Review: My Little Provence Box

  
A few weeks ago I spotted an advert for My Little Box. It’s a monthly subscription box, with a French twist. For £11.99 (plus £3.95 postage) you receive one box a month. As they put it –

‘My Little Box is a hand-picked and beautifully designed box of fashion, beauty and lifestyle surprises. With accessories, products and other goodies created exclusively for you and based around a different theme every month, each box promises to delight the lucky recipient.’

I’ve never subscribed to a monthly box before as they’ve always felt a bit too expensive. I don’t have a huge amount of money to blow on makeup and things, but this box felt a bit more reasonable and looked very appealing. I easily waste £15.94 in Wilkinson’s each month on rubbish, so this didn’t seem too bad. I was feeling dull and pretty unsparkling – maybe a little sprinkling of French magic would help?

A couple of weeks after signing up my first box arrived! This month the theme is Provence…

  
  
First out of the box were the mini magazine, a little print and a little magnetic dress up doll. The magnets are very cute, but would I have bought them in a shop? Probably not. Little girls would love them. In our house they’ll probably last a few weeks before they fall off and join the rest of the dusty assortment of free magnets which live under my fridge. The magazine is really more of a leaflet, which unfolds, with a larger poster on the back. 

Next out of the box was this sweet little fabric bag. Inside were a selection of L’Occitane miniatures – shower gel, lemon verbena moisturiser, soap and some rose hand-cream. I love L’Occitane products, but I was a little disappointed as I have tried all these products before (I’ve received similar miniature sets like this as presents several times). They’ll get used, but there was no sense of novelty or excitement. This was bad luck really. The only new-to-me product was a little eyeshadow pencil. Again, this was a little uninspiring as I don’t wear much eye makeup – just a bit of mascara. However, this is very pretty and will get used (sometimes). 

  
The last surprise out of the box was this little kit to decorate a cuff….

   
 

This is quite a nice idea, but the cuff is absolutely massive and flies straight off my bony little wrist. Flinging it across the room isn’t quite the chic French look I’m aiming for. So I haven’t made it yet, and will probably pass it on to someone else!

  
Overall, I have to say I was a tad disappointed with my first box. To be honest, my favourite thing was the cardboard box, which will definitely get re-used! I’m going to stick it out and try it for a few more months. Some of the previous boxes I’ve seen online looked much better – with things like necklaces, scarves and mugs. 

One of the benefits of this subscription is that you can cancel at any time. I think I’ll try another two or three more and see if it gets better. Obviously these things are a bit of a waste on money (don’t even tell me how much it adds up to over a year) – but I do love getting little surprise parcels in the post. It’s sweet and a bit exciting. It’s also a small bit of frivolous fluff – essential in this boy-dominated house!