We're Still Here!

I can't speak for Felicia, but I'm still here. My grandfather has been in poor health over the past few weeks and passed away a few days ago, so my mind hasn't exactly been on this blog, but I will return in time. Possibly with some soppy writing to help me come to terms (not sure, I have trouble saying personal stuff about people).

-E.S.

May 2014 Taste For Sweets Review

My Taste For Sweets box came already!

My roomate's cat approves of this box. Either that or he was just wanting his picture taken, I don't know.

First look

The paper is glittery this month instead of white.

This was the biggest item this month. It's an Ulker Dankek cake from Turkey. It's chocolate orange. I'm assuming it's not lacto vegetarian-friendly, but it has my dad's name all over it.

Once again, I don't trust this item as being lacto-vegetarian friendly, but it's a strawberry cream cake from Japan.

As I've said, I'm a little loose on the egg part of my moral-based diet. This is a Dobryanka from Turkey, and despite the "egg powder" in it, I gave it a try. It was, by far, the best candy I've had in a Taste For Sweets box. It also had the ingredients printed on it in English, which is always a plus.

This candy was also amazing! It's translates to "Cup of Milk." It's a Ukrainian candy, soft caramel filled with milk. It doesn't even have eggs in it!

I'm amazed as heck that I could eat this! It's a Russian candy, a "souffle" covered in chocolate. It's also strawberry, and very good.

I'm sorry all the lighting is terrible, I can't seem to be home during daylight anymore! This is a chocolate-covered nut thing. It's a "squirrel" hard candy from the Ukrane.

I was having trouble identifying this little guy. It's a tiramisu caramel truffle from Russia. It was really good, and the last actual truffle I had, I didn't like, so it may have just reopened a window for me.

This is a Bon o Bon from Brazil. It's a mushy, peanut-flavored center covered in chocolate.

From Poland, this is a Miezanka Krakowska. It's a lime jelly coated in chocolate. Lime candy has never been this good.

This is a Roshen Mont Blanc, once again from the Ukraine. It's white and milk chocolate, and the inside is filled with very finely chopped hazelnuts. They're chopped smaller than rice.

I think this was the most unusual candy I tried in this box. Turron Supercoco is from Colombia, and it's a coconut hard candy. It tastes a little like molasses with coconut. I wouldn't mind a few more of these, but they're a little tough to get used to.

I had these in another box and liked them so much I ordered more from the site! These Shipuchka candies from the Ukraine come in the lemon and orange shown above and a bubble gum flavor.

This made me feel very uncomfortable. I'm like 200% sure it had eggs in it, and it was just...strange. It was the actual strangest thing in this box, described as being a chocolate-covered vanilla "souffle" from Kazakhstan, called Ptichye Moloko.

I'm now wondering why they don't make more pear-flavored hard candies, apart from Dum-Dums. These candies from Belarus (which is a small country near Poland...totally had to look that up) are pear-fect!

This box seemed a little bit smaller than the last couple, but they've also just started up a new "request" portion. I'm requesting some more "Cup of Milk" candies! I also thought there were some more interesting candies this time around, so it was still an exciting box for me.

-E.S.

May 2014 Merco Box Review

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on The Stepford Guide for another Merco Box! If you recall, I tried this box back in March and loved it! Unfortunately, due to money constraints, I can't afford to subscribe, even though it's a great deal, but now I get to try another box anyway!

No first look this month because, as you'll see in a minute, I was so excited, I just dug in.

There were three of these macaroons from Fillings and Emulsions, but now there are none.

This bath truffle is both a blessing and a curse. I don't know what a bath truffle is, but it looks and smells great. The curse part is that the epsom salts from this product were all over everything else in the box.

I feel like the $5 price on this 2oz item might be steep, but then, I've never seen guava jam before, maybe it's rare and special.

As you can see, I'd already sampled this too before I took the pictures (like the macaroons). In all honesty, I've had better gourmet popcorns, but I still ate it.

I love these sunglasses though! I really need to get contacts so I can wear all the many sunglasses I have amassed.

Body mousse was new for me too. This product uses vegetable glycerin, which I was super happy about. It is impossibly soft and creamy, the scent is ridiculously gentle and wonderful, and so far it seems to be a great moisturizer. I may order from them again, particularly with the $10 off $35 coupon that came with the box.

