Maiden Moon Apothecary June 2016 Subscription Box Review 

Maiden Moon Apothecary sends a monthly shipment of artisan handmade body products and teas that are brightly packaged, all-natural, and free of preservatives. This box is $28 a month and is available in 1, 3, 6, or 12 month terms that automatically renew until you cancel.

Each month will be a new experience as the consumer will be exposed to new scents and flavors as they take advantage of newly-designed lotions, bath salts, teas, rubs, soaps and shampoos.

My products were cushioned with brightly colored tissue paper.

Whoa, someone gets an A+ in color coordination!

The product information guide was posted on the inside of the lid.

Here are all of my products! I received 5 products for the month of June. It looks like MMA is going through some updates and I was unable to find these products on their Etsy site.

I loved the scent of the Key Lime Pie Organic Shampoo ($15.99)! This one has aloe leaf powder, which helps relieve irritation, and gets its scent from essential oils. It was sudsy enough for my needs and the scent faded quickly so you don’t have to worry about it clashing with your other products. I was surprised to find ingredients such as lauryl betaine and propylene glycol (a preservative) on the list of ingredients as these are toxic products and not fit for an organic, natural beauty product. Propylene glycol is a preservative that is used to help products (especially with water as a main ingredient) stay stable for longer periods of time, however, there are alternatives available that are non-toxic.

I love tea but I have never tried it in my tub before! Peace & Calming Herbal Bath Tea has Epsom salts, lemon balm, passion-flower, skullcap, and chamomile and can be tossed in a hot bath or steeped in boiling water for 15 minutes and then mixed in the bath water. It is still over 90° here so this will have to wait until cooler weather.

I am a tea drinker and my day doesn’t start until I’ve had my morning cup. I tried the Orange Peel Earl Grey Spiced Black Tea and while it wasn’t as strong as my usual English Breakfast it was a nice change and had a wonderful flavor and aroma. This tea is fair-trade, non-GMO, and organic.

I am not a fan of bar soaps because I have hard water and they don’t rinse well but The Sweet Smell of Summer Goats Milk Soap ($4?) lathered well and had a soft scent that didn’t linger. It is very hard to read the ingredients on the package but it looks like this soap has 3 ingredients that are on the top 10 toxic products to avoid list. Again, I couldn’t read all the ingredients but I spotted sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, and propylene glycol, the first & last being no-no’s in the natural beauty product world. “Fragrance oil’ usually denotes a non-natural product (it should contain “essential oils”) and I am pretty sure that color is synthetic.

The fastest way to my heart is to send me peppermint scented anything so I loved the Chill Wave Cooling Spritz and used 1/4 of the bottle on the day I received my box! I sprayed it on my neck, my arms, my head, and everywhere else and enjoyed the uplifting scent and coolness. Again, this has several products on the unacceptable list such as polysorbate 20 and DMDM hydantoin. I grabbed a similar product from another all-natural company and noticed that they also included ingredients from the list that Whole Foods calls “unacceptable” for premium body care.

I have mixed feelings about my first Maiden Moon Apothecary box. As a subscription that states that they are bringing “the best all natural products created for everyday use” I was surprised, saddened, and disappointed to find that some of the items contained not one but several ingredients on the toxic beauty list. On the other hand I think the teas were nice and the packaging was beautiful and the products worked well. I just hope that this company either removes the offending ingredients or explains why they are necessary and how they are “health-giving” to the consumer. The beauty products (and ingredients) are unexpected and inconsistent with an artisan company that claims to “create a superior holistic product”. I am going to take a trip to Whole Foods and see if any of their products contain similar ingredients. It may be that they are allowed but do not earn the “premium” body care label so I am going to learn what it takes to be called “natural and organic” in the world of beauty products.

What do you think of Maiden Moon Apothecary? Are there products that you avoid for health or safety reasons?

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