Category: Subscription Boxes

April’s Petit Vour arrived today, and unfortunately, I’m disappointed in this month’s box.  I really wish they had a color preference section in their beauty profile because then I’d be able to tell them that I HATE HATE HATE pink.  One simple change and I would’ve been pretty pleased with this box!  As it stands, the nail polish is an absolutely hideous color to me and one I’d never wear, and it would’ve been nice to have the sponge in a not-pink color (I saw on instagram, folks were posting green nail polish, and green sponges, so, it’s possible).  I received the Suntegrity sample in the Goodebox this month, so the only thing left are the two towelettes which don’t amount to all that much.  This one was a complete miss for me, and it was mostly due to the color which is silly, but c’mon Petit Vour, how hard is that to add to the beauty profile?  Not every woman likes pink – I find the whole pinkifying everything for women really abhorrent (I do not want or need a pink power drill, the orange and black one is just fine) and as a result, absolutely loathe the color.  Anyway, on to the contents.

• Lauren B Nail Polish – .5 oz / $18 – (Sample is full size, full value)  I received color, “#ImSoLA.”  Going back to the whole pink thing I mentioned above, this is a nope for me.  I’ll pass this off to a friend, but this is seriously the world’s worst color for me ever.  I understand other people might love it, but this is not at all my thing.  Give me green, blue, a bold red, a nice neutral.. ANYTHING but pink.  This is also on the high end in terms of price for a 5-free polish, so it’s probably not a polish  I’d buy anyway.
• Konjac Sponge – 1 Sponge / $12 – (Sample is full size, full value)  I received the Pink Clay version for “tired or devitalised skin.”  The Green or Red versions probably would’ve been a better fit for my skin type.  Plus, Pink.. again.  But hey, I tried it out because it was in the box, so  why not?  It feels slimy when it’s fully hydrated and didn’t do anything to exfoliate.  I think my cotton washcloth (maybe even my bare hands too) is more abrasive than this!  My skin didn’t feel softer or any different than before use, I still had all the same blackheads, so I’m not impressed.  It also seems wasteful in comparison to a washcloth that you toss in the washer and use over and over again – the sponge is only good for up to three months.  The string included on the product  just  got in the way so I snipped that off and let it air dry on a clean soap dish.  For exfoliation, I still prefer rougher salt/sugar scrubs once a week instead of something like this, so while it was fun to try, it’s not something I’d add to my routine.
• Suntegrity BB Cream – 1.7 oz / $45 – (Sample is .25 oz,  value of $6.65 by volume, or sample tube on website is $4.95)  I received this in the April 2015 Goodebox  in the same color, so I’ll point you over there.  I tried it out on a sunny afternoon and still got sunburnt (after 2pm), so I’m even less impressed than I was before.  I don’t have super fair skin and don’t burn all that easily in the first place, so it was basically like using nothing.  I’d definitely prefer this to not be tinted and just be a sunblock/moisturizer.
• Box Naturals Luxe Towelettes – 12 Towelettes / $9 – (Sample is 2 towelettes, value of $1.50)  The product card says they can be used for, “freshening up  down there,” but it is NEVER a good idea to use anything scented  down there.  I’ll use them, probably on my face, but it’s not something I feel the need to keep around for “freshening up.”  I’ll wash my face or take a shower if I need freshening up!

Total value comes to around $36.50 which is about mid range  for this box.  For me, the value is MUCH lower since I won’t be keeping the nail polish and already had (and don’t like) the Suntegrity sample, so I’ll pass this unused one off to someone else.  That leaves me $13.50 worth of things I’ll actually use (once the sponge has hit the end of its lifecycle, I won’t be getting another) which doesn’t even cover the cost.  It’s inevitable that there are going to be some fails now and again, and for me, this is definitely one of them.

Spring is slowly starting to creep in and overtake winter, and Petit Vour  is celebrating the return of spring this month with a theme of, “Spring Dreaming.”  We still have a bit of snow on the ground, but the tulips and daffodils are showing signs of life, peeking the first signs of growth  out of the ground.  The box contained four samples this month and while it didn’t absolutely blow me away, I’m pretty happy with the box!

