January 2015 Beauty Box 5 - Beauty Subscription Box Review

Beauty Box 5 is a monthly subscription box that costs $12 US per month + $3 shipping to Canada. If you sign up for a longer subscription, you get a lower price per box: $30 quarterly, and $99 a year ( plus $3 shipping per month). 

Beauty Box 5 has been referred to as the"starter beauty box" - it does not send many high end products and the value tends to be lower than other boxes but they often do have really good products.

I signed up for Beauty Box 5 when they had a promotional code for $12 off a year (and before they started charging for shipping!) - so I got a full year for $87. This worked out to $97.60 Canadian with the exchange rate so I only pay $8.14 a month for this subscription.

*As of late, Beauty Box 5's boxes have been very up and down - they have had some great products; however, there have been very low box values and not so good products. I would suggest that you read reviews and see if it is products you like!*

Here is my January 2015 Beauty Box 5:

The theme for this month's box is: Hello! The beginning of a new year can mean new challenges, but rather than shying away from confrontation, greet them wholeheartedly with a smile and a twinkle (and lining) your perfectly-accented eyes! You never know what new opportunities  are on the horizon, so put your well manicured self forward and say hi to fresh possibilities!

When I first opened the box, I was actually glad to see nail wraps, eye shadow and mascara - however, after doing some research and reading a few other reviews, there is an issue with 1 or 2 of the products!

The box includes a little product card explaining everything:

Here is a closer look at the products:

Coastal Scents Eyeshadow ~ sample size 4 shadows for $0.67 (88 shadows for $14.95). The colors I received are: Mimosa, Deep Cantaloupe, Bright Tangerine, and Volcanic Blast. We're crushing hard on these super-pigmented shadows! Whether you pair all four shades together for an all-over eye look or pick a few favorites to accent with, they'll make your eyes stand out gorgeously.
While this does't come with a big value, I actually like Coastal Scents eyeshadows - I have 2 palettes of theirs and love how pigmented they are! I got a mix of 4 oranges and while I think the bottom 2 may be a little bright for me, I love the top 2 colors!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects #540 Stripe-Tease ~ $9.99. A perfect mani for up to 10 days? Bring it on! Peel and apply strips to your nails, smooth over and then shape for easy nail art. Bonus: when you're done, they come off with regular polish remover!
I was happy to see these - I just tried these wraps a couple of weeks ago and loved them! Mine lasted for 2 weeks with no peeling and fading and then they just come off like nail polish remover. However, a few other reviews have mentioned that this particular style is discontinued and not worth anything?! That's too bad, I will use these though, I assume they should still work just fine! 

Garnier Fructis Daily Care Fortifying Shampoo ~ sample size 1.7 oz for $0.52 (full size is 13 oz for $3.99). Make 2015 the year of healthy hair! Strength your tresses with grapefruit antioxidants and protiens that'll leave your locks fortified, oh-so-soft, and super shiny. Did we mention that the invigorating scent will have you hooked in no time?
This is nothing to get excited about - I think if a shampoo is included that the conditioner should be too? I'm pretty set on my shampoo brand so I will see if someone else needs it for a trip? Also, I think this particular type of shampoo has been discontinued as well - this bottle style is now called "clean and fresh" on the website. 

Softsoap Nutri Serums Vitamin E Body Wash ~ sample size 1.7 oz for $1.08 (full size is 15 oz for $8). Treat your body to rich moisture and a super fresh scent while showering! The softening serum pearls burst with Vitamin E to hydrate and Omegas 3 and 6 help your skin retain moisture all day long to banish winter dryness. 
Body wash is fine to get - it's certainly not exciting! And, if we are on the topic of discontinued products, this body wash is not on the Soft Soap website - they seemed to have remade their products and this one is not there!

Ultraflesh The Gold Standard Mascara in "Blackout" ~ sample size 0.08 oz for $6.22 (full size is 0.27 oz for $21). Dramatic, thicker lashes are good with this amped-up mascara! The expert wand gets every lash coated for major results. Feeling bold? Layer two or three coats for the most va-va-voom. 
So, I can't credit for this research (Thank Jill at Canadian Box Addict), but apparently this mascara has been discontinued since 2011/2012? So usually I wait a little bit to try out my mascaras, but this is super old so I opened to see what it was like - and dry is the answer. Here is the swatch:

This is what a couple of tries looked like on my hand - all dried up! So disappointing! 

So this box came with 5 products, and a "value" of $18.48 - if you take out the value of the 4 discontinued products, the actual value of this box is about $0.67 which is the value of the coastal scents eyeshadow. 

I will use the eyeshadow, and to be fair, even though they are discontinued,  I will still use the nail wraps and body wash! I will not be using the mascara or the shampoo.

So initially, I actually thought this was an okay box; however, looking in to the products further - 4 of them are no longer being sold in stores! I'm not happy at all - my subscription runs until May and i'm really hoping this subscription improves. I can say, this box is not a good sign for 2015.

If you would like to view my past Beauty Box 5 reviews, you can go here.

Did you get this month's Beauty Box 5? What did you think?