Juniper Box Review: February 2013

Here is the second time-of-the-month box that I promised to review. I believe Juniper is currently the most expensive monthly subscription of this type but read on to find out how you can try it for free before you decide to commit to it.

The January box is called “2013: Year of the Nom”, which isn’t exactly a theme or anything because they always send feminine products and treats. I actually received my box in February, but since I ordered it last month I guess that meant I’d be getting that month’s box. Not that it matters to me anyway, since I’m just here for my tampons and the noms 🙂

About Juniper:
Juniper is a tampons and treats subscription aimed at redefining the monthly period experience for women. Juniper wants to turn a woman’s period each month from a cause of stress into an occasion for pampering. Every cycle, a Juniper package is delivered to the subscriber before her period begins. For $28/month + FREE shipping subscribers are sent a personalized selection of tampons and other backup protection products, as well as hand-picked gourmet treats like artisan chocolates and herbal teas. If you mention my name – Anastasia Smith – on the last page when you check out we will both get one free box. 
Click here to subscribe to Juniper.
Thank you and have a fabulous time of the month!

I have only tried a couple things from the box so far because it arrived early, so I will update this post whenever I get to try everything. Now here are some pictures and product descriptions as well as my initial thoughts.
Punctuality
My box arrived a whopping 5 days before The Day so I had plenty of time to spare. The box was shipped with USPS Priority so it should always arrive in a timely manner, which is a good thing since we don’t want it to be late 🙂

The packaging
First of all, the presentation is great. From the first glance this box looks just like your regular subscription and there is nothing anywhere hinting at what it actually is, so you won’t feel weird if you have to unbox it in front of other people. Just keep the invoice and the pouches to yourself 🙂

The monthly goodies:
Just like the previous t.o.m. subscription I reviewed, the feminine products were not individually wrapped in extra plastic foils like the manufacturer’s samples are. I can see this being a concern for some people since we don’t know who touched these products and how they were handled. I’m assuming they were simply taken out of their original packages, carefully counted and put into our boxes, which is perfectly fine with me.
The treats
The selection of treats reminded me of Love With Food, this is exactly what I imagine to see in their boxes: fancy popcorn, nice chocolates, gourmet snickers-clone candy bar, tea and honey sticks. So this is really two subscriptions in one – a foodie one and the feminine products delivery which if you think about it is actually a better deal than it sounded at first or at least it is for me.

The communication
I needed to make a few changes to my next box so I contacted my “bff” Lynn and got a reply within 10 minutes. It’s nice to be able to talk to an actual person, since I’m so used to heartless automated CS replies from Glossybox and Birchbox.

o.b. Tampons
First of all, the tampons are initially sent out in this sealed golden box. When your period starts just send a text to the number on the seal from the phone number you registered with and Juniper will do the period tracking for you every month. After opening the box I found 20 o.b. tampons of two different absorbency levels inside and a soft dark-blue velvet reusable pouch to put them into. I thought that was pretty neat since I love the idea of storing my feminine products in a pouch rather than in plain sight or having to hide them in the drawers.

Pads, liners and Midol
Juniper offers optional backup protection such as pads and liners and some painkillers for cramps. I received  3 Always Infinity Regular Pads, 2 Always Infinity Overnight Pads, 5 Always Infinity Liners and 2 sealed sample packs of Midol. That sure will help 🙂 These also come in an opaque satiny pouch so the contents are pretty much invisible.

Nibmor Daily Dose of Dark
So far I have tried the one with mint+nibs and it tasted like a yummy peppermint bark. It’s a perfectly portioned dark chocolate square which is not too bitter and not too sweet, and the size was enough to satisfy my PMS cravings.

479° Black Truffle + White Cheddar Popcorn
This popcorn is unbelievably delicious! The aroma from the truffles coated the entire kitchen when I opened this small bag, and the taste of the white cheddar was delightfully crisp and complemented the truffles so well. I would have never imagined to eat my popcorn with truffle oil but here I am thinking of buying more 🙂 And at just 70 calories per pouch this is a pretty guiltless snack.

Honey Sticks: Cinnamon, Pumpkin Blossom, and Clover 
I loooove adding honey to my tea, and I just used the lightest stick. While I’m not sure which exact honey flavor it was I could tell it’s different from the honey I currently own. I think it was probably the pumpkin blossom? Either way it was delicious and a subtle flavor of I-don’t-know-what was pretty intriguing.

Cherry Vanilla Dream Almonds
I have not tried these yet [saving them for my period munchies] but they look absolutely delicious and almonds are my favorite nuts 🙂

OCHO Caramel & Peanut Bar
This is basically a super-fancy snickers bar and it was really yummy. I couldn’t wait and ate it on the first day after opening my package, so much for self-control. The bar itself is made with top-notch milk chocolate and that chocolate layer is really thick. There weren’t that many peanuts in the bar which I actually thought was a good thing, and the caramel was fantastic. The whole thing just worked together wonderfully!

Allegro Teas: Queen Bee Balance, Everyday Amazing, and Feel Flawless

“Everday Amazing: Vibrant, earthy, sharp. 

Feel Flawless: Minty, refreshing. 

Queen Bee Balance: Delicate, floral, hint of mint.”

So far I have tried Everyday Amazing with one of those honey straws mixed in and it was nice and crisp. I really enjoy drinking tea so I’m looking forward to trying the rest of them.

So, is Juniper worth it?

It’s totally worth it if…

• You have disposable income and would like to turn “that time of the month” into something fun to look forward to
• You don’t have much time for shopping
• You hate or embarrassed to send your boyfriend or husband to the store for your “monthly supplies”
• You are not comfortable buying feminine products in public or you have really rude and/or weird cashiers
• You want nothing but a top-notch personalized customer service
• You want to pamper yourself with gourmet treats
• You love tea [it will always be in the boxes]

It’s not worth it if…

• You are on a tight budget
• You are very specific about your monthly products but Juniper doesn’t carry your favorite brand(s)
• You have a problem with your feminine products not being wrapped in individual foil packets like real manufacturer’s samples