La Joliebox

A few months ago, Aimee** over at PutYourFlareOn introduced me to the concept of the Joliebox.  What is this box that you speak of, you ask?  Apparently it's a concept called Birchbox started in the US by two Harvard students, and it has now been adopted by a French company under the name of Joliebox.

Le principe est simple - each month, they send you a cute little box containing 5-6 beauty products. Sometimes they're new products that have just been released and other times they're old favorites (Burts Bees chapstick ou L'Occitane hand cream).  The sizes vary too, but they are usually bigger than sample sizes - ie more like travel size cosmetics, which is great if you are on the road a lot like I am.  They also sometimes give whole sizes too - last month I got a gigantic tube of cocoa butter lotion and this month I got several full-size products including a foundation, a shower gel and a red nail polish. You can also set your preferences for certain things - for example, perfumes often make me sneeze, so I checked that I would rather have facial products instead of perfumes.

Mostly though I just enjoy the fun of being able to try out so many new beauty products, especially since make-up is usually so costly in France. Which reminds me, I didn't mention the price - it's 10€ a month including shipping.  They have one month, three month, six month or year-long subscriptions.  C got me a 12mo for Christmas and it has been awesome - it's like the gift that keeps on giving all year long.  I'm not sure if there are too many guys out there who read my blog, but hey, if you're stuck for a Valentine's day gift, this could be a good one!  They are also rolling out a JoliMonsieur edition next month.  :)

**Also, just wanted to give a little plug for Aimee's cute tea house in the 13th - if you haven't been yet, check it out, she makes the best desserts!  It's also a great place to buy yarn for you knitters out there.