You may recall not long ago I reviewed Whimsy & Wilbur’s luxury gift boxes which I absolutely adored. And while today’s review is a little different, it’s Friday and I fancied a little tangent from my usual interiors talk. Now I will just start off being totally upfront and saying I was sent the boxes as a gift although I did let them know before they were sent to me that while I appreciated the offer of the gift, there was no guarantee I would cover it on the blog which, happily, they understood. I like to be straightforward with companies because as nice as it is to be sent free things as a blogger, I don’t want to take advantage of this privilege and I certainly don’t want to cover just anything here on Swoon Worthy.

Plus, this is more of a beauty and lifestyle box so it’s not necessarily the usual thing I talk about here. However, once I received my two boxes for July and August, I kind of fell in love with them. I admit that I do love pretty products, pretty illustrations and carefully presented packaging. My Little Box delivers on all of these. I felt compelled to share even though I had absolutely no obligation to do so. So forgive the tangent today but I reckon you’re going to like them anyway.

I have to say, I have no joy in receiving post any more. Where long ago, I remember getting magazines and yes, letters from friends (showing my age there!), today my post is mostly made up of bills, crappy takeaway flyers and my credit card companies telling me they’ve updated their T&C’s. Boring. Well, with My Little Box, receiving post is actually really FUN.

The concept is simple – you subscribe online and every month, you receive a little box full of really cute, beautifully illustrated gifts and beauty products. It’s also incredibly affordable at £15 a month (including shipping), you can cancel at any time and there is so much packed into each box. I mean, I’ll easily go into Boots, pick up a couple of lipsticks or a compact and spend that amount without thinking. I couldn’t believe just how many things there are packed into each box and it’s just fun to open everything up. There’s something to be said about the element of surprise.

The company originated in France (they currently have 80,000 subscribers in their home country!) but have expanded now to cover the UK. They are partnered with an incredible array of brands to deliver some amazing products (full size, no tiny samples here) as well as including their own in-house beauty products from My Little Beauty in each shipment (which isn’t yet available in the UK so you are getting products no one else can get in this country!). In a genius marketing move, they teamed up with illustrator Kanako Kuno, who’s work is sprinkled throughout each boxes and really gives it that authentic French feel.

You can subscribe for yourself for a little surprise every month (no judgement here!) or you can gift boxes to a friend on a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription. I think they’d make for beautiful Christmas presents (yes I said the C-word in AUGUST) for a special girlfriend or relative who loves her beauty products.

Both my boxes – being in the middle of summer which is peak travel time in Europe – revolve around holidays (or ‘vacations’ for my American friends). The July box was themed “Roadtrips” and the August box was themed ‘Gypset’.

My Roadtrip box came complete with a full size Essie Nail Polish in ‘I’m Addicted’, gold temporary tattoos (so pretty – I admit I love these), an illustrated travel organiser with tons of handy compartments, a mailable memory notebook (such a cute idea), 125ml of Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water makeup remover, a 100ml tube of Sorbet d’ Ete After Sun Gel which is PINK and smells amazing and a cute reuseable cotton bag. They also included their magazine called ‘My Little World’ with editorial features and tips on using the supplies as well as an illustrated card from Kanako Kuno.

My Gypset box came complete with a really cute Antik Batik shoulder bag, pretty elastic hair bands that do double work as casual bracelets, a full size bronzer compact with a handy mirror from their own line which has only the slightest bit of shimmer (something I find so hard to find, I don’t always want a face full of glitter), and a tube of Colour Hybrid which is a moisturising lip and cheek stain (worth £14.50 so there’s the whole thing pretty much paid for in one product), a 40ml tube of Korres Bergamot Pear body milk which smells GLORIOUS as well as another little reusable cotton bag, illustrated card and magazine.

So as you can see, there’s plenty of lovely stuff in each box and while I didn’t have to share this with you, I kind of really wanted to. This makes such a lovely gift for either yourself or a friend. I’d love to hear what you think of My Little Box so do let me know in the comments!

Oh and it’s a bank holiday weekend here in the UK  (yay!) but I have a new styling post coming up on Monday so be sure to come back then! In the meantime, I’m going to be enjoying the last little bit of summer with some of my best friends who are coming up from London, a BBQ (praying it doesn’t rain!) and I imagine a good bit of merriment. What are you up to this weekend?

Disclaimer: I received my boxes as a gift with no obligation to review here on the blog. I just really wanted to!