Here is my review of FabFitFun’s inaugural Spring-2013 VIP Box. FabFitFun is a portal that delivers beauty, fashion and health news, and last month they decided to launch a quarterly subscription service curated by Giuliana Rancic.
The promise was to send each subscriber a VIP Box filled the hottest on-trend items once every season. These boxes were supposed to be similar to the “goodie swag bags” celebrities get at fancy events, with the idea of making every subscriber feel like an important VIP. Unfortunately, the idea was good but the execution was pretty poor for the most part.
About FabFitFun VIP Box:
Four times a year for $49.99 + Free Shipping the subscribers will receive a VIP Box filled with the hottest seasonal beauty, fashion, fitness, and wellness items items hand-selected by Giuliana Rancic and FabFitFun team of curators. Each box is guaranteed to contain full-size products and premium items worth over $100. Randomly selected members will receive bonus gifts in the box or in the mail throughout each season.
Click here to subscribe to FabFitFun.
Prior to the official launch, FabFitFun sent out promotional boxes to various beauty bloggers to review. The catch: they sent absolutely identical boxes to all of those bloggers, and neither of them mentioned there being any box variations. Not that I blame them at all, I assume they had no way of knowing that information. But that is what made most people subscribe to the service in the first place, and I was one of those people. Another flop was their choice of words, they said we would receive the “hottest seasonal items”, but, for example, the Jewelmint pieces we got were from at least 2 years ago. And most of the pieces that were sent out seemed more like leftover items that nobody wanted back then, so they were just dumping them onto us – unsuspecting subscribers – and hoping we just eat it and be happy. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit over here, but that’s precisely how I felt, and there’s absolutely nothing VIP about that feeling 🙁
Moroccanoil Treatment
This is the big ticket item in the box, the legendary Moroccanoil Hair Treatment. It’s a full-sized 3.4oz product which is heavily advertised in magazines, TV ads and beauty salons. Unfortunately, I didn’t care much for it and wanted a GoSmile whitening pen instead (that I didn’t get). This is going straight to eBay so I can remedy my losses somewhat.
Josie Maran Magic Marker Lip & Cheek Stain in Waltz
Josie Maran lip stain is one of three “bonus” items that could be included in the box. At first I thought about eBaying it as well, but after looking up the swatches online I decided to keep it. The stain marker end feels surpsingly luxurious on the lips, and the balm side can be used as a blush as well as a complimentary color to the marker. Waltz is described as a “soft berry rose”, with cool undertones.
Jewelmint Crystal Gazer Necklace and Rococo Cross Earrings
I’m not a fan of either of these pieces and will not wear them. I’ll attempt to sell them on eBay, which probably won’t go well. Both of these are several seasons (read years) old, so there’s nothing “current” about them. I’m sure all of us have way older jewelry, but when a company promises hottest and current products, I would expect something from either this or upcoming season’s selection.
Jouer Moisturizing Lip Gloss in Glisten
Glisten is described as a sheer sparkling pink. I love the formula, it’s very moisturizing and instantly made my lips look smoother and softer. The color is not something I would ever pick for myself, but it looks very flattering on. I think it would work great at complementing many matte lipsticks and lipstains.
Zoya Nail Polish in FabFitFun
This color most closely resembles Zoya Anaka, and I only realized that when I was googling for swatches of another color from the Truth collection. The formula is pretty good and the color goes on evenly without streaks, but I’m already getting tip wear on the second day. Here’s the picture someone else posted on a nail polish forum, and the bottle looks exactly the same as mine.
Per-fekt Beauty Brow Perfection Gel in Caramel
I know some girls received a dried out brow gel sample, but mine seemed nice, new and fresh. I was sirprized at how much I actually ended up liking this product, in fact I loved it so much I’m seriously considering purchasing a full-sized version. My sample came in the color “Caramel” which actually complements my brows and my skin tone perfectly.
