Research Frenzy Subscription Box November French Box

I have to say, French Box is a bit better than your average subscription box.  It comes in a nice pink box with the Eiffel Tower on it, with a smaller white and pink inner box with an Eiffle tower pattern.  This box is the absolute cutest of any of the boxes I've seen.  It costs $24 a month, which is above average, but I got a deal on my first month at just $14.

Before I go into the items in this box with a monetary value, let me go ahead and tell you about some of the stuff that's hard to put a price on.  There's a great recipe for Croque-Monsieur in here that might be fun to try.  There's a post card that says, "Paris is always a good idea," which is an Audrey Hepburn quote.  There's an Amazon coupon for 40% off Pier Auge French cosmetics.  There's a packet sized foundation sample by Guerlain.  There's a lovely white ribbon that says French Box on it.  Lastly, there's a very cute French Box drawstring bag, which would be perfect for transporting cosmetics or jewelry.  All very, very cute, and all visible in the youtube video I made of the box opening.

Now, let's get down to brass tacks, the items that make up the value of this box, which you'll remember I paid $14 for.



The spoiler card has this to say about this product, "Wonderfully gentle, this treatment smooths the skin.  Beautified skin regains all its natural radiance and is better protected against the signs of aging, stress and pollution."  The retail price on this is $43.50 for 1.7 oz, which I believe is this size rounded up slightly, because the packaging here says 1.68 fluid oz.  This seems like a pretty good item to receive, certainly it's a high sticker price.  I won't personally use this, I might use it as a gift.  It's an excellent value, to be sure.

I can't find this product online, but it's 8.81 oz of French coffee.  L'original French Authenticity Cafe de Paris C'est La Vie 100% Arabica Ground Coffee.  The spoiler card calls it Segafredo.  It says, "Cafe de Paris <<The Original>> is irreplaceable.  Its rich, aromatic flavors will leave you craving for a little bit more French throughout the entire day..."  The full size costs $6.00, and I believe this is the full size.  It's well in date as well, good until March of 2016.  This will make an excellent gift.

A perfume sample is included from Leonard.  It smells lovely, and at .05 oz, there's enough in this spray applicator for several uses.  I enjoyed this one a lot, it's just a really nice scent.

The spoiler sheet lists the "exclusive item from the Lido collection" at a retail price of $12, which seems kind of steep if it is either the magnet or the cell phone charm from this box.  Even if it's both, it seems kind of high, but then I don't really use magnets and cell phone charms are cool but my pone doesn't have a slot for them anymore.

I thought the Missiu Eiffle Tower bracelet was pretty cool, but it slipped off and got lost the first time I wore it, so that was less cool.  It had a retail price of $12, and I can't find another one like it to show you what it looked like.

Overall, it was an interesting box, and a great value.  Again, I paid $14, and I think ti was a pretty good deal at that price.  I'm tempted to keep my subscription for next month, but I haven't decided for certain yet.  This will probably be the last subscription box I'll try until the end of the year, and then I might start again in January.  Christmas is a stressful time to try to do anything extra.

Would you keep this subscription, or do you think I should try something else?  Should I go back and try loot crate again?  Do you know of something else?  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Research Frenzy: Subscription box SuperKawaiiPop's Kawaii Box

Today I received my SuperKawaiiPop Kawaii Box.  I ordered the product on October 5th, and received it on November 17th.

Here is the description of the product I ordered:

The reality of the product was that I did not receive a rement or a popin cookin kit.  I got an Aluminum lunch bag by Daiso.  I got an unmarked, unwrapped pair of chopsticks. I got some "funny" dessert erasers.  I got a bunny bento box that says "Let's Play Together!  Hey!  I want to be a friend of you." I got a set of teddy bear bento wrapers.  I got a memo set.  I got five individual sauce packets.  

No popin cookin set.  No rement.

Let's look at the individual items:

This is the bento box I received, as sold through another vendor.  It has a seal on the inside and yellow flaps that lock the lid in place.  The words printed on it in English are rather ridiculous.  "LET'S PLAY TOGETHER!" the Bunny entices, "Hey!  I want to be a friend of you."  The bunny himself is rather cute, with his plaid ears over a polkadot background.

The sauce bottles came in two sizes, three were 6ml and two were 13.5ml.  I'm pretty sure they came out of these packages.

I couldn't find similar aluminum bags, paper bento cups with teddy bears on them, or the chopsticks, so here are the items I received, minus the letter set, which I immediately gave to my niece.

