Monthly Express Aug 2015 Review

Monthly Express is a monthly subscription service. Savor your "ME" time. The boxes contain luxurious hand-selected items from around the world in full or deluxe sizes, picked for the highest quality and ingredients, and center around "self-nourishing". I have been really wanting to try this box, but at the steep monthly price tag $129/month, I just never took the leap. They recently offered a deal on gilt.com, for 1 month for $75 or 3 months for $225, so I jumped at the changed to try it and grabbed the 3-month deal. This box is similar to a special edition box, so I assumed I would like it. I tried to save my voucher from gilt city so I could sign up at a later month, but it did not work that way. ME contacted me right away to let me know my box for August was already shipping.

This came in a basic cardboard box, with the logo stamped on the front. The shipping was so fast, that I really smiled when I saw this in the mailbox. The inside box was high quality and wrapped in a bow. Nice touch.

There were two cards included. There was a little card (not shown) signed from T&T, which is Tara and Travis who curate the box. The inspiration this month was Sun. I liked the info card, it explained the products well.

Treasure Collection Turkish Towel by Smyrna Collections - $35. Turkish towels are said to absorb water as fast as a terry towel and dry very quickly. I have received many of these in subscription boxes, but I have yet to try one. They do feel quality. I should just try one eventually. I believe this is the reverse navy version.

Key West Aloe Oatmeal Facial Scrub - $16.50. Exfoliate and rejuvenate your skin with Oatmeal Facial Scrub made with 20% Aloe Vera, apricot seeds, and papaya and apple extracts. I really like this brand and I have tried other products from them before. I am alomost out of my current facial scrub and was just wondering this morning what I was going to replace it with, so happy to see this.

Karin Herzog Essential Mask - $60. This is a deep hydrating mask. You just put it on for about 5-10 minutes, then rinse. Easy enough to use in the shower. This product has 2% active oxygen and retinol, so it's recommended that you apply with a brush so your fingertips don't absorb the active ingredients. ME included the Small Karin Herzog Brush - $6, which I thought was a really nice touch.

Belle de Provence Small Tree Brush - $15. The Belle de Provence Small Tree Brush is a unique bath brush most commonly used for nails. It is made from treated woods, and all natural boar bristles. Perfect for hands and feet. Made in France. This is really nice.
While searching for info about the brush, I just discovered that ME has a shop and sells the items that are in the monthly boxes. I am using that link for the brush because I couldn't find it online anywhere else. I only looked at a couple items, but I did notice they are selling them for less than sites I have listed. If the other items listed in the shop are from previous boxes, then I am really going to like this box!!
This was an exciting box for us, with it being our first one. Also because it did feel luxurious, the products were high quality as promised and so was the packaging. The value vs the price wasn't that exciting for me however. This box has an approximate overall value of $132.50, or $122 if counting the ME website prices. If I had paid full price, I would feel this was inadequate. We have been doing subscription box reviews for a couple years now, and I can tell you that the most popular and successful boxes are the ones where the value is at least 1.5 times the cost of the box. When the value comes out to the amount you paid, you start questioning if you should just save your money and go to a store and look for random items you might not otherwise buy. For the deal I got I think this is a great value and I'm thrilled with it. We are looking forward to next month.
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