Project Candy Box: May 2015 Review

Birchbox May 2015

BirchBox is a sample beauty box that arrives every month. 

This month has a gorgeous box. Way better than the plain brown last month. 

Anything that says "Cupcakes" is an absolute win.

This card looks so pretty! It's supporting the second book by Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Here's the important information of what's inside. 

There's my BirchBox, but uh-ho! I see a wee mess.

Benefit It's Potent! I was wanting to try this, and I love the sample sizes. $8.

BeeKind Body Lotion. This smells great and is a very light lotion. It's a 30 mL sample, $2.38.

Number 4 Non-aerosol Hair Sprary. 1 oz sample, estimated value $5.10. This is a perfect size for travel, and I'm looking forward to using this. 

Whish Shave Cream, 22 mL sample, estimated value $3.23.

I'm a bit disappointed my lip crayon exploded but the mess could have been waaaay worse. This is half a full size, value $11. 

My May BirchBox had a total of ~$29.71. As seems to be the case for BirchBox, it's skin care heavy. What I like is that I'm going to try all of these products and many are ones that wouldn't have caught my eye. Please use my link if you're looking to try BirchBox. 

What did you get this month? How are you liking BirchBox Canada?

I think it might just be dead...

Or is it? If it charges, I'll still be able to use it to read webpages or the last app opened ...

My debt update

Another one bites the dust!

As of the end of the month, I'll be able to pay off my final student loan. :D

It's been 9 years since I graduated from my undergrad and 5 since my graduate degree. I suspect it would have been in better credit rating interest to take a few more months to pay it off, but I think the feeling of finally getting it done is more important.

That means, I'm down to two major debts. A personal loan and a line of credit. I want to get networth zero. I want to start rebuilding. I want to be a great role model. I want to feel the freedom (and pride) of getting myself back. I want to build my emergency funds.

The orders from .. my spending spree are almost done arriving. It's kinda beautiful a bunch of short and long TAT's can make a couple splurging week last months. I think I'll have a few more haul posts, then hopefully I'll get to reviewing and comparing it all. I also hope I'll be able to step up more work out game, and share that too. It's great to go back and read what I thought. It's what I will be relying on as I want to (and need to) cut my subscriptions down. I think I'll be cutting the major boxes but for the one that is prepaid, and I'll decide after June which 1 (maybe 2) indie subscription box I will keep. I think I'll let my quarterly boxes go, and I'll probably decline My Maven until my birthday. It's going to be a time for me to see which products I have and see what I can use up.

After I start getting this weight off via debt, I hope I can lose weight too. I am dying to sort my clothes, but I am not ready to admit this is my true weight. It must be less. I want to be what I weighted before. My plan is then to continue to declutter, aim for minimalism and focus on my wardrobe. More on this later.

My aim assuming I can sell some more clothes, stick to a very lean budget, control my spending impulses (hello much less time on the internet!) is that I pay off 70% of my line of credit before my birthday. Stretch goal? All of it.

Then I'll just have to focus on the last debt before I start gunning for savings.

xoxo

Topbox May 2015

Yup, nailed the fast shipping again. About five hours after my email indicating the box had shipped it was at my door.

Topbox is a Canadian beauty subscription box where for $12 plus taxes, 4 samples or deluxe samples are sent to your door. 

I had the option to add-on a mystery gift for $10 plus taxes and I couldn't resist. I just know that I am going to get something amazing one day. This time I got MeMeMe Seventh Heaven moisturizing primer. This doesn't have SPF and has a strong scent so I'm not over the moon about it. But I was considering buying a full size of one of my matte-efying primers so maybe it's at the right time? It looks to be about 17 pounds, so about $23 Canadian? .. SPF would have been amazing.

Oh no, more Eslor samples? 

Yup, more Elsor. I like their products, but I feel like these foil packets have been everywhere. The first set I received complete, I loved all four products. This is my third with this set and I have other masks that I like. I'll use it, grumbling. $15 ish.

Perk up dry shampoo (also a repeat, $9ish), LA Splash in a grey ($7.99) and Prevage, a facial serium (5 mL sample, about $21). 

Here's my May Topbox. I estimate the value to be about $42, most of that in face products.

What did you get this month?

Treatsbox Epic May Review

I love getting Candy in my mailbox! Here's the EPIC treats box for May. 

Wonderfully labelled box to get a person excited.

Delicately wrapped.

The CANDY!!!@@@!!

Nerds rope, sesame crunch, and forkz. Maybe I've been eating too healthy (or too unhealthy) as these didn't deliver in the taste department like I hoped. 

Junior Caramels, All Natural nuggets and Livewires. Gone immediately, surprising soft and chewy, and a good hardy candy.

OMG, A Charleston chew! And a chicken leg. So good. The shockers are in my car, and one is enough to suck on a time.

Cry baby gum, more shockers and gum and a lollipop.

Chips? I don't remember getting those ;) More duplicates to make up the epic box.

Just a show to show how annoying I find the little candys and the filler paper. Just put more soft candies in! ;)

The rest of the smaller items. Lots of great stuff here.

One epic shot of all the candy in the May Epic Box. With shipping, this was about $50. I'm wanting to start losing the baby weight so I might have to hid what little remains to only allow myself and my family a tiny bit. 

Like so:

Left out the Nerds Rope and the Old Dutch chips for today's snack :)

I do like this box, and I think it's a great gift idea for singles, couples or families. I would get a box like this for work where I could bring the snacks into my office, tuck them away in a drawer and use in cases of brain blood sugar emergencies. 

Fortune Cookie Soap - Summer 2015 Soap Box - Straight On Till Morning

Fortune Cookie Soap Box is a sample box sent out quarterly of the new collections for that season. As usual, I feel like I am the last to get them as I'm up here in cold ol' Canada. The box plus shipping is $28 per quarter.

Such a pretty feather. I feel like the popularity has grown so much for these boxes.

I love this soap and it smells great too!

These are the scents I'm not as keen on. I don't love pineapples, and these have those kind of summer smells. I like the idea of the two-phase perfume and I would be interested in what other scents will be in this form. I will be testing these out, and I know I'll be using all of the scrub and lotion.

These are the scents I really don't like for the crazy strong pineapple. The Kiss is nice, I love the size actually, and it feels waxy. This might be great for the summer. I've also tossed the deodorant in my bag. The exception, I really like the steamer scent. I will be using it when I can get some me-time.

$28 U.S. for Canadians is getting a bit harder to budget with the current exchange rates. I do love the products. And each box comes with a coupon code to save $10  .. which every time has gotten me back to make a purchase... That I do love. Meaning, the temptation of how wonderful the Fortune Cookie Soap company makes this box dangerous for my budget. :) 

Here's the summer box! I'm really looking forward to the fall box as last year it was amazing and autumn scents seem to be my jam. I've already paid for it as I'm super early in the billing cycle, and I will see if I can resist spending my gift code until I really really know what I want.

How do you like your soap box? How do you balance buying soap online without over spending or hoarding? Do you like to switch your scents seasonally?