My Little Cosy Box - November 2014

Lately I've been getting excited about beauty boxes again and that is in part thanks to My Little Box which offers a mixture of beauty and lifestyle items every month. They have the best packaging I have ever seen, which means that every box feels like a specially put together gift box. And what better way to see in the weekend than a gorgeous little box of surprises?

This month's theme is "cosy", which is absolutely perfect for this time of year. As usual the box includes a copy of the "My Little World" magazine and a gorgeous little print by their in-house illustrator. As with last month's magazine I found that the translation from French was a tad wonky in parts, but overall it is a very well produced and executed magazine, which is incredibly impressive for something that comes as an extra with a subscription box.

The first item in the box was this tiny little mug for ants. Other than the illustration on one side, it has some writing on the back that says "How is your day gonna be?" and then at the bottom of the mug, for you to see when you've finished your coffee it says "Happy". I think this is such a cute idea to cheer up your morning. Sadly, I don't really drink espresso, so I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to use this cup for - it's literally about the size of the palm of my hand!

Next up is this little seed pillow that you can chuck in the microwave to heat up and keep you warm. It was actually wrapped up with a pretty bow originally, but I was too excited and tore it off before taking these pictures, sorry! These things are really great for when your body feels all stiff after a long day and the cute print won't make me feel incredibly old whenever I use it.

Their own brand beauty item included this month was this volumising mascara. Again, I adore the packaging and the brush on this looks really good - it's a decent size with good length bristles. I've not tried it yet, but I'm excited to give it a go soon!

Secondly, there was also a waterproof black eye liner from Arancil. I'm usually annoyed to get eye liners in beauty boxes, but I'm running very low on my current favourite liner, so it would be nice if this one could replace it. It glides on smoothly and staying power seems to be quite good as well, as it was a bit of a struggle to remove the swatch from my hand!

Lastly they also included a full sized Yves Rocher eye shadow in a deep, coffee brown. I dabbled in Yves Rocher a bit when I was a lot younger and never really got on with anything from the brand, but I'll happily give them another go. The pigmentation on this isn't too great, but I guess that makes the deep shade a bit more wearable and daytime appropriate, so I'm not complaining. You can see swatches of the liner and the shadow below:

Overall I'm a bit torn on this box. To be perfectly honest I don't think I'll get that much use out of anything included, but I really appreciate the amount of thought that has gone into this box. It really does feel like a very special treat each month. I have unsubscribed for now, but I'm starting to wonder if that was such a good decision after all...

My Little Box October 2014 - Diane von Furstenberg Edition

It's been a while since I had a beauty box subscription. The last one that got me excited was Korean Memebox, but after some difficulties which resulted in me never getting a box I ordered and still losing out despite getting a refund due to bank charges and conversion rates, I felt like I'd had enough for a while. But then My Little Box came over from France and I was smitten (this seems to always happen as soon as I think I'm over subscription boxes). Their attention to detail, the mix of fashion, lifestyle and beauty products and the gorgeous illustrations just completely won me over.

Unfortunately, it hasn't been quite plain sailing with this box either. It took three weeks to arrive, so I got my October box on the very last day of October. However, their customer service were extremely friendly and helpful and explained that the first box always takes a bit longer to arrive and I should be getting my subsequent boxes on time from now on. As long as I don't get my November box on the 30th that's something I can live with and overlook just this one time.

On to the actual box, the spoiler this month was that there was a designer collaboration involved and I gotta admit that got me pretty excited. I tried to not look at any blog posts before getting my box, but caved at the two-week-after-it's-been-dispatched mark. I wasn't so sure about DVF at first, but if you read any of my wish list posts you'll know that prints are basically my favourite thing in the world and prints are something Diane is extremely good at, so my expectations grew.

The packaging of the box certainly didn't disappoint. From the illustrated box to the way everything inside was packaged, the attention to detail made it feel like I was opening a special present someone had packed just for me. Everything came wrapped separately, from the printed envelope of the scarf to the drawstring bag for the beauty products.

My Little Box always include a magazine with their boxes and even though you could tell the translation from French into English was a bit wonky, it felt extremely well executed with high quality photographs and great interviews. This is by far the most impressive little magazine I've ever seen in a subscription box.
Also included was a printed card and a red lip brooch. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with these two items. I might put the print up somewhere in my office/make-up room, but I'm a bit lost on what to do with the pin, as it wouldn't go with any of my clothes, but I don't want to just throw it away either!

As soon as I heard there'd be a designer collaboration for this box I instantly knew there'd be a printed scarf included. Turns out my hunch was right! Granted, nobody is going to mistake this for an actual designer scarf (there were a few loose threads I had to snip off with scissors), but I'm still happy with the quality and bright animal print is definitely something I'll happily wear. I also like that the inside of the card envelope had some illustrated suggestions on how to wear the scarf.

On to the beauty samples. I was a little bit disappointed how tiny the tube of L'Occitane hand cream was - somehow it looks much bigger in photos, but in reality it's about the size of my thumb. However, L'Occitane are famous for their great quality hand creams that moisturise but don't leave hands greasy and sticky and this one in particular has an amazing vanilla scent that somehow isn't too sickly sweet at all.

The Kerastase hair spray is another winner. I don't use hair spray much, but this one is lovely and light and doesn't make my hair crispy. Overall from what I've seen on the My Little Box website, their brand selection is really amazing with lots of mid-tier and high-end brands that are well known and loved.

As for their own brand products, they're certainly on a different level than anything I've ever seen before from subscription boxes. The packaging manages to pull of this whole "cute but still chic" thing extremely well. As for the micellar water included in this box it has a nice scent and is gentle enough to use on the eyes, but it does struggle a bit with waterproof mascara, so I don't think it'll be replacing my beloved Garnier anytime soon.

Overall I'm quite impressed with this box. It certainly felt like a special treat to open it up, which is what a good subscription should be about in the end. I haven't done a breakdown of the value, as it would be difficult to price items like the scarf and the pin, but it certainly felt like the value for money was there.

I'm quite excited now to see what the November box brings!