An Honest Review about Blue Velveteen

Have you ever felt an object say, "Fuck you," in any certain terms?  Welcome to the Blue Velveteen Subscription box.  I would like to prerequisite this review with the small fact that I received my box for free as a blogger.  That was a nice perk.  And I appreciate it, but as a blogger, it is my responsibility to be 100% honest.  I filmed an unboxing that I don't know if I will post, but the longer I pass from the initial unboxing... the more irritated I am about this epic "Fuck you."

But first, let me address some of the scandals surrounding this box.

First, many bloggers felt betrayed when they received their Early Release boxes.  Those boxes had seven items in them and were neatly tied with bows.  The items were well over the price of the box and someone seemed to give a shit.  They then found out that these boxes contained extra items and were misleading to their readers.  When confronted about these extra items, the owner (Sarah) insisted that they were "gifts" and in no way meant to mislead.  This seems strange considering that there was no indication that these things were any different than the regular monthly box.

The second scandal was Sarah's behavior.  When she was confronted by Betrayed Bloggers and Confused Customers, she lashed out angrily and said that if people didn't like what they got then they could just cancel.  This isn't really the way that you should conduct business or PR.  She seems to communicate primarily through Facebook because many emails seem to go unanswered.

This leads us to the third scandal.  The "insufficient funds" scandal.  It seems that after heatedly telling customers that they could "just cancel" that cancel they did.  In droves.  So many people cancelled that some were receiving emails that their refunds to PayPal had bounced due to a lack of funds in Sarah's account.

People who ordered in August are still complaining that they have not received a box and others still are being spontaneously cancelled without any rhyme or reason.  Sarah has made excuses about her shipments leaving late and otherwise.  She has been emotional and childish on her social media handles, and lashed out at customers.  So needless to say, this woman is not off to a great start.

Oh this looks nice, right!?  Let's look further.

This isn't tied with a bow or really wrapped with care at all...

In fact, it looks like this was all just kind of thrown together.

This was hardly impressive.  A pile of foil packets and some miscellaneous objects.

I don't even exactly know what these packets are.  There was no way to customize your box, so you get what you get.  I am 21 years old and really don't have much use for anti wrinkle products.  

Cost of Foils: 0$

The second item was a small NYX Pearl Mania loose pigment.  I got a rust color, but it seems that she has given bloggers the usable colors and everyone else yucky ones.  It seems as if she just bought what was available at your local Ulta and tossed them in these little velvet bags.

Cost of Pigment: $2.99

Another foil packet.  This is hair oil.  Having a pixie cut and enough natural oil in my hair, I don't use this kind of thing, but that's alright... anyway...

Cost of foil: 0$

Next was a mini Ciate Paint Pot.  This is my biggest beauty box pet peeve.  I HATE nail polish because I don't usually paint my own nails.  I know I am not the only one, but I know a lot of women really love the stuff, so I digress.  But still... Mini Nail Polish.

Cost of Polish: $3.99

This sample was a real gem.  This is the (drum roll) discontinued Sexy Bath and Body body wash in Lavender Chamomile... DISCONTINUED.  You can no longer buy this product.  That leads me to ask a few questions--- How old is it?  Where did she get it?  When does it expire?  and... Why?  I hope you don't like it because you can't get it anywhere else.  It was going for about $9 online for the full sized, but there was nothing on the sample.  Full size is 6.4oz.  This is a 1.7oz travel sized bottle.  It is about 1/3 the size, so I will count it as about 1/3 the price.

Cost of Body Wash: $3

This was my underwhelming little box.  The retail value of the box comes to be about 10$... so the cost of the box is barely covered by what is inside of it.  TECHNICALLY, you get your money's worth, but that is the thing about the beauty box subscriptions... You are supposed to enjoy these boxes because even if there are one or two things you don't like, you still get your money's worth in the products that you do like.  Not in this one.  If you hate your shadow color or don't use nail polish... you're done.  

As a supposed MAKEUP box... this held only one makeup item.  The rest seemed to be a random hodge podge.  

Would I blacklist this box?  Not quite yet.  It is still growing and this was the first month of a new company.  There are always hiccups in the process of creating a successful brand and you simply can't tell in one month.  I would suggest giving Sarah a few months to get herself together and send out some quality before we judge too harshly.  Personally, I am going to wait until January and subscribe then for 3 months, if the box still exists.  If she doesn't wow me in those three months, then she is blacklisted.