FabFitFun: Welcome Box

---

I did it guys. I finally caved - ah! I have been wanting to subscribe to the FabFitFun box for so long - yet hadn't been able to justify it because I already receive the PopSugar Must Have box and in my mind, these two fill roughly the same space. When a convenient little ad for half off a FabFitFun box popped up on my Facebook feed (those things are dangerous) I figured it was a sign that I needed to hop on the #FFF train.

FabFitFun is a quarterly subscription box that sends full-size versions of the seasons top fitness, fashion, beauty, and wellness products. Each box is about $50 if you subscribe month-to-month and slightly less if you select an annual subscription. While the FabFitFun box is not tailored specifically to each subscriber based on their preferences, I've found that subscription boxes that send the same products to all subscribers tend to select better products that they know everyone will enjoy.

Wren: 14kt Gold-Dipped & Black Sapphire Necklace - Retail $100

I'm typically not much of a necklace wearer but this sweet little necklace was a pleasant surprise! Maybe I've just been wearing the wrong color my entire life - who knows? The rose gold color is absolutely beautiful and I love that the chain is long enough that it hangs just a little lower on the neckline (especially since one of my pet peeves about necklaces is that they hang too high!). The black sapphire is so small that it's hardly even noticeable unless closely inspected, but the fact that only you know about it almost makes the necklace even more charming ;) 

Organic Valley: Milk Protein Shake in Dark Chocolate  - Retail $2.99

This is probably the only thing in the box that I feel like I could've skipped - prepackaged protein shakes creep me out a little bit :P - maybe I'm just not at that level of "fab" yet. 

Passport to Beauty: Tibetan Goji Berry Eye Serum - Retail $88

One of my favorite things about subscription boxes are the skincare & anti-aging items I receive. While I don't go out and purchase these things on my own (prices tend to run high), if I receive them in a subscription box, I am more than happy to use them until they're gone! I've been putting on this serum before bed every night and I love the cooling feeling of the serum on my skin.

Gorge: "I'll Make You Look Amazing" Daily Spray - Retail $24.95

I love trying out new hair products since it can be difficult for me to find products that truly work for my hair! I dye, perm, straighten, curl, blow dry my hair - basically anything I can think of to damage my hair, I'll do it. Since my hair has been through so much, it tends to have zero reaction to a lot of hair products out there. So far, I haven't noticed anything too different after using this spray on my hair but since it's also a leave-in conditioner, I still plan on using it regularly to minimize split ends. 

Frends: "The Donna" Earbuds - Retail $80

I'm always thrilled to get another pair of earbuds because I am a perpetual earbud loser :(  I swear they run away from me! These earbuds are extremely cute but I'm still trying to figure out some of the more technical features. While it looks like I can control the volume from the earbuds themselves, I can't for the life of me find anything online that tells me how to do just that. Maybe I'm technologically-challenged, but figuring out how to control the volume shouldn't be this hard should it?

Cosmobody/FFF: Jump Rope - Retail $14

I am actually weirdly excited about this jump rope! I don't currently own one (due to the fact that I live on the top floor of a building and all my lower floor neighbors would probably kill me) but I enjoyed jumping rope as a kid and I'm excited about the possibility of adding this as another form of cardio in my fitness routine. Plus, the pink color makes it that much more fun to use :) 

Zoya: Nail Polish in Avril - Retail $9

This nail polish shade came as another pleasant surprise! Since I've been a huge nail junkie for most of my life, I already have a *sizeable* collection of nail polish and haven't bought nail polish in many years. Any additional nail polish I receive is usually gifted to me or received through a subscription box and it's usually a repeat of a shade I already own….until NOW! I love this nude shade because it's probably the nudest "nude" shade I've ever found. Typically, nude shades come off more pink than nude against my skin tone but this Avril shade practically looks like a continuation of my finger rather than a separate nail shade. 

Bonus: Shoptiques $25 Gift Card

Gift cards are always exciting to get in subscription boxes because you get to pick what you want! I used my gift card on a pretty blue folded clutch that was on sale for exactly $25. Unfortunately, as is the case with most of these gift cards, I still had to pay shipping separately since the gift card doesn't apply towards shipping costs. 

The total retail value of this box was over $300 according to the info card included in the FabFitFun box and honestly, I believe it! This box was chalked full of pleasant surprises for me which is one of the things that I absolutely love about subscription boxes. They open up the doors to so many different products that I never would have tried yet when I do try them, I end up loving them!

What were your favorites of the FabFitFun welcome box? Since I already knew what was included in the welcome box ahead of time, I'm excited to be surprised for the Spring FabFitFun box!

Birchbox: February 2016

As you may already know, I’m absolutely addicted to subscription boxes and one of the biggest internal subscription box debates I’ve been caught up in is whether I like Birchbox or Ipsy better! I vacillate between the two every month and I'm never sure which one to commit to since there are always on and off months with both subscriptions. Since I was a little fed-up with my Ipsy bags over the last couple of months, I decided to swap back to Birchbox for February!

