Sample Subscriptions - Genius!

      Howdy folks!  One of the ways I have recently been adding to my "small wonders every day" project is through the purchase of a few sample subscription boxes.  Eventually I am going to do a breakdown of all the ones I have bought and if I thought they were sweet or decided they wouldn't be showing up again.  Basically a sample subscription is this: you send a small amount of money per month to a bunch of people who build boxes of samples (generally beauty but could be any number of things catered to your interests like food, cleaning products etc.) that you might be interested in.  Sometimes you get full size products, most of the time you get "luxury" sized samples that give you plenty of the product to try and fall in love with or leave behind in a post-it note breakup.  Today I am going to share my very first experience with Cravebox - a site that charges $10 a month and sends you a big box, chock a block full of things to amaze you and small wows to get excited about.

      Open it with me!

      When it arrives there is intense excitement!  What could be in here?  What cool discoveries am I going to make?  I had been on a waiting list for what seemed like ages to get in with this company.  They pack an eclectic mix of everything in their boxes, so you never know what is in store.  They contacted me a couple of weeks ago and let me know that I had won a lottery to get a subscription slot.  They are very popular and I was very happy to get in - I know lots of people wanted to get their hands on the Cravebox loot!

      Right away there was a letter telling me what was in store in my Cravebox, but I didn't want to spoil it, so I tucked it aside to read later when I wasn't busy bouncing up and down.  I uncurled a pink ribbon and found some Plum Amazins snacks from Sunsweet.  They were delicious and I munched on them right away. They are kind of like Crasins or raisins but they weren't as sugary sweet and they were nice and chewy.  The next thing was a Lipton sample which I was psyched over until I saw it was pineapple mango flavor -two fruits that I am completely allergic to!  Ick!  But Andy will like it a lot so it's still cool.

      Next came two full size products: An 18oz. Tree Hut coconut lime shea sugar body scrub (which I would adore except for the shea in it.  I unfortunately am allergic to everything under the sun).  It smelled fantastic and I wish I could use it but it will make a great gift for someone's birthday!  The Skintersection cream for crazcked skin repair was also full size - 2 fl oz. and felt really great on my heels - I popped open the cap and tried it immediately.  Normally I would have been reading the product to see what was in it, but I had heard about them before and I knew what it was - a jar of super creamy goodness that works on cracked skin.  It has tomato extract in it which I thought was neat.  Last but not least - GuyLian chocolate seashells.  Um - yum!  I loved getting candy!  And truffles at that - so yummy.

      So the whole box of surprises looked like this:

      I thought it was a great value and it actually had several things I could put to good use including recipe cards for the plums, and coupons to buy bigger sizes of the tea (in a non allergy flavor) and the Amazins.  I wouldn't have sought out most of the products on my own but I was happy to have found the cream which I really like and the chocolates were dreamy.  I think they have that chocolate brand at Sam's Club.  I might look into them at Christmastime and see if they have other seasonal shapes.

      All in all I thought it was a great mix of exciting stuff and even though two of the products were not well suited for me given my allergies, I am really encouraged to see what the coming months will bring.  I also filled out a survey for Plum Amazins and they get back to you with offers that include coupons and full sized products, so I just might win something cool too.  I also attended the Taste of the Tropics Cravebox Twitter party tonight and had a good time getting to know some other women who shared my interests.  They gave out prizes, and even though I didn't win I was interested to learn about Tweetgrid where I can watch the parties happen in real time.  If you want to follow me on twitter I post about free stuff and twitter parties on there, and often about contests and giveaways too.  You can follow me at @mjreynolds32.

      I also have tried these kinds of boxes from Birchbox, Eco Emi, Julep Maven and New Beauty Test Tube.  There are some definite winners (Eco Emi I love you so!) and losers (Me and the Test Tube are on  the outs, and I can't be won back).  Stay tuned for posts and pics about them too.

      Here's hoping much love and joy are headed your way today and every day.