Fancy Box March 2014

 

 

My March Fancy Box Goodies

My second fancy box has arrived! This is the regular March fancy box, as opposed to a celebrity curated version, so I got to choose the categories. I picked Kids, Home & Gadgets.

After having mixed feelings about my Jennifer Love-Hewitt Box (I loved all the items but was disappointed that the total value was less than promised) I was more than a little nervous to find out what was in store for the regular version, so here goes. In total I received 6 items.

Change Tray by BLUE&CREAM 

$45 on fancy.com

$45 on http://www.blueandcream.com

Available in the UK?      No
Keep, Gift or Sell?         Gift


I actually got the coco chanel slogan which I much prefer over the one that's featured on the fancy card. #thatshatcray means nothing to me! Any explanation in the comments would be gratefully received!

This is a handy item. I'm not quite sure about the $45 dollar price tag as it feels like a mass produced item, whereas if it was a handmade, one off it would be more valuable to me. The description does says it's handcrafted, so hmmmm. This is going in the present box for now as I don't think it would have much of a resale value but the right person will enjoy it.  I think I'm only a little disappointed as this is the big ticket item in this box and I don't love it.

Bottle Light LED Cork

$15 on fancy.com

approx $16 at http://www.suck.uk.com

Available in the UK?     Yes!
Keep, Gift or Sell?         Keep

Now this is cool! This is a little cork that you can put into any bottle and instantly turns it into a bottle light! This will be perfect for eating and drinking outside which we love to do. It will be great for taking on holiday too, on a night out on the balcony/beach/mountain just whack this is in an empty and your have the perfect romantic setting.  What I love about this is that it recharges via USB, which is really neat! I'm glad I found a UK source for these online as I'm definitely going to order more!

Toy Boarders

$10 on fancy.com

$5.95 on http://toyboarders.com

Available in the UK?     No
Keep, Gift or Sell?         Gift


I added the kids category as  I wanted to get a stash of gifts for my younger relatives and these fit the bill perfectly. They are pretty cute, like the little soldiers from toy story but they are all on skateboards! The packaging looks a little pound shop, I think it's meant to be retro, but I will probably repackage these up and turn them into a premium gift. The cue card suggests using them in your photography but that seems strange. Maybe I'll keep one for myself and see if I can find some ways to get creative!

 

 SMS Sticky Notes

$7 on fancy.com

approx $5 on http://www.suck.uk

Available in the UK?      Yes
Keep, Gift or Sell?          Keep

These are a media item, which isn't in my chosen categories but nonetheless they are a handy little item that will definitely get some use! Pretty explanatory, what else can I say!

Mason Shaker

$28 on fancy.com

$29 http://www.masonshaker.com

Available in the UK?      Yes
Keep, Gift or Sell?          Keep/Gift?

I absolutely love this item, it's cute, practical and stylish. I also love that this is a product born from a kickstarter project. It seems bigger in real life than in the fancy picture. I would definitely say it's bigger than just a single serve. Now comes the dilemma. I love this item but I just got the mixing pitcher in my Jennifer Love Hewitt box so should I keep this or gift it on - I know plenty of people who would also love this, especially those into vintage kitchen and barware, and it is really nicely packaged. You can buy them in the UK but they are quite expensive (nearly $60 was the cheapest I found and amazon UK had them at a price equivalent to over $150!) so it's a real great value item to me!

Cuppow

$ 9 on fancy.com

$ 9 on http://www.cuppow.com
Available in the UK?      Yes

Wow, I love that those fancy people included this item to go with the mason shaker. It really shows some thought behind the curation. At first I didn't really understand how it worked, but once I figured it out, this is such a handy item to have. I really don't think I'm going to be able to gift my Mason Shaker now it just turned into a to-go drinks container!

Overall Stats & Conclusion

Box Retail Price $56 shipped to the UK
Coupon Code Used: FOLLOWUP10
Actual Cost:  $52.10
Fancy.com Value $114
Cheapest Online Value: $108

Hit or Miss?      Ding Ding Ding!!!


