Hi everyone! My Fall box from FabFitFun came a little earlier than expected so today’s post is all about the box! The tracking said I’d get the box yesterday, Saturday, so I had expected to get it on Monday at the earliest. So imagine my surprise when it came in on Friday! I immediately tore into it so I could write this post up. I’m also going to add my thoughts of my full year with these boxes.

About the Fall Box

So I have to say that while the items weren’t the most exciting at first I think they’re all going to be fun to try out and useful.

What really blew me away though was the quality of not only the items but the new magazine! The box used to come with a sort of newspaper-like book of the items and box information, but this time it came with a glossy magazine! While I love reading the information I usually put it to the side until I see the items but this time I read it cover to cover before fully opening up the box.

I noticed the magazine had a lot of “ads” in the sense of having brands that partner often with FabFitFun that provided promo codes for discounts on online orders. The magazine features lifestyle tips while incorporating the items in the box, so it is still one giant ad but it looks better and better with every box.

Each box has a cause it promotes and subscribers can support as well. This time it’s the Right Action for Women which aims to help women understand their risk for breast cancer if they have the BRCA-gene mutation as well as helping them be able to afford the more advanced screenings to detect it early. I love that so many of the causes are woman-focused!

My Fall Box

So as you can see, the boxes are full of items! I’m an annual member, so I pay for a year up front and I get to customize my box a lot more than a seasonal member that pays one box at a time. I will talk more about my experience on this later as this box marks a full year since my first box!

So I’ll start with all the items that were in every box. First up is the BeautyBlender, which I think everyone owns but me. Until now! The colors were randomized but I managed to get the pink one. I’ve never tried it before, I’ve only tried the Real Techniques sponge so I’m curious about this one and can’t wait to try it out. this product retails for $20.

The next item was the Simply Whimsical Tea Towels which come in a pack of two. I believe there were two different types of patters and those were randomized as well. They feel really nice and are pretty but since I live at home with my parents I don’t have my own kitchen to use these in. I might gift these to my mom as I’m sure she’ll get use out of them. These are normally $14.99.

An item I was surprised to see for some reason is the Skin&Co Roma Blue in Capri. This is a shower gel and has scents of wild sage, lemon, and alpine rose. It does say it can double as a bubble bath as well so I’m tempted to try that instead of a shower gel. I actually do need a shower gel though so this was great timing. This one retails for $22.

The last item was a slight letdown as it’s the GlamGlow Bubblesheet Oxygenating Deep Cleanse Mask. It is a 2 pack in the box. If you’ve seen some of my previous reviews you know I’m not a fan of GlamGlow. I got a Sephora point perk once of 4 different masks and only tried two because I hated them both so much I just couldn’t keep trying them. These I think will be given away and they retail for $18.

There is one more item that was included in all the boxes but it is sponsored so it doesn’t have a price attached to it. It’s the Luna Rica Bar, which is a small sample that seems to be made of dates and nuts. It sounds like it’ll be yummy and I can’t wait to try it!

Now we’re getting into the choice items. Three of them were choice items for all members, and two were only choice items for annual members. So basically a seasonal member could only pick for certain items and would get random choices for the rest. The first was between a Vince Camuto Luck Tote in Black or Red Desert and the second were the Crown Brush 6 piece Brush Set in Black and Rose Gold or Silver. I picked the tote in black but the other items will make an appearance in bit! The tote retails for $128.

The next choice for all members was either an Alfred Teapot or Alfred French Press. Although I’ve been curious about french presses for awhile I chose to do the teapot as I do love my tea. It’s not meant to go on the stove but more of a personal use tea pot to poor hot water from a kettle into. It has an infuser with it so I can’t wait to use it! It retails for $26.

The last items that were choice items for all members were the Catherine Malandrino Umbrella in Red Floral or Black/White Floral or the Cylo Cobra Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds in White or Black. I chose the white earbuds because I only have one bluetooth set and it stays at home. I want one for the office as I sometimes want to plug my phone in to charge and have to take off my earbuds for it because it doesn’t have a separate earbud jack. (Google Pixel 2, I still love it!) This item retails for $40 and I can’t wait to try them out.

Next the choice was between three items, and only annual members could pick. For seasonal members it was random. I picked the Grown Alchemist Polishing Facial Exfoliant with Pink Grapefruit and Glucomannan Extract but the other items were also Grown Alchemist. There was also the Hydra-Repair Day Cream in Camellia and Geranium blossom as well as the Hydra-Restore Cream Cleanser with Olive Leaf and Plantago Extract. I have to admit, since I have a ton of skin care already it was hard to pick one because I really didn’t feel I needed any of it but I’m always on the hunt for a good exfoliator so I ended up with that one. The exfoliator retails for $67.

And the last item was also an annual member only choice (or “select” member if we want to be super official about it I guess) was also one that I wasn’t too excited about at first but I’m happy with my choice! I picked the Farmacy Dew It All Total Eye Cream as I had tried a Farmacy product once before that I loved as a sample from my Sephora Play box. The other items were the Touch in Sol Metallist Liquid Foil Lipstick Duo in Penny and the Cuccio Somatology Yogahhh! Detox Bath. When my box arrived I couldn’t remember what I had picked and was getting upset worried I’d picked something else. I was so relieved to see the Farmacy item! It’s smaller than I thought it would be, especially since it retails for $38 but I hope it is good.

