Jiyūbox Review - Spring 2020

I’m so excited to be reviewing Jiyūbox subscription box for the first time! I’ve been eyeing it for awhile and even put it on my 2019 Holiday Subscription Box Gift Guide post because it’s such a lovely curation of goods. Not only that, but I love what this brand stands for. Jiyū means “freedom” in Japanese so they believe in providing customers with an experience of living a life free from toxins, fillers, and animal cruelty while maintaining freedom to explore and enjoy life too. What uplifting and peaceful messaging! I can attest that their messaging really matches the box contents too.

What I like most about this Jiyūbox is that they hand pick every item and really do their best to ensure that it’s a trusted, useful, high quality and overall amazing product made with natural ingredients. I can trust that everything I’m receiving in this box meets my high standards of ingredient transparency without having to double check. Of course, I still look at the ingredients because I’m a conscious consumer who is also curious by nature, but not because I’m afraid there will be ingredients I don’t want to use on my skin.

I also really like that they believe in quality over quantity so that there is always a good variety but not too much that you can’t try it all out before the next box comes. That ensures less waste and more time to enjoy the products too. The other awesome thing about this box is that they only work with indie beauty companies, or smaller businesses, so you can discover brands that are truly passionate about what they create and provide the most honesty and education about their products.

Subscription Details

Each seasonal box contains 4-6 full sized products from indie beauty brands with a minimum value of $89. All of the products featured are clean, made with plant derived ingredients and are cruelty free.

There are 3 subscription options for this box:

One-time-purchse: $64.99 USD/box
Seasonal (paid quarterly): $59.95 USD/box
Annual (prepaid annually): $223.96 or $55.99 USD/box

Each subscription option auto-renews every 15th of August, November, February, and May and they ship the 1st week of every September, December, March, and June. There are no contracts, no commitments, and cancel any time. They ship to Canada and the US and shipping is not included in the box price.

Spring Box Details ($91 total value)
HEL-LO Spring! We’re ready to dust off the boots and parkas and get a little patio sunshine in. We curated this season’s box to prep skin for warmer weather *ahem shorts season* while still maintaining hydration and a healthy glow during the transition. As always, every product in the box is all natural, cruelty free, and made by passionate Indie beauty brands.

Here’s a look at what’s in this season’s box:

SIMPLY POLISHED Coffee Body Scrub ($16.61 USD / $22 CAD)
Keep your skin healthy and beautifully glowing with this all natural and organic coffee scrub. Made with locally sourced ingredients, this scrub will help to revitalize your skin and leave it feeling silky smooth and moisturized.

I love body scrubs and while I don’t drink coffee, I absolutely love the smell of it so this is the perfect pairing. This scrub is made with simple and organic ingredients including coffee grounds from a local roaster (Rosso Coffee Roasters in Calgary, AB), along with sugar cinnamon and tea tree oil. It helps to not only exfoliate skin and leave it smoother, but also increase circulation and reduce the appearance of scars and aging. Since coconut oil is also one of the ingredients, skin is left moisturized afterward too. This would make for a perfect, energizing start to the day!

KANI BOTANICALS Pink Clay Konjac Cleansing Sponge ($10 USD / $13.25 CAD)
Konjac is a natural sea vegetable, like a potato. Mixed with pink clay, this sponge helps improve blood circulation, hydration, elasticity, and softness. Just add water to this dry sponge, and use it as a makeup remover, with cleanser, or on its own.

Believe it or not, but I still haven’t tried a kojac sponge. They’ve always looked interesting though, so now’s the time I guess! I didn’t know this before, but konjac is an all natural vegetable found in the sea. It’s used to create these facial sponges that will last 2-3 months with regular cleansing. They are a gentle cleansing option that helps exfoliate skin to leave it softer and brighter. This is such a quick and easy way to cleanse, plus it’s pretty low waste too, so I’m looking forward to testing how it works for my skin. Another note, the packaging on this one is so pretty with the pink bag it comes in that matches the sponge itself – love it!

NIU BODY Cherry Sugar Lip Polish ($10.57 USD / $14 CAD)
Say hello to our newest lip scrub flavour – cherry! Give your pout a makeup, this baby will leave your lips smooth, plumped and flake-free.

Lip polishes are great year round, but especially during drier weather like this seasonal transition when winter skin needs to be rejuvenated to fresh spring skin. I always wear a heavy lip treatment overnight to keep my lips from drying out and find that a lip scrub is a nice way to remove it in the morning so I’m glad to have this product to add to my stash. It smells like tart cherries, and is made with moisturizing ingredients like avocado oil and shea butter.

FIG + YARROW Eyebright Coffee Bean Eye Cream ($38 USD / $50.34 CAD)
This ultra-light and hydrating cream is formulated to renew, protect, and hydrate the delicate eye area. Potent antioxidants and cell-nourishing botanicals aid in the minimization of superficial fine lines while working beneath the surface to fortify and hydrate cells.

I’ve got a perpetual case of tired eyes with being a mom to a toddler, so I need all the help I can get in perking up my peepers (had to say it, ha). I’ve purchased Fig + Yarrow products before and have loved everything I’ve tried, and with their recent product line refresh I’m sure I will love this one even more. Despite it’s name, it doesn’t smell like coffee. Instead it has and invigorating, kind of herbal and pine wood scent – like sweet fresh cut branches. It’s a lightweight cream that rubs in easily and only a little product is needed, it goes a long way. It dries pretty matte, yet still feels moisturizing. I will be applying this day and night I’m sure, but seems especially good for daytime use since it’s not heavy and I’d think would work well under makeup.

PHYTOSURGENCE Sea Submerge Hydrating Facial Serum ($15.85 USD / $21 CAD)
Capturing the synergistic properties of sea life, this serum was born to harness the reparative, hydrating, and invigorating properties of seaweeds and algaes. This is a water-based serum made to effortlessly sink into the skin to provide deep hydration.

This serum is so intriguing and uses some ingredients that I haven’t heard of before. It’s described as, “provides deep hydration – as if your skin got submerged in a beautiful oceanic potion.” – doesn’t that just sound so amazing?! I love the ocean so anything that’s reminiscent has me sold even before use. It’s made with macrocystis pyrifera – or giant sea kelp (anti-inflammatory properties); black algae extract and SEACODE (anti-aging properties); laminaria japonica extract (mimics collagen); spirulina platensis extract, glycerin and hyaluronic acid (for hydration); and leucidal liquid which is the same bacteria that creates kimchi and is used as the preservative. It has a texture that looks a little like honey, but feels like aloe vera. It absorbs like the later and leaves skin feeling soft and hydrated. It has no scent that I can detect and would be perfect for layering under makeup or as a base for heavier night moisturizers.

Final thoughts:

I mentioned above what wonderful messaging this subscription box has and how thoughtful they are with curating their product selections. It really shines through in the quality of goods that arrive in this box and shows how much they care about the consumer and their experience. It has a luxurious, high-quality feel that really assures you it’s a great value. The variety is wonderful for the spring box as it includes no products that overlap categories and each has a separate purpose. They could certainly all be used together or separately just as well. I would highly recommend this subscription box to gift yourself or others. It’s doorstep arrival makes for bright spot at any time, but especially during these rainy spring days!

If you’re interested in trying Jiyūbox out for yourself, Jessika (the founder), has kindly offered my readers a discount for 15% off of this season’s box with code: BOTANICGAL15 – purchase it here! If you try it out, be sure to let me know what you think!