Martha Stewart Glossybox

A few weeks ago Glossybox advertised a Martha Stewart box that included a few products and a 6-month subscription to the Martha Stewart Living magazine. I'm not currently getting any magazines and I figured $15 wasn't bad for a 6 month sub and 3 full sized products! I also used ebates to get $2.75 cash back, so that's even better! Ebates is pretty cool - if you shop online, you can use ebates to get a percentage of your purchase price back! They have a ton of stores available for cash back opportunities! Anyway, I ordered the box back near the end of July and it shipped this month.

Opening the box (Disney mail not included)

I was a little bummed that a) my box was kind of dinged up and b) it wasn't a special edition of their signature super strong box (which I keep and use for everything!). It was a cute little drawer box, and to be fair, the slight damage didn't affect anything inside.

So, first off, the magazine subscription ($12) was a bit confusing. It was just an insert that you'd find in a magazine. I wasn't sure how I'd be able to fill it out and get the 6 months without being billed. But, I called Glossybox and they said it would be honored and I later saw on a Facebook box group that I'm part of that Martha Stewart Living also confirmed that they'd be honored, so I sent it off and hopefully I'll get my magazines!

Info card, MSL order card, and a coupon code for a Glossybox sub (I don't think I can apply it to my current sub)

My 3 beauty products were:

• a full box of Olay 4-in-1 Daily Facial Cloths ($6.99). I'm pretty happy with these - I do typically use a face wash cloth to get makeup off, but I usually use Neutrogena. I know I used to use these exact Olay cloths years ago and I don't think I changed because I hated them, so I can definitely use them again. The nice thing about them is that they're dry and you activate them with water, so they don't dry out like other moist face wash cloths. They're also easy to travel with since you can just take as many out as you need and pack them rather than having to pack the whole package or look for a travel size.

Olay 4-in-1 Daily Facial Cloths

• a full size Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer with SPF 15 ($9.99). I'm actually really happy to get this. I like Olay lotions - they're one of the few lotions that don't cause my sensitive skin to react - and I love that this has SPF in it. I had been using a different Olay lotion mixed with my BB cream daily, but it didn't have SPF. It seemed like every other one out there had either parabens or oxybenzone, so I'm thrilled this has neither. This is going into daily rotation NOW!

Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer with SPF 15

• a full size bottle of Pantene Pro-V Heat Shield Heat Potion Serum ($6.99). I think this will get the least amount of use since I don't really have as much time as I'd like to dry and straighten my hair, but when I do, I'll certainly try it out.

Pantene Pro-V Heat Potion Serum

 As a little bonus, we also got a clear makeup bag (~$3?). I have so many cute makeup bags from Ipsy that I really don't think I need this, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to keep it around just in case.

Bonus bag

Martha Stewart Glossybox

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this. The products weren't super high end or amazingly exciting, but they're definitely useful! And assuming all goes well, I'll be looking forward to getting my first magazine. This was a $38.97 value (the Glossybox site says it's a $50 value - not sure where they came up with that) that I paid $12.25 for. I'm happy!

These are still for sale if you'd like to get one (here)! It's a single box purchase (non-subscription), and I don't believe you have to be a Glossybox subscriber to get it. If you'd like to sign up for the regular Glossybox subscription, here's my link. If anyone signs up with my link, I get 200 Glossydots, which I'd be super thankful for!

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. The final link is a referral link, but I also included a non-referral link at the top.)

iNZURi I.N.N Box August 2013 Review

I'm a sucker for polish subscriptions. So, when I heard about the iNZURi I.N.N. box and saw a few pretty cool looking reviews, I decided to try it. For $24.50 a month ($19.50 plus shipping), they send you 3 quality polishes (they seem to focus on Essie, China Glaze and ORLY so far, though one box did have a Sally Hansen polish) plus nail care tools, a full size beauty product, and free samples. They have 3 collections each month for you to choose from. For August, I'm sadly mostly blanking on the other choices (they're no longer on the site), but I know one was a collection of 2 blue cremes and a blue glitter (I have the glitter already - it was actually the Sally Hansen I mentioned above, so a bit lower quality in my opinion, but pretty all the same) and I believe the other one I didn't choose had gold in it (I have quite a few golds). I decided on the Summer in St. Tropez collection since it was the most fun and I thought it had the best chance of giving me polishes I might not have.

