Showing posts with label Dry Shampoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dry Shampoo. Show all posts

Monday, April 28, 2014

Fancy Box Review - April 2014

Curated by the fancy community
I'm currently signed up to receive a couple of the subscription boxes offered by Fancy: regular monthly, food, and one curated by model Coco Rocha. I think it was their clever name that roped me in; who doesn't want a little more fancy in their lives? This is a look at their regular monthly box for April 2014. The box costs $39 each month with free shipping, and can be customized with up to three categories. The $90+ contents are selected from the most Fancy'd items on the Fancy website. This whole concept is new to me, but I think it's their fancy way (groan) of saying "I would have liked this on Facebook 5 years ago." It seems you can upload any product in the world and invite the Fancy community to comment on it, share it and covet it. Anyway, I'm not sure how much of a difference it made, but for my categories I selected men, women and gadgets. I saw women and gadgets with this box. No offense intended if you're a dude and love this.

Even though the theme was "rustic," this box doesn't seem to have anything particularly masculine
Let's see how fancy shmancy it gets...

Trading cards
These cards give a little more info and reasoning behind the picks. I hate to toss them because they're so pretty and because I'm a pack rat. But in what alternate universe am I ever going to use these again? It's not like they're going to be worth millions one day like Garbage Pail Kids or Magic: The Gathering.

I found myself in this same position last week
Yowzers this is an expensive magazine! I saw it once in a doctor's office and found it kind of fascinating. Maybe because it wasn't AARP or Home & Garden.  The stories and pictures are really beautiful, and it's more of a cultural celebration than a traditional rag. I think it would make great window seat reading on a rainy day. Unfortunately I have neither of those at my disposal.

This magazine is now on my coffee table for bored guests to peruse. I appreciate that this takes some of the pressure off me to be entertaining.

Is this what Sting was going on about?
This is a clever little 4GB USB flash drive embedded in the cork stopper of a small glass bottle. Adorbs. I think the same one is cheaper on Amazon.

I haven't needed flash drives very often since I left the corporate world. I think it would make a cute gift loaded up with pictures with your bestie (when did I start talking like a 22 year old?) or love emails, so I'll have to hold onto it until that perfect opportunity presents itself. More than likely my husband will grab it when he's scrambling for portable storage to transfer massive files. Undoubtedly when that day comes, I will have forgotten a half-finished Valentine's Day project on there and the awkward steamy images will be forever seared on his potential client's eyes. If I trusted it was waterproof, I would make up some treacly sweet love story and cast it into the ocean a la Nicholas Sparks. 

Why do I always prefer the British spelling of chaulkboard?
I love the idea of these stick 'n peel chalkboard decals, but shudder when I imagine my illegible scrawl trying to cutely and oh so casually present a grocery list for all to see and judge. I think this is going in a craft closet, where it has the potential to end up being something really cool. In reality it has a 5% chance of ever seeing the light of day again.

Hello, old friend
Finally something I KNOW I will use! Because I already own two bottles! This is the second dry shampoo I've received in subscription boxes this month. I'm a dirty, dirty girl and this stuff isn't cheap so I'm not complaining. Oscar Blandi's product is a powder, rather than the more popular volumizing sprays on the market. You sprinkle it in your hair, it absorbs any oil (sexy, I know) and then you brush it out. I want to say it has a pleasing lemon verbena scent, but I'm not sure I know what lemon verbena smells like.

Added bonus - I've tried this on clothing before, and it actually does a decent job of absorbing any oil from accidental food or lotion stains. Yeah, I'm a train wreck.

Petite earrings for a petite girl (AKA Not Me)
I feel classier already owning these teeny tiny gold-plated earrings. Although I typically go for bolder pieces to balance out my 5'9" frame, I'm now reconsidering after seeing Cameron Diaz's delicate gold jewelry in "The Other Woman." In my opinion, her style was the only redeeming quality of the movie. If you're a Game of Thrones fan, avoid it at all costs; you'll never look at Jamie Lannister the same way.

This was a fun box, with a great value of $99. Realistically I will use about $39 of it, almost exactly what I paid. Since I can trade, gift, or pack-rat the rest of the goods, I think I got a good deal. I'm hoping that next time around they include more dude-oriented stuff. I'm sure plenty of guys (err, George Michael?) could rock the dry shampoo and lightning bolt studs, but I need something to help me convince my hubs that this is a subscription worth keeping.

