I was about to post this evaluation of the I Love This Box beauty boxes, with a positive verdict. Unfortunately the choice has now been taken out of my hands. I'll leave the post as-is though, so you can see my opinion.
It's that time again ... time for the verdict!
These are the affiliate brands promised on the ILoveThisBox website, which I've received products from over the course of 4 months:
Avado ; Chikii ; Elizabeth Arden ; Essie ; haf ; ILoveThisBox Tools ; Just D'Lish ; Lancome ; Linden Leaves ; Maybelline (x2) ; Keratinology ; Olive by Langlois ; Revlon (x2) ; Rimmel London ; Thalgo ; The Aromatherapy Co.
These are the brands that I haven't received products from:
Adorn ; Ahava ; Caudalie ; Decleor ; Elixir ; Gatineau ; La Senza ; Nvey ECO ; Magnolia Silver Jewellery ; POD ; Simply Organic ; Smashbox
Aaaand here are the obligatory statistics:
| Standard of Product | ||
|---|---|---|
| Luxury | 0 | 0% |
| Top Shelf | 2 | 10% |
| Middle Shelf | 8 | 40% |
| Bottom Shelf | 8 | 40% |
| Bargain Bin | 2 | 10% |
Please bear in mind that everyone's opinion is different! My evaluation of a valuable product/brand name might be different from others.
This second table is based on the out-of-10 rating I gave to each box. Here is how it works:
* a product scored a 2 if I was very excited by it; and/or it was something I needed and will definitely use ; and/or it's a type of product I love (e.g. eyeshadow) and also a brand I had been wanting to try.
* a product scored a 1 if it was a product I hadn't really needed but will use ; and/or it was a brand I had been wanting to try but a product in that brand I wasn't particularly interested in (but will still probably use)
* a product scored 0 if it was a disappointing cheap-o brand ; and/or a product I definitely won't use.
Now, I didn't record the actual scores for each product at the time, so I'm sort of re-creating the score, but here we go:
| Wanted Factor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scored High (2) | 8 | 40% |
| Scored Medium (1) | 8 | 40% |
| Scored Low (0) | 4 | 20% |
I used the above factors to give my box a rating out of 10. If I was particularly pleased with the box overall, I added 1, if there was anything that made me particularly disappointed overall, I subtracted 1. Here are the box ratings for the last 5 months, and the average rating overall:
| Overall Box Rating | |
|---|---|
| January 2012 | 7/10 |
| February 2012 | 8/10 |
| March 2012 | 7/10 |
| April 2012 | 6/10 |
| Average Rating: | 7/10 |
7/10 is a pretty good rating, so I think I Love This Box stays! I do feel they're a little inconsistent. Some boxes made me squee, but others were a little disappointing. There weren't any luxury products in the boxes, but the Wanted factor was fairly high for most products. I think that's just as important. Because if you're not actually going to use the products, then what's the point? So I'll let I Love This Box stay for a little longer and see what happens.
