Medusa's Make-Up Beauty Box is a vegan and cruelty-free makeup subscription box from the popular indie brand of the same name. Each month you'll receive a box of 3-5 vegan beauty products for just $16.95 with free shipping. The shades and colors are always unique and the packaging is super fun!
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About this Makeup Beauty Box
The Subscription Box: Medusa's Make-Up Beauty Box
The Cost: $16.95 + free shipping. Save with longer subscriptions.
The Products: 3-5 full-size vegan products curated by the Medusa's Make-Up team with a total value of around $40.
Ships: Worldwide
Good to Know: Canadian subscriptions cost $22.95 a month including shipping and international subscriptions cost $26.95 a month including shipping.
Also Good to Know: Orders ship out within 3 business days of your payment. You can cancel anytime.
Medusa's Make-Up July 2020 "Summer Essentials" Review
Along with my beauty items, I received an info card that details what items are in the box. I love how detailed this info card is (compared to some other boxes' info cards)!
The theme this month is "Summer Essentials," or "Summer in the City." The box is super cute with the hibiscus flowers!
Let's unpack this box!
Wet n Wild Eyeshadow Color Icon Single in "Nutty" - Retail Value $1.19
I feel like I've been searching for this exact shade of eyeshadow for my entire life - seriously! It's the best warm neutral with a subtle shimmer, and it's exactly the type of color I'm always looking for when I go makeup shopping. I can't believe it only costs a little more than a dollar, too!
As I've found with most drugstore brands, the color payoff isn't amazing here. It takes a good amount of product to build up to any color more intense than a light wash, but I could definitely build it up to a good medium pigment on its own (without using any primer). I was able to build up the color to be a little bit darker by wetting my eyeshadow brush, so that was good to know.
I ended up loving this color so much that I've been wearing it on my lids every day to work this week! It had pretty incredible staying power, especially when I used a setting spray. The color looked almost identical when I got home from work after a 10-hour day compared to when I first applied it, so that's a complete win in my book!
Medusa's Make-Up Frosted Blush in "Beach Bum" - Retail Value $13.00
The next item is a full-sized blush from Medusa's Make-Up, in bright, shimmery pink. I normally go for more warm-toned or coral blushes, so this cool-toned true pink was different for me! However, I love how summery and cheerful it appears. I found it easy to apply just a little bit of the color, which was wonderful - I hate when you are applying blush and it's way too easy to go overboard!
I haven't been wearing any blush lately, as I wear a mask the entire time I'm at work, but after putting this on to try it out one day I was reminded at how much pep your entire look gets when you add a bit of blush! I loved this pop of color and felt like it made me look more awake.
Medusa's Make-Up 100% Maracuja Oil, 5 mL - Estimated Value $7.00 (Buy a full-size 10 mL for $14.00)
This oil can be used for skin, hair, and lips - and I love a great multi-tasking product! I have been using a face oil after my shower every day (my current go-to is Sunday Riley CEO Glow), and I'm a big believer in using face oils to help calm dry and acne-prone skin - I've noticed a huge decrease in my acne after I started using an oil daily on my skin! I was super excited to try this oil, as it is also high in vitamin C. This maracuja oil is on the thinner side, which meant that my skin soaked it up immediately - I felt like I had to use a lot of it to completely cover my face. However, it did not leave any sort of greasy after-effects, which I can sometimes feel after using oil. It has a super, super subtle scent - I could hardly tell it had any smell at all, which is always a bonus!
I didn't feel like I got quite the same night-and-day transformation as I feel with my trusty Sunday Riley face oil, as my skin still felt dry and in need of moisturizing after using it, and I also saw my acne starting to creep back up after using this product for a few days.
To give this product the full spectrum of testing, I also tried it as a finishing oil in the ends of my hair after styling it. I really liked it for this purpose! It left my hair feeling smoothed of flyaways and not weighed down in any way.
Beauty Host Grapefruit Whitening Glowing Facial Mask - Retail Value $4.99
I'm always down for a good grapefruit sheet mask! This felt like your very standard sheet mask, and it came with plenty of serum on the soft fabric-like mask. I felt like my skin was extra glowy and had that just-masked tight feeling after using it. I don't know if I would necessarily seek this particular mask out again in the future, but it was a great mask to use as I was unwinding with a glass of wine one night!
Here are swatches of both the eyeshadow (top) and the blush (bottom). In the second photo, I tried to catch the light so you could see the sparkle in the eyeshadow!
Here I am wearing both the eyeshadow and the blush after first prepping with the face oil. I love the subtle shimmer of the eyeshadow, and as I mentioned above, I actually liked this blush color a lot more than I thought I would! In the summertime I tend to not wear a lot of foundation or face makeup (since I get so freckly even with a tiny bit of sun), and I like the soft wash of color the blush gave me.
Verdict: I thought that this month's Medusa's Make-Up Beauty Box was a great one! The eyeshadow and blush are both products that I'll use a lot this summer, and I was super excited to find a daily eyeshadow that I loved for such a low price point. The mask was good, if nothing special, and the oil is something that I was excited to try. The retail value for these four items comes to $26.18, which is about 1.5x the cost of the box. This is a lower valuation than the box has had in the past, but I still think it's a good deal!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Orders are generally processed within 1-3 business days, so you will likely receive July as your first box if you subscribe before the end of the month.
Value Breakdown: At $16.95 for this box, here's what you're paying for each item:
- Eyeshadow: $0.77
- Blush: $8.42
- Oil: $4.53
- Mask: $3.23
Check out all of our Medusa's Make-Up Beauty Box reviews and the best makeup subscriptions of 2020 as voted on by our readers!
Keep track of your subscriptions by adding this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of this month's Medusa's Make-Up Beauty Box?
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