My main complaint so far with them is that they still seem to be ironing out some kinks as they start their service. I ordered near the end of July and never got a shipping confirmation. I checked my account page online and it was listed as fulfilled, but there was no shipping number. Thankfully, they did respond to an email and sent me the shipping number. I'm not sure why I didn't initially get it. Hopefully next month will be better. 

Opening the box

A box within a box! And a cute one at that! I love that it's a reusable box! I can use this for sure.

Hot pink plastic box

My somewhat wrinkled info sheet - I kind of prefer cardstock (I keep them all!), but this is certainly good enough

So, my nail tools included a nail brush and a set of the disposable flip flops you get at nail salons. I'm not really sure why I needed a set of those flip flops if I'm just doing my nails at home. Seemed a little weird to me. The nail brush is something I don't have, though, so I'll take it! There were no values for these, so I guess I'll call it $4? $1 for the flip flops, $3 for the brush?

Disposable flip flops

Nail brush

My polish colors, which I knew ahead of time, were China Glaze Keeping it Teal ($7.50 retail, $4.48 Amazon), Essie Big Spender ($8 retail, $5.89 Amazon), and China Glaze Surfin for Boys ($7.50 retail, $5.01 Amazon).

China Glaze Keeping it Teal, Essie Big Spender, and China Glaze Surfin for Boys

Cute! Keeping it Teal is definitely unique to my collection - I thought at first, it might be similar to Julep's Lena, but Lena has a gold shimmer to it, while Keeping it Teal doesn't. When I swatched it, it's definitely different - it's pretty sheer and quite a different color from Lena. It needed a good 3 coats for my liking. It's really pretty though. Surfin For Boys arrived a bit separated and oddly hard to remix. I'm not sure if that means anything, but I thought I'd make a note of it. It's a hard color to describe. It's kind of a neon coral/hot pink/orange mix with some shimmer that looks kind of different in different angles. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the difficulty mixing, but it's prettier than I thought it would be looking at the bottle. Probably more of a toe polish for me than finger. It's pretty bold. Essie is the only one that's not terribly unique to my collection. Julep's Nellie is quite similar.

Finally, I didn't appear to get any beauty samples in my box, but instead got 2 full size beauty products! No complaints here! My first was Tilth Beauty Serum ($62!!), which is supposed to make your face look refreshed, radiant, and younger. We'll see. I do love that it's not just a foil packet. A full bottle will give you a much better idea if it works! The second product was OC8 Mattifying Gel (iNZURi says $41, but the OC8 website links to a place you can buy it for $27.96, down from $33.22 retail, so I don't know where they got their price. Still not bad though.). I don't really wear foundation or powders or anything that would require a primer coat or anything, but I think I can probably use this on it's own to make my face less shiny, which is a great thing down in TX! I'm pretty happy with both of these products. It will be interesting to see, going forward if they continue with this in terms of 2 full size instead of 1 plus a sample or 2 as advertised) and in terms of price point. I'm thinking this box might have been special since it's their first box ever and they want people to be wowed, but I also think it might be a tad dangerous to start off awesome and go downhill.

Tilth Beauty Serum

OC8 Mattifying Gel

August 2013 iNZURi box

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the contents of the box. I do seem to be having some trouble choosing next month's box. I thought I chose it (I got a confirmation page after choosing it), but it wasn't showing up on my account page, so I emailed them. The response was that I wasn't set up for a subscription, but a one time purchase (only available for August according to them). I followed their directions for signing up for the subscription, but it doesn't show up on my account page either - I got an email confirmation of it, but there's no link to my account on it. The only link is a link to supposedly edit/cancel your subscription, but it just links you to the page where you sign up, so it's very buggy right now. I emailed them again, and actually got a response in only 6 minutes (that's pretty awesome!), letting me know they were working out the bugs (they are new after all) to link the subscription to your account to let you properly choose. She did confirm my choice, which I made just after subscribing in hopes that they'd somehow be linked, so we'll see if I get it, haha. Assuming they iron out this problem and I get shipping confirmation next month, I think I'll like this subscription pretty well. The contents are great and have a high value and customer service is attentive. They just need to fix the bugs in the ordering system.

