Daily, Photos, Reviews

Comparision TopBox, Luxe Box, GlossyBox, Glymm Box, and more!

33 Comments

I’ve planned to make a comparison box blog post for the past number of months. It got delayed as last month Glossy Box launched and I wanted to wait til the second month to review them all to get a fair review of them all. But wait. There is another box subscription. That makes 5 available for Canadians. When will it stop? Now we have Beauty Box 5 which recently launched. I’ve yet to try it out. 5 is just overwhelming and getting a little out of hand. Plus the brands they’re working with aren’t as appealing to me.

First things first. Most of the boxes (if not all) make you fill out a questionnaire at the beginning describing your hair color, skin color, preferences on receiving hair over skin products etc. So of course, not everyone gets the same products per month. Which is the fun part, seeing what everyone got different than you. Can’t wrap your head around why people pay for these deluxe samples? Why won’t we just walk into Sephora and grab a few samples to try out for free?

Almost every box that I’ve subscribed to has at least one full sized product that more than pays for the box itself. Samples at Sephora can be contaminated from everyone dipping their finger in and trying out the sample before you arrived there. How old is the sample? When was the last time they brought out a new bottle? Plus, it’s like Christmas to me, every month — not knowing what’s inside and opening it and being either pleasantly surprised, feeling “eh” about it, or not liking it at all. It’s all trial and error. Which is why I’m writing this (super long) post about it. I’m debating unsubscribing from more than one box. Because at the moment I’m subscribed to all four available which seems to be getting out of hand.

A lot of the boxes are inconsistent with mailing out their boxes. TopBox seems to have it altogether with delivery times, but the other three you can get anywhere within that month. They don’t have a set date as to when they mail out their boxes. It can be a little annoying to wait on it.

Top Box — $10 a month ($11.30 in total, with free shipping). The first month they launched they had everyone lured in with the Deborah Lippman nail polishes. I of course purchased my subscription box as soon as I saw an unveiling video on YouTube. As did everyone else and their dog, since Top Box is now sold out until June 2012. My first box was the December issue and I wasn’t all that impressed. The thing that makes Top Box a bit unique in its own way is that it doesn’t come packaged in a mini-shoe box like the other three Canadian subscription boxes. It comes in a cylindrical tube. Topbox ships on the 10th day of the month so it’s almost always the first one to arrive to my door step. In January, my second topbox was great. There were 4 very large samples and products that I was happy to see: Shu Umera (a very high end product) shampoo, a principessa dry shampoo that I still use and a few others.

Topbox featured me as a blogger on their Facebook and blog back in January. That was pretty neat!

This is what arrived in my March Top Box.

View my March Top Box unveiling on YouTube.

Sign up here for a Top Box.

_____________________________________

Loose Button Luxe Box — $12 a month ($13.56 in total, with free shipping). Luxe Box was the first subscription box available to Canadians. It launched in February 2011, a few months after the American subscription box called Birch Box that everyone in Canada was lusting after. It started out being just $10 a month and in the spring/summer 2011 they ended up raising the prices to $12 a month. Luxe Box has gone through a few changes with their look,  making it look sleek, and improving the overall quality of the box.

Luxe box claims that they customize their boxes but I honestly feel that when I watch other peoples videos I get jipped and get 3-4 samples where sometimes ppl get 5, 6 or even 7…which I don’t get. In December for instance people got a set of velour lashes which are amazing mink lashes (they’re cruelty free as they are brushed off the mink). I also saw something else that I was envious of in December, but I forget what. I don’t know why but nothing really ever “stood out” to me with Loose Button.

Loose Button has incorporated a “First In Line” campaign where at the beginning of the month before your box gets mailed out to you, you get to pick between a few different products and you’re guaranteed that product be in your upcoming box. It would’ve worked well if they had enough IT support because the site kept crashing and it took me a good hour to log in to actually see what I could’ve gotten. None of the products stuck out that much to me, either.

This is what arrived in my March Loose Button Luxe Box.

You can view my unveiling of my March Luxe Box on my YouTube channel. I love filming these as you can view my first reaction to opening these boxes right on film. I’m an honest one!

Sign up here for a Luxe Box.

_____________________________________

GlossyBox — $15 a month (flat rate + free shipping). The most expensive out of the entire four. You do get 200 glossy dot points when you refer a friend, and when you reach 1000 you can redeem those for a free GlossyBox! You are also guaranteed 5 deluxe samples with sometimes a sixth thrown in. I’m not sure why they decided to amp their price up to $15.00 because aren’t all sample boxes generally the same? I don’t know why this one has to be $5 more than the rest.

