June Beauty Heroes

Beauty Heroes is bringing a little Aloha to you this month in their June Beauty Heroes box. This month’s box features two tropical inspired skincare products by a Hawaiian brand, Honua Hawaiian Skincare. Hand-crafted in Hawaii, this brand goes to great lengths to source ingredients from local Hawaiian farms whenever possible. It really shows in the ingredient lists and in the way their products fully encapsulate the aloha spirit with every use.

I had the pleasure of meeting Kapua Browning, the founder of Honua Skincare, while in New York for last year’s Indie Beauty Expo. She is so friendly and has a very bright, positive personality and right away I noticed her signature accessory: A pua flower in her hair. While talking to her, she shared her Hawaiian roots and what island life is like. Kapua happens to be a licensed esthetician and she’s well versed in botanicals (especially those native to Hawaii). While her husband is a Hawaiian Traditional Medicine practitioner. Together they started creating healing oils and tinctures with Hawaiian botanicals for their clients, which then lead them to create the brand they have today, Honua.

The two products included this month are the Aloha Youth Serum and the versatile ‘Ōlena Turmeric Beauty Oil. What’s really cool is that both came in 100% recyclable and compostable packaging printed with vegetable ink. The boxes also fold completely down to make them easier to compost or recycle. Honua also donates their time and part of their profits to local initiatives that support the land and native plant rehabilitation.

The Hero

Aloha Youth Serum is June’s hero and it’s rich with exotic extracts and herbal infusions, along with ingredients that are high in antioxidants. The formula also includes coconut water and aloe vera gel, which helps skin stay hydrated and dewey. It’s a milky, slightly creamy serum that absorbs in right away, making it rather light weight. After it absorbs in there’s no sticky residue or oiliness, so I can layer any moisturizer over it without it changing the consistency. The serum is designed to give you a youthful glow and that it does. My skin feels more hydrated without any heaviness with this. One thing to point out (because you all know I’m such a scent person), I don’t love the scent of this. It’s okay and has grown on me a bit, though. Also- for the purest out there, this contains grapefruit seed extract, which has been a bit controversial in natural beauty. You can read an article here, but basically it’s usually highly processed and it can have some contamination issues. That being said, it’s the last ingredient listed and is still better than most ingredients in conventional products. Obviously I felt comfortable enough with it, that I’ve been using this.

The Sidekick

‘Ōlena Beauty Oil has one of my most favorite ingredients, turmeric! This oil uses fresh Hawaiian Turmeric at that. The ingredients lend themselves to being anti-inflammatory and ‘Ōlena can help with calming down everything from sun damage, eczema and more. There’s even a tattoo parlor on their island that swears by it to help new tattoos heal. I had a little sunburn on my shoulders from an outdoor wedding a couple of weekends ago and this did great at calming it down. The scent was once again not my favorite. Scent is always so personal, so I know not everyone will love a product’s scent.

As always, you can try this month’s box for a steal. The products would be $106 retail, so this is a very affordable way to try Honua’s line out. You can sign up for the June box here and as always, Beauty Heroes members get 15% off everyday in their Beauty Shop, which is full of great brands and past heroes. This month’s Love More promotion is a travel sized Before + After Sun Body Oil by Laurel. Happy June everyone! xo