If you'd like to learn more about iNZURi, go to their website here.

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Ipsy August 2013 Review

Ipsy time again! For only $10 a month, you get 4-5 samples or full size makeup and beauty products plus a cute makeup bag every month! I love it because it's cheap and it gives me my favorite kind of things to try - makeup!! August's theme was Glamour Academy, I guess kind of a back to school theme.  It was a pretty cute makeup bag and slightly bigger than normal.

Opening the bag. Not pictured is the pink mailer this came in.

Info cards - one is an ad for some party thing they're offering and the bigger one lists all the featured brands this month and their discounts (codes are displayed in your "Glam Room" online)

The first item I pulled out was a deluxe sample of Michael Todd True Organics Pumpkin Nutrient Rich Facial Mask ($10). I'll admit I looked at the hints before the bags were shipped out and I so hoped I'd get this!! I usually hope for as much make up as possible in my bag, but I love pumpkin and this smells fantastic. I can't wait to use it.

Michael Todd True Organics Pumpkin mask

My next item was a mini version of Pixi Lash Booster Mascara (~$8.50). I'm calling it half size when valuing it. I'm not sure if that's accurate or not. Either way, I'm always up to try another new mascara. This one might end up finding a home in my purse if I like it since it's nice and small.

Pixi Lash Booster Mascara

Next up was a Mica Beauty Cosmetics Eyeshadow in Bronze ($14.95). I'm always happy to see eyeshadows! It's a nice bronzey color with quite a bit of shimmer, happily not too similar to any of the other bronzey colors I've been getting. I do still think it'll be used mostly in summer looks, but I'll play. This brand has lots of other colors, so I certainly wouldn't mind seeing them again in the future! I don't know that I'd buy one on my own though, with my recent discovery of very reasonably priced and gorgeous indie mineral makeup.

Mica Beauty Cosmetics eyeshadow in Bronze

Swatch of Mica Beauty Cosmetics eyeshadow

My next product was a full size Nailtini polish in Mai Tai ($13). This is, I believe, my 3rd Nailtini polish. I think second from Ipsy (but I might be mixing that up with another box). It's fine. A bit too orange for my liking, but the formula seems fine. I'm just not excited about it. Maybe if it had been a glitter or something unique, I would have been. I have a lot of polish though.

Nailtini polish in Mai Tai

My final product, and the only one I flat out wish I didn't get, was a tiny tube of Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in 69 (full size is $22, this is maybe half size? So, $11). Well, I seem to get a lipstick or gloss or stain or whatever every month from them. In spite of having it not checked as a product I use in my beauty quiz. I've emailed them twice (the first was a month where I got BOTH of the lip products that were supposed to be an either/or option for everyone's bag) and I got the same generic response of "well, we try to provide the best match we can". 12 products this month, only 1 lip color (and a chapstick, which I would have been more than happy with by the way!!) and they decided the best match for me was the lip color. I just find it hard to believe this was my best match.
Normally, I'd just take the loss - Ipsy's $10 a month, who cares if I hate one item in the bag? It won't always be full of winners. The thing that bums me out this time is that there was so much hype about this product - so many people really wanted it! And I got it. And won't use it. And honestly, I'm pretty hesitant to do any trading on Ipsy. I don't know these people - how can I be 100% sure they'll follow through and that the product they're sending me wasn't tried out. I see people on there all the time saying, "this didn't work out for me, who wants to trade?" Ew. I don't want their used products! Plus, I really don't want to pay more for shipping to trade. There's nothing this month that I want enough to actually pay to ship mine somewhere to trade rather than just buying what I want new. So anyway, I didn't even swatch this one. I know it won't work out. It's bright red. And according to the reviews on Ipsy, highly pigmented.

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in 69

August 2013 Ipsy bag

In spite of the lipstick, I'm still pretty happy with this bag. For $10, I got a yummy pumpkin mask, an eyeshadow, and mascara that I'll definitely use ($33.45 value). The total bag value was $57.45 (plus a couple dollars for the bag), which is pretty high! I do wish they'd stick to the beauty quiz a bit better, but they're not Wantable. I think I just have to give up hoping they'll ever stop sending me lipstick and just focus on the things I get that I like, since really, I do usually like more things than not. And for $10, I do get a lot of stuff I really like!

