French Box Subscription Box Review – May 2015

Just curious– does anyone still subscribe to this? I didn’t re-sub after their re-vamp and since their first “new” bimonthly box was in May there should be one going out this week. Their FB page has not updated in about 6 weeks, and apparently they still have May Boxes available…

I was really excited for this box to become available again, and was SO disappointed when I opened it! For $36, I would have liked to see something more than four beauty products, two of them travel-sized. The cheap plastic keychain, the cheap metal (Korean made!) bookmark, and the vintage postcard are throwaways, as far as I’m concerned. Is anyone still reading paper books? Even if so, this isn’t a useful bookmarks — the metal too easily slips out of the book when you pick it up. And, I doubt anyone who can afford a $36/box subscription doesn’t already have a better keychain than a cheap plastic photo-insert one like you’d get at a fair. Some of the beauty products were quite nice — the scrub and the lip gloss in particular — but this soap addict was VERY disappointed with her bar of soap! The one I received, although labeled grapefruit and verbena, is so floral-smelling I’m pretty sure I’ll have to throw it away! Grapefruit and verbena *should* be spicy and pleasant, but to my well-schooled nose it smells like rose mixed with hyacinth! Ugh! I’ve cancelled the subscription already. I get much better value from Birchbox, which only comes to $9.17 a month for me.

I am not sure how I feel about this box… while I enjoy beauty/body products from France that aren’t easy to buy here. I think European products/ingredients are more controlled than US ones, so I feel that I am getting quality products. I got a sepia postcard dated back in 1918, almost 100 years ago! While I like the postcard, I don’t know what to do with it… I traveled to southern France and spent a day at Cannes, so it is a nice reflection of my trip. I may give postcard/key chain/bookmark to a friend who works in film industry who just returned from Canne film festival. I wish there was a food item and overall value was at least double of the cost. As someone wrote already, the price is similar to POPSUGAR or LLB, so…

I noticed on the postcard that the quote is from Harry Winston. Did the artist include diamonds on the woman in the postcard? I can’t tell from the picture.

It’s nice that the lipgloss is exclusive to FrenchBox. I think that is the kind of thing that subscribers are looking for from this box.

I liked this box and appreciate the effort that went into it. I agree with others that I am not sure I would subscribe at the current new price. I had an annual subscription and if this box price was still at what I signed up for I would probably continue.

I don’t sub to this because I don’t feel there is enough value there. I care less about curation and more about getting good deals. I did however like the postcards. Did anyone get a post card with writing on it ?

I like the items in this box! I probably wouldn’t subscribe because I don’t do many boxes over $20 (I’m pretty cheap), but if I did, I’d probably subscribe to this!

So what is night cream anyways? I’ve been using it as a foot cream that I put on before bed – works for me! The pistachio body scrub is amazing! I wish it was larger though, I used it all over in the shower and it’s about half empty now. Also, I was recently in France and these large bars of soap are actually almost $10 in Provence! Much more than the estimated retail shown here. I was too cheap to buy one when I was in France last month and then I regretted it when I got home so I was stoked to get one in FB. I haven’t tried the lip gloss yet and I didn’t get around to doing anything with the keychain or postcard yet. I’ll definitely keep this subscription for now and I hope to see food, kitchen or cultural items in addition to beauty products in the future boxes.

I don’t subscribe to FB, but I’m surprised to see “copious amounts of time” in their description. Are they trying to say we should be delighted about a postcard because they spent a lot of time gathering them? What about the copious amount of work we all do to earn the money for subscriptions?

I’m a bit indifferent towards this box. On one hand, I really like trying out beauty brands that I can’t get easily here so all of the beauty products were a plus for me. I also really liked the postcard since I have a small collection of French post cards. But on the other hand, I felt like the theme wasn’t as coherent as they made it seem. I was hoping for more film related items in a Cannes box. I’m happy that they tried, but I feel like they still have a while to go before this box becomes as good as it should be.

This is it? This is the Cannes themed box? I wanted this so bad and didn’t get one. Thank God.

For the previous price of $21.00 I would have been thrilled with this box. For $36.00, I would have been unhappy.

However, I really like the items they chose and if this box had been $21.00 I would have regretted canceling. Everything looks lovely.

I loved this box! I thought the amount of time and care that went into picking the items, to make this different from just any other makeup box, was wonderful!

I know they will not please everyone, but I was disappointed as well. I think the key chain was silly. I’m OK with a product made somewhere else as long as you can only buy in it France. The soap was overpowering for me but I may open it and put it my closet as an air freshener! I will give the lotions a try, but I am done with French Box. 🙁

I actually liked the box. I loved the soap and would like to buy more to display in a tall glass jar in my bathroom. Everywhere I’ve looked the price is $8.00 so if Liz found it for less I hope she will share where! I also love the postcard. I hope to trade for 2 more to frame vertically as a trio. I do wish French Box, Oui Please and the other lifestyle boxes would minimize the number of beauty products, lotions etc. that they send. Maybe only 1 per box??? There are so many beauty boxes out there if we want beauty products. The latest Oui Please was a massive disappointment for me in that mine was almost exclusively beauty products.

I have to admit, I dig the Cannes bookmark, being a film geek and all. I also think the post card is a neat touch.

I took a chance with this one despite hearing their history. I can’t say I was thrilled. Soap, night cream, lip gloss…the usual stuff, not particularly exciting, nor invoking images and feelings of France. For $36, I expected more. I did like the vintage postcard and so wish it had some text written on it — I just adore historical mementos like that! Anyway, bottom line — I am a sucker for all things French, so I will give this another month or two to impress me. The shipping was prompt anyway (I’m waiting on two other sub boxes that shipped 2 weeks ago and still haven’t arrived, so promptness is a huge plus for me!). BTW, my email said the soap was $8, so that bumps the value up a tad. 🙂

When I looked for the soap, I saw it for sale for $8.00 per bar which would bring up the value a little more.

This looks like a cheaper Glossybox, I would not be happy with this. I am so glad I am not a subscriber. Thanks for the review, I was excited to see where they would go with the revamp, but it is still a miss.

I was disappointed as well. It was my first box and I was excited about the Cannes theme. The packaging was wonderful but after that it was a let down. I did not sign up for a collector box so the keychain and postcard meant nothing to me. I can tell they tried but I did not feel like it was worth $36. I have already cancelled.

I signed back up for Frenchbox based on this month and was disappointed. For $36/month I thought it would be more like Little Lace Box or Popsugar, more of a lifestyle box. This just looks like the same Frenchbox only more expensive. I didn’t get the email at all detailing anything. I thought a Cannes box would be a lot more glamorous; and the bookmark is made in Korea which was a turn off. This would be a great $24 box but not $36, I already canceled. I did like the postcard, keychain and the bookmark was pretty, just it’s made in Korea.

I personally was disappointed. This was my first French box and I was so excited. The packaging was fabulous but the contents inside were a let down. I did not sign up for a collectors box so the film and postcard were worthless to me. Nothing else in the box made me think of France. I can tell they tried but I didn’t feel like it was worth the price.