This is what arrived in my March GlossyBox.

View my March Glossy Box unveiling on YouTube.
Sign up here for a GlossyBox.

 _____________________________________

Glymm — $10 a month ($11.30 in total, with free shipping). I have to save the best for last. Glymm is always a safe bet to go for. I always get asked on YouTube, Twitter, or even over e-mail what my favorite subscription box is. It is most definitely the Glymm. I have only been disappointed with one box since they first launched and I’m pleased that they haven’t raised the prices of their boxes like their competitors have.

I always enjoy their Jelly Belly candies they include each month with their boxes. Always something I look forward to. I love candy. Anyone who knows me, knows I have a major sweet tooth, so it was great when Glymm was giving out candy. They had candy for a good 6 months or so until randomly one month they stopped including the goodies for us. Apparently it broke in the mail. I want candy.

Glymm has a shop where if you refer a friend, or even buy a box for yourself you accumulate points to put towards their shop, when you receive your box in the mail a week or two later you fill out a questionnaire giving your feedback on the box. You get 10 points for each item you review. I’ve collected all of these points since the beginning and now I’m wondering what to spend my points on. They now carry St. Tropez products, and I’m torn between that or T3 products which I wrote about here. Glymm also keeps us in the loop with new products being brought into the store with fancy product photos

(see?) and making us lust over the latest trends. Sometimes they offer free shipping too. Not often enough mind you!

This is what arrived in my March Glymm box.

View my March Glymm box unveiling on YouTube.
Sign up here for a Glymm Box.

_____________________________________

I have already unsubscribed from one box. Being Loose Button, because I found that I didn’t get anything all that awesome in any of my boxes for the past couple of months. I missed out on the velour lashes, and also a really nice perfume package with a handful of perfumes. I had to draw the line somewhere on subscribing to all of these boxes. Four is just way too many. I’m also thinking of ending my other subscriptions because the excitement has worn off and I’d like to save money, because adding up the cost of three boxes per month is a bit much for someone on a budget. I also have an abundance of samples I need to use up which are just sitting around in a bag!

Ideally, what I’d like to see in a brand new launch of a subscription box for Canadians? Let us pick out our samples, each and every month. Sure, I loved the surprises, but now I want to be able to pick out my samples, especially if I’m paying for it each month.

Looking for a subscription box for yourself?

UK based:

Middle East

USA

Canada

This was not a sponsored review.

Continue Reading

Daily, Photos, Vacation

It’s not a road trip until I get lost.

6 Comments

I was not spending my Easter Weekend alone by myself. So I took it upon myself to drive to my Aunt & Uncle’s place who I haven’t seen in years. If you’re wondering where my Boyfriend was at the time, he took a bike training trip down to California for 12 days and only got back last night (and I had to fetch him from the airport once again — I didn’t get lost though!).

On Friday morning I  got my backpack ready, and all of Alfie’s things, and we drove in my car with the ten pages of google maps printed ever so clearly in color, and highlighted certain landmarks when I passed by them.

Beautiful country roads. Didn’t smell like poop either.

I didn’t feel nervous at all driving all by myself, especially not knowing where I was going. I didn’t have a GPS, but those ten pages to get me to my Aunt & Uncles place were helping. The drive took about 2 hours or so and I made it into their city perfectly fine. With one minor error.

I diverted my cousins directions at the very end and ended up going too far North and then looping back down, which was probably 20 minutes or so.

I made it to their city completely fine. Looking for the side street off one of the main roads. I passed right by it and ended up coming to a fork in the road. One road said another city, the right side didn’t say much. So I took it, lol.

My cousin mentioned that I’d be passing by an OPP (Ontario police) station, and sure enough I did. I thought it was pretty large for a station though, my cousin must’ve meant an OPP school or something. Silly her, not knowing what she’s talking about living up there for 20+ years. I was entering a small narrow street with a brown house on the side of the road. Sort of like, if you were entering in a National Park and had to pay a fee. You know those little window-houses things? Right? Nobody was there, so I kept on driving!

I was driving for an awfully long time, and looked at page 10 of my maps and couldn’t recognize any street names at this point. Eventually I made out the name on the water tower that was kilometers away, and noticed it said a different name than I was supposed to be in. Great.

I pull over, and call my cousin immediately. Long story short she tells me I’m past the city and to turn right around. But the thing is, I didn’t realize I was on a one way street and I couldn’t find one of the main roads to get back!

