Macy's has a beauty subscription box, which costs $15. It comes with deluxe samples (around five I think, although sometimes six) and either a bag or a beauty item. December had a really well made sparkly bag and November had a really hefty mirror. A gift card for either $5 or $10 off a beauty purchase at Macy's is also included. There's a wait list at the moment, so I don't know how fast/slow it is. I don't remember there being one when I signed up. Also, Macy's is having a bit of sale. So, fun times. December 2019
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Ah...what a world at the moment! It's day eleven of quarantine for me. I started quarantining before most people because after I did my last Junior League thing, I had a massive migraine and once recovered just chilled at home and accidentally started quarantine before the U.S. really seemed to grasp the impact of how serious this all was going to be.
I don't know what everyone is doing. I'm working to the best of my ability, cleaning my house, reading and watching TV. I'm going to try some new recipes and see what shakes out but trying to stay calm, stay inside and hopefully not catch Covid-19. It's really scary! At the moment I'm listening to the Bear Brook podcast, the Yacht Rock Podcast and I just finished Derry Girls on Netflix (amazing!). Tonight I'm hoping to start the new Miss Fisher's movie. So Bear Brook is a state park and the podcast is a narrative look at the investigation that took place about various murders that took place there. I might not be describing it well but I'll see if I can find the trailer and place it under the break. I'll see if I can find more info about any of what I mentioned. I'm trying to find things to do in my downtime that take my mind off the pandemic. I couldn't reach one of my Chinese friends for a while (mostly because they weren't traveling to a place where they could access internet out of the firewall their government set up) so it was hard to know if they were okay or not (they're okay but lost family). I have the Book Drop subscription through cratejoy but you can get it through their own storefront. So here's the information: The Book Drop is a book subscription from Bethany Beach Books (located in Delaware), a independent bookstore. They ship internationally as well. They have eight different categories, which includes children, YA and other genres. I've been getting the "Books for Tea" but have been musing changing things up for awhile. The "Books for Tea" is geared towards historical, contemporary or literary genres. I tend to normally avoid them for mysteries, but the choices that The Book Drop picks have been palatable. It gets me out of my normal routine. The books are paperbacks with either a signed bookplate and author's note or just an author's note/reading guide. The price kinda fluctuates on the book and the shipping (around $4 for U.S., more for international). But mine average $25 or less...usually less. Shipping is prompt. I got my book before the twentieth for this month (their states shipping day). So, while these aren't my normal picks I want to note that I have enjoyed them and they have brought me out of my comfort zone. It's a lovely subscription. Also of note, if you don't have an indie bookstore near you, Bethany Beach Books is shipping books purchased through their online store. Other indie's are doing this as well. I also know libraries are working to provide services as well. It's worth checking out. Popsugar finally gave some spoilers for their spring box 2020, acting like it wasn't a full month later than the year before. I understand that people and brands play coy for likes and attention on insta...but when someone asks a question ("when is the box that I've paid for showing spoilers?") answering with a kissey face emoji makes me stabby. Answer. the. damn. question. It's not cute. How hard is it to say that spoilers will be coming in "X weeks/days" and boxes are shipping in March this quarter? It's not hard. It left me with bad feelings and I'm sure other people had similar feelings too.
They finally did and now we have two spoilers. And tassels. Look, someone at Popsugar likes tassels quite a bit. And that person should be removed from all decision making processes. Forever. So yeah, the spring spoilers are blue light blocking glasses and a necklace. The glasses have four choices (I picked The Art of Snore in Cellophane AKA the clear ones) and the necklace two (I picked blue). The box costs $75 (one time) or $270 (annual), shipping included. I know some people were disappointed with the spoilers but I was ~okay~ with them if not underwhelmed. While the necklace is not my jam and kinda out of style, it's not the worst. I might actually keep it (!!!). The glasses might come in handy. I've bought some cheaper ones and I'm not sure they work but I'm willing to give them another go. I will say that for someone who wears glasses, they're useless. I only use them when I have contacts in, but that's a side issue there. I might have to eat my words but this box (being late + not overly thrilling items) being so meh made me go look around the internet. Someone on a forum mentioned that Group Nine Media acquired Popsugar. I don't know if that means anything re: the boxes but it could be that with all the shuffle, things got lost in the mire. Or maybe new people are in charge (but not that stupid tassel person...they're still at the helm. Destroying my life with their tassels) and have a different vision. The point is...let's talk about the Winter Box from 2019. I went back through my folders and noted that I've been subscribed to Lavish since November 2017! This is one of my favorite boxes simply because I love bubble baths and I think that many of the brands included really bring the creative and fun bath products to the front.