Birchbox is a monthly beauty subscription ($10/month) that sends full-size and sample-size beauty, hair, make-up and skincare products.

Hey Honey: Take If Off Exfoliating Honey Peel Off Mask

I love receiving different kinds of skincare items in my beauty boxes because I tend to be very picky about the skincare products I actually purchase. I already love Hey Honey's facial serum so I was excited to try this peel-off mask! While the mask worked well, it is very similar to a couple of drugstore peel-off masks I already own so I don't think I'll be running out to purchase more anytime soon. 

Corioliss: Argan Conditioning Mask

Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of anything hair conditioner/mask related. While I get the concept of split ends and dry hair, it's really not something I focus my attention on since I rarely ever straighten or curl my hair. If you're someone who heat-styles your hair often, however, this might be a product for you.

Naobay: HydraPlus Cream

I loved getting this cream in my box because the consistency of the cream is so lightweight, it feels like water going onto the skin. Something I did notice, however, is that for more sensitive areas of the skin (i.e. around the eye), the cream caused the area to sting a little bit. I'm not sure if that's an effect I'd want my moisturizer to have. 

Color Club: That's My Jam

I am a bit of a nail junkie so I am always up for getting new nail polish! I love this beautiful shade - a deep red - because it really is such a classic color. If you're wearing this shade on your nails, you really can't go wrong, no matter what the outfit!

POP Beauty: Matte Velvet Lipstick Trio

The full-size version of these lipsticks comes with three shades and Birchbox sent one of the three shades for this sample. I received a bright red shade but I was really hoping for the more nude shade! While I didn't love the shade, the lipstick itself applied smoothly and had a ton of pigmentation. Plus, I did love that the single lipstick out of the trio was still a full-size lipstick in its own right, instead of a sample-size lipstick.

One of the biggest benefits of having Birchbox is that their points system is much more rewarding that Ipsy's. You can earn 10 points for reviewing each of your samples and every 100 points is equal to $10 to spend in the Birchbox shop. I love this system because it's very easy to earn points and then use those points to buy full-size versions of the sample products you liked the most! Plus, since each Birchbox is $10 and each box sends about 5 sample beauty products, if you review all 5 products, you are essentially earning $5 back to spend in the Birchbox shop - which I think is a great value!

What did you think of your February Birchbox? I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

Thredup Haul & Review

---

I heard about the website ThredUp through a friend and immediately wanted to give it a try. ThredUp is a website that allows you to buy used, like-new clothes from popular brands. This concept actually reminds me of the physical store Plato's Closet that I used to frequent as a teenager! I've always been a fan of donating, re-using, and recycling clothes so I thought I'd give it a whirl and let you know what I thought!

I decided on a gray sweater originally from H&M and a red sweater originally from Ann Taylor (Similar). I was hesitant to buy anything that might not fit properly so I opted for larger sweaters that are easier to eyeball online. If you're interested in trying out ThredUp yourself, you can use my referral code to get $10 to spend on their website. It kicks back a reward to me as well. 

Pricing:

Since I used the referral code of another blogger, I got $10 off my first purchase - which was definitely a huge plus! I ended up getting two items that added up to about $18 as a result of taxes and shipping, but with the $10 off, I ended up paying only about $8 for the whole lot.

$8 for two sweaters was definitely a bargain, but given that this was only with the $10 off, I actually didn't think that the original prices of the items on ThredUp were much of a bargain. While I understand that some of their items are from very high quality brands and hardly used, these items are still second hand. With second hand things, I always expect a pretty good discount, but as I was browsing the items on ThredUp, it looked like I could've been on any full-price retailer's website.

Selection:

ThredUp gets a huge thumbs up for selection - there were tons of items from all kinds of brands imaginable. As with any second hand store, it can be hard to sort through the items since there's really no pattern to what products are available, but ThredUp does a good job of categorizing all of their available items and having both a front and back picture of the product so that buyers can get a good feel for how an item might fit.

Quality:

Since ThredUp's products are advertised as "like new", I had pretty high expectations for the quality of the sweaters I received. Neither of the sweaters has any holes, stains, or other obvious "old" looking indicators but at the same time, I also could tell that they were not new. The H&M sweater had sleeves that were a little bit rolled on the edges and both sweaters had the distinctive smell that most second hand items do. 

Overall Verdict:

I was pretty happy with my total ThredUp purchase, however, if I'd had to pay full price for the two sweaters, I'm not sure that I would've been as happy. It's difficult to gauge size online already and with second hand items that may have been worn and washed before, buying the correct size becomes even more difficult. On top of that, if you are paying a price that might as well be the same as a fully-priced item, it might not be worth it to even take a chance on a second hand item.

In the end, both sweaters fit me nicely and I only paid about $8 for both of them but had I paid the full $18 price tag, I think I would've expected newer-feeling clothes!

Have you tried out ThredUp? How was your experience? I'd love to hear your thoughts!