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The Seasonal Harvest Box is a quarterly subscription from LA-based Flamingo Estate. The kitchen, home, and bath essentials that Flamingo Estate puts into the world are all handmade from the fruits of their own estate's garden, and the curation found in this box are a hand selection of the season's best and most current scents and experiences.
The Cost: $250 per quarter + free US shipping, or $200 per box when you sign up for an annual subscription.
Note about international shipping: International orders ship FedEx. Charges for your order will be calculated and displayed at checkout. Rates are based on package weight and shipping destination. Your order may be subject to import duties and taxes (including VAT), which are incurred once a shipment reaches your destination country. Flamingo Estate, LLC is not responsible for these charges if they are applied and are your responsibility as the customer.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the editorial guidelines to learn more about how we review boxes.)
What exactly is the estate?
Flamingo Estate is the home and garden of founder Richard Christiansen, as well as the hub of imagination for its manifestations. The "lush orchard and pleasure garden" that make this place what it is, is positioned on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles and tended by farmers who share Richard's belief in the connection between plants, people, and the power of the two connecting.
From their website:
With the help of our friends and a network of incredible farmers, we grow sage for soap and tomatoes for candles. We harvest salt from the cliffs of Big Sur and press olive oil from very old trees and keep bees for honey. In all of it, we’re invested in pleasure — for ourselves and our clients and friends — because we think it’s a path to radical change and cataclysmic beauty.
Other Flamingo Estate Subscriptions
The Seasonal Harvest Box is one of several Flamingo Estate subscriptions, but the only one that ships across the US. Others include two sizes of a Regenerative Farm Box (similar to a CSA), a Peak Season Fruit Box, an Organic Avocado Box, an Organic Artisanal Mushroom Box, and a Weekly Bloom Bundle, all of which are for LA residents within their delivery zone only.
Flamingo Estate also has a Membership program. For $96 per year, members receive free shipping on all orders, discounts on sets, member-only access to small-batch products, quarterly gifts with purchases, early access to new products, and priority concierge support.
What's Inside The Flamingo Estate Seasonal Harvest Box?
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My first Seasonal Harvest Box appeared with quite an understated arrival. The box is simple and unbranded, which, whether intentional or not, created intrigue as I anticipated the magic inside.
The box was packed with a generous amount of green paper sizzle to pad and protect the items inside, but otherwise no introductory card or booklet. Not only is this a favorable decision for sustainability, but I found myself delighted to explore this box based on what I was drawn to first, rather than following a specific order listed on a card.
Medium Roast Whole Bean Coffee, 10.5 oz — Retail Value $37
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My hands went straight for the mysteriously wrapped canister, and aha—the scent of coffee unfolded alongside its paper. This is a medium roast whole bean coffee that's simply packaged in a tin. My imagination is running wild with uses for this tin once its beans have been ground and brewed and consumed!
From Flamingo Estate:
Our Medium Roast is a rich dance of flavors: toasted Cacao, Toffee, Ripe Cherry, and poised acidity. We roast our beans every Tuesday here at Flamingo. Our beans are sustainably grown in lush soil by coffee farmers in Guatemala and Colombia — we pay our growers a verified living wage and provide them with stable, long-term demand to support their livelihood and communities.
This organic coffee is available for purchase either in a paper coffee bag for $25, or in the tin for an additional $12. I love that subscribers were sent the tin — it's a gorgeous, thoughtful detail that I likely would not have spent extra on were I making my own purchase, but I really would've been missing out.
Regenerative Hemp Flower Wildcrafted Calendula Aliflower Face Oil
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If Flamingo Estate is transparent about its ethical growing practices and production, it is equally mysterious in the specifics of its product offerings — which, as a long-time subscription box person, I actually appreciate. It leaves room for these items to breathe and hold their own and become what we need them to be instead of overwhelming with details of what they should be mean to us. Such is the case with this face oil — there's little information about its use, but because of where it's from, I trust in its quality. We know from the script on the bottle's label that it's Regenerative Hemp Flower Wildcrafted Calendula Aliflower Face Oil. Otherwise...go forth and use it on your face.
Oh, how pleasant it is to bury my face in the deeply earthy experience of this oil. It's thick and rich and its scent has depth that is at once leafy and soil-like and ripe (in the way that a tomato on the vine would be). I have been adding a few drops to my face moisturizer, as well as drips directly to my dry Pennsylvanian winter knuckles — a little taste of LA is very welcome in the cracked skin of my hands.