What did you get in your bag this month? If you want to subscribe, please use my link! Seriously, this is an awesome sub - if you haven't tried it and you like makeup/beauty stuff, you should!

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. The final link is a referral link, but I also included a non-referral link at the top.)

September Julep Selection Time!

Well, this is a bit late since tomorrow is the last day for selections, but better late than never!

It's time to choose a Julep box again (August 20-24)! Next month's theme is The Cityscape Collection:



I really like this collection mostly because they're the start of what I was looking forward to - darker fall colors! Several of them are microglitters, too, which I think are so so pretty! They made my decision this month quite hard. The beauty product of the month is a Bare Face Cleansing oil ($28 retail or $22.40 member) - an oil used to wash your face. They have a video showing its use, which makes it look pretty good in combination with the positive reviews they have scattered throughout the selection page (though I'm not sure they'd choose to highlight the negative ones on the selection page, honestly). My one criticism of the video is that it looks like there might be a bit of editing between the girl rubbing it on her face and when she comes up from rinsing with water - I just don't know that I believe one short water rinse would get all that mess off.

As I said last month, I'm not sure how much I can post from their site on here, in terms of pictures, so I think for now I'll describe the colors and products and provide links, with the picture above also as reference for the colors. There are swatches on different skin tones on the Julep site.

 As always, there are 5 boxes you can choose from (and the upgrade box, which includes all polish and both beauty products):

• Modern Beauty - this is the beauty product only box. No polish. You get the cleansing oil and their new Blank Canvas Mattifying Face Primer ($28 retail or $22.40 member).  
  I don't wear a lot of face makeup other than blush, so the primer isn't too enticing to me. Plus, I have to get polish in my polish sub box!!
• Boho Glam - Oil cleanser along with Tatiana, a dark orange microglitter, and Kristy, a dark blue creme.
  This is my usual profile, but as pretty as Kristy is, I think I may have a color that's pretty close already. I love Tatiana though, so I chose it as an add-on.
• Bombshell - Oil cleanser along with Karmen, a red and gold microglitter, and Daria, a dark gray creme.
  This was my choice this month. The red and gold polish is soo pretty and though I have a light gray, I don't have a dark gray, so I'm happy with both colors in this!
• Classic with a Twist - Oil cleanser along with Padma, a dark purple creme, and Florence, a nude creme.
  While Padma is pretty, I already have a dark purple creme from them and I'm not at all interested in the nude. Oddly though, when I looked up the links to these, the little droplet picture of Padma looks like it has shimmer in it. It doesn't really seem to show up at all in the nail swatches and it's called a creme, but I would've ordered it if I thought it had shimmer! Hm. I wonder what it actually looks like - I may be on the lookout for reviews on that one!
• It Girl - this is the polish only box. You get Catrina, a dark yellow creme, Candace, a brown and gold microglitter, and Josephine, a dark teal creme.
  This box tempted me because I love Candace and I like Josephine, but I'm just not into yellows. They don't work with my skin tone, so I didn't really want another one. Plus, I do actually want to try this month's beauty product, which you don't get in the It Girl box. I do think I'll be putting Josephine on my wish list, but since I only had 3 add-on spots, the microglitters took precedence - Candace from this box was my second add-on.

As usual, there were a selection of add-ons, including all the above items separately, a special natural Konjac cleansing sponge, some polish remover cloths, an emory board (boring!), and their Freedom Polymer top coat (sold out already), but the add-on that tempted me most was another polish not featured in any of the boxes, a lovely purple holographic shimmer:

So pretty! I had to add that on as well. So, with my 3 add-ons, my box this month is again, slightly pricier than normal (though cheaper than last month since last month's trio set plus 2 more single polishes was obviously more expensive than 3 single polishes), but like always, I'm excited to get my box! As usual, if you want to join Julep's subscription service, please use my link! If you use promo code, FREEBOX, you can get your first box free! You just pay shipping!

(And just a disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post in any way. All opinions are my own. The final link is a referral link, but I also included a non-referral link at the top.) 