• The Little Alchemist Cacao & Banana Face Glow – 30 g / $32 – (Sample is 30g, Full Value!) I was a little worried at first because I’m not into banana scented anything at all, but I can happily report that this smells entirely like brownie batter and not like banana at all!  It’s hard to imagine, smelling this, that it’s not edible because WOW.  It’s kind of spendy for a clay mask, but it makes for a nice addition to the box  and is a fun product to try out.
• Juice Beauty Stem Cellular CC Cream –  1.7 oz / $39 – (Sample is .5 oz, value of $11.47) Not really sold on this.  It feels thick and heavy on, and while it does a bunch of things from being a moisturizer, repair cream, being a sunblock, and the tint, it’s not something I could use everyday comfortably.  It almost feels plasticky  on my skin and I hate feeling like there’s something on my face.  If I can feel like it’s there, it’s not the cream for me – I’m so minimalist in terms of makeup, so while this would be good for events and whatnot where I need to go full-face makeup, it would drive me crazy pretty quickly.  I’m glad this was included so I could try it out without committing to a full size product since I was interested in giving it a go which really is the whole point of subscription boxes!
• Vert Mont Perfumery EROS Perfume – 10 mL / $35 – (Sample is 1.5 mL, value of $5.25) At first sniff, after applying a dot of the thick perfume oil on my skin, the Jasmine jumped out at me.  Jasmine is probably my least favorite scent in the perfume world, so I was a little bummed.  Going back after a few minutes, the Jasmine faded out and let the sandalwood and Patchouli take over which made this a HUGE win for me!  The price is on par with my other favorite fragrance vendor, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and they have a sampler pack of all 9 fragrances on their website, so I might have to give those a try!
• Metropolis Soap Co Lip Butter – .15 oz / $7 – (Sample is .15 oz, Full Value!) LOVE this!!  I’m not a big fan of mint, so I was happy to find that the spearmint is very subtle and fades away quickly with the lavender scent lingering on longer.  I really like the formula too – rich without being sticky and seems to hang around for a while.  I’m a lip balm junkie, so this is going straight into my everyday bag.  I would LOVE to see more lavender lip balms from MSC.. Lavender and vanilla  maybe?  Huge fan of their products from the GoodeBox a few months ago, so this was a nice addition to the box.

The value comes out to $55.72 which is definitely on the higher end for this box!  Really incredible value, and even though I don’t like the Juice Beauty cream, I’m glad I got to try it and it really rounded out the box for a good variety of products.  LOVE the lip butter and face mask the most, and I’m eager to try out the other perfumes from Vert Mont since the EROS scent is growing on me and I’m a huge fan of essential oil perfumes already so this is right up my alley.

February’s Petit Vour has arrived!  This month’s box includes the theme, “Love is Bold, Love is Kind,” highlighting the love shown by using cruelty-free products.  The product card goes on to say that they, “wanted to share the most mood enhancing and confidence boosting beauty products,” which carries through pretty well.  There’s a coffee-mint scrub that can be followed up with the chocolate mint body butter, two perfume samples and an amazing full-size mascara.  I’ll say it again, I’m not vegan – I eat meat (albeit from local sources  where I know the farmers and how they treat their animals) – but I definitely support cruelty-free products, and vegan beauty products tend to have better ingredients and a higher quality.  Anyway, onto the box contents!

• Balanced Guru Scrub Me Body Scrub – 8 oz / $23 – (Sample is 1 oz, value of $2.88)  I received this sample is the December 2014 Goodebox  as well.  I’d still love this a lot more if the spearmint wasn’t so front and center in the scent – I’m just not that big on mint, and it smells kinda like spearmint gum.  That said, it is a fantastic exfoliator, and the coffee part of the scent is a nice wake-up in a morning shower.
• Ellovi Mint Chocolate Body Butter – 3.5 oz / $26 – (Sample is .5 oz, value of $3.71)  USPS must’ve beat the snot out of this box, because mine arrived cracked down the side (how that even happens, I don’t know, because the container is really sturdy).  It also looked like this melted and froze at least once because there was an outline on the lid where the product had settled sideways and showed up frozen flat in the bottom of the pot.  No idea.  Anyway, USPS flounder aside, there’s still product to try and OH MAN does this smell delicious.  Simple ingredients, and it smells like mint chocolate chip ice cream or Thin Mints or Andes Mints.  It’s pretty greasy for use on hands, but I’d imagine that following up after a good scrub with the Balanced Guru scrub on dry legs and arms would be amazing!
• Harvey Prince Damask Rose & Gardenia Perfumes – 8.8 mL / $26 – (Sample is two 1 mL spray containers, value of $5.91)  Okay, I’m not a big fan of floral scents, but these seem to be straight up Rose and Gardenia with no other notes trying to push out the rose and gardenia.  My sniffer is a little broken due to a rotten head cold, but at first try, the rose seems really nice – totally basic, not too sweet or overpowering.  The gardenia too, shockingly, which I think I might actually like better.  It’s not a scent I’d ever pick out for myself, but it’s working really well with my skin and has a nice warmth to it that’s quite pleasant.  So, these were really nice surprises for something I wasn’t sure I was going to like at first look!
• Lily Lolo Vegan Mascara – 7 mL / $20 – (Sample is full size, value of $19.98 per lilylolo.us)  Interesting note on the price, the same mascara is   £10.99 on their UK site which comes out to about $17 given the current exchange rate.  The product is pretty great though.  It’s not as thick and doesn’t build as well as other mascaras, but it’s really great for a soft, everyday look with the bonus being that it doesn’t make my sensitive eyes puffy and itchy.  It doesn’t feel as heavy or stiff or plasticky either – very natural and like it’s not even there.  It removes easily with soap and water, no special makeup remover needed which is a huge win in my book.