Rosemary & Tulsi Hair Duo — Retail Value $92
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Shampoo and conditioner are among my favorite things to receive in a subscription — so practical and not at all oversaturated. This duo comes in infinitely recyclable aluminum bottles with reusable pumps (that are crafted with no springs or pins so they're also recyclable), and they both carry a Clary Sage scent. Those familiar with clary sage might agree that its scent is simultaneously bitter and sweet —a scent that can almost be tasted in its sharpness— and also herbaceous in a way that grounds it as wonderfully natural. The scent comes from essential oils. I love it.
Each formulation is blended with conscious building blocks that deeply nourish, like Babassu and Pracaxi Seed Oils, Avocado Oil, and Milk Thistle, and scented with the 100% essential oil fragrance of Clary Sage, Australian Eucalyptus, Mediterranean Rosemary, and California Lavender.
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Pump bottles just make so much sense for the shower. These two give a nice, hearty pump, but even still I found that I needed a good few pumps to get a thorough cleanse. Because they're clean, natural formulas that aren't made with chemicals like sulfates, they don't lather like a drugstore shampoo would. My hair felt clean and light after, with body thanks to the natural oils that were maintained. Here you're also getting a preview of the soap brick that's up next.
Petrichor Soap Brick, 12 oz — Retail Value $45
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Who doesn't love a giant honkin' bar of soap? "Petrichor" is the word for the smell of the earth after rain, and it's impeccably captured in cleansing block form here.
Artisanal, hand-poured soap brick in hues of Mushroom and Earth and scented with essential oils to conjure the aroma of Flamingo Estate after a rain — clean air on soil and brick. Featuring Chaga Mushroom, Kelp, Sage, Eucalyptus, Myrrh, and Vetiver. This earthy soap will transform the way you bathe with nourishing Olive and Babassu Oils.
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Purely anecdotally, when activated by steam, and being lathered and used to cleanse, the earthy scent of this soap makes for a transcendent shower. My husband and I have always been drawn to pine and other foresty scents, perhaps is something written in the story of being born and raised and living in Appalachia. But to have the "bathing in nature" (inside your home edition) dial turned to a different type of ground-inspired aroma is so unexpected and, honestly, divine.
Heritage Extra-Virgin Olive Oil — Retail Value $48
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I just got done laying out some pretty high praise about oils and soaps above, but here is where my heart is truly won: with olive oil. The quality is apparent in the rich color and the thick viscosity of this stuff, and the smell is amazing. I was extremely tickled by the feel-good backstory and taste-test of quality laid out in this olive oil's product page (here), and strongly recommend you go give it a read.
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After pouring this spoonful for photos, I swallowed it up. It is so full-bodied and complex in flavor—with a very peppery throat feel at the end—it's almost a crime to hide the flavor in cooked recipes. I've been using this for salad dressings, and wow, chef's kiss.
Ancient Agrigento Olive Tree Candle — Retail Value $58
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This candle is so gorgeous, that's almost enough to win me over! But the scent is just as impressive as you'd hope it would be, too. It's grassy and cologney and when you light it, it evolves as time goes on. Would gladly have this scent floating through my house forever.
I have been living for the freshness of greens and blues together for a long run now, and I'm therefore living for how this candle enhances the corner of my mantle! (Bonus points for anyone who can guess our Halloween costumes from 2015! Hint: they're not from the same show/film.)
Value - Was This Box Worth It?
The Cost: $250 per quarter + free US shipping, or $200 per box when you sign up for an annual subscription.
Note about international shipping: International orders ship FedEx. Charges for your order will be calculated and displayed at checkout. Rates are based on package weight and shipping destination.Your order may be subject to import duties and taxes (including VAT), which are incurred once a shipment reaches your destination country. Flamingo Estate, LLC is not responsible for these charges if they are applied and are your responsibility as the customer.
For Winter 2024, The Seasonal Harvest Box contained 7 items (this counts the shampoo and conditioner as two separate entities, but they are sold together). While this subscription doesn't make promises of minimum retail value nor how many items you can plan to expect in each quarter's delivery, the value is apparent. The only item I wasn't able to find a link and a retail value for was the face oil, which leads me to believe it's exclusive to subscribers! All other items in here add up to a total of $280. Regardless of which subscription cadence you sign up for, you're winning out.
Math aside, IT'S SO WORTH IT. This subscription is in a class of its own. Everything is of high quality, it's all consumable/usable, and on a personal note, the color scheme goes perfectly with my home. Love, love, love.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, as of publication of this post, this box is still available. The Spring box will start shipping on April 1, 2024.
What do you think of Seasonal Harvest Box's curation? Click below to write a review!
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