FabFitFun VIP Summer 2014 Review

The Box: FabFitFun VIP

The Cost: $49.99/season

The Goods: Full size, premium beauty, fitness, fashion and wellness products guaranteed to be worth $125.  

Thursday Friday Diamonds Away Mini Clutch - Swim: ($35)  This is a bit bigger than your average Ipsy bag.  I'm not a fan of the design I got, so I'll try to either sell or swap this.

Popchips Potato Chips - Barbeque: ($.92)  I'll almost never complain about potato chips.  I ate these almost immediately after opening my box.  I like Popchips a lot but never think to buy them!

FFF Water Bottle: ($15) That's the value that FabFitFun has given to this bottle, but I'm a little doubtful of it.  The one from May's Popsugar was only $17 and was a MUCH nicer bottle.  This one says "Grab life by the exercise balls!" around the bottom of it and overall feels cheaply made.

Sonya Dakar Flash Facial: ($95)  I'm almost afraid to try this because I'm so worried I'll love it!  It gets great reviews but man, that price.

Balanced Guru No Frizz Oil: ($25)  I've never heard of this brand but I'm super excited to try it out.  Organic, cruelty-free, sustainable, and reasonably priced?  I'm in.

Kisstixx - Strawberry/Chocolate: ($5.99)  I tried the chocolate one and MAN is the flavor strong.  It doesn't taste like chocolate, really, but it lasts a long time.  Maybe too long - I couldn't get rid of it!

Zoya Nail Polish - Thandie: ($9) YES!  I have been in need of a good orange!  This is pretty much exactly the color I had in my head, and it's Zoya.  Zoya = <3.

Pur~lisse Pur~protect SPF 30: ($55)  I think I'm set now for the summer with everyday sunscreens.  Now I just need to find some higher SPF lotions that don't make me break out!

Skintimate Skin Therapy Lotionized: ($1.99 - Sponsored)  I don't use shave gel, but I'll give it to J.  (He's probably got enough shave creams and gels to last for a year or two...or five...at this point.)

Always Xtra Protection Long Daily Liners: ($1.20 - Sponsored) Meh.  Feminine hygiene products.  Yeah.  Meh.

Slimfast Have Your Cake... Protein Meal Bar - Vanilla: ($1 - Sponsored)  I nibbled on part of this just to try it out.  It's not horrible, but it's not the most delicious protein bar I've ever tasted.

Total Value: $240.91 (plus $4.19 in sponsored products)

You know what's weird?  When I go to the store, I tend to gravitate towards the most expensive items.  However, 9 times out of 10, the items I'm most excited about in a subscription box are some of the least expensive!  Don't get me wrong, I'll use the pricier products, but I'm stoked about the Zoya and the hair oil!

Manicure of the Week - Camo'n Over

I *adore* camo.  I've got camo leggings, pants, shirts, shoes...and so I decided to give camo nails a shot.  I've never drawn or painted camo before, so it was a bit of an experiment.  I wouldn't call it a total fail, but I'll need a bit more practice before being fully happy with it.

I used Zoya Jacqueline for the nude fingers and the base of the camo.  The camo colors are Sally Hansen Grass Slipper, Zoya Gemma, and China Glaze Jolly Holly.

Too Fast Online - Random Mystery Item Reviews!

The Box: Too Fast Random Mystery Item

The Price: Shoes - $24.99, Accessories - $7.99, Attire - $9.99, Men's Attire - $4.99

The Goods: A random item from your selected category and size.

I don't remember exactly how I stumbled across Too Fast's Website, but I was instantly intrigued when I saw that they had mystery items.  Modcloth's mystery items had been very nice to me, so I decided to give it a go.

Accessory - Fingerless Stud Gloves: ($4.25 sale price, $16.99 regular)  These aren't my style at all, but I knew that was part of the gamble.  

Also, is it just me or do these seem to hit really high on the fingers?  I feel like most fingerless gloves end at the base of your fingers.

Attire - Shoe Crop Top: This top doesn't have any labels except for the hangtag which simply says "S."  It's cute, but definitely not something I could see myself wearing.

The back is a really pretty burnout pattern.  If the whole top was made out of this material...maybe I'd wear it?  Actually, probably not.  I'm not a crop top person.

Shoes - Spine Heel - Ribcage: ($19.50 sale, $77.99 regular)  I love these.  Stop judging.  They're bitchin'.  I just need somewhere to wear them...

I mean, look how cool the 'spine' heel is!  I'm totally going to have to wear these for Halloween, if nothing else.

You may have noticed that both the shoes and the accessory were currently priced for less than the cost of the mystery item.  I sent Too Fast an email letting them know that I felt a little dissatisfied, and they kindly refunded the difference between the sale price and the mystery item price.

Even though I didn't necessarily *love* the attire and accessory, that's part of the gamble of mystery items.  I don't regret ordering these, but I don't think I'd order more unless they installed some sort of minimum value on the items.

