Citrus Lane September 2013 Review

Sorry for disappearing for a while there. We actually just got back from a family vacation to Disney World. My parents live very close in the area (we all LOVE Disney World), so we go a few times a year. It was a great trip and I think Emily got so much out of it this time! She's always seemed to have fun, and she started recognizing the characters on her 2nd birthday trip, but this time, she just had a ball. We must've ridden the carousel 25 times and Dumbo like 15. She sang along with It's a Small World, much to my husband's chagrin - he loves Disney as much as we do, but not that ride! And she got to meet her hero, Mater! It was so much fun watching her just have complete joy on certain rides and meeting certain characters! I may do a little post or 2 on our trip. We'll see. Anyway, back to the reviews.

So, just before our trip, Citrus Lane arrived. I had seen a few spoilers and was expecting most of what she got, but there was one major difference and disappointment. 

Emily opening her box

First peek

So, I had been expecting a little set of 2 mini Hape racing cars, but instead, I guess because I set the subscription to girl, Emily got that little doll on top in the picture above. It's a North American Bear Company Dorothy Doll ($12.00). It's cute but it's fairly cheap feeling and my daughter just isn't into dolls. She loves stuffed animals, but she looked at this doll, smiled, and then tossed it aside. She hasn't played with it once since. I know she would have loved the cars. She has a huge collection of Disney Cars and plays with them ALL THE TIME (I did say above that Mater's her hero!), so any new cars of any sort are pretty much a guaranteed hit. Oh well. (Santa may just bring a couple of them anyway for Christmas. Or one of the bigger ones.).

North American Bear Company Dorothy doll

Next up was Alexander Girard Color by Alexander Girard ($12.20). Emily loves books, so she was pretty happy to see this. I like the pictures in it, but the words bother me a bit. There are just so many semi-colons. Maybe that's how all picture books are and I just never noticed the weird punctuation? Anyway, I know there was a little bit of a stink about one of the pictures depicting a very artsy illustration of a mom and baby where the mom had bare boobs (basically just circles with dots), but Emily didn't really notice or care and I don't really care. The book is ok, but not one of our favorites. I think Emily likes a bit more of a story.

Alexander Girard Color

That was pretty much it for fun items for Emily - the rest were taken out and not payed much attention to. She got a bar of Happy Tot Super Toddler Bars in Honey Grain Sunbutter (~$0.84 based on the price of a box). She tried it and said it was ok, but didn't want more than a bite, so I ended up finishing it. It wasn't bad. Very sweet. Emily's just pretty picky about snacks, so I kind of wish we didn't get food in her boxes.

Happy Tot Super Toddler Bar and coupons

The last kid product was a sample size (3.4 oz vs the full 8 oz) of Episencial Peaceful Bubbles bubble bath and shampoo (~$3.83). I wasn't impressed with any of the other Episencial products we've received, but I'm hopeful for this one. We mainly use California Baby bubble baths, but we'll try this one out. We haven't yet, so I'm not sure if this one will be mostly air like the sunscreen was. Hopefully not.

Episencial Peaceful Bubbles

Finally, the mom gift was a bottle of Julep polish along with a coupon. Amazingly enough, I didn't already have the color I got - Gabrielle. I do have quite a few purples, but this was different enough - a darkish smoky purple. When I first saw the coupon, FIRST20 (I'm sure that's a generic code, so feel free to use it, too, if you want, up to the end of the month), I thought for sure it would be a new customer only code, so I was pretty bummed, but it turns out it's not! I haven't used it yet, but I probably will before the end of the month. Sadly, I didn't even think to try it for my mystery box (and yes, I know I said I was done with mystery boxes, but they're just so darn tempting! I'll have another couple reviews for Julep coming up, including last month's mystery box).

Julep polish in Gabrielle and a coupon for 20% off

Swatch of Gabrielle. I just realized I forgot to swatch this one on a nail, I'm sorry.

September 2013 Citrus Lane

I'm not really sure how I feel about this box. The doll was a huge disappointment. The book is fine and I'm sure the bubble bath is fine. The polish is nice, but easily could have been a dupe if they'd chosen almost any other color (I think the other variation I saw was Coco, one I do have). It's just that nothing wowed me or Emily in this box. But last month was great and Emily does get excited to see something for her in the mail, so we'll keep it. Hopefully next month will be better.

What did your kids get in their boxes? If you’d like to sign up, here’s my personal invite link – if you sign up using that link, it will give you $10 off your order as well as giving me a $10 credit (and I’d be oh, so grateful!!)!

(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 referral links.)