Also, I seem to have lost some of my pictures of the Lavish un-boxings. I can find October 2019....and that's the last but I know I took photos of the rest of the months (October on) but alas. Also, my office is still a disaster but it's less of one. I've been going through all my stuff since I actually prefer an uncluttered look but since moving back to the U.S. I've been given a lot of stuff from other people to sort through and I haven't been able to keep up. This (slow but) steady decluttering has also inspired me to tackle my digital hoarding. I apparently am a big fan of saving the most random of internet articles to read about in my spare time. Luckily, @RawBeautyKristi (one of the few beauty YouTube channels I still watch) mentioned the "Yacht Rock" Spotify playlist and it's been my background jam for the past few days while I un-clutter my life. I don't quite know how I'm going to put up unboxings for the rest of the year onto next year but I'm hoping to get it all organized during the vacation...which I might work through anyways. it's the stupid cold I had. It's put me way behind at work.
Macy's box is a new box for me and it's what I wished Sephora (with all it's connections to LVMH) would have been. I wanted new brands, brands that were established and brands that I might not pick up but that would have my next holy grail. I'm not sure there are any "themes" for the boxes but the pamphlet talked about clean beauty. There was no bag in this one, but that's okay. Instead Macy's included a Muslin facecloth. I like them because I use them on occasion (like how you would use them with the Liz Earle face wash and hot cloth method). I thought this was a nice little add on and it's thin enough to breathe through but it's been good to use. It's the one thing I've tried from the box! I'm still behind! Yikes. September's theme was Extraterrestrial Highway. This is a okay box because I've used one item. Yup. I've finally brushed off my heater so I can take more comfortable bubble baths through the winter. I kept everything in the box except the Alien Ooze, which went to my friend's younger sister who loves jelly soap.
At the moment, the box is still available in the Lavish shop. It's about $39 before shipping.
Macy's Beauty Box is a new (to me) beauty box. It's actually more in line with what I thought Sephora's Beauty Box was going to be. A lot of the stuff included are samples for new products or even samples you can get at the beauty counter but I don't have a functioning Macy's in my town (which is another gripe I have).
That's not totally fair, the Macy's near me doesn't carry the brands I like in store. If I drive for a longer distance, that Macy's carries what I want. I apparently don't live in the right demographic for the shopper near me. It's fine. Also included in the monthly boxes was a bag that I thought was the perfect size to put extra samples of basics for safe haven shelters near me. Alas...Macy's has decided to not always include the bag. So, there's that. To give ideas of sizes, the perfume samples below are true to size. The spine size of the pamphlets are about 12.5 cm (almost 5 inches). So I'm quite behind. I've been de-cluttering and organizing around my house. In the mess I created through the process...I lost my camera. It's a decently sized digital camera so that was disconcerting. I finally found it though (obviously) so that's a small win from my own misfortune. August (yes...three months behind) Lavish box is so cute. The theme was "Candy Shoppe" with the Canterbury Tales spelling. From the box, I've only used one item (one of the bath bombs) so I cannot talk about the usage of the products but I've yet to be disappointed from a Lavish Box so I feel the trust can see me through. The Bookshelf is located in Thomasville, Georgia and is an independent bookstore. They also have a book podcast which is nice to listen to at work. The two hosts have really soothing voices that go well when you're working or just chilling. Sometimes Podcasts are dramatic or overly loud at moments but not this one. They talk about book releases, what they're reading and what the bookstore is up to.
