Sample Society April 2013

April 2013 Sample Society Box

Hello again!

So I know I completely dropped the ball on reviewing the March box for Sample Society  (trust me, it was fab like always) and looks like this review will make it in just under the wire. I keep saying I will cancel this box, but then I get it, and just always love it, so for now, it's staying put.  For more information about the ins and outs of the sample society box check out my previous post here.

This month's box was one of my favorites yet- it was packed with goodies. Shall we get started???

one of the best makeup removers 

Borghese Gel Delicato Makeup Remover-0.5 oz. - okay this item is just amazing. I've been trying various makeup removers lately, and do really like the wipes (its easy for lazy days) but have to say that this item also made me think I should go in a different direction. It felt cool on the skin, wiped off the makeup easily, didn't leave my skin irritated, and I liked the smell. Will definitely be replacing this item once this little sample runs out. 

you better last me forever.....

Caudalie Premier Cru, The Ultimate Anti-Ageing Cream Sample Packette 2ML- I am in LOVE with Caudalie products. I had gotten a few samples from Sephora awhile back, and used every last drop of the under eye cream. It was amazing, and really helped diminish the puffiness and dark shadows. I was so excited to see this in the box, and have been using it every so sparingly because I want it to last and once you see the price tag on this baby you'll understand why....

CoTZ Face Natural Skin SPF 40 Deluxe Sample- This is a great little sunscreen. I thought it had a pleasant smell but was nervous about the darker tone. It did blend in nicely, which surprised me since my skin is so pale, but it felt a little greasy. I did like it, but wasn't in love with it.

perfection 

Hanskin Premium Perfect Super Magic BB Cream SPF30 PA++, SS Deluxe Sample - This product was amazing. I've been looking for a perfect BB cream, and find that all the ones I keep getting a sample of are just too dark for me (why do we fill out the beauty charts if all they send all dark tones?)  so I was THRILLED to receive a BB cream that was for paler skin. At first, it came out a little dark, but once I blended it in, perfection. It really was a great primer for covering up my pores. This will definitely be a repeat buy. 

an incredible facial mask 

Hanskin Hydro Sheet Mask (23ml) Deluxe Sample SS-  A new mask to try! Tried it recently and loved how my skin felt after using it, not irritated and looking refreshed. 

cute prints!

Jane Tran Hair Accessory Assortment SS- cute little barrettes- not much to say about them, except that I liked the cute print on them.  They offer a great selection of other prints as well. Adorable, right?

Overall, I loved this bag, really loved it. They had so many great little things to try, and all things I have been curious about trying or on the hunt for the perfect one. They knocked it out of the park for this one for me, despite not having all super big sizes or even any full sizes, I was really happy with this box.


What did you all think of the April 2013 Sample Society Box?

Goodies Subscription Box- April 2013 Review

I have a few addictions in life. Ice cream (oy vey my stomach hates me for it), buying mixing bowls (don't ask), buying dinnerware (because you need a set for every occasion right?), polka dots, getting a new comforter set at every turn (my bachi always said it was the easiest way to change up a room),  and lately- getting sample boxes.

This month I received a FREE box from Goodies. It's a monthly sample box, that sends snacks for people to try. I found a promotional code online for them, to try a month free, and thought I would see what they had to offer. I will most likely not keeping this subscription since I really have to limit myself to the ones I sign up for right now, but it is seven dollars a month. You could easily spend that in a week at the vending machines at work.

So let's get to it.....April 2013 Goodies Box.......

The little card inside.  Oh, I love getting mail. 

The first thing I noticed upon opening the box, was actually the inside cover. I thought it was cute the print that they had there, so I took a picture. It's really those little details sometimes.

Isn't that cute? I want a fabric with that print for my kitchen curtains!

Then there was a gift card to a wine website for $50 off. This was actually pretty fabulous for the first thing in the box. Unfortunately, I live in a state where I can't ship alcohol to my house, so someone else will be reaping the benefits of it. I checked out the website and they had quite a bit to offer. It's a shame we couldn't use it since it would be nice to stock up cheaply for our upcoming summer party.

Nice!

First,  there was macadamia pineapple coconut bites by Frontier Snacks.  I am NOT a fan of coconut, so I was skeptical about it, but was more than pleased to find out that it really didn't taste like coconut, and was a light granola that was quite filling. I would definitely buy these. Light flavor of pineapple and macadamia nut- delicious.

cute little snack bites. 

