subscription boxes

Love With Food Gluten Free Review – February 2016

I may have said this before – but I LOVE love with food. I wait patiently each month for my gluten free box to arrive at my door. They have such great brands that I can always find something to enjoy in each box. This month was no different. I literally tore open one of the items the second I saw it. Note the chip clip on the popcorn…

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So what did I get this month?

-Stellar Strawberry non-dairy fruit and veggie blend by Ruby Rocket’s

-Strawberry Shortcake Flavored Instant Oatmeal by Bakery On Main

-Cookies by Labrems Bakery

-Organic Rice Vermicelli Noodles by Explore Asian

-Dark Chocolate + Bing Cherries Popcorn by 470 (AMAZING!)

-Google Grape Organic Lollipops by Yumearth

-Maple Sugar and Sea Salt Pumpkin Seeds by Super Seedz

-Plaintain Stips with Sea Salt by Artisan Tropic

-Gluten-Free Mini Honey Grahams by Pamela’s Products

-Saladpower by Allinone Vegetables

-Savory Bar by Mediterra

Glossybox January 2016

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I’ve seem to hit that point in the month where I finally have received nearly all of my subscription boxes. There is nothing I love more than coming home to a fun box and checking out all the new products in these curated boxes.

Over the past year I’ve had a love – hate relationship with Glossybox. I love that the products are full sized or deluxe sized. Sometimes though the products are all misses for me. But I missed getting it, and took advantage of a deal on Gilt recently, so I’m locked in for the next 6 months.

This month was interesting. I don’t love everything. But I’m willing to try it all out!

Products in this months box:

Beautiful Nutrition Lemon Rinse Gentle Clarifying Treatment

MeMeMe Lip Glide in Playful Peach

-417 Foot Nourishing Cream

Royal Apothic Cream Creme to Go

Emite Make Up Diamond Heart

What did you guys think of this months box?

Review: Stitchfix July 2015

I decided to try this based on a friend’s recommendation. Basically you sign up and fill out an extensive profile and link your social media and pinterest to the site. Then a personal shopper selects items for you and ships you out a box based on your likes. I was really intrigued by this idea. At $20 it costs significantly less than Le Tote (which I hated, btw) and seemed like a good idea. I even wrote my stylist a note at their prompting telling her my favorite colors and what I was looking for. What came in my box was far from what I wanted.

They send this card describing how to style your pieces:

This was the first piece I pulled out. I’m not a fan of the pattern and its cheaply made. They were asking around $50 for it….

I included that I have a really short torso, and things like this next piece wouldn’t be possible. Not great:

I did say I liked dresses, but due to being bigger on the bottom this wasn’t the best choice for me, but nice color though:

This next shirt wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great:

The only thing I LOVED was this necklace. Gorgeous color! I purchased it for sure. The nice thing is that the $20 you pay for the box goes toward the price of the item. So it was $34 and I paid an additional $14. If you buy all the items you get 25% off the order.

Who else has tried Stitchfix? Thoughts?

Review: Birchbox February 2015

Last year I suspended my subscription to Birchbox because I became unhappy with the selection of samples in the box. Over the past few months I’ve been closely following what changes Birchbox has made, and I decided to give it another shot. I must say – this box was a great way to begin!

theBalm cosmetics – Read My Lips Lip Gloss – BAM! Full size $15

I am a huge fan of theBalm since discovering their products from Birchbox ages ago. This color is ok – definitely more of a summer color, but I love the formula. I may be purchasing some other colors.

Paula’s Choice Clinical KP Treatment Cloths – Full size $22.40

I also discovered Paula’s Choice through BB, and it is another brand that I absolutely adore. I have yet to use these, and while I don’t have keratosis pilaris, I still want to see how they are on my skin.

Laura Geller Beauty – GlamLASH Dramatic Volumizing Mascara – Full size $24

This is another mainstay brand, and I was thrilled to receive an LG mascara. I LOVE this mascara, which is surprising, because the brush is so itty bitty. Usually I layer on a few mascaras for the effect I like, but I love how this looks!

