Hi all! Welcome to the first review of the Kinder Beauty Box on my page. Kinder Beauty appears to be a great beauty box for people who are super passionate about vegan and cruelty-free products and brands. Their website is pretty easy to navigate and it’s very organized, which is so refreshing.
I’ve been seeing ads for the Kinder Beauty Box since it launched and I liked the idea, even though I’m not vegan or anything like that. I definitely don’t like torturing animals but I’ve never been like “They test on animals so I won’t buy from them.” Or anything like that.
When I started this blog I liked the idea of having a few different beauty boxes I was subscribed to so I could have plenty of content – and so I could shop a ton. So this is working out. I have way too much work to do and way too many products.
So the box is pretty and looks all earthy and cute, and the products were packed really well too, which I super appreciate. The individual items seemed to fill the box and matched with the aesthetic, they looked simple and not overwhelming.
The first thing I noticed is that this box is made up exclusively of skincare items and tools, no cosmetics. This isn’t bad – it actually made everything feel a little more cohesive. I was excited to find that the two items I had personally purchased, the Earth Harbor Mermaid Milk Moisturizer and Ahoy Love Cleanser, were from the same brand as the eye cream in the box. I felt like mixed with the sheet mask and the toner I basically had a brand new skincare regimen.
Since I’ve only had these products for a few days this is just a first impressions post, but I plan to use the products a while and update you.
The Earth Harbor Ahoy Love Cleanser was really interesting. It’s a pink, whipped texture, and with the intense heat it almost melted when I touched it. It was a nice fragrance and spread out well on the cleansing cookie I use. The packaging is really cute and feels nautical and modern.
This cleanser left my face feeling very soft and smooth and hydrated, even though I use a slightly exfoliating cleansing tool. And I scrubbed really well. It almost felt conditioned. I’m really excited to keep using it.
This was an add-on to my box and I only paid $10 for it. It’s a small jar though, keep that in mind. It retails on their website for $19, so it was a great deal and I’m happy I bought it.
I also bought the Earth Harbor Mermaid Milk Moisturizer, which has actually been an excellent moisturizer for the last week because it is hot in my state right now. This feels super refreshing on the skin.
The fragrance is also really nice and subtle, and this stuff absorbed so quickly into my skin. I didn’t feel greasy or heavy and it didn’t mess with my makeup at all. I’m really looking forward to continuing with it. It cost $24 to add on to the box and retails on their website for $42, so I definitely feel like I got a decent deal. I don’t think I’d pay $42 for it, but if there were a promo or a sale I might purchase it again.
Keeping within the brand, the Earth Harbor Aqua Aura Reparative Eye Cream was an actual item that came with the box. It retails for $34, which is honestly a lot for the little pot of product you get, but I know you don’t need a lot of eye cream.
I have never owned an eye cream before so I feel a little uncomfortable giving it a lot of praise or criticism, but it went on well, didn’t sting in my eyes, and didn’t have an annoying fragrance. At first, I was suspicious because the texture, color, packaging and fragrance of the eye cream were all very similar to that of the moisturizer – both mint-green, both lightweight, etc. But when I looked at the ingredient lists, they were definitely different, so I was on board.
I’ve seen some skincare professionals and experts and enthusiasts on YouTube say that eye cream just isn’t necessary, just use your moisturizer on your eyes. But I’ve also heard that since the skin around our eyes isn’t porous, you can’t use the same type of product. So I’m not really sure.
Anyway I like it, I don’t have a lot of other products to compare it to, but since it’s the only one I own, I’ll be using it and looking for results.
On a less enthusiastic side, let’s talk about the Cuccio Somatology Chill Peppermint Cooling Body Scrub. I liked 0% of this product. It’s a tiny lil jar, first of all. When I use a scrub, I use a scrub. I lather that shit all over me. I build up a pretty good layer of the scratchies and I go to town. This tiny lil jar, worth $34 for some reason, had enough for maybe one of my average applications. I thought I had a sample pot.
