My Little Garden Box – April 2017

The British boxed versions of the My Little Boxes felt like a huge delayed reaction compared to other parts of Europe this month. I was getting itchy feet and looked on Instagram, and saw the French and German boxes had arrived a whole week before what the UK ones did. I’m not sure what the reason behind this was, but it was an unusually long gap.

My Little Box have half killed it this month, half left me feeling a little bitter. They killed it on the lifestyle items so let’s start there with a positive. I’d already taken peeks and seen reviews before my box had arrived, but the first thing that struck me was that this box was unusually heavy. I love the design of this months box, although is it me, she isn’t in a garden, it looks more like a park? I guess My Little Park Box didn’t have the same ring to it.

The box was sans-print this month but instead was replaced with a monthly fruit and veg calendar to tell you when produce is in season. I’ve stuck this onto my fridge for now as it’s quite a pretty little list, but I can’t get half that stuff in my supermarket or local market, so it’s probably not going to provide much use in the long term for me, as much as I’d like it too.

Tucked underneath was a magnetic shopping list pad, which is also described as containing a few healthy recipes nestled throughout. We always use these for making lists of things to do in the week or stuff we need to pick up from the shops and they never seem too easy to find.

Next a wear it your way small scarf in a pretty green and navy print with a floral botanical design. The scarf is a little too small for me to wear as a scarf, I can’t pull off that whole chic neck scarf look, but I’m intrigued as using it for one of the other suggestions, a bag scarf, head band or a bun tie are all more likely ways I’ll wear this. This isn’t the nicest quality scarf we’ve had in a MLB, it feels a little rough and almost napkin-esque. I’m sure I’ll find a way to use it, even if it’s just for blog picture props.

One of the items I was most excited for online was a water bottle fruit infuser. I already have one of these at home which is a glass one (water just takes better out of a glass), but this one will be handy for carrying around more and travel. It’s got a bright and fun design on it, although could had definitely been more gardeny to fit in with the theme.

Lastly for the non beauty items, there was a lack of Ape Coconut Bites, described as crispy and crunchy natural snacks. I’m not a huge fan of coconut, especially raw or dried, but I’ll give them ago as I can only actually feel about 3 pieces inside!


Something wasn’t quite fitting in the pouch this month!

Onto the more disappointing part, the Beauty products – stand alone each of these items aren’t too bad, but together they’re hard to get excited about as a collective. It’s Cream City at My Little Box once again!

First up the culprit for making the box so heavy. A full size item, a rarity in My Little Box other than their own products. This is from the brand Mixa, and is a sensitive skin restorative body moisturiser. I think most people will know I’m not a big body moisturizer, it’s a part of my routine I’ve done well at if I do it more than twice a month. A full size, but a budget product with a £6.49 price tag. This is described as For very dry skin (not me) but has quite a light almost sun cream type texture, which wouldn’t actually strike me as nourishing enough for drier skins.

Next up was the new My Little Beauty item of the month, with their vitamin shot face scrub. Made with bamboo extract, apricot seeds and Argan oil – this sounds nice and nourishing. This is a bright orange gel which doesn’t have much of a scent, despite all the fresh sounding ingredients, but it’s one of the more interesting My Little Beauty items we’ve seen in a while

Lastly, the Easy Morning Moisturiser, you’re thinking you’ve seen this before and you’re right. This is now the third time I’ve received this product now. I didn’t like it the first time and I don’t like it the third time. The U.K. Boxes this month seem to have all received the first two items with a mixture of left over My Little Beauty products. When I compare this to the other versions of the box from other countries that makes me angry as they have a much nicer product selection and no repeats. I get that there’s problems with circulating the same products and brands everywhere, but compatibly, they don’t feel equal. I only received this for the second time in January, and now a third tube of it. Argh.

I feel like at this moment in time I’d be more keen on My Little Box if they killed off the three beauty items every month. And maybe just included one or two strong items and stopped including small samples & repeats, replacing with an extra lifestyle item. When I complained about the repeat back in January of the same item I got a generic, “people liked it so we resent it” response and they only have previously sent a replacement for a duplicate once I’d replied from my blog email. I reached out yesterday morning and already had a response by the afternoon with an almost identical response. They again said look out in my letterbox as they ‘may’ send something out as an apology (you read the May right, maybe they will maybe they won’t).