Merco Box was wonderful yet again! I love all the different types of products that they send, as well as the value! I really need to work up the money to be able to subscribe to this box.

In the meantime, have you subscribed? What's holding you back?

-E.S.

April 2014 Urthbox Classic Review

I ordered an Urthbox clear back on March 7th, and finally got it April 30th. I'm not quite sure why the delay was so great, but the box turned out to be pretty cool.

Urthbox costs $25 a month, but I got mine for $15 with a coupon.

Looks stuffed!

I started out by digging to the bottom of the box. These tortillas were in the vegan box too (they're listed as a "bonus" item). I can always use ingredients for quesadillas!

These orange pearls were awesome. They were little jelly orange bits covered in chocolate. I shared them with my family, but they disappeared pretty quickly.

This sounds super good, but I'm saving it for breakfast, hiking, or a hungry rainy day.

These Unreal bars are supposed to be healthier than the traditional candy alternatives, made with better ingredients and that. It was a pretty good little candy bar (and no eggs, somehow!). I had my mom try the other one, and she said that the chocolate is much better than a Snickers (the obvious inspiration). My main complaint about these is that it's impossible to actually find real nutritional information on their website. They just link you to some advertising-riddled FAQs.

I wasn't a huge fan of this, but my mom liked it. Caveman Cookies aren't bad, but nothing special in my opinion.

Another "bonus" item, my mom and I both expected these to be terrible, but they were actually pretty good. The parakeet definitely loved them!

I actually bought this exact item, down to the flavor and everything, at the grocery store the night before I got my box. I will always take seaweed snacks though, so it's absolutely okay!

It was at this point that I realized I did not order the vegan box. And by realized, I mean "freaked out and wondered why they sent me the wrong box, then looked at the website and realized I was just an idiot." These contain fish oil, so I gifted them to my dad.

I don't know who eats pâté or what it tastes like, but this vegan stuff was pretty gross. It wasn't so gross I couldn't eat it, but it was gross enough that I didn't enjoy it.

More delicious vegan macaroons for me! These were "choco" and I shared. They were amazing. Not my favorite macaroons so far, but I'm certainly not complaining.

I don't know how many "bonus" items you can claim to have before they just become items, but here's another "bonus" dates! The box also came with a coupon for dates, which I gave to my dad because I never eat them quick enough to justify buying them.

Weirdly enough, I also got one of these at the grocery store the night before I got the box! My box came with two of these, and they were great! My sister really liked them, as did the rabbit. It's nice when a real fruit strip actually tastes as good as a Fruit Roll-Up, but it usually doesn't happen.

I just mixed some of this with water, and while it looks icky and murky, it tastes absolutely fine. It's a very faint blueberry flavor and mostly you can't taste anything. That seems like a pretty easy way to get vitamins and benefits of superfood.

They also sent a bunch of coupons!

This box seems to be a decent value for $25 (even better for $15), but I did decide to cancel my membership for now. The shipping time is just crazy.

What's your experience with Urthbox been like? Or are you still just curiously considering giving it a try?

-E.S.

April 2014 Beauty Army Review

My second month of my three-month subscription to Beauty Army came a while back, but as I've stated, I'm a little behind. Better late than never though, right?

It's stupid how excited I was to see that this month's box was a different color. I used last month's box to contain all of my eyeshadow, and I'll have to find a similarly suitable use for this month's.

My first sample was this Laneige BB Cushion. I don't remember selecting it, but I must have. Anyway, it's a good-sized sample, and came with a cushion each of light, medium, and dark skin tones. I'm sure I'll never need the dark, but I'll have to try the medium out on a sunnier day, to see how it does as a sunscreen.

After trying (and failing) to get this in my box last month, I was really looking forward to this palette sample.

They go on a little bit faint, but I love these colors!

I thought this was a face mask, but it's for hair! My hair isn't really damaged that I know of, so I may pass this along. Or I might try it just for kicks and giggles.

If I remember to take this to work, I will pop it in a water, but I usually forget.

This sample seems incredibly tiny, but I guess you don't need much. I would like to control my acne, yes please...

Mighty Leaf teas are good! I got some in my Conscious Box last month too, and loved it.

I was happy with the palette, but I'm not sure I picked the best samples this month. I liked everything, but they don't seem to add up to much value. I don't know.

What do you think? Gotten any super cool samples in a Beauty Army box?

-E.S.