Goodies.co April 2013

My Goodies.co box was delivered for April today. That's right, on May 1. Luckily this month, Goodies provided everyone with estimated shipping date so at least we knew to expect to be disappointed with the shipping times.

Goodies changed their box this month. It used to be a bright turquoise, but now it's a more muted cardboard. The box is still about 4x the size of all the products inside though. If they want to redesign their box, they should probably make it smaller.

• Celsius Sparkling Cola: I'm skeptical that a cola will help me "burn more calories," but I love soda, so I'm certainly willing to try it.
• True Bar: This looks tasty! Cashew and coconut seem like a winning combination.
• Olomomo Nuts: Cherry flavored almonds? I'm skeptical that these can be good, but we'll see I guess.
• $50 NakedWines.com Gift Card: You still have to spend money in order to use this card, plus the wine can't be shipped to all states, so this isn't really something I'd consider "valuable."

• Zone Perfect Bar in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: I've seen RAVE reviews about this so I'm excited to try it.
• Green Giant Sweet Potato Chips: I'm not big on sweet potatoes, so these will be going to my roommate.
• Angie's Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn: Hooray, I LOVE kettle corn! This is bound to be good.

Goodies.co is $7 a month including shipping, and you get points for writing reviews to use on future boxes. I'm definitely happy with my subscription--you can't go wrong for $7! The waitlist is lengthy though, so if you're interested, I suggest signing up right away!

Fancy Box April 2013

My first Fancy box finally arrived today! I say finally because I ordered this box on March 18th. It was supposed to ship on April 15th, but didn't ship until the 22nd, then of course travel time, and now it's finally here. Unfortunately, I was already charged for my second box on April 18th, over ten days before I received my first order. Okay, rant over. Box time!

Definitely a fun looking box. The inside has popsicles all over it too.

Memo Mountain ($12) This is kind of cute. I didn't have "workspace" checked though, because office supplies are pretty boring. Yet I got this anyway. I'll use it though, so I'm happy with it.

NYC Rocks Glass ($12.50) I guess this is useful, but I don't have any interest in New York, and I prefer larger (and matching) glasses. Meh. It's kind of classy I guess.

Paper Watch ($11.55) So this is a digital watch you can decorate yourself. Of course, I don't wear watches and I'm not artistic. And even if I was, this isn't an appealing concept to me in the slightest. I think I need to find a kid to pawn this off on.

Rainbow Honey Nail Polish ($25) This includes a bottle of red nail polish, a bottle of black nail polish, and cuticle balm. I have more nail polish than I know what to do with, and red and black aren't exactly exciting shades since I already have lots of reds and I don't think there are too many variations on black.

So, this box was pretty much all a waste for me. Technically the box is valued at over $60, but I never would have purchased any of these items, which is the real test of value. Hopefully next month is a better one.

The box retails for $39.99, but if you're interested in starting a subscription, use the code "20OFF15" for $20 off your first box.

Jungle Stand Tasting Bar April 2013

The Jungle Stand Tasting Bar is more of a "tasting experience" than most of my food boxes. It always involves some kind of riddle with lots of little interesting nibbles to try out.

Of course, on their website, they say "If you have any allergies or extreme dislike of any type of food or flavors, we suggest you not sign up at this time. I am kind of picky, but, hey, everyone dislikes some sort of food, right? Judging by the past Tasting Bars, this was JUST the level of adventurous for me.

Of course, just my luck, this box would be the first I would want no part of.

Oliver wants to try it!

The premise of this month is that one of the tastes is much more expensive than the others, the "Diamond of the Kitchen."

Oh, no...I hate olives, mushrooms, AND weird cheeses. This month is the worst of the worst for me!

This is what the tastes look like in the box. Really cute little portions. The answer to the "treasure hunt" this month is the "fungi cheese stuffed olives." They have truffle oil in them, (i.e. "fungi"), which makes them super fancy compared to the others.

Anyway, the Jungle Stand Tasting bar is only $9.92 a month. That INCLUDES shipping! Even though this month was definitely not up my alley, I'm really excited to try out future months that suit me better.

Love with Food April 2013

My Love with Food box got misdelivered this month at first! Boo! Luckily it safely found its way into my hands!

This is the first look. As you can see, this box was curated by Andrew Zimmern and the theme is "Weird, Wild, & Wonderful Foods." Um, great. I'm probably the pickiest eater on the planet, so I wasn't excited to hear this. Of course I should be asking myself why I buy these food boxes in the first place if I'm so picky, but I just can't help it! My curiosity gets the better of me.