My box ended up retailing for $373.99 which is at the higher end of the range ($285-375) for the box. I don’t think that’s too bad! The boxes are priced at $49.99 but is cheaper per box if you get the annual one so it’s always a great value, even if some of the products end up being gifts. I think this one probably has the most items that I want to give away than any box before it but as my mom’s birthday is coming up and Christmas it’s time to start stocking up!

My Add-Ons

Now, when you make your selection for the choice items you can pick to “add” more of the options. I did take advantage of that a bit! So as you can see, I got a few of the other options! First, I grabbed the Red Desert colored Vince Camuto Tote. Again, this retails for $128. I had meant to pick a color and remove the other from my cart but I couldn’t pick so I ended up with both colors. I think I’ll see if my mom or sister want the red desert as I do want to keep the black as a school bag or I’ll keep this as a back up. Just when I wanted to get rid of bags! I have to admit, the bag is a bit flimsy and I do prefer more structured bags, plus the straps are quite short and don’t seem so strong so I’m not sure how effective it’ll be as a school bag but I’m eager to try it.

I also added the Crown Brush 6 Piece Brush Set in Black and Rose Gold. There’s not as much rose gold as I thought but I love the fact that it comes with a case. This retails for $75.

I also got another pair of the Cylo Cobra Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds, but this time I got them in Black. I’d meant to give them away but I might keep these as a back up if I like them enough. Again, they retail for $40.

Lastly, I grabbed the Grown Alchemist Hydra-Reair Day Cream with Camellia and Geranium Blossom. I don’t recall why I added it as it doesn’t have SPF and I prefer my day creams with SPF but I do like that the products are vegan and free of parabens and other controversial ingredients. This retails for $49.

So all the add-ons were $10 each and were valued at $292. Since I paid $40 for them I am impressed and happy with that! If I had to pick again I don’t think I would have gotten the red tote or the day cream but I can’t say I’m disappointed I did pick them as well.

One Year with FabFitFun

So as I mentioned, I’ve been getting the FFF boxes for over a year now as the first box I got was the Fall 2017 box. Here’s so things I’ve noticed have evolved and what I think of the box overall.

I already mentioned the magazine so I won’t go too much into it but I do see a lot more content. The articles always included the products in the box but now I see more articles that highlight only one or two items instead of maybe four or five. I like how nice it looks and feels now so I approve of this change.

There’s one huge problem not only for me, but all members. There are always set days when the online shops open up. Every single time I’ve noticed the site is down for hours the day it opens. The first time I actually wanted to check out a sale I was at Six Flags and thought it was just down because the internet is so bad at the park. However on Twitter it became evident this is a “normal” thing and many people lose items out of their carts, although FFF will say they don’t. It’s disappointing but ultimately I don’t want to spend too much so I am always relieved that all the big ticket items are usually sold out by the time I remember to check back.

One item that is not really and issue is the auto check out. I once mentioned that I had added items to think about purchasing, forgot to remove them by the deadline, and then ended up with a few extra items when I’d planned to pick a few from them. Overall not the end of the world but I definitely learned I have to be careful to watch those deadlines!

One issue I’ve heard of that I never have is regarding shipping. People will complain their boxes ship out late, or they take too long to arrive, etc. I haven’t had an issue, especially since switching to the select membership and this time my box arrived early. I’m fine with the shipping but evidently others aren’t so I’m not sure if it getting to me early is a result of changes to fix it or not. Also, I have seen that now that shipping is open to Canada some members complain they can’t get certain items due to restrictions so while that doesn’t affect me I wanted to note that in case anyone reading is from Canada.

I love that there are more choice categories and not just between two items. When I started getting the boxes I was a seasonal member so I didn’t get many choices anyway but the choices (that I remember anyway) were always between two different products. Now they’re sometimes similar or there’s three choices for the category and such so there’s just more variety. Unfortunately I have noticed that items can be more limited because of it and certain items can sell out. For example, this box I believe both the tote and umbrella sold out so if you had them in your cart already you saw a notice that if you removed them you might not be able to get them back. People said when they did they didn’t get the option to add them back at all so I think FFF allows more people to “buy” them than they have stock for because they know people will drop it at some point and don’t want many extras. However I also heard that people were being contacted that the item they picked wasn’t available so that’s also frustrating. However, at deadlines many people drop items and you can usually still get what you really want, even if it sells out for both add-ons and sales.

I will say some of my favorite things about being an annual select member is that I get early access to the sales and customization as well as more choices. Like I said, some choices are only available for members. And although the website is always down at launch there’s still a time when only annual members can shop. Plus the boxes do ship out earlier. So it’s a lot of pros there and I do think it’s worth it to pay a little extra if you know you want to get more boxes anyway. I think I got two as a seasonal member before upgrading and I am happy I did.

Lastly is the bigger value ranges or item values overall. While the cheaper items will still outweigh the more expensive items I do think the ranges vary a lot more. This time it was nearly $100 when last year it was closer to a $20-30 range I think. It’s interesting to see the variety as well so depending on your preferences you could get one really amazing box!

Overall, FabFitFun is still a ton of, well, fun! I love getting my box and seeing all that I got. While it seems a little excessive and indulgent for someone trying to scale back on items owned, but it’s still enjoyable and it’s nice to get items I perhaps wouldn’t pick for myself otherwise.

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So that’s my Fall 2018 FabFitFun box and my thoughts on the boxes! Let me know if you get the box, and if you do, what did we pick that was the same? If you don’t have your own FabFitFun box, click the link so you can get $10 off your first box and I get a little something too!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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