I loved my first, waffled on my second, hated my third, but WTF is this box???
It's not worth $15...
A cheap scarf (again) that has threads coming off it ($30 are you kidding me?!?). It's just terrible quality.
An ugly butt pineapple pin? ($12?!?) Because nothing says you like fruit like wearing it around... apologies if anyone liked the pineapple, but seriously reminds me of something my great, great aunt would wear as pieces of flair to pin her ugly scarves (hey, maybe that was the curation connection).
A cheap blowup drink holder - which ironically, I almost considered putting in the box as a $3 item in the fantasy curator, for $18 bucks. I actually DO have an in ground pool - this swan will be down in a week (pardon the pun). It's not sturdy enough to hold up long term (when you have four boys and a pool for a few years, you start looking for stuff that won't degrade in the sun or pop at the seams).
Cheap "cocktail napkins" - I have an embroidery machine, I can make these napkins for less than a buck each... It's plain white cotton, a couple dollars in cheap embroidery thread, 1/10th pack of tearaway stabilizer, a penny in thread to sew the ends over and I'm done... and it would take me literally less than 5 minutes to remake each one. Worse, I have no desire to look at emojis. Maybe the hipster/emo crowd would like them, but frankly, I see the majority of subbers to a higher price box to be closer to my demo - suburban moms.
Granted, I know that my craft skills ends up with me being able to make some of the items I get, but when they are so outrageously priced (such as the $30 cheap butt scarf or $25 for cocktail napkins I don't even need), then I have a problem with the quality of a box.
The hair product is way to pricey for my budget, I'll give it a shot but it's rather limited to benefit people with colored hair. Even still, those products almost never work against chlorine or sea water so...
I so wanted to like this. I can't seem to find a "home" with a general box, I don't want another makeup box. I has the sads.
Here's the roundup -
- Sachajuan, $21.80 at Beauty Bay (multiple sites have various prices, but all say limited quantities left - probably a discontinued item)
- Emoji Cocktail Napkins - These aren't actually "on the market" so to speak. They were "created for PS". Technically, since EVERYONE is doing these anyway, you can get a set of 4 for $20 that are cuter and higher quality. https://www.amazon.com/Cocktail-Napkins-Colorful-Embroidered-Hemstitch/dp/B01GLE1HRI
- Michael Stars scarf - $21 at his own site. And frankly, he has thicker, cuter patterns cheaper than the one we got. In fact the blue version at his site is cuter. These are also on eBay for $10
- Pineapple Pin - can I say zero? I want to say zero... You can get so many different styles and types, that Pintrill is the only supplier for Pintrill pins, but Google says I can have a ton of them for a buck.
- Inflatable drink holder - Another discontinued item. Here, have a cuter set of 3 so you all aren't scrambling for the same drink holder for $7.83. https://www.amazon.com/GoFloats-Inflatable-Island-Holder-drinks/dp/B00AILC162
- Brow Highlighter - cosmetics are competitive, I get it. Brow highlighters are a non-necessity in the first place. European Wax Center is a hair removal place. No idea what they are doing with brow highlighters but this market demand is small while supply is high, plenty of cheaper offerings. They do not sell anywhere else but their site, so no comparable prices but this has been in a lot of different boxes the last few months.
Chips and coupon were "extras" and I think Trove's stuff is too bland and cheap looking to be worth exercising a $20 off when I have to pay $80. So... yay chips?
As an aside, nearly every one of these items, like the box before it are sold at Nordstrom's. Why don't I just save the money, grab a coupon and shop the clearance rack myself? They might as well call this the Nordstrom must-haves. I feel like it's so terribly curated - like someone walked through and grabbed a bunch of discontinued items and said "Lets throw this in the box, they'll never know!"