Sweet mother of pearl!! I was on a Military Defense Base and I was literally in the base itself. Apparently the general public, such as myself aren’t allowed in this Military Base, and that brown “house” I passed by was closed for the Easter Holidays, otherwise they would’ve pulled me over immediately and told me to turn around and all of this would’ve been solved so much easier. Damnit, I knew that “city” I was in seemed small. But there was even a Tim Hortons and everything in that city Military Base. Ugh. How confusing.

Clearly I found the way back to the main road but I was still doubting myself. I saw a Police SUV parked on the side of the road. I debated stopping at all or pulling in behind them. But then I was like “omg I better stop and ask.”

I swerved right in front of them (they were parked, remember. Not to worry!) and put my blinker on like I was turning right. But then I was like “Nah, I’m stopped. I should put on my four ways.” (I really hope they didn’t see me talking to myself). So I did just that.

It was 2ºC outside, so I decided to sprint the 300 meters to the police SUV. I slowed my sprint down into a light jog as soon as I realized there were two policemen in the SUV. I noticed the Policeman in the passenger seat smiling and looking at the driver then at me. Most likely laughing at me running towards them with my last page of the google maps. Alright. First impression gone wrong. Our little convo went exactly like this:

Me: So!  … … …(long pause)… I’m lost. *I then nod at them* (Notice I didn’t greet him, Oh hello dear Officer). Aw yeah, I’m calm-cool-and-collected.
Policeman(Military Police): Alright! So where are you headed?
Me: (Street names which I’m not going to type out to the public on my blog lol) with my arms flailing about how lost I was in the base for a good half hour and couldn’t find this main road which we were now parked on.
Military Policeman: He proceeds to give me directions…
Me:  *Thoughts running through my head* I start blushing because I realized they’re hunky and I stop making eye contact because I notice the Policeman’s huge ass arm tattoo and I’m sure they’re laughing on the inside at me racing to their car. OMG I have to make sure my hair isn’t getting wind-blown too much, I mean hello they’re cute. Gotta make a good first impression. They are cops afterall. Damn this city is just like Newfoundland. What’s with all the wind. Why is he talking so much? Just give me simple directions. It’s two degrees out here. Can I hop in the back seat and get them to escort me to my cousins? OMG they’d freak out. That would be SOO funny. I promise I’m paying attention to the policemen, the directions were just so long but so straight forward. I bet he was keeping me around to look at me ;)
Me: Sweet thanks guys! (Don’t you mean Officer, Nancy? What was I thinking lol)
Policemen: Alright, so make sure you see our Military Helicopter on your right when you’re driving out of the base (!!!!) parked on the lawn, and you’re on the right track.
Me: Thanks bye!!!

Then I walk slowly back to my car. No point in running again, even though it was bitter cold and windy. Still. So, of course I made it to my cousins place in one piece. The weekend was full of relaxing, meeting my 1st cousins daughters for the FIRST time.

I haven’t seen my relatives since 1996!

I know right. 16 years! I think it’s because I was always afraid to drive anywhere for fear of getting lost. Well, I’m used to getting lost so it’s not a huge issue. Just flag down a cop and ask him for directions. Easy enough right? If only it was that easy when I got lost in Mississauga at 6am.

I stayed with my Aunt & Uncle for the most part, and then during the day I went to my Cousin and her Boyfriend’s farm where my cousins two daughters also live (duh).

Holy massive farm! They have (I think I have this right): 100 acres.

Horses! A male and a female. The female (I forget her name) tilted her head for some treats!

This male Horse below, called BlackJack and it was moody/shy/afraid of me.

There are tons of cows (19?). All of them… pregnant. By the one bull. Ha ha Oh my. Here I was hiding the Easter eggs on the farm, on Sunday for my cousins girls.

I think my favorite cow was the calf inside, the Jersey Cow. I loved its brown coloring with peach colored ears. Too bad it was afraid of me. I’m sensing a trend here.

My favorite has to be Jenny the Donkey. As soon as I saw this donkey I started laughing at it. I can’t believe my cousin owns a freaking DONKEY you guys. Bahhahaa! I laughed at the human name it was given, and asked why didn’t she just name it Sarah? My cousin said Jenny is the name for a female donkey, like Jack is a male Donkey. Now I know where the term Jack Ass comes from! Sheesh. Makes so much sense now.