Overall the total value for the box comes up to $32.48 which is on the lower end for Petit Vour, but still double the cost of the box.  The mascara alone covers the cost, so it’s absolutely worth it, and one of the better boxes, IMHO in the last couple of months!

A new year of Petit Vour!  This is a big improvement over the last box that wasn’t a good fit for me at all.  This month’s theme is, “The New Luxury,” and the box was co-curated by Emily Nolan of MyKindofLife.com.  As usual, there’s a nice mix of products from makeup to hand cream and hair care.  I really love that Petit Vour makes an effort to have that kind of variety in each box – it’s never just four makeup products.  Anyway, on to the contents!

• 100% Pure French Lavender Hand Buttercream – 2 oz / $8 – (Sample is 2 oz, value of $8)  This smells SO good and isn’t one of those sticky sweet lavender scents, but a nice warm botanical lavender.  Moisturizes well without feeling really greasy, and the blend of oils and butters in the ingredients list is awesome!  This is going on my bedside table to moisturize dry winter hands overnight, plus that calming lavender scent is great for bedtime.
• EVOLVh Leave-In Conditioner – 2.5 oz / $8 – (Sample is 2.5 oz, value on website is showing $10 for the 2.5 oz travel size, and the 8.5 oz size for $26, so value of $10 as packaged)  Oh man do I love a leave-in for my curls!  This is basically a blend of all kinds of oils which is great – no curl-unfriendly ingredients!  I’m not all that wowed by the scent (I prefer the scent of Yarok’s better) since it’s really floral which isn’t my thing.  Still, the scent fades quickly anyway and it works great as a 2nd (or 3rd) day curl reviver, and on wet hair as a frizz-fighter.  I detangle in the shower by finger combing my hair so I won’t really use this as a detangler.  I can’t even tell you how long it’s been since my hair has seen a comb or brush – 6 years?  More?  Great product though, very happy to see this in the box!
• Modern Minerals Eye Shadow – 2 g / $12.50 – (Sample is Full Size, value of $12.50)  The color is, “En Pointe,” and is an exclusive color for Petit Vour subscribers.  It’s a shimmery coppery  pink that’s great for everyday wear and of course, the ingredients are simple and clean.  I found this to work really well over a white eye shadow base  for an extra pop of color since it’s so light.
• RawSkinCeuticals Creme Cheek Color  – 5 mL / $15 – (Sample is Full Size, value of $15)  Great value, covers the cost of the box, but a totally weird product.  The ingredient list contains zinc oxide and titanium dioxide which are great if the product is a sunscreen or eyeshadow or concealer or in some product that you need heavy coverage.  For blush, it just doesn’t work.  The texture is something like wet chalk – it goes on like a creme and then starts drying to a powder-like finish.  Then there’s the color.. The color doesn’t AT ALL match what’s on the website for, “Rose,” and looks much more violety mauve.  It makes my cheeks look pasty and pale and dull instead of bright and lightly flushed like a blush should do.  I’ve mentioned before that my cheeks are already pretty naturally red/rosy, so a weird purpleish color just doesn’t work.  I have a feeling that the zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are not the right ingredients for a blush and cover far too heavily to work well as a blush.  However, what makes it fail as a blush makes it work perfectly  as an eyeshadow!  It actually feels a lot like Nyx’s Eye Shadow base in terms of texture and application/coverage, so I have a new eyeshadow instead of a new blush.  That works for me.

Overall, I received two full size products and two travel size products for a total value of $45.50 which more than covers the $15 cost of the box!  Really an incredible value this time around and I’m glad that even though the blush isn’t great as a blush, it doubles as a perfect eye shadow, so it’s still a win in my book.

EDIT 31 Jan 2015:
I keep thinking about that blush and keep trying it as a blush, but it keeps coming out dull and oddly reminiscent of zinc-oxide-wearing lifeguards with those big white stripes on their cheeks and nose (Zinka!).  I was thinking about alternatives and remembered Josie Maran’s Cheek Gelee which is also vegan and cruelty free as a good example of what works in a cheek product.  When I have to use blush (which is rare, because I always have rosy cheeks  even when wearing foundation), my go-to favorite is the Josie Maran product because it doesn’t dry my skin out like a powder blush and sinks in well unlike the RawSkinCeuticals that lays on top and manages to miss filling in pores, highlighting them for the world to see.  The Josie Maran blush feels creamy and hydrating where the RawSkinCeuticals feels drying and chalky.  I wanted to show you the difference so I did a quick side-by-side on my face to show you how the RawSkinCeuticals matches up.
I’ve only corrected the white balance on the image below, no other digital manipulation.  Josie Maran on the left, RawSkinCeuticals on the right.  You can clearly see here how the left looks pleasantly rosy and the right looks pasty and pale.  Both were applied over clean skin, no foundation.  And, for the record, I have no connection to either company, just sharing what I found!