It’s that time again! Another quarter has passed, another Fab Fit Fun box has been received. I used some birthday money last quarter to pay in full for another year up front, so that takes the box cost from $50 per box to $45. Since I did a year subscription, it upped me to the “Select Member” status so I was able to customize a few more items in this quarter’s box. I also have been trying out all the products the last few days so that I could have an opinion of them alongside a general description. Let’s dive in!
First up are three items that were in every FFF box:
Aveda Damage Remedy daily hair repair. It’s infused with quinoa protein, macadamia oil, and soy and it instantly repairs and protects your hair from heat styling up to 450 degrees! (All product info I pull either from the packaging itself or the Fab Fit Fun magazine that comes inside the box which lists all product info as well as retail prices.) It retails for $30 for 3.4 oz. I’ve owned and used this product before and I do enjoy it. If you use it too much it’ll weigh your hair down, but only if you have baby-fine hair like me.
Next up was the Harper + Ari Exfoliating Sugar Cubes in the scent “Juice Cleanse.” These individual sugar cubes help exfoliate and nourish your skin in the shower and smell really nice like a combination of kiwi, pineapple, and green apples. I’ve used them only once so far, and while they do exfoliate like a mother fucker, they are almost too big. I had exfoliated nearly every inch of my skin and still had some to spare so I had to crush it up small so it would go down the shower drain. If I could change anything about these, it would be that they disintegrate a bit easier or were a tad smaller. They retail for $16
Next up is Human + Kind Creme Souffle. It’s a blend of apricot oil and shea butter and retails for $18. I like this body cream a lot because it’s hydrating but easy to rub in and it smells great!
Skin&Co Roma Truffle Therapy Face Toner: This was an item I selected as a “select member” and it retails for $30. My other choice could have been Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks which retail for $25 but I chose the toner frankly because I am almost out of my Kiehl’s cucumber toner.
While I’ve worked out every day since receiving my FFF box, I’ve only remembered to use this little shit once so far. It sounds a bit like a gimmick to me because it claims to give you “tighter smoother skin” if you apply it pre-workout. It’s by Skinvolve and is a Body Boost Gel made of green tea, ginseng, and menthol. It just made me smell like an old lady wearing Bengay. For retailing at $45 a tube, it better tighten some skin over time!! Hell, it better make me dinner too while it’s at it.
This product intrigued me and I’ll be honest, I’ve only remembered to use it once so far, so I don’t have a strong opinion of it. It’s Cosmedix Pure C Vitamin C Mixing Crystals. It retails for $54 per jar and it adds a dose of 100% pure ascorbic acid (ascorbic acid is a 100% water soluble vitamin C) to your nighttime serum or moisturizer. I mixed it in with my nighttime face cream and while one dose isn’t enough to gauge by, I didn’t notice anything crazy. On the plus side I have extremely sensitive skin so it’s a win in my book that it didn’t give me any weird reactions.
The most expensive item in my FFF box this quarter was the Amika Strand Perfect Ceramic Styler. It has 100% ceramic plates to help glide through hair and generate safe and even heat for shiny, smooth hair. Now I may sound like a real bitch here, but I didn’t like it. I used it once and I will say, it does not glide through my hair nearly as smooth as my Chi Straightening iron. The Chi one also has 100% ceramic plates but just seems to glide through like butter which the Amika one did not on me. I don’t really use straighteners on my hair anymore anyways as it’s just one more step I don’t waste time on in the morning. Plus my hair has a lot of natural wave to it so I either curl it with a curling iron or scrunch it and let it air dry. Why go against the grain, right? If any of you friends or neighbors out there reading this want this iron, I’ll give it to you for free! And it retails at $80!
Probably my favorite item in this quarter’s FFF box was this adorable Kate Spade Lunch tote. It retails for $30 and is insulated and the perfect size. I realize as a stay-at-home mom that a lunch tote seems fucking ridiculous. But when I do go back to work, I’ll be packing my lunch in this adorable little shit. I love anything by Kate Spade and this lunch bag is no exception.
I did one add-on product this go-round for an additional $10. When you go to choose your customization items, if you’re really stuck between two items, you can have both for an extra ten bucks. I was torn between the Kate Spade lunch tote and these NassifMD Detox Pads. So I got both. These wipes retail for $45 (although I found them on Amazon for $27 plus $6 shipping) and they exfoliate and firm your skin while reducing the appearance of lines and wrinkles. They do seem to do as they claim, but it’s a short-term effect for sure. My fine lines seemed more diminished after using these pads but were back to how they always look just a couple hours later.
Other items I could have chosen during customization: A Plush Ultra Soft Plaid Scarf, an Anthropologie Travel Yoga Mat, a Kut From the Kloth slim striped wallet, or a Twine Cheese Board with Plate. In lieu of the Vitamin C crystals or body boost gel that FFF picked for me, I could have also gotten these items: The Better Skin Co. Lava Magik mask, Baublebar Farah Ear Crawlers, Epare Dual Salt and Pepper Mill, Afterspa Hair Towel Wrap, Trestique Mini Eye Essentials set of 4 eye pencils, or Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Roller Ball.
My first customization was actually a Mobile White Advanced Teeth Whitening Kit that retailed for $89, however after selecting this item during my customization period, I got an email back from FFF saying they pulled this item from their options because of a defect. But I would have done the whitening kit over the detox pads or lunch tote, just because I like to whiten my teeth every couple of years. To be honest, Crest White strips do just as great of a job as professional whitening treatments. A few years back, my husband and I each bought a Groupon for an hour long professional teeth whitening treatment and the girl working there flat out told me my teeth were already damn white and we’d be lucky to get them even one shade whiter. While that may sound like good news, I was fucking pissed I had spent money on the Groupon to be told my teeth wouldn’t get much whiter. Ha!
My overall impression with this quarter’s box was pleasant as always. I do like when they throw in home goods or jewelry and I could have easily had a couple of those items if I had chosen them over some of the beauty products. If nothing catches my eye during customization, I tend to pick the item that would cost the most figuring I wouldn’t normally drop that kind of cash on a cream, or detox wipe, or hair product. My box tallied up to $348 and cost me $55 if you include the $10 add-on product. If I hadn’t done that product, my FFF box would have been worth $303 while costing me $45. Not a bad deal!!! If any of you ever want to try it, I can send you a free “starter box” with a few full-size items in it, just say the word!