Here is S (my cousins daughter) lifting up the lips of Jenny The Donkey and showing me her chompers. Looks like Jenny needs a teeth cleaning! The girls were trying to make her Hee-Haw for me all weekend. Sure enough, Jenny hee-hawed just minutes before I left the barn to drive back home on Sunday.

Baby bunnies were held. Either I can hypnotize them (seriously you can do that) or I was choking the bunny by holding it too tight. Either way it stayed still for photos, and it was still alive when I put it back in its cage. I have a thing of dropping my cousins animals. When I visited her back in 1996, she (didn’t have a farm) had a pet bunny and I dropped it on the stairs. I made sure to hold this little fella for dear life. Oh memories.Here’s its brother. This one was a wiggler. Uh oh.

OH MY GOD. The GOATS! I held a baby goat and the Momma was totally cool with it. Look at us!!! I’m laughing hysterically here. City girl, holding a freaking baby goat and it’s just baa-ing so quietly, and not fighting to get out of my arms. Holy mother.

Hey cool Momma goat!

I even got a chance to walk the Miniature Horse, named Timbit. This little fella was super cute and I even ran with it by my side.

My cousin asked if I wanted a ride ON the mini horse. I can’t say no to that! I squealed a few times in fear which in turn scared Timbit and made him jump a few times.

AAAHHH HAHAHAHA. I’m riding a mini horse.My legs are grazing the ground. hahahaha. You’re a good sport Timbit.

Of course, you can’t forget the barn cats at the barn. There’s three of them. I’m not the hugest fan of cats, but one cat in particular stood out to me. I didn’t snap a photo of her, but I got a photo of her on a mug. Blacky, the one-eyed cat. Omg so strange.

My cousin recently got a Great Pyrenees (basically a White Newfoundland dog) to watch over the house when it gets older. Alfie was most definitely the Alpha Male of the entire weekend. This was as close as we could get the two dogs together. Shawney the puppy on the right was terrified of my Pom.

Here’s Shawney “cuddling” in my lap. Monster sized puppy.

We took Shawney for a walk down the road to my cousins neighbors place (which I’m not a fan of since I was told I was clueless. Ahem. Another story for another day) but here’s my cousin lifting up the pup since she couldn’t make it the entire way. Don’t I look like my cousin? Kinda? Yeah? Our Mother’s are sisters. :) Her daughters think we look-alike. Here they are below:

Before I left to pack up my things at the end of the weekend at my Aunt & Uncles, I needed one more photo. Of my cousins two sweet little girls with no other than… THE DONKEY hahahaha (I’m sorry. I just can’t stop laughing).

I had such a great time over the weekend. Swapping stories like “remember when your brother made me lift up a rock and I got covered in ants?” or “Remember when you made me do this?” with my cousin and tons of laughing at our childhood antics. I was always a beggar, asking my older cousin if I could have her toys, clothes or anything else I liked.

I’m definitely not waiting another 16 years for another visit. I do have a good excuse though. I didn’t move to Ontario until 2006, and then I didn’t own a car til late 2009. Plus, driving in Newfoundland is so much easier since we only have one highway to follow. Getting into all this multiple highway business could get a city girl confused!

Not anymore! B’ys I’ll be up again before you know it! :) Miss you all, already.

I even left with a few souvenirs from my trip. One being this key chain I purchased at the market. A grain of rice with my name on it! He was giving out free samples, I cherished mine. Til I dropped it on the ground seconds later. Then I decided to purchase one for myself.

Continue Reading

Photos

Easter Weekend

1 Comment

City girl (me) got a good taste of the country this Easter Weekend!

It’s not a road trip (solo) if I don’t get lost. That’s exactly what happened this Easter Weekend. It wasn’t bad, until I was in the city itself, then completely left it. lol. Drove right out of town and was like “Hmm, this isn’t (the city I’m supposed to be in) anymore!” You’ll get the deets later on.

I know I blogged a huge enormous amount over the weekend but they were scheduled posts.

I want to take a day or two off from blogging just to get my mind straight and to sort through all of the photos I took over the weekend.

I drove up North to my relatives place. My first cousin now lives on a farm, filled with all sorts of animals. This blog post is just going to be short and sweet and I’ll tell you all about the wonderful time I had up there, later on in the week. I’m thinking Tuesday ;)

Until then. Here is a hilarious photo of Jenny the Donkey.And a Jersey cow (who was super shy/afraid of me lol)Alright so check back in a few days and I’ll have some funny stories to tell you.

Continue Reading