Boxwalla Beauty box is a bimonthly subscription box, featuring luxury, plant-based nutrient rich brands which caught my eye well over a year ago. I was not well acquainted with Green beauty then but I subscribed (and later, I was fortunate enough to be made a brand ambassador). Their catchy, quirky name always made me smile. Being of Indian descent myself, I was familiar with the term ‘Boxwalla’ (meaning Boxseller) and found it clever and utterly charming.  I love that they describe themselves as ‘drunken boxwallas’ (because you should always be drunk, on wine, poetry or virtue, rephrasing the words of famous French poet Charles Baudelaire, when he said ‘Enivrez vous!’) Boxwalla curates and edits all beautiful things (naturally I am drawn to their beauty box, however they have a book, food and film boxes too) and and they fill their boxes with all the wonderful things that they are itching for the world to experience for themselves. Passionate advocates of beauty and independent artisans, they are truly telling a story.

And that story first begins with the boxes themselves and their provenance, carefully crafted from tree-free handmade paper fashioned by a small company in India from cotton scraps, using the traditional art of paper-making and who have been practicing this art for generations.

Right away, you get an inkling that something truly special awaits you inside. And then comes the beautiful accompanying card, with notes on the chosen brand and products and how to incorporate them into routines to get the best possible results. And then of course, your wonderful journey of skincare discovery begins…

The June 2020, entitled ‘Three Ways to Savour Summer, with a little help from my friends’ is truly an ode to summer and will be your summer skin saviour. As every single of Boxwalla’s  beauty boxes, I truly believe that every single product has been thoughtfully and expertly curated to appeal to any green/eco beauty enthusiast’s fantasies and will work beautifully in line with  current season and weather.

Pai’s Sea Aster and Wild Oat serum

I’ll start with the most transformative product from this box for me; Pai’s Instant Calm Redness Serum with Sea Aster and Wild Oat serum. Pai is a well-established British brand within the green beauty arena known to cater for sensitive skin types. Despite very much coveting their Rosehip oil and the oil cleanser from afar for a while now, I’ve never actually sampled anything from the brand. And what a spectacular introduction to the brand this was!  Early during lockdown, as I shared my skincare woes on Instragram (a mysterious area of redness around my mouth that appeared overnight), Lavanya messaged me and hinted that an upcoming product might very well be the answers to my troubles. And indeed, this soothing serum has been a welcomed addition in my skincare routines and the improvements I noticed were practically instantaneous.

Most amazingly, these positive results have continued and my skin is most definitely less irritated with minimum redness now. The star ingredients of the show here are Sea Aster (which according to Pai ‘ Inhibits the release of cutaneous neuropeptides, the molecules that cause skin to flare, while strengthening the surface skin, helping to reduce the appearance of redness’) and Oat extract ‘famed for its ability to soothe reactive skin, improves the appearance of delicate or damaged skin and helps to protect skin against environmental irritants’. Texturally, this is a very light lotion which plays extremely well in both morning and evening routines, after a light layer of hydration or toner. It absorbs beautifully, with no residual stickiness and I detect a light and pleasant ‘yoghurt-y’ scent.

Ingredient List

Purified Water, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Fruit Water (Orange Fruit Water), Avena Sativa Kernel Extract (Oat Extract), Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Aster Maritima/Tripolium Extract (Sea Aster Extract), Sodium Hyaluronate, Carya Ovata Bark Extract (Hickory Bark Extract), May Chang Oil, Paramela Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Acacia Senegal Gum, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Levulinate , Sodium Anisate, Glyceryl Caprylate, Tocopherol, Lactic Acid (as pH Regulator), Rosemary Leaf Extract

Nini Organics Natura Detox Foam

Next is another brand hailing from the UK that I am so, so pleased is getting exposure through Boxwalla because there is truly magic in their products.  Alex, the founder is a burst of sunshine and watching his stories on Instagram always puts me in the best of moods. I remember watching Alex dropping hints before the actual product was announced and him lovingly confectioning Natura Detox Foam in his studio in London, listening to festive and uplifting tunes and I couldn’t help but smile. Skincare is a little like cooking. You may not share this philosophy but I always believe if something is manufactured with love, this energy gets passed onto what is being made in terms of efficacy and for this reason, I still very much love handmade products. Natura Detox Foam is a gloriously fun, water-free foaming cleanser supercharged with detoxifying dried vegetables and antioxidants. The scent is strongly reminiscent of spearmint at first sniff, when you add water to create a bubbly effervescent sea green foam, it gradually transitions to a distinctively more green, veggie scent which I have come to associate with supercharging my skin with nutrients. I tend to use this twice a week at the moment as  spikes in temperatures always mean slightly oiler skin and I really welcome this cleanser in my life right now.  Top tip from Alex is to add this to your non-emulsifying oil cleanser (Halo from the brand is my personal favourite, it’s blue tansy scent is soothingly addictive!) or balm cleanser for a gentler experience altogether.

Ingredient List

Sodium cocoyl isethionate (coconut foaming agent), Sodium bicarbonate, Citric acid, Montmorillonite (Green Clay), Spirulina platensis powder (Spirulina), Azadirachta indica leaf extract (Neem), Spinacia oleracea leaf powder (Spinach), Brassica oleracea italica extract (Broccoli), Adansonia digitata fruit extract (Baobab), Lycium barbarum fruit extract (Goji Berry), Myrciaria dubia fruit extract (Camu Camu), Maltodextrin, Salix alba bark powder (White Willow Bark), Mentha spicata herb oil (Spearmint), Pelargonium graveolens flower oil (Rose Geranium), Citrus aurantium flower oil (Neroli), D-Limonene,, Linalol, Citral, Geraniol, Farnesol.

African Botanics Marula Botanical Handcream

And finally we have African Botanics Marula Botanical Handcream which is easily the boujee-est hand cream I own.. I mean it does retail for an exuberant $55 and has some pretty flamboyant claims to ‘ regenerate, repair, deeply hydrate, soothe, even skin tone, brighten and restore comfort as well as reduces dark spots and lighten protects, fights aging’. I personally love any handcream (my job requires a LOT of hand washing way before the Covid era) but  I plan on gifting this to my mum so that I can see if it really lives up to these claims. A lovely light, hydrating cream with no residual stickiness so I am happy to have this in my arsenal.

Ingredient List

Aqua (Spring Water), Aloe Ferox (Bitter Aloe) Leaf Extract, Sclerocarya Birrea (Marula) Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Decyl Oleate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Mangifera Indica (Mango)* Seed Butter, Cetyl Alcohol, Trichilla Emetica (Cape Mahogany Mafura) Seed Butter, Lepidium Sativum Sprout Extract, Lecithin, Adansonia Digitata (Baobab)* Seed Oil, Rhododendron Ferrugineum Leaf Cell Culture Extract, Globularia Cordifolia Ferment, Kigelia Africana Fruit Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Fruit Extract, Aspalathus Linearis (Rooibos) Tea Extract, Cyclopia Genistoides (Honeybush) Leaf Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hexapeptide-3, Pelargonium Graveolens (Cape Geranium) Essential Oil, Rosarinus Officinalis (Rosemary Leaf) Essential Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Neroli) Essential Oil, Maltodextrin, Tocopherol (Vitamin E).

The June Boxwalla box is a usual excellent value for money, it costs $49.95 with a retail value of $185.  At this moment in time, the June Box is of course sold out but the August Box has just been revealed and in true Boxwalla style, it is fabulous (dare I say, one of the best boxes I’ve seen so far!). If you wish to subscribe, you can do so here.

* This post contains affiliate links. I was sent this box in PR