Oloves Green Olives in Lemony Lover (Lemon and Garlic): Okay, off to a bad start. I don't eat olives. My boyfriend gets these for sure. Also, lemon with garlic? That sounds terrible to me.

Creamy Buffalo Ranch Dip by Buff Lo Dip: I don't use ranch either. But guess what? My boyfriend loves it. And I don't use the word "loves" lightly, he seriously has a passion for ranch. So lucky him yet again.

Somersaults in Salty Pepper: I'm still not really sure what on earth these are. "Crunchy nuggets baked with sunflower seeds & toasted grains" according to the package, but that doesn't tell me much. I'm excited to try them though!

The Good Bean Roasted Chickpeas in Smoky Chili and Lime: Ugh, my pickiness ruins these too! My roommate said she'd test them out for me. I'm not a huge fan of "smoky" flavors though, so I'm sure I'm not missing out on much.

Air Popped Sorghum Grain from Mini Pops in Itty Bitty Butter: I was kind of excited to try these. I love popcorn, so I hoped I would like this too. Unfortunately, these just plain don't taste good. They are incredibly dry and taste kind of like half popped popcorn kernels. Oh, and "itty bitty butter" flavor? Well, they were right about the "itty bitty" part. These don't taste buttery at all to me. I bet they'd be better with some stronger seasoning though.

Cocomels Coconut Milk Caramels: One of these is "original" flavor and one of these is "sea salt." I thought that these would be kind of like a Samoa (I love those), but I was wrong. These are honestly kind of bizarre even though I expected them to taste run of the mill, but I can't put my finger on it. Oh well, I definitely ate them right away regardless!

Organic Fennel Pollen from Pollen Ranch: I had never heard of this before, but apparently it's good to use on meats. I might be one of the only people on the planet that really loves black licorice, and that's what this smells like, so maybe I should test it out. Licorice-y meat is a bit of a stretch though, even though I'm a huge licorice lover. We'll see on this one.

Cooking Light Cravebox: Fast Meals

Full disclosure: "Cooking light" isn't really my thing. But "snacking light" totally is. So of course when I saw that Cravebox was collaborating with Cooking Light for a "fast meals" Cravebox, I was totally in. They're going to have a summer meals box as well as a back to school box and a holiday box, so I probably won't be able to resist those either. I only paid $13 for this one because I entered the drawing but it's still available on the site for $16!

Usually Cravebox uses these annoying little paper crinkles as fillers in their boxes. No matter how hard I try, I'm STILL finding paper crinkles in weird parts of my house weeks later. Lucky for me, this box was so full they didn't even need them! Just a couple pieces of tissue paper instead.

Box of Equal Packets: Well, there are fifty of these in there, so that's a pretty decent size I guess. But what am I going to use these for? I don't really think cooking with packets sounds fun. Plus, if I really wanted some Equal, I could probably swipe some packs of it from a diner or something. Meh.

Coupons: Okay, so there are other coupons that aren't pictured in this box, but they don't really count to me as items since you still have to spend money to redeem them. These, on the other hand, give you a free product upon redemption. Pretty cool, Cravebox. There are two coupons for full size boxes of brown rice Triscuits. I've noticed these as a new variation in stores but I haven't actually purchased any yet so I'm excited about the coupons. I have my eye on the sea salt and black pepper ones!

Stevia: Honestly, I probably have no use for Stevia either. I see lots of lemonade and iced tea in my future I guess. I haven't tried Stevia yet and it seems like quite the hip sweetener (if there is such a thing...), so I should give these a shot. The box has 30 packets in it.

Stash Herbal Tea Sampler: This has 9 flavors, two tea bags of each flavor. I don't really drink tea, but my roommate has been trying to cut her caffeine consumption, and these are caffeine free, so I'll probably pass these along to her.

Fig Newtons: I actually got this exact sample (only one package though) in my Goodies.co box from March. I liked them then and I'm sure I will now too!

Zone Perfect Bars: I really love how they sent two of each of these. I'm curious about them since I've never had any experience with the Zone Perfect brand.

Salsa Tortilla Popchips: I've tried the regular Popchips before, and I have to say, I'm less than impressed. The texture is okay but there's just something off about them to me! I'd rather have those yummy mini rice cakes Quaker has. However, I haven't tried their take on tortilla chips, so I'll give these a try.

McCormick Gourmet Collection Blends in Moroccan Seasoning and Perfect Pinch in Southwest: Who doesn't like seasoning? McCormick can be pretty pricey too, and these are full sized, so I'm excited to try them out! I am a little disappointed with the Southwest variation though. The cajun version or the red pepper and garlic version sound like they might be tastier.

