Art of Organics

A really good subscription box makes the day of its arrival feel like your birthday. And Art of Organics accomplishes this by doing a beautiful job of curating clean beauty products into monthly boxes. Culled around a certain concept (fresh, detox, etc...) which is pulled into a bespoke print or illustration used on the packaging and enclosed note to elaborate on the products chosen.

I really didn't think I needed another subscription box, but after following them on Instagram for several months, I found myself observing wistfully all the boxes released that I didn't have. And since signing up, I've had no regrets. Not one box has darkened my doorstep that left me thinking "well, this month's a dud -- let's see how the next one turns out."

I've discovered new holy grail items (like the Birch Rose & Co. mask pictured above that both restores my dehydrated skin and quells breakouts). Claire, the founder, has an innate sense of what her clientele are after and has somehow managed the tall order of satisfying everyone while keeping things exciting. 

A box of staples that satisfy a hole you didn't realize you had at $39 a pop (complimentary shipping!) -- I cannot recommend it enough. 

Plume Lash & Brow Enhancing Serum

Big, bold, fluttery lashes. Pretty much everyone these days are after them, and mascara isn't the onnly method to accomplish them.

There's Latisse (by prescription only), or the ubiquitous lash bars where you can get a custom set of faux lashes with a several week shelf life. But if like me, Latisse's myriad side effects (like changing eye color) unnerves you, or wearing fake eyelashes isn't your bag, there's a gentler approach in Plume's Lash & Brow Serum.  

The serum contains a nourishing cocktail of lash conditioners and obscure extracts (Coltsfoot Flower, Yarrow Flower, and Peruvian Bark Extract) to promote hair growth. Housed in a liquid eyeliner style wand, one application a night starts to yield results in as little as 17 days. That said, 60-90 days are recommended for full results.

And there are definitely results. Do a Google image search or check out their website to see the befores and afters shared by happy customers. My lashes – while fairly long – are pretty sparse and flimsy. After a couple months, they were blossomed, becoming noticeably thicker and voluminous. They were strengthened, holding up much more resiliently to the daily abuse I subject them to with a Shu Uemura lash curler each morning, with no kinks or broken lashes. 

I read somewhere that hair is as delicate as silk, and will of course eventually succumb to repeated damage inflicted from heat and styling. We fret over our split ends, slather our heads with buttery conditioning masks, and shell out for argan oil based styling serums. But we really didn't have anything to take care of our (much more fragile) lashes until now.