Serendipity by LLB Subscription Box Review – January 2017

This box looks kinda neat..I’m trying to find it and can not..did they stop doing it?!?

I’ve had occasion to email them
And their customer service has been fabulous. They even sent me a gift certificate for my trouble – so I’m thrilled with how they treat me as a customer.

This is a great value box and a wonderful way to try new products. I love the element of surprise and even if I don’t like a particular item, I will gladly gift or donate an item for someone else to enjoy.

I certainly think it’s a worthy subscription and hope others enjoy their items too.

Just got this message from LLB about my box finally shipping. It looks like the did it to remove the product with the microbeads:

I checked on your account and it appears your box ships today. We pulled our last shipment group in order to replace the face wash. You should receive an email in the next 24 hours with a tracking number. Your box ships USPS priority so you will most likely receive within a 2-3 day window. Please let me know if there’s anything else we can do for you. Have a wonderful weekend!

I had not seen anyone else post that they didn’t receive their box this month. I didn’t receive mine, and inquired about it. I was told that they were replacing the face wash, and this was the cause of the delay. I am now receiving an email that the box is supposed to be shipping. I hope so. Supposed to arrive in the next few days.

Did anyone else receive a box with the face wash completely spilled inside the box? The bottle came apart at the seams and the entire bottle was emptied inside the box and seeping through the cardboard! Everything was a total mess, even the packaging. The Beekman product was salvageable because I was able to rinse it off (the plastic bag it was in was also pierced and the mess was even inside of the plastic bag!) Anyway, reached out to LLB, sent pics as requested. Didn’t hear a follow up for a couple of days, so reached out to them again this morning. They said they would replace the face wash, but I responded that everything but the soap was ruined. So what did she do? SHE CANCELLED MY SUBSCRIPTION!! I’m not even kidding. I thought we were having a respectable back and forth to get this worked out and then I got a form email stating my subscription was canceled, and another stating my 6 remaining months were refunded. I emailed her again asking what just happened and did she just cancel my subscription. She responded they they obviously weren’t going to make me happy. I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! I’m a reasonable person! I’m a nice person! I’ve NEVER been treated like this by a “customer service” person in my life! I’ve been black-balled by LLB! Once I stop being mad, this will be funny. But right now, I’m mad… All this because I asked for them to replace the MESS I received in the mail. Unbelievable…

I would love to trade the rose scented soap from Beekman for the Linden scent the shipped in their subscription box.

I like that you added a comment to the post about the plastic, but it wasn’t enough information for someone who doesn’t already know they’re a problem.

This is what LLB says to me:

If you received the Watermint face wash, we’ve notified our vendor, Doxen & Hue, and they have agreed to replace your product with the Pink Grapefruit Face Wash which does not have the micro beads. Please note, these micro beads are still in many popular brands and are to be phased out by 2018. That said, we were not aware of this particular environmental issue so Doxen & Hue has contacted the appropriate organization to dispose properly of the product we receive back from our customers. In the next few days we will send your replacement along with a shipping label to send back the current product. We thank you for your patience with this process and apologize for any inconvenience.

STATEMENT FROM DOXEN & HUE

Dear Little Lace Box Subscribers,

We would like to issue an immediate return and replacement of the Watermint Face Wash which does contain mircrobeads. We will work with Little Lace Box to switch the Watermint Face Wash with the Grapefruit Face Wash. The Grapefruit Face Wash does not contain microbeads. Our last batch of Watermint Face Wash was manufactured in 2015 and we pledge to be responsibly mircobead free in 2017.

Little Lace Box has been diligent in the pursuit of the best quality products for their customers. Doxen and Hue works with small batch manufacturers and formulators and it’s always been the people who use our products who have made us better. We thank you for reaching out to us with the opportunity to make the switch.

Below is the Microbead-Free Waters Act
Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban rinse-off cosmetics that contain intentionally-added plastic microbeads beginning on January 1, 2018, and to ban manufacturing of these cosmetics beginning on July 1, 2017.

This was my favorite of all of my Serendipity boxes so far! I got purple shoe laces, which are my favorite color and look awesome in my dark grey and pink Ryka’s.

I personally do not hold Serendipity solely responsible for the microbead issue. They are not a skin care company, and I don’t think it’s fair to expect them to know every single issue related to every single product. They should be able to trust their vendors not to provide them with a product that is unusable. I think the manufacturer of the product should be ashamed of themselves for dumping this product on Serendipity, because they do need to know EVERY SINGLE issue related to their product….and I firmly believe they were hoping to just get rid of this product since they won’t be able to sell it for much longer at all. I seriously hope that Doxen and Hue steps up and doesn’t leave Serendipity with the burden of the cost of replacing all of the faulty products.

