Unboxing Beauty

My August Herbal Bliss came a bit late in the month ~ I received it right on the last day of August ~ but I was aware of it, as Herbal Bliss does update their FB page with statuses on the monthly boxes.  Because of the late shipping date, which seems to be an issue with several other subscription boxes this month, Julie added an additional product to apologize for the delay.  I love this subscription box ~ I thought that having two eco-friendly subs would have too much overlap, but I am happy to report that Kloverbox and Herbal Bliss do not overlap in products.  Both subscriptions are uniquely different and I highly recommend both of them!   What is Herbal Bliss Co?

Herbal Bliss enjoys reaching out to the diverse herbal suppliers throughout the USA to bring you five unique samples each month. Our sample categories are Aromatherapy, Blissful Body, Culinary, Well Being and a Spotlight product. Each of our suppliers thoughtfully grows, harvest, and packages to bring you delightful experiences into your home. Herbal Bliss is thrilled to introduce you to a multi-faceted experience each month.

• Passionate About Small Batches ~ Our suppliers are often growing their herbs, creating their recipes, and building their shop fronts on their family farm. You are receiving special, handcrafted gifts from nature without bias to one supplier over another.
• Discover Herbs ~ Herbal products are one of the fastest growing consumer products. Why is that? People are wary of chemical, laboratory products that have who knows what effect on our body systems. We want to put natural products in our bodies and on our skin & hair. We want to read a label and not only be able to pronounce the ingredients, but know what they are
• Education ~ Herbs can be intimidating. Herb shops are usually very helpful, but sometimes you may be afraid to ask questions because other customers seem so well informed. Most people know that you should not ingest herbs for ailments without speaking to your doctor first, but there are many other questions about the use of herbs. Herbs are from the earth and have uses beyond what you think of everyday and we are here to help introduce those uses and the makers of these gifts. We bring education for each category.  (source)

Herbal Bliss offers (per box) a month-to-month sub at $25.00, 3 month sub at $22.00, 6 month sub at $20.00 and a yearly sub at $18.00 per box.

Contents Revealed

Dr Singha’s Mustard Bath   I have read a lot of good therapeutic properties with mustard and skincare ~ including detox cleansing.   Mustard, when added to hot water, actually warms up your body temperature, opening up your pores to release toxins and impurities.  Mustard helps aid in reducing congestion, contains sulfur, which is an anti-fungal, so it wards off infections. It helps with muscle and joint pain and it helps reduce fevers, as mustard will cause heavy sweating, which will lower your fever.  I haven’t opened this package as it is not reclosable, but this also contains herbal aromatic essential oils, which are also used to invigorate the senses, while relaxing at the same time ~ wintergreen, eucalyptus, rosemary and thyme.   I think this is going to come in very handy once flu season hits or back pain from shoveling snow (I cannot even believe I said snow ~ with Boston temps being so muggy, humid and hot lately!!)  Deluxe Sample  2 oz Value $3.25

About Dr Singha:  Dr. Singha’s Natural Therapeutics, Inc., is devoted to detoxifying planet earth, one mustard bath at a time. We worked side by side with Dr. Shyam Singha, perhaps the greatest naturopathic doctor and healer of the 20th century, as he developed these amazing personal care products, based on his vast knowledge of Ayurveda, acupuncture, osteopathy, and oriental herbal traditions. The alkaline mustard formulas created by Dr. Singha have been used clinically in England for around 43 years and widely sold in the U.S. for the last 24 years. Our products are world-renowned among Olympics freestylers, professional athletes, massage therapists, chiropractors, and yoga, fitness and spa facilities. No Animal Testing. Nothing Artificial. 

Ingredients: Certified Organic Mustard Seed Powder, Essential Oils of Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Wintergreen & Thyme and Gum Benzoin in a base of Sodium Carbonate.