Lip Factory August 2013 Review

Ok, I know what you're thinking. "Melissa, you beat us over the head every other review about how much you hate lipstick. Why the heck did you sign up for something called "LIP Factory"??" Well, I've been watching reviews and seeing an awful lot of non-lip stuff in this box, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it. So I did.

Lip Factory is a makeup subscription box. For $22 a month, you get 5-6 (I'm guessing based on this month) full size products. Obviously they're called Lip Factory, so you will get at least 1-2 lip products, but again, based on the reviews I've seen, it looks like they often have other stuff mixed in. It also appears that every few months they do an "All About Lips" box - I've heard the next one is November (I'll be canceling before then!).

Outer box

Inner box - I'm not sure if that's what it always looks like or if this a monthly theme.

Opening the box

Info card

 Ok, so in my box, I got:

•  Sweetpea & Fay Lip Joule ($7.99) - Mine is "Merry Widow". Wow. This is certainly a bold color. Kind of a hot magenta, I guess. It actually looks tamer in the tube than on. Well, I knew I'd get lip color here. Moving on.

Sweetpea & Fay Lip Joule in Merry Widow

•  Colour U Matte Lipstick ($15) - Mine is Matte Cinnamon. I was hopeful when I opened it that it might work for me if it was a sheerer lipstick. Definitely more usable than the Sweetpea & Fay, but still too dark for me. And a bit too orange.

Colour U Matte Lipstick in Matte Cinnamon

• NYX Wonder Pencil ($4.50) - Thankfully, I got this in light. There was a brief beauty quiz when I signed up where I included that information. This can be used as a concealer pencil, a lip liner, and a waterline liner. I think it's safe to say I won't be using it as a lipliner, but it looks great for the other 2 uses! I'm happy with this.

NYX Wonder Pencil

•  Red Cherry Natural Lashes ($2.50) - I got #47, which is classified as "moderate to full volume" and "moderate to full length". I love making my lashes look as long as possible, but don't often use false eyelashes unless it's a special event or something. These look like fun though! I like the length and it's nice that they're 100% human hair. Although I've worn false lashes in weddings several times, I think I've only bought false lashes in a store once (for Halloween - so probably not the best quality). I don't remember the price of those, but I was surprised that these were so cheap. 

Red Cherry Lashes

•  MeMeMe Cosmetics Shimmer Stack ($15.61) - I got gold. This is a combination item that can be used as highlighter, bronzer, or eyeshadow. The colors are really pretty, but I'll have to play with this. I don't typically like much shine on my cheeks, so this may end up being used solely for my eyes. 

MeMeMe Cosmetics Shimmer Stack

•  White Towel Makeup Remover ($4.99) - I thought this was an extra at first and was a bit surprised at the price when I looked it up. This is a single use cotton towel infused with makeup remover. I'm baffled by this. This is such a weird item. It looks like they're available for private branding I guess to give out at special events or something for advertising. It just seems kind of wasteful to me. It's a one time use cotton towel. I mean, can I wash it and use it as a regular (probably thin) towel or do I have to throw it out after I use it?

White Towel Makeup Remover

 And some swatches:

Swatches of NYX Wonder Pencil, Sweetpea & Fay Lip Joule, and Colour U Cosmetics Matte Lipstick

Sort of swatch of the MeMeMe Cosmetics Shimmer Stack (it just wasn't photographing on my hand at all)

August 2013 Lip Factory

Well, I'm kind of in the middle on this box. I really liked the Wonder Pencil and the lashes, liked the Shimmer Stack, and was neutral to dislike on the makeup remover and lip colors. I didn't expect to like the lip colors - it would have been a bonus if I did - so I can't really hold that against them (especially since they ARE called Lip Factory). And it was only 2 of the 6 products, so I think I definitely got a good mix here. And it did have a value of $50.59, which is great for a $22 box, even if I didn't like 2 things in it ($27.60 without those 2). Since I'm finding it hard to judge them based on one box and I was intrigued by items I saw in previous reviews, I'm going to give them another month to see what variety of items I get next month. No matter what, I'll be canceling before the All About Lips box (maybe I'll resub after, but I'm not sure), but next month will determine if I get October or not.