They mentioned their book subscription a couple of times on the podcast so I checked it out when Uppercase ended. The subscription is a choice of different employees at the bookshelf. I choose Oliva's picks as she also reads mysteries so I figured (hoped!) we have similar taste. I also picked the option to have the books and little extra from the store. I don't need the extras but I tend to like bookstore options. I figure if I like Olivia's suggested book titles I can keep going with this one or just the book titles. I paid for a three month subscription to try out. I believe PopSugar has been a quarterly box for at least a year now. I do miss the monthly boxes but I'm sure they were a pain to prepare and send out every month. The quarterly model seems to sell out almost every time as well. I wasn't overly keen on everything in this box at first but then after trying it out...I became a fan. PopSugar does release detailed descriptions on all their boxes with (affiliate) links to buy the items. So at the end of July or beginning of August, Mishibox canceled my recurring subscription and went MIA. I'm not out any money and I do know they're moving to NYC and their shop is closed but like...I'd like to know more. When are they coming back for instance? I haven't heard of anything from them since so...that's a bit odd. Complete radio silence. I can't recommend at the moment but before they were pretty reliable and the one time I had to contact customer support they were fantastic. So no idea what's happening but uh...I have a skincare stash. So I'm okay. Which, of course, is only important to me. June 2019I only did one quarter of the Strand to try out. It's a bit pricey but has little extras and two books (one hardback, signed). They also unveil their main book pick for the quarter--which is nice because you still get a surprise book but (in my case) it's good to know if its the type of mystery I want to read.
They also have different genres (NINE total), including 'mystery and suspense', 'fiction', 'Young Adult', 'sci-fi and fantasy', and 'political and nonfiction'. I choose the 'Mystery and Suspense' because that is my favorite genre and the book they unveiled looked pretty good. For 'spoilers' for all genres, click here For past books in the Mystery and Suspense, click here For the main Strand Book Hook-Up page, click here Uppercase announced a while ago that July 2019 would be its last box. I was pretty bummed because I enjoy the books they sent as well as the extra goodies (less junk). It was around the same time the Mishibox went MIA (seriously...no idea when or if they're coming back) so it was a double bummer. I think they're my longest running subscription boxes. Being a perfectly sane person, I signed up for the Strand Book Hookup to see how that went and also a smaller indie box. The indie box is from the Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia. They have my favourite bookish podcast because the two hosts have soothing voices. I have no idea why other bookish podcasts drive me crazy but I just need something chill on while I work. They mentioned they have a bookbox as well so I signed up for that. These are short (one month and three month) subs to see how I like them. I really don't need anymore books (ha!) or skincare and makeup but I also checked out Macy's beauty box. It's mostly samples for skincare and makeup but it seemed okay. I might go back to Mishi if they ever show up again or try out a different k-beauty box but I have a massive backlog of skincare. Like...sending boxes to my friends backlog. I really don't need anymore but I'm a junkie apparently. Everything is on trial since I've been forsaken. Forsooken? Forsakeneth? June 2019I uh...wasn't paying any attention when I was editing because I was on the phone and I kinda over-sharpened the picture. The only other picture I had is blurry but uh...yeah. Sorry.
Yup, that's right. Two months that are not consecutive. That's what I'm doing. I'm the middle of a re-read because I finally received the last two books in this trilogy. I think I like them. They're high fantasy and interesting. The covers though...I kinda adore them more for the covers. February 2019: Love HurtsI have a box! It's the Spring PopSugar box. They've gone seasonal which is okay (I loved the monthly boxes) and I think the 'theme' was self-care. The box has gone more eco-friendly. It used to be the black box inside a standard shipping box but they switched up so the black box is the only box. Each quarter box costs $75 (plus shipping). I also kept everything in this box as it was more practical or even my style. PopSugar has a page about the unboxing, with better pictures than what I have.
Uppercase is a YA book subscription box that comes with a newly released, signed book, an interactive bookmark (sometimes with author interviews or forum like questions on topics from the books) and then extra goodies that are fairly high quality for a sub box. I have the "Expert Plan" ($23 USD + shipping) which is the same as the "Book Plan" ($13.99 USD + shipping) except it includes the bookish items and access to the shop. I've had Uppercase for a long time (two or three years now?) and I really like it. To be frank, 90% of my YA books have come from Uppercase. February 2019: Crown of FeathersMishibox is a long running box for me. It's a Korean skin care box based in the USA (I think they're on the Eastern Coast?). They also have an online website and store so if you really love something...you can easily purchase it. They tend to put items in my box that I can't easily find in Sephora/Ulta/Nordies/Macys etc. but their selection is more curated than say, Jolse. They also tend to be more level headed with pricing (some k-beauty shops have a high markup). I love the ritual of the multi-step methods but I'm not a dermatologist (just a skin-care junkie) but my dermatologist is fine with my fanaticism as it keeps me out of the sun without proper sunscreen. I'm going to go ahead and note that I don't get any kickback from this, all these links should go directly to the page without any other tracking links (like affiliate links). I buy this box with my own money because I like it. So, if that matters to anyone, all the links should be pretty straightforward. February 2019 |
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