Second, was a chocolate chip cookie bar by abbott nutrition. My husband will be getting this, because I do not like the cookie dough protein bars, I have yet to find one out there that I like and usually I do like cookie dough (I'm looking at you ice cream) but unfortunately not in a protein bar.  The bright side is a snack for my husband to bring to work.

you will be eaten by my husband

Third, was Sweet and Salty Kettlecorn by Angie's Popcorn. Oh. my. word. Amazing. We absolutely loved this one, and will buy it at the store next time we are out if we can find it around here. One of the best versions of kettlecorn that I have tried.

 I liked their packaging. 

The fourth item was a fruit and nut true bar by Bakery on Main. I ended up eating this one myself, but loved it. I tend to shy away from fruit and nut bars, they just seem mostly blah to me. But this gooey creation was divine.

gooey and fab. 

The fifth item in the box was Sweet Potato Multigrain Chips by Green Giant. This was possibly our favorite in the whole box. We love sweet potato chips in the house, and I miss Stew Leonards for their hot bag of them, but these were very tasty. My husband said they reminded him a bit of wheat thins, but I thought they had the crispness of sun chips. Either way, try these out.

heaven in a bag. 

Lastly, there was a bottle of Sparkling Orange by Celsius Drink. I did not get to try this, and it's going to my husband since I'm forbidden from having caffeine at the moment. He was pretty happy it was in the box. Hopefully, its just as good as everything else that the box had to offer.

that is one big bottle. 

Overall, loved this box. Nice little snacks, all great flavors, and even if I didn't get to try them personally or like the flavor (as in the cookie dough bar) nothing will be going to waste. It was a great value, and we ended up with six great snacks, and an amazing gift card that I will most likely be sending to a family member. I highly recommend this box to anyone wanting to just try some fun snacks each month. I'm very glad I did- I have a few new products to buy at the store.

Up next- Sample Society April 2013 box review.

Birchbox March 2013 Review

Birchbox March 2013

So Birchbox, I know I said I was going to cancel this subscription, and I meant to...but then tons of things sort of hit the fan. This last month and a half has just been extremely hectic for this household, we are moving, I've been severely sick with no end in sight, so with hospital and doctor visits, packing and just overall upheaval, I never got around to actually cancelling my Birchbox subscription. 

My Birchbox arrived on Monday, and the theme for this month's box being March Madness. What is actually has to do with March Madness is beyond me. 

So without further adieu I bring you Birchbox's March box.

March Madness theme??? I don't see it.

The cure for lazy days?

Serge Normant Meta Revive Dry Shampoo- value $12
This item was a disappointment  I've been hearing so much about dry shampoo products lately, they are all the rage. It is supposed to revive your hair if you haven't had a chance to shampoo it, and give you a quick get up and go look. I tried it this morning, and thought I would go without shampooing my hair for the day, but oh it was horrible.  It came out like white powder and instead of reviving my hair, all it did was make it look greasy and gross. It is supposed to take the oil out of your hair, but that didn't seem to work.  I washed my  hair as planned and this will end up in my random beauty things for my guests when they visit box.  This may work for someone else, but my hair is so thick and prone to oil that is just exacerbated the issue.

Mostly Empty Shaving Cream....cute packaging

Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream- value about $3
In the March 2013 spoiler video from Birchbox, they showcased this product, and I was hoping it would be in my sample box. I was very happy to see it and used it this morning. The shaving cream smells lightly like blueberry- but the sample was pretty much empty. This is the second time that Birchbox has sent me a sample that was mostly air, and last time I said nothing, but this time I did write them to let them know it was an issue. Curious to see what they say about that, but overall, I loved this shaving cream, the area I was able to attack with the amount in the tube felt super smooth, and the scent was amazing. However with a full size price of $20- I will stick to my current shaving cream.

cute colors, for a cheap look 

Incoco Nail Polish Applique- value $9
These are nail polish strips that you can apply to your nails for a flawless manicured look. I thought they would be stickers, but they are in fact actually layers of nail polish- you can smell it as soon as you open the package. I like the colors that my set came in, and was curious to try them- they look like fun, a very summery look. I am horrible at painting my own nails, they always come out a mess, so I was hoping these would work out and be a blessing for me. However, they were a total bust. My nails are very tiny and even with stretching the nail polish they were difficult to cover even my pinky finger. Once that was all worked out, and one was on, I immediately took it off, it looked cheap. Really cheap.

In case you didn't know what an emery board looked like

Madewell for Birchbox Emery Board - value $5
This had a cute little floral print, but its an emery board. What can you even say about an emery board? 

The twistband

Twistband- value about $3
You guys may remember my rant about Birchbox's love of sending these out, and of course I had to get one this month. Even though people seem to love them, and say they are one of the best headbands on the market, I didn't see the big deal. It didn't even want to stay on my head. I felt that throwing in the twistband and emery board was pure laziness on the part of birchbox, just throwing in random things to fill up a box. 

oh Birchbox, its just not going to work out between us. This was the second date that I gave you even though the first date was a bust, and well, its not you, its...oh who am I  kidding, its you. It's definitely you. 

