By: Sassy Auburn
On the day How to be a Redhead announces a “soft European” launch, I am pretty excited to give my review of the September H2BAR Box.
Not only is it the month that fall begins (my favorite season), but it is the first month that I received my redhead subscription box.
Being a redhead makes it difficult to subscribe to almost any ordinary subscription box. Many items can irritate our skin because of harsh chemicals and additives, damage our hair or not match our skin tone. The crew at H2BAR know just what “fits” our redhead lives and style so I was looking forward to what would come to my door.
What did I get? There were 10+ items included in the September box, but these are my favorite.
Let’s take a look:
1. Giella Cosmetics Concealer Shade 2/3 #2, 1/3 #3: This “Handmade for H2BAR” concealer couldn’t have come at a better time. Lately, I’ve been putting in some long hours with my writing and other business related stuff. My eyes have taken the hit for it. I’ve never had to wear concealer before, but with the busy days I’ve had, I am kind of bummed that I haven’t had a good one to use.
Giella’s is awesome.
First, how can you not love the packaging? The little flip out jar makes it easy to use and convenient for travel. The shade is perfect for my skin and red hair! For my skin tone, it’s not too light, not too dark and has the right “pinkness” to cover dark circles without showing through my foundation.
Unlike most concealers that are too dry (concealers have a tendency to contain less oil in order to make them stay put longer, but this can make them harsh and irritating on sensitive skin), this one contains soy butter to help condition the thin skin around the eye area which can help prevent fine lines from dryness.
It blends easily and perfectly into your skin so you can wear it alone or under your regular foundation. Just tap, tap, tap it into your skin without rubbing or tugging and you will see the skin around your eyes brighten right up!
2. BioRepublic Sheet Mask: When I first got involved with the glamour and skin care industry, face masks were all the rage. You used them regularly on the W’s (Wednesday’s and weekends) to give your skin a boost. I’m glad to see everything old is new again because facial masks are back. With more awareness to specific skin issues, masks now come in different formulas to address your problems areas. BioRepublic makes easy-to-use masks to pamper the skin with some extra TLC once in while. They are super simple–just find the formula that is right for you, unfold the face-forming “fabric” mask (which is perfectly fitting!) and sit and relax.
What is even better is you don’t have to get up to rinse the mask off. Just remove the sheet and tap, tap, tap the excess serum into the skin! I used the Green Tea Detox mask last night. I loved how my face felt afterwards.
My skin condition has been flipping back and forth from dry to oily and everything in between lately. My skin looked and felt beautiful after 20 minutes of wear. It was smoother, firmer, less oily and brighter! This is definitely a product I will be purchasing again in the VERY near future.
3. BodyCology ‘Cherish The Moment’ Lotion: Even though the skin on my face can be a little confused with the change in weather, my body never is. It wants moisture no matter what. It’s hard to find a good boost after a shower that doesn’t irritate my skin, contains ingredients that can smooth & soothe and smells good without a heavy fragrance. BodyCology’s Moisturizing Body Lotion gives me all of those. Filled with natural ingredients like aloe vera, shea butter and vitamins E & C, this lotion gently absorbs into the skin without feeling heavy or greasy. The light scent is gentle on the nose and skin as well.
When I use it after my nighttime shower, my skin stays silky soft right through the night into the morning. Plus doesn’t interfere with my daytime fragrance choice. A great value for a lot of skin conditioning!
4. Jelly Ping Pong Cosmetics Caribbean Sun (Duo Bronzer): I admit, I have never been able to perfect the use of a bronzer. I’m so pale that I tend to look like I have an unusual “orange” glow. I think it is because they make bronzer colors to work for everyone. Everyone, that is, except redheads.
Our skin tone generally tends to be fairer and pinker than most and obviously not every bronzer or even blush color works with our skin AND hair. The Caribbean Sun (Duo Bronzer) came in an awesome shade! The bronzer has a very subtle glow to it and isn’t orange at all (especially if you use it like the H2BAR sisters show you on the instructions card!).
The peachy hued blush is a nice complement to the bronzer to give you a warm boost of color without a heavy hue. They work so nicely together that today I lightly combined them for just a hint of cheek color. My sensitive skin had no issues with the powdered product either since it is fragrance free and is infused with Argan oil & mango butter to nourish without drying. As summer winds down, this is perfect to continue a slight summer glow as we move into fall.
5. The Better Skin Company Skin Mirakle $10 Gift Card: Unfortunately, I missed the April H2BAR Subscription Box where this ‘Redhead Friendly’ item was featured so I did some research on it. First, their website shows that this product was featured on The Zoe Report. Wow. Since I have been in this industry a while, I know THAT means something. It was also featured in “InStyle” magazine as a top night cream and on bestproducts.com as one of the top 14 collagen-based creams to revive aging skin. As someone who is trying to fight the hands of time, this gentle natural ingredients-filled cream is something my skin could use. I’ll be buying this very soon!
The products in this month’s H2BAR Subscription Box were awesome to get. With the change in the weather quickly approaching in many areas, the items in is box are exactly what my face and body need.
I can treat myself to some pampering from head to toe, which will enable me to continue Rocking it like a Redhead!
