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.

Kinfolk magazine ($18)

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.

Message in a Bottle USB Drive ($28)

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. 

Peel & Stick Chalkboard ($10)

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.

Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo 2.5 oz ($21)

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.

Amano Studio 24 karat Lightning Bolt Studs ($22)

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.

POPSUGAR Must Have Box Review - April 2014

My POPSugar Must Have box must ship later than a lot of other subscribers', because I saw a spoiler for this one about a week before mine arrived. I HATE spoilers, especially since I look forward to POPSugar so much. So if you don't want to know, quit reading now.

This month's box theme was Spring cleaning; CLEARLY they aren't playing to their audience! Luckily, it was a loosely fitting theme so I could still enjoy most of the contents.

Too Faced Natural Eyes ($36)

This was the spoiled item. Grrr. I'm the girl that plugs her ears during movie previews so surprises aren't ruined. This was my favorite thing in the box, so I was still thrilled to get this. I am already a fan of Too Faced bronzers, and I have picked up and put back this same kit on at least a dozen occasions. From the looks of it, they've slightly revamped the color selection, which contains a mix of matte and shimmery nudes with double-entendre names. I feel like if you boiled down the essential colors from the three Urban Decay's "The Nudes" Collections, you would end up with this palette. It's a perfect set and comes with an illustrated instruction booklet for the eyeshadow challenged.

BlueAvocado (Eco) Shopper ($25)

I've recently started using reusable shopping totes because they make grocery carrying so much easier and prevent contents from sliding all over my car when I inevitable brake too hard. This one is much cuter than the free ones I've randomly collected (apparently totes are "the thing" to give pregnant women as giveaways). It feels a little flimsy, but I love that the entire thing folds up on itself and can be zipped up small. Will I use that feature? Probably not, but I still feel cooler knowing it's there.

Caldrea Rosewater Driftwood Hand Soap ($10.50)

This is the closest to cleaning supplies I want to see in a surprise boxes, and I'm happy with it. It says "rosewater driftwood" on it, but if that's supposed to be a fancy scent description I'm not picking it up. I have the blessing of a weak sense of smell, so I'm not the one to judge. It's soap, and looks nice next to the sink.

Graphiv Image Pocket Notes ($20)

Wouldn't it be fantastic if we still COULD run the world using paper and pencil? Not really. I think someone needs to call POPSugar and let them know most of the United States now uses their phone for, well, everything. If I WERE to use a notebook, it would be this one. It's a beautiful blue leather bound pocket notebook with silver edging. I'm trying to convince myself I need to carry this alongside my phone everywhere I go, but I'm losing the argument. Either way, it's really nice for a dinosaur - I mean paper.

 

NatureBox POPSugar Must Have Mix ($5)

Stuff like this POPSugar custom Trail Mix really only tastes fantastic when I'm so carefully watching what I'm eating that I start counting craisins as dessert. Since I had ice cream for lunch it's pretty obvious I'm not at that point. It's decent for dried soybeans. This mix was made to convince POPSugar subscribers to jump on the Nature Box bandwagon. I had been considering it before, but I think I will wait until I'm much healthier and really hard up for flavorful healthy snacks. in the meantime I'm open to suggestions for a good dessert box.

Fresh Pastry Stand Totally Awesome Tea Towel Set ($18)

I wasn't sure what these were at first. I dig the font, but they aren't a great fit for my kitchen decor so they will be lovingly placed in a new home soon. They're pretty dang big and I'm sure they adequately dry dishes and mop up spills.

 

Overall, I'm not sure that I "must have" most of what I received this month. At $114.50 the value was good, and as always the quality was great for every item. Because I can swap the stuff I won't use with other box subscribers, I still consider it a win. The Too Faced cosmetics were, by far, the most Totally Awesome item for me.

 

If you want to sign up for POPSugar, you can do so here.