Birchbox Sample Box February 2013

Birchbox

I joined Birchbox this month after a four week wait; they are so popular right now that they have a crazy waiting list. Four weeks, and apparently that is one of the shorter waits.  The box costs ten dollars a month which also includes shipping. They boast that they send out deluxe and full size samples. Each box should have four or five samples per month. They are one of the original sample box subscription services, allegedly the one that started it all.   With such hype, I was sure that I would be blown away by this subscription, since it was something that everyone wanted to get in on.  I’m not kidding, there was so much hype. Surely, I wouldn't be disappointed in it.

The FAMOUS Birchbox has arrived......

My February Birchbox was a Red Carpet theme (real original). 

My box included the following five products:

Juicy Perfume Sample- I don’t even care about the value, because I hated this scent. It reminded me of something a tween would wear, and felt it was a rip off to be in the box. It certainly wasn't a deluxe sample size of a perfume. I could have gotten this for FREE from pretty much any beauty place.

perfume 

Color Club Professional Nail Lacquer Mini in Wild Cactus - .25 oz Value $4- This is a really cute color that’s more of an emerald shade. Very fun. 

So adorable! I just wish it was bigger......

Beauty Protector Protect and Detangle - estimated 1.25 oz. - The value of this sample was $4.12. I really liked this product, and have been using it on my hair, the scent makes me feel like I just came from the salon.  It reminds me of coconut.

Perfume for the hair

Ghiradelli Caramel Chocolate Square- Um, Seriously???? No. Sure I love chocolate as much as the next person, but I don’t want chocolate in my sample box, this is not a sample, this is just a random piece of chocolate and a brand I could find anywhere.   Just No.  (okay so my snark could be coming from the fact that I can’t have chocolate right now and had to relinquish this to my husband). But even so- no. 

Dr. Jart+ Black Label Detox Beauty Balm-0.1 oz -The value of this is around $2.00.  Well, I would imagine it was the value if it actually had much of anything in it. Mostly air in this one, and the little that I got out didn’t work on my skin tone. I was excited to get this at first because of all the hype about BB creams. 

Mostly air

Value: The total value of this box is maybe $12 or $13. Not impressed. Not impressed at all.  

PROS

I will be nice and say that one pro that I have heard about Birchbox is that they send out a variety of boxes each month. I think it’s almost forty (or maybe even more) different varieties, which I think is pretty cool. It makes it a bit of a surprise.  My box was not overwhelming by any means, but some of the boxes that I saw other people received looked really great.  The big thing was that Lancôme had finally signed on with them as a brand this month, so everything on their site was all about the arrival of Lancôme. That’s wonderful-if I had ACTUALLY received a Lancôme product in my bag.

CONS

Birchbox was a big letdown for me- I had a hard time even coming up with a single pro since I was just so disappointed with this box.  Everyone claims that this is THE sample box to have, and I wanted to cancel my subscription as soon as it arrived. They claim that they send out deluxe and full size samples, but their version of deluxe is no different than the tiny samples that you can get at any Sephora or cosmetics counter. I’d rather just go to those places and possibly pick out what I want, and not  get these tiny RANDOM things in my box. I feel it’s ridiculous to pay ten dollars a month to get samples that come FREE with any purchase elsewhere.  The value just wasn't there for me.  I paid ten dollars to get $10.00 worth of products, no thanks.  This was not a bargain, not when you compare them to the value of the other boxes.

Second, I've heard some horrible things about delivering. This was the last of my sample boxes to arrive, all of which are supposed to mail out around the same time. I will mark this up to Nemo being a huge issue that week, BUT I have read that other people have had many incidences where their box didn't arrive until the last day of the month. 

Next, Birchbox offers a variety in boxes, this I think is great- however don’t bother sending out varieties if you aren't going to take into consideration the beauty profile. Many people complained that they received products that were the opposite of what they had for hair type or skin color.  Variety is wonderful, but not if it’s a useless variety to the person.

Also, the amount of samples was a letdown. They claim they send four or five samples.  Mine had four with the chocolate.  Okay so it is four samples BUT you’re not fooling anyone with that chocolate and honestly- what does that even have to do with red carpet? Everyone knows you don’t eat for weeks before going on the red carpet.