Plated Review - 6/28 Delivery

The Box: Plated

The Cost: $10/month for optional membership.  $12/plate with membership, $15 without.

The Goods: Ingredients needed to make a dish that you choose from their weekly curated menus.

J was really concerned with the fact that they were sending us produce and cheese and such via Fedex, but they ship in a box with plenty of insulation and cooler packs. 

Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Grilled Vegetables: I'm not sure why, but I've never made my own pizza before!  J doesn't drink, so we skipped the vodka part of the sauce.

The ingredients for each recipe are sorted and clearly labeled.  (The pizza dough came ready to use, no kneading or anything required.)

The recipe only required about half of each of the veggies.  J was more than happy to claim the rest of these lovelies. 

J took the arranging of the veggies very seriously.

Here's our finished product!  It was super delicious.  I'm not sure I'd have ordered a pizza with zucchini previously, but I definitely would now.

Tofu Scallion Pot Stickers with Sugar Snap Peas: We buy frozen pot stickers pretty regularly but, here again, we've never made them ourselves.

Here's the full cast of ingredients:

The in-process shots:

And the final product!  These were SO good.  They're a lot easier to make than I was anticipating, so we'll definitely make these again. J - an avid hater of peas - even admitted that the snap peas were tasty.

  So, I'd say our first Plated delivery was a big success.  Yes, I probably could have gone to the grocery store and picked up ingredients for less money.  However, I'm lazy.  I also have a knack for finding a recipe, buying all the ingredients...then forgetting about it until one or more has spoiled.  We won't be ordering one every single week, but we'll definitely get more deliveries in the future.

Disclaimer: This post contains a referral link.

Manicure of the Week - 'Murica Marbles

It's been a loooooooooooong time since I've done a water marble manicure.  I was lacking in July 4th design inspiration, so I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to give it a go again.

I used Sally Hansen White On, Color Club Love Links, and Essie Avenue Maintain.

June Bulu Box Review

The Box: Bulu Box (Regular)

The Cost: $10/month (less with a longer subscription)

The Goods: Choose between Weight Loss or Regular options and you'll get 4-5 health and nutrition product samples. You can also earn points to spend in their shop by reviewing the samples you receive. 

Mindful Mints: ($.83) I don't like spearmint, so I made J try these.  He said the mint flavor is fine, but the mint itself is SUPER chalky.

 Bach Rescue Pearls: ($9.95)  These aren't vegetarian-friendly, so I handed them off to J.  I'm not sure whether or not he'll actually take them, though.

Spatone pur-Absorb Iron: ($1.18) The directions suggest taking this by itself, which is what I tried first.  I don't recommend it - it tastes like dirty lake water.  I chugged the rest of it mixed in with some juice and then had spend a few seconds convincing my stomach that it was worth keeping down.  I think I'll stick to getting my iron in pill form, even if it is less effective.

PepPod: ($1.50)  J is the one who's more into drink tabs and such.  This one Vitamin C, B1, B2, B12, Potassium, Niacin, and a few others - plus caffeine.

Nature's Bakery Fig Bar - Raspberry: ($1) We've gotten these fig bars from a few different sub boxes now and both J and I are fans.  I don't much care for raspberry, so he'll get to have this one.

Coconut Organics CocoBacon: ($4) A few vegans I'm following on Instagram are regularly posting about coconut bacon, so I was stoked when I saw this in my box.  Having now tried it...I can't quite decide how I feel about it.  It's not bad, but I don't think it tastes extremely bacon-y.  (Granted, it's been several years since I've had actual bacon.)  It tastes more like someone took coconut flakes and rolled them in the flavoring used on BBQ potato chips.

Total Value: $18.46

This is the highest value box that I've received so far AND it's the first one that had something I was actually excited to try.  Granted, I'm not going to run out and buy a case of the CocoBacon but I'm still happy I finally got to give it a go.

Disclaimer: This post contains referral and/or affiliate links.

JewelMint Collective Style Surprise: Hysteric Co. Review

The Box: JewelMint Style Surprise: Hysteric Co.

The Cost: $29.99

The Goods: Three styles from Hysteric Co.

 Gold Pyramid Studs: Love, love, love these.  They're small and edgy and feminine at the same time.  Seriously.  Love.

Gold Bar Necklace: Another winner.  It's small and simple, which is what I generally prefer in a necklace.  It reminds me of this Baublebar necklace, except that it has three small rhinestones on one end.

Gold Infinity Ring:  I have mixed feelings about infinity jewelry - when did it get so popular? - but I think I like this ring.  It's small and dainty enough that I can wear it every day, and the cashier at the grocery store complimented me on it so...there's that.

I liked most of the Hysteric Co pieces on the Jewelmint website, so I had high hopes for this box.  I would have preferred silver pieces over gold, but they're all styles that I would have purchased for myself.  It is a little frustrating that none of the pieces I received seem to exist on the Jewelmint or Hysteric Co websites.

Disclaimer: This post contains referral and/or affiliate links.