Even though I feel like I've been kind of whiney about this box, I'm actually pretty impressed with its contents. It's a great overall value and I'm excited to test everything out!

Umba Box April 2013

I was a little surprised when my Umba box came in the mail today. I hadn't gotten any sort of tracking number or shipping notice, and I ordered awhile ago, so I definitely wasn't expecting it. The box is really small and unsuspecting, but it actually ended up being much fuller than I thought.

Two Maple & Belmont postcards $3.33 These are SO cute. Okay, so, I don't have anyone to write postcards to, but these sure make me wish I do! How adorable, and perfect for summer when everyone starts to go on trips.

Tangerine Shampoo Bar from Scum Soaps $5 I've already tried shampoo bars (I have one sitting in my shower as we speak) and I love them. I'm excited to try this one since I've only ever tried them from Lush.

Bluepricot Granola from SoSoft 7nola $2? This isn't really as "granola-ey" as I was expecting. It's basically a dry granola bar broken into chunks. I really like how the blueberry and apricot flavor blend together, and the walnuts with the coconut make this feel really hearty.

Skin Stick from Rinse Soap $8 Ugh, no! Not more lotion!! Lotion is the one item that I absolutely loathe yet I can't seem to get rid of. It will be interesting to try lotion in a more solid form, and I have no clue what the "fresh fig" would possibly smell like. I'm curious to see what this is like, but seriously, why does lotion seem so attracted to me?

Luggage Tag from Lovell Designs $10? Cute! I love how neutral this is. Of course most suitcases already have a discreet spot to store identifying information, but I still like it. Maybe I can do something else with it?

This box has a retail value of about $28 (if I don't count shipping or tax), and I think that's a great value! I wouldn't have known about any of these independent artists had I not gotten this box, and I never would have been able to order such a mishmash of items without paying a ton in shipping charges. All of the items in this box have a fresh spring/summer feel, and I'm loving it!

PopSugar Must Have April 2013

 I already looked at spoilers for this box online, so I wasn't exactly itching with anticipation to receive it, but I was pleased to get my box so early. Usually PopSugar Must Have boxes arrive mid-month, but it seems boxes are being mailed out earlier and earlier.

Some people said this box didn't "look full" upon opening, but I have to disagree. It's not bursting at the seams or anything, but hey, it doesn't look too empty to me.

• Kai Perfume Oil (1/8 oz.) $48 I wasn't sure how this would smell, but I was a little concerned. Perfume is so personal, so it seems like a bad idea to send anything more than a sample in a subscription box. Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed. This is a very very strong floral scent, and it's definitely not my taste. I pretty much had a headache from the second I put it on, and I'm not sensitive to most scents.
• Tatcha Blotting Papers $15 These were already sent out in a previous PopSugar box. I mean, this is the "clutch sized" version, but still, repeats? Regardless though, I'm happy to get them since I don't have any blotting papers right now and I've never tried fancier ones.

• Alter Ego Quinoa Dark Chocolate Bar $4 Even though I live in one of the most granola cities imaginable, I still haven't tried quinoa...and I think this is the perfect way to get myself into it. Hopefully this is kind of like a grown up Crunch bar since quinoa is similar to rice.
• Shashi New Nugget Bracelet $28 This bracelet is just okay. I will probably find somewhere to wear it but it's pretty casual. At least it's adjustable, so it will fit my small wrists, unlike most bracelets. Definitely not my style, but I'm sure it suits a lot of people much better. I do like the gold on it. It helps make the bracelet look less friendship bracelet-ey and more legitimate.

• Green Garmento Garment Bag $10 Last, and definitely least, a dry cleaning bag from Green Garmento. First of all, I don't go to the dry cleaner. Ever. Maybe once every five years. It's definitely more wasteful to produce this bag than to use one of the plastic slips that dry cleaners use. Secondly, I already have a hamper, so I can't exactly use this as a hamper. I was hoping that I would be able to use it as a duffel since that's one of its advertised uses, but this thing is HUGE. Body bag sized. Not only that, but one of the ends only closes with a drawstring. I was thinking maybe I could use it as an overnight bag but I could see my mascara and my socks slipping right out of that little hole. That means that this bag is literally useless to me, which is so depressing because I hate waste. I'll probably literally be using this as a garbage bag then taking it out to the dumpster and tossing it out with my trash since I don't know anyone else who would want it. Such a waste.

All in all, this box comes out to about $105 in value...better than I paid for it I guess, but this box was a huge disappointment to me. If I could return this box, I would, and that's not something I've ever said about PopSugar. That being said, next month is PopSugar's special edition Summer Fun box, so I have high hopes that May will be much better!