POPSUGAR Must Have January 2015

I’ll let you in on a little secret – January POPSUGAR Must Have boxes were never my favorite, but this year I was in for a pleasant surprise: everything, and I mean everything, was a delight to unbox and play with! Not all items were season-appropriate, but I’ll elaborate on that below.

HOW IT WORKS
With POPSUGAR Must Have, you’ll get an exciting monthly box, full of hand-selected items from POPSUGAR editors. Each box will include a variety of full-sized products and premium items worth over $100 (ARV). It costs $39.95/month and you can use the code REFERF5 to get a special one-time $5 discount off your first box.
If you would like to use my referral link please click here to subscribe to PopSugar Must Have. Thank you!

JACK + LUCY Pom Pom Hat – The sorta big ticket item this month was this woven hat with a faux fur pom pom. It’s made of the same material as tech gloves we got last year, so they almost look like a set when worm together. Slouchy hats are in this season, so I’m not surprised that POPSUGAR decided that it’s a “must have” to own one.

I actually just bought a slouchy hat with a pompom for Winter to be “on trend”, but at least mine is a cream color, so I’m okay with having two. I wasn’t sure this style would suit me, but surprisingly it works really well over loose curls. The material isn’t super soft, but it’s comfy enough and not scratchy.

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream – It’s like the high end version of a Nivea face and body cream, in a sense that it works for any part of your body. This is a great product to keep on your bedside table.

The formula is very pleasant and nourishing. FAB says that after extensive testing, this cream turned out to be a great soothing solution for people with various allergies and skin irritations, because it doesn’t contain fragrance, harsh chemicals, and parabens. Just the good stuff.

KeepCup Brew 12-Ounce Reusable Coffee Cup – I am blown away by the quality of this cup! I mean, I’ve seen all sorts of travel mugs, and none of them felt like a must-have for me, there was always something I was unhappy about. This cup is so well-made, and looks so sleek, I fell in love with it instantly and even ordered a second January box to have two. Yep, I seriously ordered another one just for the cup, it’s that good 🙂

Ever since I got it, I’ve been bringing that cup everywhere with me – the size is perfect to carry around in a medium or large purse, and the cap fits pretty snug. So yes, I am very impressed, and if any of you are looking for a travel mug, check out KeepCup – these are the bomb, and would even make an awesome gift.

Manduka eQua Hand Towel – Seeing this towel in my box reminded me that I need to be more diligent about working out. It’s designed with extra-absorbent material that doesn’t take much space in the gym bag and soaks up more sweat than a regular towel.

Microfiber towels may look cheap sometimes, but this one doesn’t. It seems like a good quality product that can withstand quite a few washes, so I’ll start using it right away the next time I do hot yoga. I like to mix it up, and don’t just follow the same routine over and over; my workouts consist of repeating after Youtube fitness gurus, DVDs, PS3 fitness games, and when it gets warm outside I sometimes go to the pool and hit the actual gym [we have a private one just for the residents and it’s always empty].

ToGoSpa Eyes – Eye patches are perfect for depuffing those baggies from too much salt the night before. I never heard about this brand though, but I’d imagine there are a whole lot of companies that deserve to be better known, and POPSUGAR always does a splendid job including one-two thingies from indies.

Speaking of salt, yep, I just ate some salty fries the other night and woke up with a pretty bad case of undereye bags, and immediately popped these patches. I kept them in the fridge, so the combined effect of chilled serum and the hydrogel material was very dramatic. I just wish these patches were more affordable so I could use them daily, and even though ToGoSpa only charges $12.50 for a 3-pack, that’s still more than I would like to pay for a daily treatment.

Skin Jewel Tattoos in Empire – I thought it was an odd choice to include these temporary tattoos in a January box, I feel like they would have been more appropriate for one of the Summer boxes, but nonetheless it’s clearly a hip item and we all saw magazines and online articles promoting the look of metallic tats.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally dig this trend, but I think this whole set will have to sit around until I get a chance to actually flaunt these things on my skin. POPSUGAR also has a tutorial online on how to use these for nail art somewhere, but I’m having a hard time finding that article now.

General Mills Nature Valley Protein Granola – What kind of a Must Have box would this be if we didn’t get a snack? In January our food item of the month is a large bag of granola, which turned out to be quite delicious, and I’m not even a fan of peanut butter.

THE VERDICT
To sum up my thoughts on this box: everything was awesome, although some products were not season-appropriate. Loved the cup, the cream, the eye patches, and the granola; the hat and the towel were okay, I could have lived without them, and finally the blingy tattoos are probably best worn in the Summer. Overall, a solid A- box.