POPSUGAR Must Have Box Review: March 2015

So I am not like a lot of women, I guess. I discover this consistently when I talk to women for extended periods of time, as I don't seem to have similar interests to most of the women in my life. When I signed up for the POPSUGAR Must Have Box with a long-term subscription, I knew I would end up only keeping a few of the items each month because they're very much targeted towards women who are not like me. I don't mean to disparage anyone in any way, but I always thought that this was a box where there was good value and although I may not love everything, I could gift the items I didn't like. That's how I feel about FabFitFun and Little Lace Box, too, because generally they source really high quality and often somewhat unique items that someone will love, even if it isn't me. So I have had a long-term subscription with POPSUGAR and then as it was running out, I was debating next steps. Should I go month-to-month or maybe subscribe for an even longer period? Fortunately, they released the March box, making my decision very easy.

There are a lot of women who loved this box, proving again I am not like a lot of women. I canceled before this box even shipped once I saw what was in it. There is not one item in this box I want and I ended up throwing most of it away. Even worse, the items were not even giftable, because they looked cheap and the makeup is all tested on animals.

I understand that not everyone is concerned about cruelty-free products, but POPSUGAR has all these blogs and talks about ethics and cruelty-free living and so on, then sources two expensive products from companies who are not only NOT cruelty-free, but have a history of lying to consumers about it. While I can appreciate that POPSUGAR does not care about specific customer needs, such as not using $40 cream that involved torturing a puppy, I cannot justify spending as much on this box as it costs for what is essentially garbage to me - and they have too much influence to be on board with animal testing, in my opinion. 

Also included was a set of diffuser sticks, but I didn't bother because if POPSUGAR is putting two high cost animal-tested items in their box, I don't trust anything from them. I also didn't eat the snack, although it includes no animal ingredients, mainly because the flavor sounded gross and honestly, I just wanted to throw this stuff out. I felt so dirty that I even paid for it. I didn't keep the detangling brush, either, mostly because it was cheap and didn't seem to do much. 

Although I really don't like the pouch, since it's kind of ugly, I do travel (or used to anyway) and I figured it can't hurt to have even though I have pretty decent luggage. I also kept the travel packing checklists although, even when I was traveling several times a year, there would be too many here for any normal person to need. 

To be honest, I had been considering how to cut back on subscriptions and POPSUGAR made it very, very easy for me. If I canceled Birchbox, who had consistently sent cruelty-free items even though they didn't promise them, which was $10 a month, there was no way I was sticking around for $40 a month to get products like this. For me, abusing an animal for makeup is just incomprehensible. Now clearly POPSUGAR doesn't care and tons of people have already ordered for April and May is nearly sold out, but this was a no-brainer for me personally. I will stick to FabFitFun, whose products are consistently cruelty-free (although they don't seem to promise it, it does seem that they are more conscious of it), and Little Lace Box, who have stated that they oppose animal testing and will not source products that test on animals. You get the same quality and you don't have to feel bad about the items.