Harvey Prince – Ageless – Full size $55

I have yet to try this, and to be honest, I used to hate receiving perfume samples. I recently looked through my pile of them, and I have received over 4 different samples from Harvey Prince, so I wasn’t that excited. However, I want to test all of the perfumes for my blog, so this makes a great addition to the pile.

Davines MINU Shampoo & Hair Serum – Shampoo Full size $25 – Serum Full size $23.50

I haven’t tried the shampoo yet, and I’m curious to see how it works. I have however tried the serum (hence the open package in the photos) and I’m not thrilled with the smell. But I have crazy hair, and am always looking to try new photos.

Review: Sample Society February 2015

Back in January I purchased a subscription to Sample Society. This is a subscription from BeautyBar.com and Allure Magazine. Last month there was a great coupon that allowed me to purchase a one month subscription for $10, instead of the regular price of $15. I adore Allure Magazine, and thought this would be the ideal opportunity to give this a try.

nugg Face Mask in Deep Cleansing, Revitalizing and Hydrating – $9.87

I have yet to give these a try, but I’m researching different types of face masks for a future post, and thought these would be perfect to add to the mix.

Nails Inc Polish in Prince’s Palace – Value $9

Gorgeous light purple. I don’t wear this type of color often, but because it seems to be on the grey side, I’m willing to give it a shot.

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush – $1.75

I always love dry shampoo, but I can’t get beyond the scent of this one. I find it to be very floral-y and I will most likely be swapping this one.

Chloe Love Story Perfume Sample – $3

I was very excited to try this, and am thankful for the sample. However, the scent is a little strong for me, so I doubt it would be something I can wear everyday.

StriVectin Intensive Illuminating Serum – $22.25

This was the most exciting item in the box for me. I’m thrilled to be able to try this, and the sample size is quite generous.

Overall, I’m relatively happy with this box. I always love having things to try, and I’m always up to swap some things for products I can use. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to subscribe, but the box isn’t that expensive, so I’d be interested to see what next month brings.

Making Resolutions Real: Closet Clean up

Like many girls, I absolutely love to shop. However, I know that I can’t buy things without purging the old things in my closet. Over the past few years I’ve found three different opportunities to clean things out and make some extra money.

Since I work in fundraising I’m all for donating clothes and gently used products to places like the Salvation Army, but considering some of my things still have tags on them, it almost felt like I was throwing away money. After some googling I found Threadflip. It is a website where you can sell clothing and accessories that are new or in fairly decent condition. You can list any brand and the recommended asking price is 20-40% of the retail price you paid. I base my prices on how much I have used the item, and how much I’m looking to get it out of the house. Oh, and the company takes a 20% commission. Over the past year and a half I’ve made over $500 and sold about 35 items. I choose to pay for shipping for my customers, but you can also let the buyer pay the shipping if you wish. Some I only make $2-$3, but to me thats better than nothing. You also can use their white glove service where they list the item for you and take care of everything. Since I have so many things listed, I preferred to do it myself. Things can take a while to sell, but eventually they will! Click on the screen shot below to visit my “closet”:

Poshmark is another site I use to sell things. I should disclose that I’ve only recently joined, and already sold my first item. The downside to this site is that you can only list items through the app on your phone – you can’t do so online, unlike Threadflip. Also, people often ask to trade or pay through Paypal which isn’t sanctioned by the site. I had no problems with my first sale, and they require the buyer to pay $4.99 in shipping. It appears as though their commission is about 15%, but I had trouble confirming that on their site. Oh, and their support staff are fantastic! Click below to visit my “closet”!

The final site is for those of you who, like me, are obsessed with subscription boxes. Mysubscriptionaddiction.com is a review site, and they also offer a swap forum as well. The swap site is great! You have to list the item, what box it is from and the condition of the item. Each party is responsible for the shipping, and it really runs on an honor system. I’ve had several swaps so far, and its great to get items you can use for those that would be sitting in your closet and drawers. I tend to swap make up, but you can swap anything from any box listed on the site (and there are tons!) I absolutely LOVE this. Click on the link above to get swapping!!

Do any of you use these types of site to clean out your closets? Share in the comments other sites/ideas – I’m always looking to try new things!

GabGoesGlam

Beauty. Lifestyle. Fashion.