Did you get Lip Factory this month? How were your colors? If you'd like to sign up, go to their website! If you don't mind using it, my referral number is 385045 - apparently, you can enter it in a special referral spot in your beauty profile after you sign up.

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. I have included a referral number, but no referral links.)

PopSugar Must Have August 2013 Review

PopSugar Must Have box is a monthly subscription - for $35 a month, you get a selection of mostly (if not entirely) full-sized products that can range from health to beauty to home. After subscribing for what everyone thought would be the anniversary box last month, only to find out it wasn't, I decided to keep my subscription for one more month to get the actual anniversary box! I had already seen a hint for a pretty necklace that would be included this month, but I had no idea what else we'd get.

Opening the box

The first thing I pulled out was a little tubey kind of box that contained a deluxe sample of the Dermatologica Double Cleanse. This set included their travel sizes of Precleanse ($9.50) and Special Cleansing Gel ($10.00). The precleanse confuses me a bit, but hey, I'll try it! They seem like a high end brand, so this is definitely a treat!

Dermatologica Double Cleanse set

Following the cleaning theme, we also got a full size bottle of Lulah Body Wash ($11.25). Mine was Magnolia Fig. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get the Vanilla Orchid scent, but if I like the feel of the one I got, I may pick it up in Vanilla Orchid, too. Even better, they gave us a coupon code (POPSUGAR) for 20% off!

Lulah Body Wash (it's a very pretty bottle!)

For the "home" category, we got 3 things. The first one I pulled out was the Bentgo Stackable Lunch Box ($14.99). Mine is blue. This is cute, but I don't work outside the home - I'm a stay at home mom. I have nowhere to take this. I'll see if Chris wants to use it for work, but he usually just grabs a box of something to nuke at work and doesn't need a compartment box for that. I'm also not sure if Emily will be eating at school, since she's only going in for mornings a few times a week. So, not sure how useful this is for me. Cute, though.

Bentgo Stackable Lunch Box

The second home item was a little weekly-to-dos notebook from May Designs ($20). This is also cute, and I'll try using it to organize myself better, but I usually just use my iPhone or a whiteboard to keep track of lists and things. New habits can be hard to make. We'll see how it goes. It is adorable. I love chevron and I love this color. The website offers lots of different designs and monograms and page layouts, too. PopSugar also included a unique code for each member to enter at the website for a $5, 50, or 500 credit. Naturally, I got the $5.

May Designs notebook

My third, and final home item was a really adorable Lunares Apple Bowl. This isn't sold separately on their website - I think just in a serving set. I'm approximating this to be valued at about $25 based on the set. I'm not actually using this for food, but for jewelry! It's on my vanity holding my bracelets. It's pretty cute!

Lunares Apple Bowl

Labeled as a "special extra", we also got a bag of dried granny smith apples from NatureBox ($4). These were surprisingly yummy and satisfying! Maybe I need to be eating healthier snacks. And hey! If I want to do that, PopSugar provided a code (POPSUGAR) for 50% off our first box. I'm tempted, but I'm not sure. I'm trying to cut down a bit on boxes, not add right now.

NatureBox dried granny smith apples

And finally, the special anniversary gift! A lovely Gorjana Open Circle Necklace ($65). It's cute and I may break it out on a special occasion, but I have a set of necklaces that I rarely take off, so I probably won't be wearing this often. It's a bit smaller and shorter than I expected, but it's still very pretty. Technically, I probably would have preferred silver to gold, but I have lots of silver, so it's not so bad to add a pretty gold item to my collection.

Gorjana Open Circle Necklace

PopSugar Must Have August 2013

This was a very full box with lots of neat stuff. Most, if not all, of it, I'll use. And the overall value was $159.74 (not counting coupon codes and such)! That's pretty amazing! While I think this is a fun box to get, I can't really justify spending $35 a month for it - I just don't love it enough. I may gift myself a box a couple times a year going forward (and I'll be sure to review it if I do!), but this is it for my monthly subscription with PopSugar Must Have. Naturally, next month will be amazing because when I skipped June, it was amazing. Oh well.

If you're interested in signing up, use code REFER5 to get $5 off your first month (that's not a personal referral code, just a general discount)! Unfortunately, it looks like September is sold out, so the first month you'd get would be October, but there's a box you can check to be put on a wait list for September if it becomes available.