I refuse to use the face wash they sent too. So for my area we passed one of the toughest laws on microbeads well over a year ago, But then the fed gov passed a law. What that did was actually cause issues for any laws passed as local cannot be in effect unless they are the exact same and in our case I guess it was not, parts of the law become null and void. We already had the stores pull products with it with the local law but For my area I guess it can’t be enforced now, it became challengeable in court. That goes for ANY other state or county that passed their laws…..The federal act gives manufacturers until July 1, 2017, to stop making products containing plastic microbeads and gives retailers until July 1, 2018, to stop selling them. our county law forbids local retailers from selling these products starting Over a year ago.

GREAT Box once again….how do they give such wonderful finds for ten bucks? its amazing! such cool things too…LOVE, would love more of the hand soaps for sure!!!!

I had no idea how bad micro beads were until I read the comments on this post….yikes! I got the grapefruit face wash, so I’m happy. As for the rest of the box, I like it. I bought a year subscription back when it was $10/bx, so I’m thrilled with the contents and everything will get used.

Did anyone get an email that the box shipped? I didn’t get an email or any type of notification at all.

I’m kind of excited to get this. Haven’t gotten an email, I often don’t. I’ll use all the items (barring the microbeads). My 10 year old daughter will steal the case for her room; hopefully I’ll get a fun color of laces, the hand soap will look great in my guest bath and I can always use more face wash. For $10, I think this is a great value.

I like everything but the shoe laces.

I audibly squealed when I pulled the Beekman soap out of this box. Very excited to try this brand! The vase will be great for traveling! (I’ve always wanted flowers in my hotel room.) Can’t wait to try the laces and the face wash.

Serendipity, congrats on nailing it! So happy right now. 🙂

I had not heard about the problems with microbeads but I do not get out much. I was lucky to get the Pink Grapefruit so it was a non issue for me. Anyway, the river our water runs into is pretty polluted already. I would like to respond to those who are upset over the products in this box. The box is only $13.00 every other month and regardless of which box I subscribe to there is always at least one product I do not like, cannot use, etc. and I have also learned that regardless of the subscription there will periodically be a box that does not have much in it that I like. It is part of subscribing to these boxes.

I am excited about my box which came today. My vase has a very modern, funky design on it. I can’t wait to try it out. The Beekman hand soap is awesome, and I like the scent but still think it could be too strong if it lingers. I received grey laces which will match a lot of different shoes. I lucked out and received the grapefruit face wash. It is also a very generous size. I have never heard of the brand, but will try it out. I love that you never know what could be in a Serendipity box. This is my third box and every one has been very different. For the price, this mystery box has been really fun to receive.

I’m excited about the Beekman soap. Neutral on everything else. I received the grapefruit wash so no issues there. I’d be happier with the vase and laces if I received different colors. the laces are safety-cone orange and the vase is a print that doesn’t match my home or office decor. But overall, it’s still a tremendous value. Can’t get too bent out of shape for $10.

Liz, I implore you to add info about microbeads to your review. I’m sure plenty of people only read your review, not the comments, and lots of people still don’t know how bad they are.

And they’re reeeeeally bad.

I am genuinely shocked that LLB sent out a product with microbeads in it. I think of them as a more responsible company than this. Maybe they didn’t know the Watermint version has them??

Mine will be thrown away. In the garbage.

Fyi: You can’t always SEE the microbeads. The best way to tell if a product has them is to read the ingredients. If it includes polyethylene or polypropylene or any other kind of plastic, you’ve got microbeads.

This is my first Serendipity and I love it! It has the perfect balance of practical yet something I would never have bought for myself and all for only a few dollars more than a Target beauty box. I got purple laces so there are variations (glad I didn’t get the green) and grapefruit
( would have preferred the watermint but luck of the draw.) I live on a well/septic so if there are any fishies living under my house they already have many more issues than microbeads 🙂

Liz, where did you get the 5-7 items? I don’t see that anywhere on the LLB website for this box.

I am really pleased with this box. All the items I’ll be able to use this month. I get this box because it contains items that I like (or did not know I needed), but would not ordinarily buy myself. Its a real treat especially for the $10 it cost me.

I really like this box and for $13 is a steal

This is the first one I’ve received since signing up in September. I have to say that I’m happy with the products that I received! I will use all of them. I received the black and white vase, grapefruit face wash and green laces. I’m excited to try the hand soap as I desperately need something that is moisturizing! I was a little disappointed in only receiving 4 items, but I’m okay with it since the hand soap is such a good value. I do understand that some are disappointed in regards to the microbeads in the other variation of face wash, but I don’t see that as a reason to cancel. Overall, I think the value of the January box is great!