Whilst I’ve emailed them again and said how disappointing it is to have had the same product for a third time, I don’t actually want a replacement despite the offer of one, I want them to do it right in the first place. What started off as a box I was excited about from the lifestyle made me mad by the end of seeing that bloody moisturiser again. A replacement product a week or so later will never relieve the initial disappointment. I miss the days of Essie nail polishes, La Roche Posay BB Creams and Kerastase Hair products. There feels to be a lack of variety, and creativity on the beauty side of things, which is a world away from the lifestyle items as someone who subscribes to get a mix of both, as neither alone warrants the cost of the box for me, collectively it has to be a good show.

If you’d like to see what the French Version of the MLB looks like this month click here, please head over to my good friend Joyce’s blog – she currently is living in Paris and has a lovely travel blog, with a few beauty posts here and there too. (Warning serious wanderlust will occur).

If you’d like to see all the UK unboxings of My Little Box, I’ve been subbed since day 1 – you can find them all here!

What do you think of this months box?

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Helpless Whilst Drying

Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com

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31 Comments

  1. April 19, 2017 / 7:41 am

    Sending the same product for the 3rd time sounds strange, especially when the product is not good enough…

  2. Sherry
    April 19, 2017 / 9:20 am

    Ahhh, this one is so different compared to last months and reminds why I haven’t yet subscribed. I agree with you on the most part of this, I’d only be excited by the water bottle this month. How annoying about having the same product for the third time and not even three months later! Sort it out My Little Box!

  3. April 19, 2017 / 12:28 pm

    O no, Rachael~~ 3rd time in a row!!! Honestly, what were they thinking?!?!? That’s not cool at all. I still haven’t tried that creme yet. I can only imagine what’s your creme situation is like with all those boxes that you’ve got.

    I agree with you on the foulard. I still haven’t figured out how to use that thing either. It may work well to protect your MK Selma bag? I’ve dried rubbed the foulard, the colour doesn’t come off; so the quality isn’t all lost.

    **I’m having huge problems accessing my blog at the moment. You know all about my moving drama. *LOL* Hopefully the IT man will sort it out this week. I am losing sleep, I swear.

    • April 19, 2017 / 12:41 pm

      I tried putting it on my bag but it’s so rigid in texture it didn’t hang right! I’m thinking of putting it in the wash to see if will help soften the starchy texture it seems to have.
      I haven’t finished the first one up, I probably never will, so a second and a third. 😡😡😡 so annoying!
      Fingers crossed they can sort it soon for you, what’s the problem the domain transfer? X

      • April 19, 2017 / 1:46 pm

        Washing is a fab idea!

        Hey, maybe you can do a “My little beauty” cream giveaway? I haven’t even started using mine yet. There were so many cremes in all the boxes since 2015.

        I have no idea what’s the problem with the domain. I guess that’s my main issue? It looks like only my homepage is working and all my menu links are going berserk. Even my “header” is acting up on me *sigh* Yes, I need lots of luck.

        • April 19, 2017 / 2:12 pm

          Sounds really odd! I have thought about that the second tube ended up in the giveaway bin, I just feel a bit odd giving away a product I don’t actually like all that much!?

          • April 19, 2017 / 2:15 pm

            Hm… or you can ask some bbloggers if they want to try it out? A friend perhaps? It’s better that than it expiring?

            (aw, I really hope that we get to meet up one day and we can do ridiculous tourist photos in Paris)

          • April 19, 2017 / 2:16 pm

            Yeah I thought about giving one to my Mum, she enjoys my cast offs! I am aiming to come to Paris next year, I will keep you posted!

  4. April 19, 2017 / 2:06 pm

    3 times?! That’s a bit ridiculous really! Such a shame as the box looks lovely (great for photos!) and the lifestyle products look really cool. Seems like the beauty element is bringing them down slightly – although the scrub sounds like it would be nice to try out! xx

    • April 19, 2017 / 2:14 pm

      Thanks Ella, I love the photos from this post, they turned out better than I was hoping late last night!
      I agree the beauty side is slipping, the only thing I’m excited about is the scrub! The lifestyle bits are nice, but not enough on their own to be worth the £15 cost of the box!