My favorite item included in this selection is the aluminum lined lavender bag.  Here's what it looks like with all the items inside:

Do I think this service was a good value?  Not really.  I mean, yeah, this stuff can be expensive to import, but almost all of it was Daiso.  It did not include a rement or a popin cookin set as it said it would in the description.

The big issue I had with this stuff is that it wasn't all that cute.  Here's a much cuter bento set with a rabbit on it, available on Amazon right now for less than $17:

If you're willing to pay more than I did for your lunchbox, here's a very cute My Neighbor Totoro set:




The other issue I had with SuperKawaiiPop is that the customer service wasn't very good, and the product took a long time to get here.

Some months are probably better than others, but I would not recommend this service after my experience.

Edit:  Here's someone else's unboxing of the same month, her items were somewhat different from mine.

 

She got two bags of erasers to my one, a piece of candy, and a more varied set of bottles.  I think her bento box is cuter than mine, but I like the bag I got better than the one she got.  Mine has a draw string, hers has a zipper.  There's not much difference there, but there is a little variation.

Research Frenzy: Subscription Box Reveal Loot Crate Galactic Box

Yesterday I showed you all what was in my Walmart Beauty box.  Today I'm going to show you the contents of my Loot Crate.  Loot Crate costs $13.37 plus shipping from California.  With Loot Crate, it's safe to assume you'll receive a commemorative button and a booklet showing you the products inside, so I won't bother to mention them.



This month's candy:  A single packet of Pop Rocks.  Delicious.  I ate the entire packet of these immediately.



One Tribble.  This item is selling on E-bay for about $5 shipped right now, but that may change.  These are pretty cute, I might keep it or I might regift it.  Who knows?


One Aliens Reaction figure.  I would definitely have never bought this of my own accord, as I have never seen this movie, and I have mixed feelings about these simple vintage style action figures.  They're kind of cool, but I do not collect them.  I will either sell this or regift it.  These are selling for around $10 shipped on E-bay right now.

One Han Solo in carbonite mini poster, selling on E-bay for $4 shipped right now.  I gave it to my niece right away.




One Funko Mystery Mini of Malcolm Reynolds.  These are pretty cute.  Selling on E-bay right now for about $10 shipped.



This is one of the coolest items in the box, Firefly bank heist money.  These are pretty cool for cosplay.  Median e-bay cost is around $6.00 shipped.

Also included was a code for a Halo comic, and a Star Wars magnet.

Is this the $40 value advertised?  At e-bay value, you'd be pretty close to that trying to buy all this stuff, but I almost certainly wouldn't do it.  I would probably buy the Tribble at that E-bay price, because it's cute and it'd make a good Christmas gift for someone, or I could cosplay a classic Trek character in the future.  The firefly money is neat, I definitely would pay about $6 to have that in my cosplay closet.  And in this box, that's about it for me on value.  I liked the pop rocks, and it was really fun to get this in the mail.

I enjoyed subscribing to this box, but I think I'm going to cancel for next month, the theme for which is "Fear."  I've already sent them an e-mail concerning my cancellation.  They're saying next month there will be a T-shirt, but that will do me no good if I don't like the theme.  Sometimes I like horror movies, but that theme isn't as exciting for me as a science fiction, TV, or comic book theme.  I may come back to them later if they release some convincing advertising for a future theme.  Instead, I'm going to subscribe to the SuperKawaiiPop Kawaii box next month, which promises a bento box, chopsticks, and either a Rement or a Popin' Cookin' set plus more cute stuff for $20 shipped.  I've been thinking about buying a bento box and some other random Japanese stuff lately,  so it'll be interesting to see if what they ship me is to my taste.  I've enjoyed watching other people's unboxing videos from this company, so hopefully I'll get some cool stuff.  After I try that one, I may try another box.  Who knows?

Mystery boxes are fun, but I think this month's Loot Crate really illustrates the point that when you buy a subscription box, you're betting against your own ability to shop for items you want at a low price.  Sure, the stuff I got is worth more than $20, but I would only actually buy about $10 worth of this stuff of my own accord, and the rest of it will have to go.  The Wal-Mart Beauty Box kind of surprised me, because they actually sent me stuff that (for the most part) I will use.  So far, i'm still enjoying this experiment, and I hope you're enjoying it with me.