The product was also super underwhelming. It was gritty at first, but it melted on the skin and just kinda left this scum layer all over me, that wouldn’t wash off and that I later had to rub off with a towel. It reminded me a lot of the Spa of the World African Ximenia Body Scrub from The Body Shop, except without the really nice fine gritty texture. That scrub left a film on me, but at least it stayed as a scrub the entire time I was using it.
The little bits of grit that were in this product were sharp and uncomfortable and felt like they were scratching me, not buffing me out. I didn’t feel any cooling effect while using this product, only after, in places where there was a heavy film of ew left on my body.
I was super unhappy using this product and didn’t like it at all. In the future I may try and use it specifically for my feet, since a cooling effect would be nice sometimes, but other than that I probably won’t use it again on my body. Scrubs are supposed to leave you feeling clean and buffed, not covered in gook.
The toner in this box was the Chiky Botanica Cruz Azul Brightening Toner. I typically don’t use toners in my skincare routine unless I receive them in beauty boxes, but I was happy that this box contained one because it made the routine feel complete, cohesive, and well thought out.
This item retails for $42, which I find a bit laughable for the size of 60ml. That’s only slightly more volume than the typical moisturizer. I know they claim to use some more exclusive ingredients, and I’m sure the process is a little more rigid than with other brands, but the toner I got in my IPSY box this month was twice this size and retails for $34.
That being said, maybe it’s an excellent toner and helps with all sorts of things and I haven’t been using it long enough to say. I will say it has a nice fragrance and cute packaging and didn’t sting at all, even on places on my face where I had recently been picking.
Behind it you can see the Moonlit Skincare Bamboo Pads. I thought these were super cute when they came in, but I’m not enjoying them very much. The texture isn’t soft like my Juno Cleansing Cookie, and they’re so small and thin they just roll up when you’re trying to use them. With skincare it’s best to push in an upward direction against the flow of gravity to encourage elasticity, and also you can get a better cleanse going against the grain and direction of your hairs.
These pads are unfortunately so flimsy that they don’t retain their shape while pulling up on the skin and just roll out under my fingers. If I hold them very specifically and add plenty of pressure they’re very good at cleansing, but they’re much more rough than my skin is used to. One side appeared to be softer or smoother when I first unwrapped them, but after use I can’t tell the difference.
Also, after use, they do not lay flat anymore and curl up at the edges into kind of a flower. It’s annoying because they just look crumpled up now. Another thing, the product it takes off your face doesn’t wash out of it very easily. My cleansing cookie is bright white again after using face wash with it, but these pads seem to now be totally stained.
These pads retail for $6, which is super reasonable. I probably just wouldn’t purchase them again.
The last thing was the Sukin Shine Control Biodegradable Sheet Mask. I use sheet masks from time to time, especially at night before bed when I’ve gotten out of the shower but still want to watch some TV before I crash and need to have something on my face. This mask had a nice texture, but it was a heavier fabric and didn’t cling to my face very well (that might have been because I usually remove my sheet masks from their packages while squeezing some of the excess product to use again the next morning).
When I took it off about half an hour later it still felt pretty damp with product, and I liked the way my skin felt, like hydrated and conditioned and smooth.
I’m really happy with the box I got overall – a couple misses, but mostly hits. I like that the products were varied but still cohesive: two moisturizers, a cleanser, a toner, a body scrub, like it felt very thoughtful and intentional (as opposed to other boxes that feel like they put no thought at all into what products they offer).
I plan to use the moisturizers all the way and give some thoughts on them later, and I’ll probably use the toner when I run out of the one I’m using. Like I said, I’m not crazy about toners.
I thought I might have a complaint that there were no cosmetic products in my box, but actually I found it to be a nice break from makeup and a moment to completely focus on my skin needs.
Stay tuned for updates!
Dani