If you feel like seeing what this Fancy thing is all about, or if you want to sign up for one of their Fancy boxes, you can do so here. Like Quarterly, they have a variety of boxes curated by celebrities including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kelly Rowland, T-Pain, Coco Rocha, Snoop Dogg, Tyler Florence and Verbal.

Disclaimer: Of course these are totally my opinions and they mean nothing. I received no compensation for this review. There are affiliate links above.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Bluum Box Review - 7 mo - April 2014

This is technically my second Bluum box, because my one from March 12th is still floating around a New Jersey USPS sorting facility, which is apparently where packages go to die. After 45 minutes on hold with the Postal Service, I was assured that the zip code has been properly updated. Three weeks later? Still no box.

So what is Bluum all about? For $24.95 month (discounts if you pay ahead), this subscription service tailors a box to your child's developmental needs according to age and gender. I shouldn't have been surprised, therefore, that the 7 month old box was filled with stuff I need RIGHT NOW, centered around the introduction of solids. A box all about eating? Now that's one I can get behind!





The same afternoon I received the box, Bluum sent me an email detailing what was inside, the MSRP of each item and a sentence on why it was included. They encourage writing reviews by offering rewards points, and provide links within the email to do so.
 

Onto the goods!

Free Spirit Publishing - Happy Healthy Baby - EAT ($6.99)
My baby is clearly a genius. He can already read and follow directions.
I'm always game for a children's book, board or otherwise. This one has cute phrases about eating and black & white pictures of babies doing just that. I think he enjoyed it about as much as any other of his 10 gazillion books, but $7? Although Barnes & Noble would probably try to get away with list price, I think the value is closer to $3 when compared to what you can find at your local TJ Maxx or Ross. There weren't original illustrations, which make a huge difference in value to me. It was the perfect length for his attention span and I was happy to get it for free.
 

Playtex Baby - Training Time Cup - Blue & Green ($4.99)
The outer packaging stated 4 mo+, so I was confused that the inner instructions referred to a toddler cup with an internal straw. Maybe they got these cups on massive discount from Playtex. I'm not quite sure what to put in here yet. He still gets his liquids from Mommy!

Amara - Dry Food Pouch - Apple Maqui Berry ($2.50)
I'm making baby food with a Baby Bullet, so I know the only ingredients are the fruit/vegetable and water. These freeze dried fruit blends are a unique, storage friendly way to provide the same amount of clarity and simplicity. I love that this is a combination I won't make on my own. I haven't given him any combinations yet, so I need to wait a couple of weeks before trying these. They will be an awesome addition to his diaper bag for Grandma's house!

Tom's Of Maine - Toddler Training Toothpaste ($4.25)
I have a little rubber banana practice toothbrush, but hadn't even considered toothpaste. This is a great idea! With no fluoride and claiming to be completely safe for baby to swallow, Tom's toothpaste allows little one (well, you) to practice brushing those nipple chompers like a big kid. This is exactly why I like subscription boxes, to find new products that I wasn't even aware of. If we like this, we will definitely get more, and the box came with a dollar off coupon for any Tom's of Maine product.

Klorane - Dry Shampoo ($19.50)
Clearly these Bluum Mommies have done this whole kid thing a time or two. I haven't had a chance to wash my hair in 7 months, so I use dry shampoo daily. I've never tried this brand, but always wanted to. It's nettle based, which sounds just crazy enough to work. According to the online sub box community Bluum always throws in a little extra sumpin sumpin for mommy. What a PERFECT choice. I'm kidding about the washing hair part...Kind of...

I absolutely loved my "first" Bluum box, which makes me even more annoyed that the first one has never shown up. This was a really great kit that addressed several areas of consideration for solids introduction. The only thing missing were glycerine suppositories. :) The total value was approximately $38, but more importantly I am excited about every item and didn't have to track them down myself! Hopefully when my baby's 6 month box eventually gets here, he will find some of it useful with his own children. That's how much faith I have in the postal service.

If you're interested in trying out Bluum, you can get 50% off your first month here.



Seriously...