Eeeeeh! The prettiest Art of Organics beauty box yet! I love unboxing these beauties. Even the art on the box is beautiful. This month’s gem box art was designed by Sashira Gafic.

Not going to lie – this box had me at GOLD!

Precious Skin Elixirs 24 Karat Gold Luxe Restorative Balm Review

Luxe is the optimal word for this gold-infused balm (sorry, no actual gold specs!). It’s very nourishing but also very oily. I appreciate it’s organic and wildcrafted ingredients – lots of great oils that I’m normally not so excited about (Rosemary) but also new oils for me (pomegranate seed oil and cranberry seed oil). It does carry a heavily rose natural scent. Rose is too often over-done, but this has just enough. (meaning the roseyness doesn’t give me a headache). I’m still playing around with this organic face balm – I think it would be great on my dry elbows too. I mostly use it at night and it leaves my skin feeling very soft.

Art of Organics Rose Quartz Facial Massager Review

Art of organics is very good with their descriptive product intros.

“For centuries rose quartz crystals have been used in beauty rituals for their healing, detoxifying and radiance-infusing properties. Cleopatra was said to bathe with the stones to absorb their intense calming and beautifying benefits.”

I’ll bite. I’m intrigued. I’m also a jewelry maker so I’ve worked with a lot of quartz over the years, but I’m just starting to learn more about crystals and their energies and healing properties. When I was younger I used to collect a lot of “rocks” – which I know realize were minerals and gemstones.

The rose quartz facial massager is supposed to increase circulation and blood flow in my face. This is definitely something I’m interested in given my melasma, hyperpigmentation and vitiligo. I’ve read before that from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, my melasma and vitiligo are in part caused by circulation and stagnation issues.

Picture of the December 2016 Art of Organics Monthly Luxury Clean Beauty Box. I Love The Ritual Moon Dust Crystal Charged Detox Mask.

Speaking of TCM, the shape of the rose quartz face massaging stone reminds me of the jade massage tool my acupuncturist uses for “gua sha” work on me. I normally get gua sha treatment after needlework. Most often my acupuncturist gua sha’s in and around my jaw to help with my TMJ. When I had bad carpal tunnel syndrome gua sha was a very helpful form of massage. Here is a very technical article on gua sha, and here is a more easy-to-understand gua sha article.

I’m still getting the hang of the rose quartz facial massager. My face does turn red where I have massaged, but that’s to be expected. It feels warmer like there is more blood flow when I use it. I mostly use the rose quartz facial massager with the Precious Skin Elixirs 24 Karat Gold luxe restorative balm.

Picture of instructions for massaging with the rose quartz facial massager from the Art of Organics December 2016 monthly beauty box. The massager looks like the jade gua sha tool my acupuncturist uses.

The Ritual Moon Dust Crystal Charged Detox Mask Review

Whoa. My face feels so baby skin soft after using this clay mask! And not dried out? This looks like your average clay, but I love that it’s not too clay-y. It’s almost like a mixture of Farmaesthetics vassar rose face polish and clay mint mask. But the crushed amethyst is the real star in this organic clay detox face mask. It also smells heavenly (even though I’m normally into that scent thing) because of the lavender activated charcoal. Sometimes I just use water to mix with it or one of my many face mists. The mask is a little tingly – almost warming. The detox and pore refining action of the mask reminds me of Boscia pore pudding – but without the talc and overly-charcoal scent and drying effect.

Whoa – super special crystal-ness and energy in this product.

• “Charged with moonstone for its energy balancing properties.”?
• “Invoking magical moon energy”
• “Crafted by hand on the most vibrant moon cycles..”

Until I learn more about crystal energies, I at least very much love and appreciate this calming but also activating and micro-exfoliating organic clay detox face mask. It might be my favorite face mask right now? (how often do I say that?)

🙂