January Conscious Box Review

A few days ago I got my January Conscious Box in the mail and it's a good one!  The box is packed with items this month, I'm thoroughly impressed that they were able to fit so much stuff in this box.

So many items!  If you're unfamiliar with Conscious Box, they are a subscription service where you pay $19 a month to have eco-friendly products delivered to your door.  Many of them are sample sized, and since it's a lifestyle box they include products that span a range of uses.  I like that better than getting just beauty samples.  The theme for January is renewal, which is reflected well in the products included.

The box comes packaged as a box inside of a box.  When I first opened the outer box, this is what it looks like.  The card on top is a "Welcome to Conscious Box" message, since this is my first (official) box.  Inside there are two more cards: one describes the monthly theme, the other gives a blurb about all of the items.

It looked like a jigsaw puzzle, or Tetris or something, when I opened up the box.  The first thing I noticed was the cutlery, since that was what made the box feel so heavy.

I have not used a majority of the products yet, so I won't be able to review them as in-depth as with December's box.  But here we go (clockwise from top left):

• Golden Earth Chakra Oil in Miracle Energy - This cute little perfume vial is a chakra oil, which is meant to balance certain attributes based on chakras.  I'm not well-versed in this type of aromatherapy, but the one that I received was "Miracle Energy: Inspiring, Sensuality, and Grace."  It's made with a Jasmine essential oil blend, which is so nice.  I don't enjoy the way the vial is packaged, though--you have to pop off the top cap and it's difficult to do, and every time I try to open it I lose a bunch of drops of the perfume because they fly out.
• CleanWell Instant Hand Sanitizer - This is a kid-friendly, eco-safe alternative to regular hand sanitizer that kills 99.99% of germs naturally.  When you pop the top over it's a spray bottle, which is nice.  It also doesn't have that offensive alcohol smell that regular sanitizers have.  The bottle says "Orange Vanilla," but I got more of a clean, green-ish scent (whatever green smells like, you know).
• Eco-Dent - I have not actually opened up this packet yet, so I'm not quite sure what's in it.  The top item looks like a packet of toothpaste.  I'll have to let you know what I think of these after I try them.
• Ancient Minerals - The packet is Magnesium Gel, and the bottle is Magnesium Oil.  I haven't used either of these yet because I'm a bit confused by them.  I read the directions on both things, and I guess you just spray or rub it into your body then wash it off after 20 minutes so your body can absorb the magnesium.

You can see and read about the rest of the products after the "read more"

Some of my favorite things, food!

• Guayaki Yerba Mate Chai Spice Mate - Chai is one of my favorite flavors in the entire world, so I was really excited to get three packets of the Chai Spice Mate.  These teas are fair-trade certified that have the same caffeine content as a cup of coffee and the health benefits of tea.  I made up one of these at work and added milk to it for a chai latte and it was delicious.  It's a quintessential chai.
• Wellness Living Ancient Treasures Tea - I haven't tried this tea yet, and it doesn't have a variety name.  The packet says "A delightful blend of Internal cleanse, emotional tranquility and creative balance. Chinese herbal teas."  Sounds good--I'll probably try it at work.
• Green Tara Spirulina Energy Bites - These are vegan, GMO-free energy bites.  I haven't tried one yet, and I don't want to eat one right now because it's almost 9pm, but I'm going to give them a try tomorrow morning.  Energy products never really have too much of an effect on me, though.
• thinkThin Crunch - The bar is the Blueberry and Mixed Nuts variety.  I ate it at work today and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor!  I thought it wouldn't be as sweet as it was.  It was a very pleasant breakfast bar.  My only gripe was that it had a few almonds in it, which aren't my favorite.
• Raw Revolution Organic Live Food Bar - This 100 calorie bar was the Chocolate & Coconut flavor.  It was okay.  I enjoyed the taste, but it didn't stick out to me as very different than other organic raw bars I've tried before.

The Sacred Chocolate -- cute shape!

• Sacred Chocolate (center) - I got this little guy extra because I posted on the Conscious Box Facebook wall about the December box.  It was a tiny heart-shaped chocolate with basically no information about it.  But I figured, I like chocolate!, so I popped it in my mouth.  I didn't love it; I think it was dark chocolate which isn't my favorite.

These last four are kind of a mixture.

• Parma! Vegan Parmesan - This is probably my favorite item from the box, and I haven't even tried it yet.  But I loooove cheese, especially parmesan cheese, and this one looks especially delicious because it's "Garlicky Green."  I'm going to sprinkle it over some stovetop popcorn this weekend at my boyfriend's house (because he has a stovetop popper and I don't).
• World Centric Cutlery - I was surprised to see this in box because it's just not something I would expect.  But these are interesting--GMO-free, and certified compostable.  They're made from plants!  I'm going to take them to work and use them for my lunches, but I won't throw them out.  I'll bring them home to recycle.  If everyone bought these and actually composted them instead of throwing away tons and tons and tons of plastic, we'd be a lot better off.
• Jo-Sha Peppermint Wipe - This wipe can be used on anything: your hands, your feet, fitness equipment...and it contains pure essential oils.  Peppermint is one of my favorite scents, so I will probably save this to use on my hands.  It cleanses, naturally disinfects, and "soothes the mind, body, and spirit."
• Kelapo Virgin Coconut Oil - So, I guess you are supposed to cook with this.  I'm not much of a cook.  But you can go to the Kelapo website to get recipes to try, which I plan on doing.  I also like squeezing the packet because it feels cool.  I know, I am a weirdo.

The final "item" in the box was a $10 gift certificate to Core Foods.  Core Foods could not include one of their bars in the Conscious Box because they need to be kept cold.  I was really excited to check them out, but it turns out that I'll probably not use the certificate because the cheapest item you can use it on is a $33 package of bars.

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Bottom Line: I don't looooove January's box as much as I loved December's, but I still like the variety of items that are represented here.  I'd like to see less teas in the future, even though I am a big tea fan.  I just feel that I've had so much tea in my daily life that I'd like to try something different.  Overall, I think this box was well worth the $19 and I can't wait to see what February brings!

*Disclaimer: I am a monthly subscriber to Concious Box and paid for this box with my own money.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review and the honest opinions here are entirely my own.