Research Frenzy: Subscription box reveal Walmart Beauty Box

I decided to order a couple of subscription boxes as part of my ongoing investigation.  The first of which is the Walmart Beauty Box.  It costs $5 (shipped) per box, and is shipped out three times a year.  This is a new service, I think I got in on the first box.

Here is what came in mine:




This was my favorite item that came in my box.  This is Covergirl Glowing Nights in #Afterdark  The color on this is very aqua.  It came in a 3.5ml bottle, which is full size.  These retail for $2.95 at Walmart, and it came in a color I've been thinking about buying anyway, so that's more than half the cost of the box.   Here's a link to the product on the Walmart website in case you want to confirm prices or you want to order some for yourself.  I have to say, I'd buy this product again.  The color is fabulous, and it dries really fast for a product that doesn't mention it drying fast on the packaging.  Love it.





This item comes in pretty large packaging and takes up kind of a lot of box space, but I can't say I was disappointed to get some deodorant in here.  This is a 1.6 oz container of Secret "Clincal Strength" as an invisible solid in completely clean.  Obviously, this is a useful product, I've often said I wish people would hand out free deodorant samples at Dragon Con.  Just put a basket full of them out, no suggestions made, no questions asked.  Just sponsoring the con and putting the brand name out there.  It smells pretty good.  I'm kind of shocked at how much this deodorant retails for at $7.92.  Here's the Walmart link.  This deodorant would cost as much as the whole box of stuff.




They sent me a travel sized sample of each of these.  One fluid ounce each of Dove Advanced Hair Series Oxygen Moisture Conditioner and Shampoo.  I haven't tried these products yet, but they smell really good.  Since these are the small, I can't say for sure how much they would cost to purchase, but the full size products retail for less than $5 each at Walmart.




The Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Nourishing Hair Treatment they sent me came in a .4 oz container, which is tiny.  I've never used a product like this before, so I'm at a loss to tell you what it's suppose to do or whether the "dry oil" is meant to mean you put it on your hair when it's dry.  My hair is so oily to start with I'm hesitant to add more.  It says it's made with African Macadamia nuts.  Full size (12 fl oz) at Walmart costs just under $12.




I've enjoyed trying this L'Oreal Glossy Lip Balm, but I probably wouldn't have purchased it in "Ginger Candy."  I've just never been a pastel lip color girl.  The package they sent me is 2.7 g.  This is a full size product that retails at Walmart for $6.97.  It feels pretty nice on my lips, but like I said, the color's not me.





The next item the sent me was a Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup with Tone Correcting Complex "Find your Perfect Match" sample card.  There were eight tones to choose from.  Surprise surprise, my best blend is "Classic Ivory."  There's no real sample to speak of here, and oddly enough it's not readily available on Walmart's website, but most Walmart Neutrogena products sell for around $12.  There's a coupon on the back of mine for $2 off.

The next sample is a packet of L'Oreal Youth Code Pore Vanisher.  I have no clue how this product is suppose to work, allegedly it instantly vanishes the appearance of pores and over the course of a month can actually physically make ones pores smaller.  That sounds like snake oil to me, but when I tried this sample it actually did make my pores less visible.  This is just a packet sample, so I'd say it has no value, but a full size costs around $18 at Walmart.



Lastly, they sent me a sample sized vial (.04 fl oz) of Nicki Minaj's perfume, Pink Friday.  It smells pretty nice, and it's an interesting product to try.  I don't know yet if I'd buy this product if I just saw it on a shelf, especially since it goes for $40.18 for 3.4 fl oz at Walmart.  I'd definitely go for the Amazon price on this one ($25.42 at the time this was written).

Overall, I feel like Walmart's beauty box is a pretty amazing value.  The big dud here is the lip gloss, because I honestly would never wear that color out.  The winner is the nail polish.  Everything else is somewhere in between, and there are products here I haven't tried yet.  There were three full size products in here for $5, with a value of just under $18.  Eleven dollars of that are in products I will actually use.  Overall, I'd give this service four stars, holding only one back because it doesn't have any customization at all.  I will continue to subscribe to this service for at least the next box.

Research Frenzy: Mystery Appeal Beauty Subscriptions

Folks my age will remember Quindon Tarver's hit song, "Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)."  One of many pieces of advice given is the gem, "Don't read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly."  Though the lion's share of the blame there lies in photoshop and single body type model selection, I've noticed that the more I research makeup, the more I feel like I need to wear more of it.  Makeup can become a compulsive, recurring expense.  It's an incredible drain to keep up an inventory of trendy, fresh makeup in the colors and styles that reflect my personality and compliment my natural coloring.

