unboxing, december edition: popsugar must have

I'm embarrassed to even acknowledge how long it's been since I last posted here: over a year! Trends have come, trends have gone, links have broken, and I've been nowhere to document and/or fix them.  But a new year is upon us!  So I've decided to take full advantage of the whole "forgetting old acquaintance" brand of amnesia that comes with the new year, and begin again with Sense and Style.

I don't know about you, but I've been borderline-obsessed with subscription boxes this past year.  You know the ones: you sign up for a membership, and each month you get a box of mystery goodies delivered -- makeup, makeup samples, clothes, food: you name it, a subscription box tailored to your interests is out there.

One of my favorites so far is the PopSugar Must Have box, curated by the editors of the excellent lifestyle site PopSugar.  Each month, you receive a selection of their favorite products, generally arranged around a theme or set of themes: holidays, entertaining, seasonal trends, ...  The monthly subscription will cost you $35, but out of all the various and sundry boxes I've tested out, this one gives you the most bang for your buck by far.  Each delivery includes five or six full-sized products, ranging from of-the-moment books (J. K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy was a recent selection) to DVD movies and workout tapes to nail polish to room scent diffusers to caramels or chocolates or baking mixes to scarves.  The combined value of the goodies in each shipment usually far far exceeds the subscription price, and I've honestly never been disappointed to date.

Check out the contents of my just-arrived December box:

Clockwise from top left: ● The December box!  Freshly opened, still sealed in pretty pink tissue. ● Jabonería Marianella Face and Body Bar in Dama de La Noche (aka Lady of the Night en español -- oh my).  The scent of this generously plump, beautifully packaged body bar perfumed my entire box!  According to its wrapping, the soap is crafted "with essences of Apple, Lemon, and Dama de la Noche" which, apparently, is a flower as well as a woman of questionable repute (yes, I just Googled the phrase).  Intoxicating. ● GoSwype touchscreen wipes, which will come in handy for my ultra-manhandled iPhone.  I love that they purportedly get rid of up to 98% of (ick) touchscreen-dwelling bacteria.  ● Opening the MiniMergency Kit box revealed this insanely cute and portable toiletry bag, filled to bursting with on-the-go necessities like lip balm, nailpolish (!), hair spray, deodorant wipes, a tampon, and a sewing kit, all elegantly packaged so as to make a girl almost hope for hygiene and wardrobe malfunctions.  Also, that gold-toned wishbone zipper pull is amazing.  ● The December box, freed from its tissue wrapping, waiting to be torn into.  ● Chocolate-covered peppermint swizzle sticks (by Bogdon's)!  YUM.  One of these fine specimens will be swizzled into my coffee tomorrow morning.  ● These Bodum double-walled glass bistro mugs were a highlight -- I've been coveting these beauties forever!  Their super-smart, minimalist design make you feel like you're drinking out of a work of art.  So yeah, I'm going to have one hell of a cup of coffee tomorrow.  ● The second highlight!  This Tea Forté tea assortment is intensely aromatic and, judging by the Jasmine Green variety I just sampled, smooth and delicious.  And its infuser bags are total design porn: shaped like pyramids and topped with a tiny leaf on a string.

That's the Jasmine Green Tea Forté steeping inside the Bodum bistro mug.  Pretty, no?

Oh!  Along with the above-pictured treats came a --wait for it-- a $50 gift card to online designer dress rental site Rent the Runway!  Granted, using the card involves making a purchase and dropping some cash, but if you're in the market for a party dress but are, shall we say, ballin' on a budget, $50 is a steep discount. Not bad!

So if your curiosity's piqued now and you'd like to try out the PopSugar Must Have subscription, you can click here to sign up.  Use discount code REFER5 and you'll get $5 off your first box.  If you decide it's not for you after you give it a whirl, you can cancel easily -- I canceled around September and went on a two-month hiatus, to economize a bit, and quitting was a breeze.  (By the way, I'm still kicking myself for missing out on September's Brokedown scarf.  Oh well: you can't win 'em all, ladies.)

And that's the Sense and Style comeback post!  Woo!  Check back tomorrow for the unboxing of December's Birchbox.  To be continued...

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All photography included in this post © Wesner Fleurima, Jr.  All rights reserved.

Some of the links included in this post are referral links.  If you use them, I might receive points, credits, or other small perks from the referred merchants.  You absolutely don't have to use my referral links if you'd prefer not to, but I'd love and appreciate it if you would help me by clicking them. I am neither affiliated with nor receiving any kind of compensation from the brands mentioned in this post.  Views and opinions expressed herein are mine and not necessarily representative of theirs, &c.