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Stork Stack August 2013 Review

Still playing catch up with my box reviews! Stork Stack actually arrived fairly early in the month and sadly, I didn't get to see Emily open it up because I was cleaning something up while she opened it with Chris. So no pictures of Emily in this one, sadly.

Stork Stack is a subscription for kids ages 0 -3 (Emily will be 3 in December). For $27.99, you get 4 age-appropriate items for your child and one item for mom or dad. It's nice that they add in an item for parents, but I have my own subscriptions, so I'd kind of rather they make it 5 things for kids. August's theme was "Splish Splash! Bed and Bath!".

Opening the box

Info card

I had seen a couple of reviews before I got the box for a 3 year old and, I believe, an 18 month old, and there was one product in particular that I knew would make it or break it for me with this month's box. I assumed she'd get the 3 year old toy, a set of foam bath shapes, which was kind of a bummer because she already has a set of letters. In the 18 month old's box, there was a Green Toys submarine which I thought Emily would absolutely love! It actually seemed really odd to me that those 2 toys weren't swapped for those ages. Anyway, that was the first thing I wanted to see - which one did we get?

Green Toys Submarine!

Yay! The submarine ($14.99)!! Emily loves it! It's a great bath toy. It even has a little spout in the front to pour out water. Definite win here.

Emily also got a cute Rich Frog piggy soap holder ($7.95). We haven't used bar soap on her for at least 6 months now, but we used to use Dove Sensitive exclusively, so maybe we'll mix it up a bit again so we can use this. It is pretty cute. I'm not sure how much Emily will like it, since she's usually more interested in her bath toys than what's washing her. We do use an animal bath mitt with a little lather thingy (the poufy thing - what the heck are those called?), but she rarely notices it.

Rich Frog Pig Soap Sack

Keeping with the bath trend, Emily also got a full size Bionee Pure Hair & Body Cleansing Foam ($11.50). This actually reminds me a lot of what I used to use on Emily's hair - Mustela Foam Shampoo for Newborns (ok, we used it way beyond the newborn phase - probably till about 6 months ago, when we discovered Honest Shampoo & Body Wash). I'll certainly give it a try. While I'm not sure if Emily will notice the piggy soap holder, I know for sure she won't notice this one. But Stork Stack doesn't only give you things your kid will get excited about. They give you new useful products to try.

Bionee Pure Hair & Body Cleansing Foam

The last product for Emily, fitting the bedtime part of the theme, was the book Goodnight, Me by Andrew Daddo ($6.29). I love getting new books because Emily will sit and listen to books for ages. I love that she loves reading and I'm happy to encourage it with new books.

Goodnight, Me by Andrew Daddo

The "mom" item in the box was actually labeled as a mom and baby product, a Chivas Nourishing Bath Soak ($4.00). I don't know that I've ever taken a bath with Emily (occasional showers now to save time), so I don't think I'll be reenacting the scene on the accompanying informational card, but it looks like a nice product. I'm torn between putting into Emily's bath or saving it on the off chance I ever want to relax and take a bath.

Chivas Nourishing Bath Soak

Or, I suppose I could follow these instructions for a scrub or foot soak!

August 2013 Stork Stack

I was pretty happy with this box. Emily liked the book and the boat and I was happy to have a few new products to try, even if I'm not sure how often they'll get used. The overall value of the box was about $44.73, so that's a pretty good value considering I paid $27.99!

As much as I liked this box, Emily will be 3 in December, and this box only goes to age 3. Emily also starts preschool next month, so I'm cutting back a little on boxes to save a bit of money. Since this one will be too young for her pretty soon, I decided this would be one that's cut and Emily will keep getting Citrus Lane for now. I'm still thinking of maybe getting a gift subscription (won't automatically resubscribe after it ends) for 3 more months to last her till almost her birthday, but we'll see.

If you'd like to sign up, please use my referral code: C641FAA7 at the Stork Stack website. We'll both earn $10 Stork bills, which can be applied to the next month's box! On our end, that $10 would really help out and let Emily get these last few months' boxes before she turns 3! If you already get Stork Stack, what did you get?

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. I included a referral code, but no referral link.)