My hoard of beauty subscriptions - unboxed!

Ladies (and gentlemen?), I bring you the aftermath of #openingparty2012:

What should I do with all this? 

I'm planning on just doing a synopsis (complete w/ photos) of my impressions of each service, but I'm open to suggestions!

P.S. Like any worthy event, #openingparty2012 was graced by the presence of an unannounced special guest.

He's a biggun, isn't he? Definitely the largest I've ever seen. We just don't have things like this in North Carolina!

Eek! Who wants to see me open all these boxes?

Months of beauty subscriptions

And here, friends, is what happens when you let things pile up. Awful, right? Gonna have to get to opening them one of these days... #openingparty2012

All-Natural Leopard Print Eyes (Mini-Tutorial)

I hadn't planned on doing a Halloween post, but I spontaneously did my litte sister's makeup that day and although it's a bit late now, the results were just too fun to keep to myself!

Here's our practice round:

...and the final product!

Read on to find out how I achieved the look!

I'm not going to make this a full-blown tutorial since it's no longer relevant, but I will do a quick step-by-step for those interested.

Green Grab Bag - October 2011

This Monday, I was excited to receive the first of my beauty sample subscriptions - the first-ever White Apricot Green Grab Bag! I wish I could have posted this then, but I only had time to snap a few pics before I had to run to my wine class.

Since this is my first Green Grab Bag, I'll show the whole unboxing process. After that, I'll just show the contents of the bag.

Let's get started!

First impression: "That's a pretty good-sized box!"

Natural Beauty Sample Boxes / Subscription Services

Before I made the full switch to all-natural beauty products, I was a huge - and I mean HUUUGE - fan of a service called Birchbox. For $10 a month, you get a cute little box full of deluxe higher-end makeup and beauty samples. This appealed to me because: (1) Deluxe samples are great. I might even enjoy collecting them more than I like using them up, and (2) I absolutely adore getting mail. Not even kidding, sometimes when I know I'm getting something good, I sing the "Mail Time" song from Blue's Clues. I don't even have a tail to wag, but that doesn't stop me! Being an avid online shopper, I generally already know what to expect when I open my packages. That's why this service was so much fun - you get a surprise... in the mail! (Yay!) It's like buying yourself a gift.

Once I got serious about natural beauty, I knew I had to take the plunge and cancel my Birchbox subscription. I loved it dearly, but the $10 monthly fee no longer made sense when I couldn't use most of the products. However, it turns out there are plenty of natural beauty box services to fill that void in my heart!

Recently, I went on a rampage and subscribed to several. I don't intend to keep them all around forever, but I'm giving them a try for a few mailing cycles.


I've subscribed to:

• Eco-Emi ($15/month) - Beauty and other eco-friendly product samples. There is often a waiting list to join.
• White Apricot's Green Grab Bag ($15/month) - Beauty samples. 
• No More Dirty Looks Quarterly ($25/quarter) - Beauty samples. There is currently a wait list.
• GoGoGirlfriend ($12.99/month for monthly box or $6.99/month for bimonthly box) - Beauty samples. Although this service doesn't market themselves as all-natural, from what I've seen on other blogs, the products sent are "clean." I thought it would be worth a try. 

Other natural beauty subscriptions available:

• Pink Moment ($12/month) - Beauty and other eco-friendly product samples. Concept is similar to Eco-Emi. I'd like to give this one a try, but my primary interest is beauty, so I didn't want to be subscribed to two services that send other types of products.
• The Sample Lounge ($14.99/month) - Beauty samples.
• Blissmobox ($19/month) - Each month, you get to select a box from a set of options. There are two beauty-related boxes available as I write this: "Bath & Body Bliss" and "Fresh-Faced & Fabulous." However, there are also food, cleaning product, etc. boxes available.
• Amarya Beauty Box (£10/month) - Beauty samples. UK only.

Non-subscription beauty sample boxes:

• Spirit Beauty Lounge ($15+ per box) - Offer several beauty sample boxes, each one tailored to a specific skin type or need. For those who hate surprises, they even have a customized deluxe sample kit.

Non-beauty eco-friendly subscription services:

• Conscious Box ($19/month)
• Blissmobox ($19/month)

Phew! Compiling this list sure took some effort. Some of these services are fairly new and were discovered after some serious digging on Google. I wish this information were available somewhere in one place! 

Do you know of any similar services? Let me know and I'll add to the list!