As I have mentioned earlier, True Beauty Box has switched over to a bi-monthly system. This is the first box I’ve received since the announcement.

Packaging and First Impressions

So we’re back to the original white boxes. I’m not sure what happened to the specially printed new boxes, but that’s okay. I like these white boxes with the sleeve better.

The September 2013 True Beauty Box

This time there wasn’t any krinkle kraft paper inside, only the items wrapped in lavender tissue paper. Along with the products and samples, there were two ad sheets for True Natural and benecos. As mentioned earlier, the TBB teaser said this month was inspired by the acai color.

Unboxing of September’s True Beauty Box {Veganista}

I was both pleased and a little worried when I opened my box. This was a very good month (bi-month?) in terms of cosmetics and everything was new to me. What concerned me was that almost all of the full sized items have been included in previous boxes within the past year.

But, yay! Samples.

September’s Theme

As mentioned earlier, this month’s theme was centered around the acai color. Everything was some shade of purple, with the exception of the Eyebrow-Designer.

I did not receive a printed card detailing this month’s products. I’m not sure if TBB ran out of cards before they reached my box or if there weren’t any to begin with. That would explain the teaser email.

Products

I received four full size products this month, as well as two samples.

benecos Natural Quattro Eyeshadow in Beautiful Eyes 001

Rating: B+
Price: $19 USD
Weight: 4.8 g
Where to Buy: benecos

I was happy to receive the quad—due to my love of eyeshadow—but it also made me worry because it was in the March Veganista box.

The shadows have a good formulation and are very pigmented. The benecos website lists these colors as “[n]atural earth and berry shades”. I would call them lavender shades.

Swatches of the benecos Natural Quattro Eyeshadow in Beautiful Eyes 001

The four shades starting from the top left and moving clockwise around the palette: a silver with pink or lilac undertones, a lavender, a lilac, and a shade that is either a really dark, muddy purple or a chocolate brown with very strong purple undertones (I really can’t tell).

Purples and lilacs are difficult for me to wear, so sadly I won’t be visiting this palette too often.

benecos Natural Eyebrow-Designer in Gentle Brown

Rating: A-
Price: $9.99 USD
Shades Available: 2 shades
Weight: 1.1 g
Where to Buy: benecos

This is a double-ended product with the pencil on one end and a spool on the other.

Full size products in the September True Beauty Box {Veganista}

I like this product a lot, but the brown is a soft, warm brown and my brows are more on the light and ashy side. I think it would be flattering for most individuals between the light medium skin tones. benecos also carries a darker shade called Brown, but I think it would be nice to expand the line to include at least two more shades on either end of the spectrum.

This product was also in the March Veganista box, along with the benecos Quattro Eyeshadow.

benecos Nail Polish in Deep Plum

Rating: A
Price: $10.99 USD
Weight: 9 ml
Where to Buy: benecos

The nail polish was my favorite item of this month’s box. Deep Plum really is a lovely color.

Swatches of benecos Nail Polish in Deep Plum and LVX Nail Polish in Prussian
Yes, I’m aware that my nail swatch photos are terrible.

Even though I received a benecos polish in July’s box, this is the first time I’ve really given it a test drive. The polish held up well for two days without chipping before I removed it. Disclaimer: I do use China Glaze’s No-Chip Top Coat because of all the cooking and cleaning I do around the house which seriously abuses my hands.

Deep Plum has a previous appearance back in January. I’m not sure, but I think it was in the Flirt, not Veganista box.

True Natural Lavender Bliss Organic Bar Soap

Rating: N/A
Price: $6.50 USD
Weight: 4 oz
Where to Buy: True Natural

The only full-sized non-benecos item this month. I have not yet tried it for reasons listed below.

I love bar soap sooo much. But my dry skin doesn’t.

This is soap is lavender scented, obviously, and 85% organic. To tell the truth, I’m not really a fan of lavender. Fortunately, I have others in my house that will use it. And we can always use it as hand soap at the sink as a last resort.

The lavender version of the soap hasn’t been included in any previous True Beauty Boxes, but many of the other varieties/scents have.

Samples

As with previous boxes, I have not tried the samples. I’m apparently hoarding them. Some day I’m going to photograph my little sample collection…

I received two sachets: Broad Spectrum SPF50 Sunscreen and the Mattifying Balancing Cream. Both are, of course, vegan.

Product Photos

Final Thoughts

Pros: Trend sensitive shades, good value for price of subscription
Cons: Duplicate products from earlier boxes, brow pencil color isn’t universally flattering, packaging lacked the quality from earlier boxes, no monthly description card

This month’s total value came to $46.48 USD and that’s not shabby given the subscription is $30 USD/bimonthly. I really enjoyed the products even if some are tricky for me to use.

What concerns me most is the redundancy of the products as compared to previous boxes. If this continues, I will think about switching to another subscription service, but for now, I’m sticking with the TBB.