It's only logical that people would turn to low cost monthly subscription boxes to try to take some of that pressure off and try products that might otherwise be beyond reach.  I wanted to know which of these boxes would be the best deal, and whether I should be subscribing to these kinds of services, and I think I got some very solid answers out of this analysis.  I looked at boxes that cost between $10-$21 before any coupon prices or longterm subscription benefits.  I watched a lot of unboxing videos.  Like, ridiculous numbers of unboxing videos.  I'll include a video for each company to show you what an actual unboxing looks like for each of these boxes, but you should rest assured I didn't come to any hasty conclusions by just watching one video of any one company's box.  I'll show the price for a month's subscription to each box as well as the number of Facebook likes each company has.

1.)  Luna For You
Cost:  $10
984 Likes
This is one of the lesser known companies.  I've noticed compared to other companies, the samples I've seen are more likely to be full sized products.  Most of the products in the box tend to be cheap, easily obtainable drugstore cosmetics, so the value of this box is not all that great.  The items in here are not likely to be high end department store or specialty cosmetics.  Personally, I feel like you'd be getting a better deal by going to your favorite low end retail store and picking out some low cost nail color, lip color, and/or eye shadow in colors you picked out.  Sure, you get a higher ticket value (this youtuber estimates a value of $39 for $10) by buying this box, but what if you don't like those colors?  I'm not convinced that that eyeshadow is worth $23, not because I think that brand might be available for less somewhere else but because I wouldn't pay that.  I will say that the color and product choices on this box are more in line with how I wear makeup and which colors and styles I would pick for myself than some of the others.



2.)  Boxycharm
Cost:  $21
7,096 Likes
This box is the best value.  It shouldn't be at all surprising that you get more valuable stuff in a box that costs $21 than in a box that costs $10.  Allegedly, you can get over $100 worth of products in there, and that would be a really good deal if it were consistent and generally items you'd use.  The problem here is that I would not pick any of these products out for myself.  One of the obvious issues with purchasing subscription boxes is that the contents are a surprise picked out for you by whoever curates the box.  This person does not know you, and is making a selection for thousands of people, so a lot of the choices they're going to make are going to be very generic (not in terms of brand, but in terms of style).  You'll see a lot of black eyeliners, black mascaras, common lip colors, neutral eye products, and seasonally appropriate nail polishes.  Some people would rather have these items, but you won't see a lot of edgy personal statement products in Boxy Charm boxes.  You're not going to get a lot of Urban Decay or MAC cosmetics in this one.  The boxes tend to be themed each month, and they have box themes like wedding and mother's day.  While those themed boxes have items that are appropriate for everyone, there's certainly a tendency in this box towards a more mature, conservative look, which is something I tend to resist.




3.)  Birchbox
Cost:  $10
1,220,602 Likes
This company is extremely popular.  The boxes I looked at were all pretty generic.  I mean, the brand names are good, but I haven't seen any products that I just went to myself, wowza, I need that.  Supposedly, there's a degree of personalization with these where you can rate past products and they'll sort of send boxes you'll be more likely to like.  I don't know how successful that effort is or how exactly they correct for products you hate.  I did see a few different versions of the August box.  This service allows you to accumulate points by reviewing makeup or buying through them.  The samples seem.


4.)  Beautybox
Cost:  $12
9,928 Likes
This box seems to be mostly facial and skin care products.  It just seems like a great big box of regret to me, but then again I've never bought dry shampoo before, so maybe I'm not the target audience here.  I can't imagine spending $12 on this stuff intentionally, if somebody were to offer the box to me and show me the contents.  I love this Youtuber, though, she's hilarious and honest.  I have a lot of respect for her series "Does this Thing Really Work?" in which she buys things like As Seen on TV items and tests them on camera so her viewers can see whether they really do what the company says they do.




5.)  Ipsy Glam Bag
Cost:  $10
1,146,691 Likes
This box of products comes with a cosmetic bag.  I can't tell you how many cosmetic bags I've given to thrift stores over the years.  The samples in this bag tend to be fun, trendy brands, but the sample sizes are generally very small.  Sometimes the stuff in these is pretty intriguing, but I don't feel like I'd pay $10 for what I'm seeing in these videos.  I'd rather just pay a little extra and buy the full size Urban Decay Mascara.  One advantage to this company is that it is more personalized.  I filled out their questionnaire, it asks questions about complexion, eye and hair color, and style preferences.