  5. April 19, 2017 / 4:17 pm

    That water bottle / fruit infuser is such a good idea!
    The face scrub sounds good – I’m still so impressed they have their own brand of products.
    Sucks they keep resending the same moisturizer to you. That’s a sure fire way to cause people to unsubscribe. I mean, unless people LOVE it and use it up and it’s a replenishment.
    “We MAY apologize but don’t hold you breath” 🙄

  6. April 19, 2017 / 4:30 pm

    I looove the packaging of the box, even if it’s not that garden-y. The water bottle is probably the most interesting thing out of this box to me, the design on that is super cute. The face scrub sounds nice, too!
    How lame that they’ve sent you the same thing three times! Twice is one time too many, three times is unacceptable.

  7. April 19, 2017 / 5:19 pm

    Ugh, this box looks so cute but I can’t believe they sent you the same product 3x. That’s terrible. I’d be ticked off if it was just 2x! It’s not that freaking hard to store all this info in a database – are they not doing this or do they just not care if you get the same product again?

    The scarf is so pretty but shame that it doesn’t seem nice quality. I always have to stop myself from buying adorable scarves since I never really use them for anything. I don’t tie them on bags, in my hair, or even really wear them. But they’re SO PRETTY.

    • April 19, 2017 / 9:24 pm

      I know what you mean, I’m a wooly scarf gal or a pashmina at best, anything this size is just too weird for me to figure out what to do with it!
      I sent them a really long email last night after I’d finished up my editing my review and raised all my thoughts on how the service had changed and they’ve actually wrote back a really thoughtful email today replying to my points, I can’t fault their customer service on that side of things, but essentially I did ask about how they were cycling products and keeping things on record and they don’t, I pointed out I’d be annoyed if I had the same product three times in three years but I could live with it( but to have it three times in a year, and you only get 3 items a month? Too repetitive!
      Reason number 103758201 why I’ll never be sent this box to review despite the fact my reviews are always top of google. I’m just too honest haha.

  8. April 19, 2017 / 8:25 pm

    I keep thinking I’ll subscribe to this and then I see boxes like this that make me think twice. I’ll probably wait until they’ve got the UK one up to the standard of the others beauty wise as the lifestyle things seem to be amazing but the beauty sometimes let’s then down.

    • April 19, 2017 / 9:29 pm

      When I first subbed it was just the U.K. And French editions, it’s a shame that they seem to have let the U.K. One slip to the bottom of the pile almost as an afterthought. It feels like we get what ever is left after the other countries have had their share!
      I found out today they don’t have any kind of database for what people have had in the past, so there’s nothing to stop this cycling issue if they are going to keep resenting out repeats 👎🏽
      Most of the time their lifestyle bits are great, but sometimes it can feel like a box of crap (the mountains box springs to mind or the Brooklyn box last year) it can be such an up and down box for me

  9. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    April 20, 2017 / 10:15 pm

    This is such a gorgeous design! you got some good products in here too theyre really decent sizes! xxx

  10. April 21, 2017 / 9:04 pm

    I was sick of seeing repeat offenders in beauty boxes which is why I have unsubscribed to so many of them. They smashed it with the box itself and the lifestyle bits but its so annoying that they have sent you something the same for the third time!! .xo

  11. April 23, 2017 / 8:28 pm

    I am sure as hell that I’ve commented and liked this post… but my WP reader is not showing this. I’m just adding this “spam” comment for good measures 😛

  12. April 25, 2017 / 9:17 pm

    Your experience is exactly the kind of thing that puts me off subscribing to these kind of boxes. I’m not really a gambler and I like to know exactly what I’ve purchased so I would be really annoyed if I’d spent my money on something I didn’t like or had already had before! This is a really great, informative review though.

    • April 26, 2017 / 4:34 pm

      Thank you! I’ve been subscribed too long that I can’t unattached myself – it’s like a friend I’ve had in my life for years, and we’ve outgrown each other/have nothing in common but for some reason I still make the effort to see them monthly!
      Luckily this one isn’t too pricey!
      xx

  13. May 4, 2017 / 11:30 pm

    I have thought of signing up to this in the past but the more I see the boxes the less excited I get about them, they are reasonably nice but just don’t excite me! x

  14. May 21, 2017 / 12:29 am

    I wish they ship to US since they looks cute and have some brands I cannot find easily around. It really turns me off when you said they sent you same items multiple times. Well, those maybe very good items but what’s the point to subscribe? I mean I thought most people subscribe to a box for trying new things.

  15. May 25, 2017 / 9:54 pm

    And they say 3rd time lucky… love your blog Rachel!

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