 

 

Blue Lotus Chai Company Traditional Masala Chai    This might be a smaller size version of their full size, but it contains 17 servings of Chai!  I love Chai tea and this is a traditional one, made with black tea and full of spices, ginger, pepper, cloves, nutmeg.   I love that this is in a resealable pouch, which makes it handy for me to toss in my computer bag ~ I drink a lot of tea and coffee at work and having this on hand is very nice as the coffee at work is AWFUL ~ we did get a new coffee maker, but those individual servings of coffee hasn’t made the workplace coffee better ~ and don’t get me started on the tea selection.  Best to bring my own.    This Chai comes with a really cute bamboo spoon and it is a 1/4 teaspoon, which is the recommended amount to use in making your Chai.   I did taste the Chai spice directly and it is very spicy ~  I did made a cup and it is delicious and smooth.    Did I mention how much I love Chai?

This is vegan, gluten free, all natural ingredients and free from sweeteners ~ you add your own milk/soy/nut milk and sweetener.   Just add 4 oz of fresh boiling water to 1/4 rounded teaspoon of Blue Lotus Chai, add 4 oz of milk/soy/nut milk and sweeten to taste!  Or not ~ enjoy it without sweetener as well.   They also recommend trying this iced too, which I will have to try out. 0.5 oz Value $8.50

Health Benefits (source)  Blue Lotus put together this wonderfully descriptive FAQ on the health benefits of their tea and I have added some of the excerpts.  You can read more at their site here

• Black Tea ~ Recent studies in leading medical journals declare black tea a potential heart tonic, cancer blocker, fat buster, immune stimulant, arthritis soother, virus fighter and cholesterol detoxifier.
• Ginger Root ~  It is a detoxifier, and is very effective when invading cold or infection has reached the interior of the body.  Scientists have found evidence to support ginger’s wide range of medicinal actions. These include the lowering of cholesterol levels, relief for allergies and asthma, arthritis, colds and nausea (including motion sickness): and protecting the digestive tract and liver against toxins and parasites.  It can protect the lining of the stomach from alcohol damage, which aggravates existing ulcers and promotes the development of new ones.
• Cardamom ~  Preliminary findings from laboratory research suggest that regular use of cardamom might help to prevent colon cancer and serve to strengthen the heart and lungs.  It is rich in antioxidants, and relieves pain and gas, and sharpens the mind.
• Cinnamon ~    Its beneficial effects on the digestive tract are attributed to its antioxidant catechins, which may also help fight bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections.  It has been used for over a thousand years in both Eastern and Western medicine in treating chronic diarrhea, colds, kidney trouble, abdominal and heart pains, hypertension, and even cancer, among others.  It is said to help with adult onset diabetes and high blood pressure, helps to reduce inflammation, and enhances the brain, cognitive processing, memory and visual motor speed.
• Nutmeg ~ As an herbal medicine, nutmeg powder is used to relieve or prevent flatulence, and to break up chest congestion.  It serves as a tonic for heart and brain, and stimulates the cardiovascular system, promotes concentration, acts as an expectorant, reduces joint inflammation and assists the liver in removing toxins.
• Black Pepper ~ Antioxidant rich, it is an antidepressant, and antiproliferative, preventing the spread of cancer cells.  As a pain relief agent it can be stronger than capsaicin.  In addition it is anti-bacterial and alleviates constipation, gas and loss of appetite.
• Cloves ~  It has been used to alleviate pain, prevent and treat bacterial infection, ease toothaches, treat worms and relieve congestion.  It is a natural antibiotic, and can alleviate cough, cold and sinus problems.  Long before it was used to flavor foods, it was used to sweeten bad breath and settle upset stomachs.

Ingredients: Naturally brewed and flash-dried black tea powder; 100% Certified Organic powdered spices: ginger root powder, ground cardamom, powdered cinnamon, ground black pepper, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves.