6.)  Beauty Army
53,631 Likes
Beauty Army is highly personalized.  You fill out a questionnaire and they select a dozen or so items from which you may select 6.  The samples you get are generally tiny.  This is probably the worst value out of all these services.  But they tell you exactly what you're going to get and in what sizes.
You're not getting a good deal, but you know that going into it.



7.)  Glossybox
Cost:  $21
636,868 Likes
This box costs as much as the Boxycharm box, but includes fewer full size products.  Maybe the brand names are trendier and better, but I don't see anything here I would use.  I thought I was apathetic to the Boxycharm box, but I have to say, this box makes them look really good.




 And there's certainly many, many more services like these.

Basically, you're buying a pig in a poke.  It might be a tiny little pig or it might be a big healthy pig, and the only way to find out is to open the box.

The most common complaint I've seen is that nobody wants to pay for packet samples that would from other sources be free.  Another common complaint is that the goods inside these boxes sometimes don't seem age appropriate for the users.  I've heard people say things like, "This would look good on my grandma."  Cruzan Rum said the nail polish she received in the February BeautyBox 5 would be more appropriate for a 5 year old.  Another common complaint with these subscription boxes is that sometimes liquids contained in the box come open during the shipping process and ruin the rest of the contents of the box.

The Verdict:  True confession, you guys.  I've never bought any shape or form of makeup primer.   I've also never bought any type of highlighter for my face.  Maybe this means I'm just not the target audience for curated makeup sample boxes.  But I feel like I could get a much better value for the same money picking out my own cosmetics.

Okay, let's say I have a subscription to Ipsy for 6 months.  That's $60.  I might have gotten a few full sized samples in that time, but for the most part, I probably would receive sample sized products, some of which I wouldn't even use.

Why wouldn't I have just taken my $60 to Macy's online and bought $35 worth of Este Lauder products?  If I were to buy $35 worth of Este Lauder right now, I would receive a free bag of additional products, most of which are full size and the remainder of which are a substantial size.  I could get two tubes of lipstick in colors I selected for myself that I would definitely actually use, and then I would also get a bunch more product.  Granted, you can't buy exactly $35 worth of product easily, but assuming I spent a total of $50, I'd still be getting more useable fullsize products in my style and color than I would out of 6 months of any one of the major $10 subscription boxes.  Except maybe Luna For You, but the value of the products in Luna for You isn't consistently comparable.  The Este Lauder thing is a temporary deal, but there's almost always some kind of sale like this going on.

And it's not even just Macy's or just Este Lauder, many major department stores and brands have special deals like this where if you buy a certain amount of makeup they'll give you full or substantial sized bonus items.

Or, I could just buy cheaper makeup.  Avon's online outlet store has some incredible deals sometimes on makeup colors that are out of season or discontinued.

Or, I could just go ahead and buy the brands and colors I need for full price, but only when I need them.  I could set a $60 makeup budget for 6 months with the same money I'd be spending on Birchbox for six months, and I could buy items I want to try and things I need to replace.  I could even wait for sales or look for coupons on products I know I want.  Then I could actually try to use the makeup I have before it goes bad and I have to throw it away.  All too often, I end up throwing away products I just patently never got around to using.  Imagine how much worse that would be if people kept sending me shades of lipstick I don't use every month.

I need to swear off buyers remorse, and part of that is not allowing other people to spend my money for me.

Makeup subscription boxes are probably a great deal for some people, or maybe they're worth the cost of admission in terms of entertainment value.  Maybe the surprise itself is worth $10.

I feel like a lot of people end up buying these things expecting more than what they end up with.  When I look at some of the professional quality Youtube videos available on these products, I see that many of these users seem excited about things in the box, and I wonder how much of that reaction is genuine.  There are certainly many more honest videos than dishonest ones, but I'm sure there are some videos out there that could be produced by paid spokespeople that pass for unsolicited product endorsements.  Also, many youtube users receive free products to review on their channels, and some users may feel they need to be grateful for the gifts.  Look for reviewers you trust before you purchase a product.

Bottom line, I won't be signing up for any makeup subscription boxes, but I sure was tempted by a couple of these, particularly Boxycharm and Ipsy.  If you're considering signing up for these boxes, do your research so you have a strong idea of what you might get.  Keep your expectations low, and let me know how it turns out.

Let me know in the comments if you feel like makeup subscription box services are a good deal, and which services you have experience with.