Ophelia's Apothecary October 2013 Review

Ophelia's Apothecary is a great indie bath and body product subscription. For $15/month (or less if you go with a 3- or 6-month subscription), you get 4-6 handmade bath and body items (everything is paraben- and sulfate-free). When you sign up, the owner sends you an email with a survey asking about fragrance preferences, allergies, style/personality, etc to allow her to customize your box a bit. I always look forward to seeing what new stuff I'll get each month!

Opening the bag

 Right off the bat, I could see this was a pink theme, most likely for Breast Cancer Awareness. The owner included a lengthy note, in which she told her personal story.

Info note

Info note continued

It was interesting to hear all she's been through and I think she's awesome for fighting it, though I have to be honest - cancer is my number one scary thing. It makes me uncomfortable to read about it at all. I'm a huge worry wart and I can't even watch shows like House without coming out of it thinking I have everything in that episode. I'm not allowed on WebMD. So, moving on now to the products of the month.

The non-beauty products this month were really cute. We got a pink ribbon (for Breast Cancer Awareness), a pink bracelet with an angel charm (I'm not entirely sure if she made these or not), and a handmade card made by the owner's sister.

Bracelet and ribbon

Cute card from Sentimentalist on Etsy - it's hard to tell, but it's embossed with a pumpkin print as well!

This may be a bit of TMI coming up, but well, here goes. Although the owner says this bracelet is meant to honor those who had/have breast cancer, I saw this and it meant something different to me. Hardly anyone knows this, and really, if I thought anyone I know personally read this blog, I wouldn't even write it (even now, I'm contemplating deleting all of this...), but I've had 2 miscarriages this year. Very early ones, but enough that I've gotten positive tests and then lost them. We've been trying for number 2 since the beginning of the year. Emily was conceived really easily - 2 months! I thought for sure it would be that way again. I did not expect at all to be almost done with the year and not be pregnant, having lost 2 pregnancies. I'm still somewhat young (31), I don't have PCOS or endometriosis, I got pregnant easily with Emily not that long ago, and I know I'm ovulating every month with regular cycles, so my doctor so far just thinks it's just bad luck and thinks my chances are still very good (though we are doing a few proactive things now) and all my family thinks it's my anxiety. Maybe it is. I don't get any testing until another loss, though, so it's really hard to push forward not knowing what to expect. I don't know if there's something wrong. I don't know if I'll have another loss. I don't know if I'll ever have another baby. It's been a really tough year. I know I'm soo lucky to have Emily - she's such a wonderful little girl, so please don't think I'm ungrateful. I just really want to give her a sibling. I always imagined 3, and now I'm not sure there will be 2. So, I saw this bracelet, and I see an angel. Maybe the babies I've lost, maybe not. But someone watching over me, trying to give me some hope. So, this bracelet felt like something I should wear.

Ok, sappy stuff over. For beauty/body products this month, I got:

• Pink Chiffon Body Butter - a wonderful, very moisturizing body butter in the scent Pink Chiffon, which has notes of "soft pink petals, creamy blonde woods, and vanilla bean chiffon". I love how thick it feels and I really like the scent - probably because it contains vanilla bean!

Pink Chiffon Whipped Body Butter

•  Pink Sugar Body Splash - a light perfume that smells like "cotton candy essence with hints of jasmine and musk". I love this scent, too! Probably because of the musk mixed with a sweet scent.

Pink Sugar Body Splash

•  Pink Roll-on Perfume Oil - I really wanted to like this because I love roll-ons and I liked the other 2 scents, but it's so very floral. Way too strong for me. It has notes of "neroli and peony complemented with notes of violet and juniper berries".

Pink Roll-on Perfume Oil

• Pink frosting lip balm pot - smells good and feels good!

Pink frosting lip balm pot

October 2013 Ophelia's Apothecary

Again, I'm really happy with this month's bag. I liked all but one of the scents and the rest are things I'll absolutely use!

If you want to sign up, go to her website! If you get this box already, let me know if you got different things!

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)