 

The Super Salve Co Herbal Sun Salve Stick I first thought this was a sunscreen stick ~ I have received those before in other sub boxes and they are handy to have.  But this is even BETTER.  This is a healing salve with SPF ~ which makes perfect sense when you think about it.  If you are outdoors at all this summer, playing, doing sports, outdoor activities or just a clumsy (like me!), you are bound to get scrapes, cuts, insect bites/stings and other wounds, plus a bit of a sunburn if you didn’t apply your sunscreen enough.  You just apply this healing salve, which will soothe and aid in healing your skin, on your boo-boo’s and you are also ensured that you have gotten your sunscreen as well over that cut ~ this contains a SPF of 27.   This is a nice sized travel stick, very handy to twist up and use (and not have to dig around in a pot!)    This looks olive green, but goes clear with a lovely scent of lemongrass and lavender.   I love this concept!  Travel Tube  .5 oz Value $4.95

Description: Excellent for face and body with all natural ingredients: comfrey leaf, African shea butter, jojoba oil. Contains lemon grass oil, a mild insect repellent.  Avoid contact with the eyes

Ingredients: Olive oil, beeswax, organic comfrey leaf oil, African shea butter, jojoba oil, active sunscreen ingredients (2% zinc oxide and 5% Avobenzone), cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, vitamin E oil, and pure essential oils of lemongrass and lavender oil.

 

 

Vita-Myr Zinc-Plus XTRA Herbal Toothpaste with Xylitol & Co Q 10   This must be tooth month!  I received a totally different type of tooth cleanser in my Kloverbox and now I have a lovely herbal toothpaste. Many herbal toothpastes don’t fight cavities, but this one does as it has Xylitol, which is a natural ingredient made from birch trees.  Xylitol will help reduce the formation of cavities, stops oral bacteria from fermenting in your mouth, reduce plaque formation, helps re-mineralize tooth enamel by increases saliva flow to aid in repairing damaged teeth, and restores alkaline/acid balance in your mouth, which wards off the bad bacteria in your mouth.  This also has Co Q 10, an antioxidant which protects and strengthens gums and the tissues holding your teeth and heals and protects cell tissue.   

Vita-Myr is all natural and has an added benefit of tasting like cloves!  I love this month ~ first Chai and now a clove tasting toothpaste!  The toothpaste is a light beige color, which I attribute to the herbal ingredients and really does make my teeth feel very clean and refreshed.  I noticed that they also have a mouthwash with clove flavoring ~ I will have to look into that ~ I am really on a clove kick.  I have clove oil on hand, as clove oil is really helps reduce the pain with toothaches.  However, it is a big bottle of clove oil, so I have been using this lately in my hair to scent it.  After styling my hair, I take a couple of drops of clove oil, rub that into the palms of my hand and then run my hands thru my hair.  I love that scent ~ so warm and inviting!  Anyway, cloves in toothpaste not only tastes good, it also helps with lessening sensitivity if you have some pain as well.   Deluxe Sample 1 oz Value $2.90

Description: We have formulated our toothpaste using Zinc, Folic Acid, Clove and Myrrh, which are found in our mouthwash, with the additional ingredients needed to make it an effective and pleasant toothpaste.  The additional  ingredients are:

• Purified water
• Dicalcium Phosphate- White,  tasteless, crystalline powder. A  source of calcium.
• Glycerine- from Coconut oil, it is used as a sweetener and Humectant. (To keep it moist)
• Silica- Occurs widely in nature as sand, quartz and flint. It is used as an abrasive in the toothpaste.
• Hamposyl L -95 (Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate) it is NOT Sodium Lauryl Sulfate- it is a mild-cleansing agent derived from Coconut oil. It is an anti-enzyme cavity fighter and mild foaming agent.
• Carrageenan-A natural thickening agent derived from Irish Moss
• Grapefruit Seed Extract- is a broad spectrum antimicrobial compound synthesized in a unique process from the seeds and pulp of grapefruits.
• The final product is a combination of naturally occurring elements including bioflavinoids, amino acids, fatty acids, phenolic compounds, tocopherols, ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acids. It is used as a preservative, as has gained a reputation as being supportive for people with flues, colds and sore throats. It has been recommended by several leading medical doctors/authors for relief of symptoms associated with yeast imbalance, it has a wide array of topical applications .  