Think Thin Creamy Peanut Butter Protein Bar
Many of you already know that I don’t like peanut butter, so this bar is wasted on me. I tried Think Thin brownie crunch variety in one of my past Craveboxes and absolutely hated it, too. But for those of you who like these things, the bars are 100% gluten and sugar-free, which helps with weight loss.
- The best: The brow gel sample from per-fekt. I already added it to my beauty wishlist.
- The worst: The unwanted jewelry from years ago.
The verdict: This inaugural box was supposed to contain $120 worth of products, meaning this is most likely going to be their best box, which is concerning because my package felt very “second-hand”. I feel like I get way better value from POPSUGAR which costs a lot less. FabFitFun offered some eligible subscribers a free summer box, but I declined that offer, since I feel like I’m done with them for good. The retail value of my box ended up being over $138, mainly because each Jewelmint item is technically valued at $29.99, but seriously who would pay thirty bucks for either of those pieces?!
Are you a FabFitFun VIP Box subscriber? What do you think of this season’s box?
| Product | Retail Value |
|---|---|
| Moroccanoil Treatment | $43.00 |
| Josie Maran Magic Marker Lip & Cheek Stain | $19.00 |
| Jewelmint Crystal Gazer Necklace and Rococo Cross Earrings | $59.98 |
| Jouer Moisturizing Lip Gloss | $4.81 |
| Zoya Nail Polish | $8.00 |
| Per-fekt Beauty Brow Perfection Gel | $1.46 |
| Think Thin Creamy Peanut Butter Protein Bar | $1.99 |
| Box Retail Value | $138.24 |
Disclosure: I bought this.
What a bummer box – I feel your disappointment. Those jewelry pieces are hideous, you would def expect a pretty statement necklace or a nice piece of “arm candy” both of which are current.
Tracy
http://www.TracysNotebookofStyle.com
Well, at least I hope I can get back some money by eBaying the Moroccanoil Treatment. The Zoya and JM stain are both very pretty, so I’m not all that frustrated in the end. But it’s definitely not a subscription I would recommend to anyone, not in their current state. I really hope they improve the service and learn from this experience.
Is it the $49.99, 4 times a year? I was thinking of maybe giving it a try but that is kind of high for a new subscription service who is lacking at this point. I feel for you and that jewelry..it is awful! Hopefully your next one is better!
Justina @ http://justinawho.blogspot.com/
Correct, it’s $49.99 once a season and this was also supposed to be their best box. The rest of the boxes are said to have the retail value of $100, the same as POPSUGAR which is $13 cheaper.
I almost signed up for this but thought to wait it out and see how this box would go, it seems rather shady of them to put in jewelry from 2 years ago when everything is supposed to be the latest seasonal stuff. I think i’ll wait on subscribing and hopefully they get better…I’m pretty sure you will get a decent amount for the Moroccan Oil…it’s not my thing either but it seems like everyone is in love with that product.
Well, they did more than just that. At one point they were deleting all negative comments from their Facebook wall until the inaugural box sold out, which really made me wonder if they’re even a legitimate business.
I listed Moroccanoil last night and it already has 3 bids on it, so I might be able to get my money back after all 🙂
LOL! I got the same box as you but with 1 less item… No Josie Maran lip stain. Too funny and by that I mean that this is really terrible. Looks like I got cheated twice by Fabfitfun!
That’s just awful, and they call that a VIP experience…
I hear you! I was disappointed in my box too, and I took them up on their offer for a free summer box. We’ll see if it gets any better. I liked the Josie Maran lip stain and nail polish, but my jewelry was awful. I received different pieces than you did, but they were no less disappointing.
I really hope you guys get an amazing summer box, I honestly gave up on them and want nothing more to do with FFF. I told them to just send me the GoSmile and BL polish and also to cancel my sub. Unless the summer box is blazing amazing I really don’t see how they can stay in business, especially since POPSUGAR is the same or better value for less money, except it’s not quarterly. But since it’s so easy to just cancel and resubscribe on the site, people can just do it quarterly and it will essentially be the same thing as FFF.
In my opinion, it would be a good box for $20 or $30 max.
Right, I saw it on the same level with Glossybox.