CocoFeed: San Francisco Bay Coffee container
In love with the container that came with my @sanfranciscobaycoffee ☕️☕️☕️ already love the new @sfbcoffee
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In love with the container that came with my @sanfranciscobaycoffee ☕️☕️☕️ already love the new @sfbcoffee
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Decided to try LootCrate since the spoiler was Pokemon… A pikachu hat.. It’s cute but too young for me. Not a fan of this
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Can we talk about how UGLY the Fedora is in Fall 2015? Also the Body Serum was just in PopSugar MustHave awhile back. I like the watch and the notebooks… Meh this time
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I was intrigued to see how OuiPlease would handle this box considering the backlash from the undervalued boxes in the 1.3 Provence box (you can see my review here) and slightly feeling like I may have been bamboozled. OuiPlease tackled this issue with the following packing slip to indicate that they did indeed meet the “over $400 worth” promise:
Here’s the list of items with the actual brand and product names:
Total – $430
Looks pretty good, right? Well, some of these items seem VERY overvalued. Let’s break them down one by one and see where we’re at.
First up, the item that made me seethe the most:
When I first saw the item labelled “Coasters” I thought that $20 would be a bargain.. until I realized that the 4 pieces of thin paper (my boyfriend commented, “it’s an insult to call that cardboard”) are actually the ‘coasters’. See below:
These are actually pretty cute… as far as the drawing go, but $20 for 4 little pieces of paper? What? ALSO, they are printed with “oui please” all over them. So, ultimately, I am paying OuiPlease so that I can advertise for OuiPlease. I would totally understand these as a cute little bonus item, but they value these at $20! I could buy SO MUCH MORE for $20. I could buy REAL coasters.. not PAPER coasters.. In fact, I have done that before already. WHAT THE HECK, OUIPLEASE, WHY?! I’d also like to note that this company is based out of Dallas… interpret that however you’d like.
Since this is a custom piece, they can name their price.
Another one of my let down items was the following bracelet, valued at $50. It actually LOOKS quite cute, but the materials used felt very cheap. I did a little research, and it seems to be brass and cotton yarn. Again, for $50, I could get a way higher quality piece pretty much anywhere.
(Click to Enlarge)
And to make matters worse, OuiPlease has again OVERVALUED items. They list this as $50 in my packing slip, and on the website it is only 25 euros, which is roughly $28. Not to mention Objets Obscurs has a 50% off coupon right now. Now that price makes way more sense to me.
I am excited to try this brand, and was happy to see the product price isn’t too far off from OuiPlease’s apparent guess. Graine De Pastel’s website shows this item as 33 euros, which is about $38. The product smells really good and I like the texture. I can already tell I will like this one.
And then OuiPlease again proved that they have no idea how to convert euros to dollars, because this is only 12.50 euros, which is is just under $14.. and less than HALF what OuiPlease valued it at. I can’t even anymore. Despite this, it looks like a good product, so I am overall happy with it being added to the box. I am going to leave it at my desk at work and try to use it daily since I have a tendency to get lotion and then never use it.
The highest valued item in the box, is actually 53.20 euros, which is just under $60. Still a pretty high value item, so I am pleased to get a chance to try it. It feels very thick, which I like in a lotion. It smells nice, as well.
This item is 19 euros according to their website, which is about $21. I have never used a rose mist but I love face mists and I can’t wait to see how it feels. The bottle says that it can help take off make-up so it looks like it is more of an end-of-the-day spray. I use a face spray every morning already, so it will be nice adding something for nighttime.
I couldn’t find anything about this shirt or brand online, but my beef with it isn’t really the price (even though … hello, that’s $40 for a t-shirt!!!) but rather the fact that it has a STAIN. Check it out below:
I’m not sure what happened here, but it’s definitely not beautiful to have a yellow highlighter mark on your shirt, but I understand.. it happens. Even without the mark, this shirt is slightly too small for me to work.
UPDATE: I emailed OuiPlease and they said they will send me another item to make up for it. I actually am impressed by this!
I LOVE this towel, honestly this is my favorite item, and they didn’t lie on the price at all! Yay! At 39 euros regularly, this piece is about $43.. which is right on target with OuiPlease’s price! The website had the item on sale, but I honestly do not care because it’s so cute!
I love getting beach towels in a box, so this definitely helped to soften the blow of the other item’s lackluster. It’s a colorful design, and I am happy to have it.
I couldn’t find this item on their website, but considering their creams range from 8-17 euros, I have a hard time believing this jar of flowers is actually $20. I’m not sure what I would actually use it for but the bottle says that it was traditionally placed in cabinets to repel moths. Another item I will leave at my desk at work so that it actually gets some use.
I couldn’t find the exact one I had, but the Ecru colored is listed as 22 euros, which is less than $25. Again, inflation on OuiPlease’s price. I think the quality of the bag is not that great either and the design isn’t anything special to me. Reveuse means dreamer, but I don’t really consider burlap to correlate with the term. However, part of me likes it, and I think I will use it to *ehem* carry tampons in my bag. TMI but whatever.
To access their store, you have to create an account.. so I am not entirely sure how much this bar actually retails for. I am okay with the $20 price since it is fancy French Candy, even though I wouldn’t be surprised if it is inflated as well. However, I am actually excited to try it! My boyfriend and I each had a bite, and it’s okay. Definitely better than the hard candy that was included in the last box. But definitely not worth $20.
Now that I’ve gone through each item, it’s time to calculate the adjusted MUCH MORE realistic total:
Of course, I did not adjust the items which I couldn’t find a price for, so I would not be surprised if this is even lower (paid a huge premium on $20 pieces of paper, a $40 t-shirt, and $20 flower pieces). If you’re like me, I have about $100 in each box since I got the annual subscription with a coupon, so the burn isn’t TOO bad. If you consider each item at least $10, then this box at the very least is $110 which is more than what I paid per box AND a good majority of the products were worth more than that (mainly the lotions). What burns is that this company flat out lies. If they want to attribute extra cost to the curation, shipping, or something else.. LABEL it. Do not attribute these costs to the individual item because it makes your look like liars.
I am pleased with the brands they chose for the beauty products, and I am excited to try them out. I was a little annoyed that they included two body balms and a hand lotion, because it just seems like lotion overload… but I can deal with that. As I said before, I LOVE the towel. Plus I adore the box they package the items in – they could add that in as a $20 item and I would be less mad about it than I was with the paper coasters!
Overall, OuiPlease would be a fun subscription, except they put such a huge focus on these fake product prices that it makes it hard to not feel gypped.
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Introducing Box Of Style. Over $300 worth of glamorous finds, curated by Rachel Zoe and delivered to you for only $100.
One of the most sought over boxes so far this year, Rachel Zoe’s Box of Style was sold out within a few hours of launching and I was one of the lucky ones to get on board from the beginning! This time I decided to sign up for an annual subscription.
Here’s what was included in the Summer box:
At a $374 value, the box more than met the $300 minimum they promise. This is HUGE.
I love the Mara Hoffman Sarong and have already used it a few times this summer. It is absolutely gorgeous and looks very trendy by the pool.
Even though I didn’t particularly love the rest of the items in the box, I was very impressed with the quality of the curation and love that the box is worth its price.
This box is already one of the most consistent and timely which is impressive for subscription boxes. I can’t wait to see what Rachel has in store for us in the next box!