Ingredients: distilled water, di-calcium phosphate, glycerin, xylitol, silica, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, carrageenan, myrrh extract, clove oil, folic acid, grapefruit seed extract, zinc picollnate, coenzyme Q10

 

 

 

BetteK New Feet Balm  This is a very thick and rich balm and a little goes a long way.  This does not have any scent and I would recommend wearing socks at night if you apply it as a night treatment.  This New Feet balm will soften corns, calluses and rough areas, like at your elbows or knees.  This is going on my feet!  I love that it has soybeans in it!!  Soybean is very hydrating, moisturizing and full of antioxidants.   I always am looking for foot care protects ~ if there is one part of my body that obsess just as much as my teeth ~ it is my feet!!  Travel  Sample .75 oz  Value $2.25

Ingredients: Liquid licitin(from soybeans),  Polyunsaturated oil, Lanolin, Beeswax, and Papaya Enzymes.

 

Moon Valley Organics Moon Melt Lotion Bar   This was the extra that Julie put in our boxes this month, due to the late ship date.  I saw this product in an earlier box that pre-dated my sign up date with Herbal Bliss and have drooled over it since then.  This is just the most lovely lotion bar ever ~ too pretty to use!!  Moon Valley has not only stamped the lotion with their creative logo (reminds me of Pennsylvania Dutch styles), but the white metal tin (a keepsake) is also embossed with their logo as well.   I smell the rich, warm scent of vanilla right away ~ it also has lemon in it, but I haven’t picked up on that note yet in the lotion bar.  I was worried that this would be melted due to the heat, but it traveled just fine!    This is really a lovely and unexpected extra ~ thank you so much, Julie!!  Full Size 1.9 oz Value $11.99

• Calendula (pot marigold) has one of the longest histories of usage of any herb in skin care.  This is herb (not to be confused with the flower marigold) helps heal chapped and irritated skin.   It stimulates wound and burn healing and it helps reduce dermatitits.  Calendula gets much of its healing properties from its high levels of carotenoids (similar to Vitamin A)

• Comfrey is another herb used since ancient times for healing wounds and other skin issues, because it has allanotin and tannins that protect and heal the skin. It is very soothing, moisturizes and provides nourishment to the skin thru its vast source of vitamins and minerals (Vitamin A, B and C, minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, chromium), as well as antioxidants such as rosmarinic acid and saponins.  

 

Description: Our Moon Melt Bar is a decadent, lemon-vanilla scented moisturizer empowered by the soothing properties of Calendula and Comfrey to restore dry skin.  These herbs are combined with our beeswax to naturally seal in moisture twice as long as water-based moisturizers and allow the curative herbs to work their wonders. Hold the moon in your hands.  As it warms, breathe in deeply.  Melt bar into dry, chapped areas of skin, including cuticles-anywhere that needs soothing and protecting. Keep a tin next to the sink and enjoy this luxurious experience whenever your hands need some extra tending.

Ingredients:  Moon Valley Organic Calendula and Organic Comfrey infused Organic Safflower oil, Organic Beeswax, Organic Vanilla flavoring, Organic Lemon essential oil and Natural Vitamin E from Sunflowers.

 

I really loved all of the products and Herbal Bliss curated another winner with unique products that I didn’t know existed!  I have to say, there is nothing better than opening a box and smelling all the wonderful herbal scents ~ clove, lemongrass, lavender, cardamon, ginger, vanilla.    I paid $22.00 for my box, as I am on a 3 month subscription and received a value of $21.85 ~ but since the box shipped out late, I received an additional product which brings the value of this box to  $33.84!  I am going to sign up for a 6 month sub, which will bring my cost down to $20.00 per month, and I cannot wait to see what Julie has in store for September (my birthday month!!)

Do you subscribe to Herbal Bliss?   I do hope that more people subscribe to this subscription, because it is so unique and lovely ~ the curation of their boxes just keeps getting better and better and I hope that more people “discover” Herbal Bliss!  Are you interested in this subscription and what products do you want to try out?

Promo Code:  Use code “Bliss” for either 6 month and 12 month order and receive a 10% discount! Sale ends 9/8/15.

[ descriptions in italics from linked websites ]