Friday, December 14, 2012

PopSugar Must Have: December

Fine, fine. Pictures first.



1. Bodum Bistro Mugs
2. Pinch Provisions Minimergency Kit
3. Tea Forte Sampler (10 teas)
4. Jabonería Marianella Soap
5. GoSwype microfiber cloth
6. Bogdon's Peppermint Poles (approx. 21 poles)
7. $30 off at Rent the Runway

The PopSugar Must Have Box costs $35/month, including shipping. First month is $5 off with code REFERFRIENDS until 2/28/13. A 6-month subscription gets the first month free with code INSIDER until 12/20/12.

You know what? Judging from reactions online, I think I might be the only person who did not hate this box. I loved it! I didn't love that it just showed up today even though it shipped from within California. Like basically everyone else who subscribed, this makes me pretty concerned that this month's other PopSugar goodies might not make it here in time for Christmas. But somewhat tangential fretting aside, I was very happy.

I read spoilers before this showed up. I have very little self-control. I am not to be trusted. I was immediately thrilled about the mugs. (Apparently, that makes one of us?) We already had two and we loved them very, very much. They are pretty and nice and well-insulated. They're perfect for lattes. There, I said it. Judge me for being fancy. Judge away!

The Minimergency Kit is very cool, I have to say. I can't believe all of that stuff fits into that tiny pouch. It's not crammed in there, either. I'm debating whether to stick this in my car or on the shelf with my purses. It covers pretty much any problem that can take place when you're busy being super fancy, which, as you can see above...

We almost bought this exact tea set as a gift for someone over the weekend, but as it turns out, we'd already bought it for ourselves. It's sort of like really shallow time-travel, if you think about it.

The soap seems nice and it's a pretty hefty bar. I saw that there were two different scents that went out in the boxes. I also saw complaints that the soap smelled gross, so I assume I got the other one? It's better for me if I don't go around thinking I like gross smells, so let's all agree now that I got the other one.

The GoSwype cloth isn't the most thrilling item I've seen in the last ten minutes, but I'll definitely use it. It's cute.

Bogdon's Peppermint Poles are delicious. That is all.

That brings us to about $73 MSRP, which is (I think) why a lot of people are upset with this month's box. The boxes are supposed to be valued at $100 or more. The final item was a code for $30 off any rental at Rent The Runway. (I love this, but I think I'm in the minority. That's $30 I would have spent on that site that is now freed up for other things. It's different from other coupon codes floating around, because there's no minimum purchase, and it can be used by existing customers.) There's a lot of disagreement as to whether it's fair to count discount codes as part of the overall value of the box. If you include the RTR code this month, the overall value is $103. If not, we are running into truth-in-advertising issues. In this case, I guess "fair" is subjective. It counts if PopSugar says it counts, and they do. Now it's just a matter of deciding if that's a deal you're willing to make as a subscriber. I am, but I get the sense that others may not be. Thoughts?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

i loved my box tooo!!! im wondering though if i could use that RTR $30 off to buy makeup from the site? hmmmm

mm said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I heard people were having trouble using it to make regular purchases, which is pretty disappointing.