I love to try out new products and when the opportunity came to sign-up for Cravebox, a new, monthly sample box program from SheSpeaks, I jumped on it as fast as I could. For $10 a month a surprise box of four to five “crave-worthy” goodies will be delivered to your door, and with a description like that, all I can think of is Forrest Gump saying, “You never know what you’re going to get!” Which can go either way – good or bad!
Here’s what came in my Cravebox and what I think about it:
Baci Chocolate Truffles – a two-pack of hazelnut chocolate truffles. Eh. I don’t like hazelnut, and it’s something I could get at World Market for a buck if I wanted it, so I passed them on to my husband for him to enjoy – which he did.
OPI Nic’s Sticks – I have had a Nic’s Stick on my wish list for a couple years now and never got around to getting one. They sell for about $8-10 at Ulta and I was really excited when I found out one would be included in this month’s box …until I saw that it was blue. I’m a mom in my early thirties, my days of blue nail polish are long over. Bummer. From what I understand, other Cravebox recipients got other colors, so it was just a luck of the draw for me on this one.
mereadesso Beautiful Body Balm – mereadesso is not a company I am familiar with, but a quick look on their website shows they are a luxury beauty products company and this full-sized bottle of lotion retails for $54. I’ve used it a couple times and it’s okay – good scent, good coverage, and it’s not something I would have paid attention to had I not been introduced to it via a sampling program like Cravebox.
BiC for Her Retractable Ball Pens – I’ve seen these lovely, feminine pens in the store a few times and they really caught my eye, but it’s not something I would ever buy for myself, so to have them included in this month’s Cravebox was what I consider a special treat for me. The purple and pink set of pens have purple and pink ink, which is a little too strange for me to use, again, I’m not in junior high, so I’ll let my daughter use those, but the black pens with the black ink are perfect for me.
Perugina Chocolate Bar – Technically this should have been in my box, but wasn’t. I’ve contacted SheSpeaks to find out what to do when you don’t receive something you’re supposed to. I’ve reached out via Facebook and email and haven’t received a reply yet.
My thoughts:
I will admit that the anticipation and social media promotion of Cravebox was fierce and, at the end, I don’t feel it lived up to the hype. I understand that not every box is going to please every taste every time. I also forgive the missing piece of my box – after all, it is in the beta testing mode, but I hope there is a plan to compensate for missing pieces of these boxes, as it is bound to happen with any program like this. However, because it is in a testing phase I don’t think they should have charged for the first round in effort to iron out kinks like this. Items like mereadesso is exactly what I think should go in a product sampling box like this – giving a consumer exposure to a product unfamiliar to them. Having two pieces of chocolate is a little much for one box, too, so my advice would be to keep the sweets/food products to one a box in the future. I don’t know how much control SheSpeaks has when they request products from companies to include in each month’s Cravebox, but I would like to see more neutral colors in any beauty products they include in the box.
So in the long run, I’m able to enjoy 2 out of the 5 items included in the box, everything else was given to someone else. It’s a fun idea, and I love getting goodies in the mail, so I’m going to give this a go for another month or two and hope it gets better. Ideally I’d like to use all 4 or 5 things included in my box. If you’ve got a spare $10 each month and want to try it out, sign up at Cravebox.com and get something crave-worthy just for YOU in the mail 
