My Thoughts On Caroline Hirons' "Cleansing Box"

I must admit, when Caroline Hirons announced that she was releasing another Cult Beauty Box, I may have had a moment. I'm not quite at the point of booking time off work to make sure I'm available to snag my box as soon as it becomes available, but my word that woman knows how to put together a skincare collection. I was gutted that I wasn't in a place financially to commit to her Christmas Box of Dreams back in December (insert sad face emoji here) and hoped this would live up to it.

Then the reveals started, the lineup for this box looked a lot different to previous boxes. It was advertised as a "Cleansing Box" and I looked at my skincare collection (the "cleanser shelf" has become a more of a "whole and very much over-flowing cleansing cabinet") and had a good hard think. "Do I need this?" and the answer was a sound and definite "certainly not". I resisted. For about a week.

Now I don't want to fill this post with a quick look at each product because I'd like to do more in-depth reviews with them (and to be completely honest I haven't actually gotten around to trying them all out just yet), but my thoughts on the actual box are quite mixed. 

Firstly the packaging. I loved the idea of the neon green writing on the plain white background. However this design is just a cover for the box that you have to un-stick to actually open the box, and the box itself is plain white which was a little disappointing. I realise that packaging isn't everything, but it's a definite drop in quality from the last CHCB Box I purchased and when you're investing £175 into something, it's disappointing when the packaging feels cheap.

Repeats: Now I'm really happy that the Oskia Micro Exfoliating Balm made it into this box. It's definitely one of those products that I never would have picked myself but having tried it, it's lovely and I like it. But I, like many others, can't help but notice that it was also in the very first CHCB Box, and while that was around a year ago, original purchasers commented that they either didn't like it the first time around or that they'd simply not managed to use up the first one yet, so potentially a draw back.

That being said, the box is valued at £274 and is selling for £175, so you're saving pretty much £100 (36%). It's also packed full of some of my absolute favourite skincare brands: Oskia, MV Organics and Pixi have been long time loves of mine, I've recently been woo'ed by Tata Harpers range and the May Lindstrom Jasmine Garden Facial Spray that's included in this box has definitely got me itching to try more from her range.

Over all, I feel like this box is a really good investment for 3 very distinct audiences:

1. You're new to skincare, or at least new to a proper cleansing routine. You have maybe 1-3 cleansers in your current arsenal and you're wanting to dip your toe into some new/different formulas of cleanser. - This kit has almost everything. There's an oil, a cream, a balm and an eye make-up remover for cleansing steps, both a chemical and a physical exfoliant to suit your needs/preferences and then a refreshing toner in there too. Everything you need to get yourself started in proper cleansing.

2. You've got cleansing down, but your arsenal is currently heavy on budget-friendly products, and you're wanting to try some more luxury products in a way that's kinder on the purse strings. This box includes some amazing luxury brands - May Lindstrom, Oskia, Tata Harper and MV Organics are all fairly up there in price for skincare and while £175 is definitely an investment, it's a decent saving on a £274 value purchase.

3. You're just like me. I.E you're just obsessed with skincare. You already have 300 cleansers but you don't have some of these products and if you do have any of them you'd like a backup of it. If you're in this category, I'm not sure why you're here, you clearly don't need any further convincing.

So I guess the only question left is: have you given in to the temptation?