This box had fantastic value, there isn't anything that I don't like, and I absolutely love 3 of the items!! Although it was interesting that a few of the products were actually from a UK company,  I feel it is worthwhile to subscribe and pay the international shipping rate as I received other products which are only available in the US, or are much more expensive over here.

I will definitely resubscribe for next month. As far as the categories go I think I will keep them the same for the next box.  I understand that last month was woman/man-centric, this month was obviously very home-orientated and so I'm hoping next month will concentrate on gadgets as there haven't been any items from that category for a while now.

If you are interested to buy any of the items from Fancy or subscribe here's the picture link grid! Or if you already subscribe, be sure to leave a message in the comments and tell me what you got.


and don't forget, use FOLLOWUP10 for a 10% Discount.

Well that hit the spot....  

What a great box, and I'm so relieved as I was a little naughty and I have also now signed up for the Tyler Florence Box! After the missing food item in the Jennifer Love-Hewitt box I had a conversation with the very friendly Fancy CS peeps and they explained that for the Tyler Florence Box there is an 'International Version' which TF chooses extras to substitute out the food items that the US subscribers receive... well that got me curious! So this should be my next box. I'm expecting delivery around the 1st April and will be sure to share what I get shortly after!

Jennifer Love-Hewitt Fancy Box February 2014 Update

All credit to the customer service team at fancy. They replied almost instantly to my e-mail regarding the under $80 value of my Jennifer Love-Hewitt Fancy Box. As I suspected, the missing item of "CC Made Caramel Corn" was not shipped due to customs regulations. So to make up for this they have issued me with a $10 gift card!

I'm very pleased with this result, and as it pushes my box value over $80 I feel justified in continuing my subscription, yay!

Fancy Gift Card

For my original review of the February 2014 Jennifer Love-Hewitt Fancy Box click here. 

Stick around....  

I think my regular fancy box will arrive around March 20th, so hopefully I should have another review up for you in roughly two weeks. 

Jennifer Love-Hewitt Fancy Box February 2014

Looking a little battered and bruised, here it is!

Well as this is my first ever FancyBox and my first ever Jennifer Love-Hewitt Fancy Box I'm more than a little excited to get started and share with you what I received, so let's jump straight to it!

Inside I found 3 items along with cute little cards from Jennifer explaining why she picked the items.

365 Movie Icons Hardcover Book

$30 on fancy.com

$25.76 on amazon.com

Available in the UK?      Yes
Keep, Gift or Sell?          Keep!

This is the perfect coffee table book for our family, we love films and are always looking to discover new and old classics to watch. We will definitely get good use out of this.

Drifter Socks by Richer Poorer

$12 on fancy.com

$12 on richer-poorer.com

Available in the UK?       No
Keep, Gift or Sell?           Keep!

Well I would never normally spend $12 on a single pair of socks but these are a good fit, feel excellent quality and I like the colour and design. Pretty stylish as far as socks go. As instructed by Jennifer, I'm saving these for our next movie night!

Final Touch Yari Mixing Pitcher with Hawthorne strainer

$ unlisted on fancy.com
$29.95 on barproducts.com

Available in the UK?      No
Keep, Gift or Sell?         KEEP!!

I absolutely love this. I'm a massive fan of cocktails and this handy pitcher is just the perfect size to mix up a small batch without needing a special occasion! I've never seen anything like this before and I hunted around and couldn't find any UK stockists of Final Touch products, which makes this an extra special item for me! It feels extremely well made and expensive, the glass has an etched design which as well as making it practical (non-slip) to hold, it looks very...well, fancy! I'm guessing it is also extremely sturdy as it survived the trip from the US with minimal packaging.

Overall Stats & Conclusion

Box Retail Price $56 shipped to the UK
Coupon Code Used: FOLLOWUP10
Actual Cost US $52.10
Fancy.com Value $72 (assuming $30 value for mixing pitcher)
Cheapest Online Value: $67.71
Number of Items not available in UK: 2/3
Hit or Miss?  Hit!

From Jennifer's comments on why she choose the products it seems this box has a movie night theme (right in time for the Oscars), which I love, and I'm extremely pleased with all the items I got. Having said that two little things are taking the edge off for me....

