Godes Beauty Box for Women of Color

We're thrilled to be included in the Godes Beauty Box this month! Godes Beauty was created to help women of color to discover the best of beauty. They search the world to find the best products from leading companies as well as collaborate with new niche brands to create the ultimate beauty discovery experience. If you're a Woman of Color looking for a little help discovering new beauty brands and products, get to know a little more about Godes! We spoke with the founder of Godes Beauty, Catina, to learn a little more about the woman behind the brand. 

Where did the name "Godes Beauty" come from?

When I was thinking about a name for my company, I wanted it to be something that really embodied the true essence of a woman in a few but impactful words. After a weekend of brainstorming, daydreaming and research, the definition of “Goddess” really described was I wanted my company to be and say. I played around with the spelling a few times and added beauty to the name and in September 2015 Godes Beauty was born.

What inspired you to start a subscription box?

Since 2010, I have been a subscriber of a major beauty subscription company however, as time went on, I noticed more and more that the products I was receiving weren’t for me or my beauty needs. Most of the time, I would throw the products away which was really disappointing because I loved getting a box in the mail every month. So in 2014,a light bulb went off, I would create my own beauty box and curate it with products that I would want to try and that would cater to my beauty needs. I did  a lot of research and soul searching and in 2015, I finally had the guts to just do it and introduced Godes Beauty to the world.

What do you look for when choosing items to include in each box?

The deciding factor for choosing items for the box is “will the customer use it?”  I try to choose items that really solve a beauty issue or that are new, and exciting.

Do you have a New Year's resolution for 2016?

My New Year’s resolution is to make more moves and less announcements.  Last year was all about starting Godes Beauty and telling everyone my plans, etc. This year is about execution and just doing. 

Happily Scented

Last year we had the incredible luck to be included in a Petit Vour subscription box. Not only was it a thrill to work with the PV team, women across the US had a chance to try our natural, vegan towelettes. When the subscription boxes shipped out, we were glued to Instagram. Subscribers were uploading gorgeous shots of the contents of the PV box, our towelettes included! Then a negative review landed like a dropped bowling ball.

Although our towelettes were deemed “fine” our intentions for making them were not. Because we make scented products, it was implied that BOX Naturals was anti-woman in that “this is another thing women have to do to be considered attractive.”

The reason we’re scented is simple. When the ingredients in our natural, gentle formula are blended together, it creates a scent. To neutralize that and get a scent-free wipe, our only option is to use a harsh chemical mixture. That’s completely against what we stand for as a company and simply put, it's not worth the risk of using chemicals. 

Instead we use just enough of the best organic essential oils to create a pleasant smell. Rose and lavender essential oils both have beneficial properties – they’re soothing and good for your skin and your mood. We're not making mango-grapefruit-whipped cream towelettes because we’d have to use volatile parfum molecules, which could end up reacting with sensitive skin.

Our goal has always been to provide women with the most natural product possible, using a few ingredients as we can. Our light, natural scents are not designed to leave a lasting impression.

As a company, we’re as far from the patriarchy as you can get. Our founder, Irene, is a Wellesley grad who worked on Wall Street, had two babies and started her own company. I am a fiercely independent, globe-wandering Brand/Strategy Specialist – and we are both proud feminists. 

We believe women should smell how they naturally smell, or however they want to smell. That’s not what BOX Naturals is about. We’re simply providing something we couldn’t find ourselves, a natural alternative to the towelettes that are out there, that are gentle enough to use however you want from head to toe. :)