere with any makeup that I put over it. It’s a great balm and I think the container will last me a long time because a little goes a long way.
Last but not least, the Fitglow Beauty Lip Color Serum, which retails for a whopping $54. I would be very hesitant to spend that amount on a lip color, which is why the Mapleblume subscription program is so amazing because it allows you to try luxury products at an amazing deal. The Fitglow color serum has an “organic plumping” effect that “gently plumps without irritation”. Here’s how it works: “The natural plumping effect occurs due to a combination of organic phospholipids from bio ferment extracts that naturally plump the lips without irritation. The moisture in our skin causes these phospholipid vesicles to swell, resulting in a minimized appearance of fine lines and increased lip fullness.”
Ingredients include shea butter, coconut oil, vegetable collagen, cocoa seed butter and “organic plump” ingredients. It has a light and pleasant smell that is a little minty. It’s not sticky like other lip glosses. As for plumping, there is the tiniest tingle (maybe from the mint?) but nothing intense. It made my lips feel really comfortable and made it look healthy and “cushioned”. I noticed fewer fine lines, like my lips were a little more filled in. I liked how it moisturized my lips so much that I applied it before bed a few times. I didn’t care if the color rubbed off on my pillow because it did such a great job at softening my lips. The price tag is high, but it’s worth knowing that all the ingredients you’re ingesting are natural. The color is very natural,
That wraps up the contents and review of another amazing Mapleblume box. I highly recommend that you order the December box now before it sells out! Get it as a treat for yourself or as a gift for someone special. Order it here.
Excellent Mapleblume review as always, Jenny!