Beauty and the Gamer: First GLOSSYBOX!
Hi All!!! The battle of the boxes this month has a new competitor! It's Glossybox. It originates from the Germany but offers their services world-wide. I couldn't contain my excitement when I found out that they were expanding to Canada. This box contains 5 deluxe products (and the occasional something-something!) and is a little more expensive than the rest at $15 per month but this supposedly includes everything from shipping to taxes. This makes every province's boxes priced differently. Which to me is weird. So, for myself, living in Alberta, with only 5% GST, my box is approximately $14.29. But for someone out east, it's quite possible for their boxes to be $13 (sorry, I don't know what the PST and GST are for the other provinces, but you get my point). Shouldn't all the boxes be the same price? Just food for thought. Enough rambling, here's the GRAND UNVEILING!!!!!!
First impressions: the outside package is great. It has this tab that you just pull on and it rips across the front of the box and it opens. I really hate having to use scissors or a knife to open the box - I have fear-of-cutting-myself-and-bleeding-to-death issues, okay? Don't judge! The box containing the goodies is a pretty pastel pink with Glossybox's black logo in the middle. The packaging is black with a pastel pink ribbon. I like that this ribbon doesn't have the logo or name of the company on it because then I can reuse it. There was an envelope on top. Inside was just a couple of cards with product information. The box itself is very sturdy - way sturdier than Glymm, which says a lot.
I love Ahava, and I think that in my December Glymm box, I got the Mineral Hand Cream. The hand cream is perfect for my needs, but I don't think that the body cream will be thick enough. It has the same distinctive smell that I quite enjoy.
To be honest, I've never heard of Elizabeth Grant before, but since I'm a huge chapstick fan, I'm happy to receive this product. There isn't a particular smell to it. It seems to be a light moisturizing stick. This reminds of the Dior (I think) moisturizing stick that my mother used to use when I was small and that I would steal from time to time and put on thinking that I was glamming it up and putting on lipstick!
This is definitely a blast from the past. I remember my grandma using this brand when i was younger and I associate this more with being a perm-shampoo. I don't have colour treated hair, nor is my hair fine, so I'm not sure I'm going to be using this product. I'll most likely give it away. It has a great scent that definitely reminds me of the salon.
Live in Love from Oscar de la Renta - Full size 30ml for $62.
Sorry I didn't take a picture of the bottle, but this is a substantial perfume sample. It is very much like the YSL perfume sample that I got my December Glymm box. It's a mature scent. One that I would wear to a banquet or fancy dinner. Lots of people have been saying that it's an "older" scent (like for 40-50 year olds...sorry, but I didn't realize that scents could be categorized as such, but hey, each to their own!). I wouldn't say that I like it, but it's not gross like the Paco Rabanne ones I've been receiving from Luxe Box.
Elizabeth Arden's Prevage Day - Full Size 50ml for $160.
This is an intensive anti-aging cream for the day time. It contains SPF 30. Helps fight the visible effects of environmental damage and enhances skin's natural moisturizer. It looks like it's lightly tinted. There is a strong sunscreen smell to it. When I first applied it to my hand, it felt very greasy, but applied quite well, but it absorbed quite quickly. I think that I'm going to try this product out during the weekends, just in case I have a reaction to the product. At the same time, I'm not sure I need anti-aging products yet, so I might give this to my mom.
The "special" extra goody that I got was a product that I was wanting to try for a while, but it's always been a little on the pricey side so I've never purchased it. It's the Beauty So Clean sample wipes and mini spritzer. This product sanitizes your beauty products. So if you are sharing your powder with your girl because she needs it bad, you can just spritz it on and it's clean and good to go! At London Drugs (the only place that I've seen this product), the 8ml spritzer sells for $12.50. I received a full sized product.
For a grand total of $58.38.
My overall impression of the box itself is kind of meh. It had some good products, but at the same time, it had some "what the?" type of products. I was disappointed about the travel shampoo...it was for the wrong hair type - I mean, what's the point of taking the survey if they aren't going to send me items that fit my type? Besides that, I think that there were many growing pains with this box. I just figured that they would have their stuff straight come the first box because they have been doing such a great job in all the other countries that offer Glossybox. For starters, when I first signed and received my invoice, it said that I would receive a tracking number with my first box. No tracking number. Instead, I had a girlfriend creep on Facebook (this was before I signed up) to see what was up. To my surprise the boxes had shipped. And I haven't received my 200 Glossydots for signing up early for "VIP" status (whatever that means). Secondly, I wasn't happy that I was seeing reviews nearly a week before I even got my box. They should take a couple of pointers from LuxeBox and their new shipping policy. I mean, it's fine for some people to get their boxes a couple of days apart, but it's been nearly a week!!!! Grrrr! Thirdly, the reviews that I saw were the press boxes. PRESS BOXES. And they were fantastic! They had Essie nail polish, larger deluxe perfume sample...instead we got the shampoo and a smaller size of the perfume. When people started to complain about the inequality, Glossybox's response was that they didn't want to ruin the surprise, so they made the press boxes different. WHAT???? I can understand not wanting to ruin the surprise, but don't make the press boxes (that we are coincidently subsidizing) spectacular and everyone else's boring and sub standardly different. This isn't the way to impress the "other" folk who have to pay for their subscriptions. I think that I'm going to give it a couple of months and see how it goes, but I think, if I'm disappointed again, I'll have to drop this box. Seeing how this is the most expensive out of all of them.
thanks for posting your review! and sorry your box took so long to reach you :( I would be annoyed too if I were you.