1. The US subscribers also got an extra item of some caramel popcorn. I'm guessing that for import reasons fancy can't ship food items internationally but I'm a bit miffed that they don't make this clear or offer a substitute item or store credit.

2. With or without the popcorn, the box value falls short of the advertised $80+ worth of products. Sure, I got more than I paid, but if you tell me I'm going to get $80 worth of stuff I'm going to be disappointed if I get less than $80 worth, right!  In the UK this would be an illegal trading practice (misleading advertising). I have no idea if the US has similar consumer protection.

I've fired an email off to the fancy people and depending on how they respond I will make a decision whether to keep my subscription. I'm otherwise really happy and think it's great value but I don't like that they don't delivery on their claims.


If you want to order your own Jennifer Love-Hewitt fancybox or any of the items featured, feel free to use my referral links:

and don't forget, use the FOLLOWUP10 Coupon Code for a 10% Discount.

I'll be back....  

Due to the way the billing/subscription cycle works it is already too late to cancel my JLH Box #2, so I'll definitely receive the March Box, probably around 5th April. I expect my regular FancyBox to show up before then, around the middle of March.

What I've Fancy'd

So today I got a Fancy mobile app notification, and a text message, and an e-mail (can't accuse those Fancy people of not keeping you informed!) to let me know that my first Jennifer Love Hewitt Box has been dispatched. Very Exciting!!

I am a little puzzled. When I ordered the description stated this box is dispatched on the 30th of the month so I'm not sure if this box is early, whether I'm receiving last months box or whether this is the rumoured JLH 'Welcome box' - which is a collection of past items sent to new subscribers in place of the usual months box. Time will tell...

Jennifer looks worried?!

Whilst I'm awaiting my first box arrival I've been exploring what else the Fancy website has to offer.

Fancy.com allows you to browse their entire catalogue of products along with items added by other Fancy.com users. As most of the products are prohibitively expensive to ship to the UK, (shipping costs are per item) I'm not tempted to splurge too much - but it is a really neat tool for window shopping, which I love!

You can save items by clicking on the 'Fancy' button and selecting which list to add the item to.  I have no idea if this information is considered when your box contents are assembled but it is fun to discover new items, get gift ideas and assemble wish lists for yourself. There are also a tonne of stylish (and very expensive)  furniture items, luxury holiday ideas and even recipe and craft tips so a little bit of everything really.

If I was based in the US, it would be an extremely useful one stop shop and I would definitely go ahead and buy soooo many items direct from Fancy... as it is, I'm just going to wait and see if they'll ever turn up in my boxes!

Here's a selection of some of the items I've got my eye on.

Referral Link

If you have enjoyed my post and would like to check out Fancy.com please feel free to use my referral link:

 

and don't forget, use the Coupon Code FOLLOWUP10 for a 10% discount.

.... Fancy

This blog is to record and chart my journey as a UK subscriber to FancyBox.

What is FancyBox?

A US based monthly subscription box service similar to the beauty boxes such as Birch Box or Glossy Box. Instead of Beauty Samples items are selected from a range of categories including Home, Gadgets, Media, Men, Women & Kids and are all available through the Fancy.com shop. Although the service is US based it is available worldwide.

Each month you are subscribed Fancy.com will send you a box containing a selection of items available from their store based on your interests and completed profile.  The exact contents are not known but the value of the items is guaranteed to be at least $80. To me it seems like you receive a cool surprise gift every month, except for you have to pay for it!

How Much Does it Cost?

$39 + $17 shipping to the UK 
(Shipping within the US is $8)
Using current Exchange Rates I  calculate this as around £33

 

Coupon Code

Use the Coupon Code FOLLOWUP10  for a 10% discount off the subscription price.
(Expiry date unknown)

 

Referral Link

If you have enjoyed my post and would like to check out Fancy.com please feel free to use my referral link:

 




I have signed up for both the Regular and Jennifer Love-Hewitt Fancy Boxes.

I'm expecting my first box around 5th March 2014, so stay tuned!