March Glymm Box Unboxing

Hello all!

Today I’ve got my March Glymm Box unboxing to share with you. I know I am a bit behind on my subscription box posts since we are already into April now, but I still would like to to show you what I received. Most of my boxes came extremely late in the month, as is typical for me here in Alberta (and I didn’t actually receive my Glossybox until April!) so that helps account for the delay as well. I will try to get them up as soon as I receive them this month, though!

I have been subscribed to Glymm since December 2011, so I have already received a few boxes from them, and compared to Luxebox (which I’ve also been getting since December 2011) I usually prefer my Glymm boxes. I have received great samples from both, but the products I have gotten from Glymm in the past were generally more suited to my tastes.

This month, as you may know from my Topbox unboxing video and blog post, I received boxes from all four Canadian subscription services for the first time. I really enjoyed my first Topbox, so keep reading to see if Glymm lived up to my expectations as well. And if you’d like to see my reactions as I open my March Glymm Box for the first time, check out my YouTube video!

Inside the box, as always, was a card describing all of the products and listing the prices for all of the full sized versions. I always save the card until the end, because I want to be surprised!

Underneath the card was a variety of items and another card…

On this card was an offer for a free Anastasia Hydrafull Lip Gloss (a value of $27 + free shipping) with the purchase of any 2 Anastasia products from the Glymm.com website.

The first item I pulled out of the box was something quite unique and unusual, especially since I am used to receiving cosmetics or skin care products in my subscription boxes. I was very surprised to see a package containing three bright pink feather hair extensions by NuMe! This product is full sized (obviously) and retails for $25.

Because my hair is naturally red, I don’t really think that hot pink and brunette feathers are exactly the most flattering accessory to add – and they certainly are NOT my usual style! However, I can see how someone who enjoys experimenting with different kinds of hair accessories might be excited to receive something new and different like this.

This definitely is not something that appeals to me though, so I will be giving away this product to someone who will appreciate it more. I might save it for a giveaway, so if you like wearing pink feathers in your hair, stay tuned!

As I expected from the card on top, there was also a sample of the Anastasia Hydrafull Gloss in my box, which I was more interested in than the hair extensions…

The sample, however, came in a tiny tube which immediately made me wonder how difficult it would be to apply. I received 1.0mL of product, but the full size is only 2.2mL and retails for $27, which seems expensive to me for such a small amount.

The gloss is in the shade Sorbet, a pretty bright pink colour in the tube. Unfortunately, when I swatched it, I found it to be incredibly sticky. I know that is a deal breaker for some people, but I can usually put up with a slightly sticky gloss if it has other redeeming qualities such as a nice scent or colour.

This gloss has a pleasant, almost vanilla type scent but it was not as vibrant on the lips as it was when I swatched it on my hand.

Some people might like that, but I was hoping it would be a bit brighter. On my pale skin this is a very light pink, so I imagine that it might look even lighter on darker skin tones.

Next there was a sample from Lise Watier, a brand I happen to enjoy a lot. The Flash Life Radiance Vial was not included on the card, so I assume this is just a little extra, which is nice. However, I have received this sample before (though I can’t remember if it was in another Glymm Box or in a Luxebox), which made receiving it a little less exciting.

I know that duplicates of products may occasionally happen, especially when you are subscribed to more than one service, but I generally like to receive products I have not already had before. I do not blame Glymm for this though, of course, especially since it is possible my previous sample did not even come from them, and this item was really just an added bonus.

I also received a full sized nail polish from Ocean, a brand that is new to me.

Some of you may know that I am a total nail polish addict, so I was very happy to receive a full sized polish! This one retails for $12, which is on the pricey side for a nail polish, so that was really nice to get and certainly added to the value of the box. The only downside is that it is in a shade called French Natural Shimmer, and intended for doing French manicures which I do not wear very often.

However, I do really love layering glitter polishes over white bases, so if this is not too sheer then I will likely use it for that purpose. If I happen to find it really does not suit me, I can always trade it in one of my polish exchange groups on Facebook.

Finally, I received a small tub of Magic Fini by M.Asam. It contained 5mL of product, and the full size holds 30mL and retails for $38.

I had no idea what this product was at first, but the jar says that it “Evens Complexion and Controls Shine”. It appeared white from looking at the bottom, but once I opened it, I discovered that it is actually quite a deep brown colour.

Given my incredibly fair skin, I was disappointed to see such a dark product included in my box, since I would likely be unable to use it. However, I must note that after seeing similar reactions from other Glymm subscribers online, I  found many of them report that the product is not actually as dark as it appears in the jar when blended into the skin.

Here is a swatch, unblended:

(As you can see, this appears far too dark for my pale skin!) After blending, it did seem to work a little better, but as you can tell, even blended it is still on the dark side for me. The left side is the Magic Fini blended into my skin and the right side, with the Hydrafull Gloss swatch is my natural skin tone.

I am pretty disappointed that this product is still so dark on me, as I will likely not be able to use it. I do plan to attempt sunless tanner (for the very first time!) this summer, so I may wait and try it out when my skin is slightly darker to see if it blends more naturally with my skin, but most likely, this product will be left unused.

The Magic Fini, added to the feather hair extensions which I will also never wear, make two out of four items that are misses for me in my March Glymm Box. The nail polish may turn out to be a miss as well, even though it was nice to receive a full sized polish, since I would have preferred almost any other colour!

Finally, the Anastasia Hydrafull Gloss was not one of my favourite products either. I did find that the stickiness faded over time as I wore it, but my lips did not really feel hydrated as the information card boasted. The colour was okay, but not very unique, and I definitely do not expect to find myself reaching for this product over most of the other glosses I already own. At $27 for the full sized version I also think it is way overpriced, though it was nice of Glymm to include an offer to get one for free (albeit with the purchase of two other products).

I realize that not every box will be a winner, and I know that some people probably loved their March Glymm boxes, but I am sorry to say that overall, I was really disappointed with mine. If you add up the value of the box, the products inside come to approximately $55, not including the Lise Watier extra, which is actually pretty good considering I only paid $10 to receive it. The nail polish alone costs more than that, and the box did include two full sized products, so looking at it from that perspective I do still think it was a good deal. Regardless, that doesn’t change the fact that I probably won’t use most of these products after posting this, which I think is important to consider as well when looking at the overall value, instead of looking solely at the dollar amount.

Adding to my disappointment was the fact that once again, there was no candy (or item to replace it) in this box. If you are familiar with Glymm, you will know that they used to send jelly beans in a cute little glass jar inside every box, as an extra gift to their subscribers. Apparently the glass jars would occasionally break during transport (though I never had this problem with mine) and so they stopped including them a couple of months ago, but promised on their Facebook page that something even better was coming soon to replace them.

(One of the adorable little jars I saved from a previous Glymm box!)

I did not receive anything in place of the jelly beans last month, so I was really hoping that by now they would have that all sorted out, especially since they posted that they were working on a replacement. I know this is just an extra, so it isn’t really fair to expect it, but the fact that they have not lived up to their promise is what really upsets me. Had they just stated that the jelly beans would no longer be included because of issues with glass breaking, and left it at that, I would have understood, but to say they were planning to replace them and repeatedly not following through is what I find disappointing.

All that said I will be keeping my Glymm subscription for April because as I mentioned at the start, I have always really liked my Glymm boxes in the past. I am hoping that this month will be better, but if not, this could be the service I end up unsubscribing from in the future.

What were your thoughts on the March Glymm box? Did you receive something different? Leave me a comment below! I’d love to hear from you!

ZedleyQ