Lastly, Birchbox like Sample Society loves to repeat items. Many people complained that they received hair bands in this month’s box, last month’s box, and in DECEMBER’s box. Ugh. No.  Do NOT send the same thing three months in a row.  Birchbox also has a fondness for sending out their Birchbox pillow boxes in their bags and love putting Juicy perfume samples in them as well.  I’m not a fan of juicy perfume, and have no use for those little boxes.  This doesn’t just apply to the women’s boxes- one of my friends did the male box for almost a year, and cancelled because he felt there were only so many shaving cream samples you could get.  He thought they lacked in variety of product.

If you can’t guess by now, this is not a subscription that I will be continuing. 

Sample Society February 2013 Review

Sample Society By Allure

Sample Society is a sample box sponsored by Allure magazine through beautybar.com. It’s a little more expensive than Ipsy at $15 a month including shipping.  Like Ipsy, you are billed the first of the month, and the boxes are due to arrive by the 15^th. This month my box arrived the first week of February.  It was the first of my sample boxes to arrive this month.

The Sample Society Box

My box for February included the following items:

oooh lovely.....

Immunocologie Treatment Cream- 0.5 oz. This was valued at $80! That alone made the box completely worth it. The cream is interesting, a bit watery in its consistency but feels nice on the face. However, once this is gone, I won’t be buying a full size which costs more than $270. It also has some weird kind of antler velvet or something to that effect in it, and I can’t explain it but it makes me feel a little guilty putting that on my face.

Crazy expensive face cream

LaRocca Hibiscus Cream Cleanser with AHA- 7ml- This was a small sample that was valued at $0.50.  This had a really nice scent to it, and didn't irritate my skin when I used it to wash my face.  I only got one use out of it.

so very tiny

Oscar Blandi Hair Lift Thickening & Strengthening Mousse- 1 oz- This product had a $4.00 value. I don’t use mousse regularly in my hair routine,   I will most likely passing it on to mother.  The product is supposed to strengthen and thicken your hair. My hair is pretty thick, so it’s not even something I would need. However, I did like the scent of it.

my mom's new mousse

Exude Lipstick Gloss – This was a full size product valued at $29.00. The color that came in my box was a soft brown/nude shade, which upon opening I thought would look horrible on me since I have pale skin. However, I was very surprised at how the nude color actually worked. The color lasted a long time.

Really cool packaging

Diptyque Eau De Toilette – 2 mL – This sample was valued at $2.00. I also hated the smell; it was very strong and musky, way too much for me to wear.  It reminded me of those horrible scent satchels that my grandmother used to hang in her closet or put in her bureau. I’m not a fan of any musk scents. My mother will be getting this one as well (white musk was her signature scent for YEARS)- she’s going to love this box.  However, from what I've read from other reviewers and subscribers, sample society seems to love to send this out.

old lady French perfume

Overall Value:  $115.50! This was truly an amazing value and made the price of the box more than worth it.

PROS

Quick Delivery- my box arrived the first week of February! It was my first subscription box to receive this month.

Amazing Customer Service- I had two issues with my box this month. First, when I opened the box they had packaged it with black confetti paper, but something happened in transport and everything in the box was covered in black soot. I mean COVERED. Even after I had wiped all the products down, it still had that black soot like consistency on most of the products.  My second issue was that one of my products was empty- yes, empty. I emailed the company to let them know and was given a response that I would get a replacement of that product.  I was VERY shocked and pleased when a NEW box arrived.  This is excellent customer service in my book!

Value- Like Ipsy this box proved to be a great value, and then getting the second box was just the icing on the cake. Paying 15.90 for over 200 dollars’ worth of products?? Priceless.

Cons

As much as I liked so many things about Sample Society, I won’t be renewing or keeping this sample subscription.  The products in this box were nice and expensive, but I can’t see myself spending two hundred dollars on a face lotion, and the reason I get these boxes is to try different brands that I still can AFFORD.  I have no issues trying a bare minerals lipstick and then knowing that I like it, buying it for twenty dollars, but trying a sample of a $275 dollar face cream and falling in love with it? That’s just torture.  I also felt the brands were just a little too hoity toity for me- they reminded me of products that a seventy year  old woman who wore Chanel suits and lived in the upper east side would wear. I don’t need snobby French brands. Give me fun packaging and things that are in my TAX bracket.

My second issue was that from what I’ve been reading from other subscribers, they tend to send the same things out and often sometimes two months in a row.  I subscribe to these boxes to try new things, I can understand that sometimes products will be repeats, but I certainly don’t want to get the same sample of something two months in a row. Apparently their favorite to send out is the Diptyque perfume.

Lastly, I also can’t explain it, but it’s easier to say I spend ten dollars a month on a box, somehow going up that extra five dollars sounds frivolous.  Maybe down the road I would revisit this sample box, but for now- it’s getting cancelled.  However, that is not to say that I don’t recommend this to people. It was a great value, just maybe not the right fit for me right now.