Lost In Austen LitCube Review
Hey Lovies! Long time, no post! But I promise this post will be worth the wait because what a dozzey this post is. OMG where do I start? Okay so rewinded a few months ago in July, the subscription box Litcube was having an exclusive One Time only called "Lost in Austen" box. Now, as you can tell by some of my post in the past that I am a huge Jane Austen lover, not to mention that I've been following Litcube forever so I thought I would give it a try. Not to mention the fact that ChickLit Design (which I love) was suppose to partner with them, which it a-mazing! With all those factors I paid 45 dollars for a box that would arrive in September.
It's October.
Now, Litcube has had a lot of problems between July and now. The partner ship with Litcube and ChickLit Designs fell through because the company that was making there product scammed them out of a lot of money. Not to mention the whole hurricane Matthew thing. LitCube has been through a lot. And, while I was really disappointed about not getting a ChickLit Design idea, I was really excited for this box.
The very first thing I notice when I opened the box wasn't the contents but the smell. Like a weird sickening sweet strawberry scent. I'm not really sure how to describe it. Maybe like a strawberry Jolly Rancher that was left out in the sun for too long. That what it smells like. Which is fine at first but after like 5 minutes I was getting a headache.
The source of the smell was this
This is apparently a wax crumble for like wax warmers. Lucky for me, I got a wax warmer last Christmas and always looking for more scents. Also the scent is a little too strong that I don't want my room to smells like a overripe jolly rancher. Also wax crumble? Wax melts I can understand, wax crumbles just seem really messy. And there just in a plastic bag with a flimsy label. Honestly it looks a lot like the wax crumble that was in LitCube's Star Hollow box last month. Little shady. I went on wax crumble.com where this apparently from and theres nothing on this site that looks like that. It looks like they took a bunch of wax melts and broke them up so it would be cheaper. Double shady.
(Value I found online:6 bucks)
So all LitCubes are suppose to come with something readable, wearable and snackable. This is the readable. Okay, so you know how they have like literary adaption of TV shows and Movies (like movie first then book.) like High School Musical books. Apparently they do that to YouTube series now because I'm now the owner of "The Secret Diary of Little Bennet" based on the YouTube series I watched three years ago. I'm a little bummed about the book because I really expecting a Jane Austen novel, like the covers that LitCube sells. But no. Also super disappointed now that I've learn that LitCube uses BookOutlet for there books when there on sale. I did not pay 45 dollars for a BookOutlet book (not that I don't love you BookOutlet, but I'm going to spend 45 I would get a lot of books from you, not just one). Value: 3.99
Now, I love a good mug. For the amount of coffee and hot chocolate I drink I need all the mugs I can get. However, when I opened the mug from the box, it was sticky, like really sticky with residue all over the rim of the cup which is super gross. Where is it from? How did it get there? Super gross. Also the quote on the mug "Know your own happiness" is very hard to see because it looked like it was scratched on. A cool idea would be to put a pack of markers in the boxes so it could be like a "design your own mug" or "fill in the quote" and I suppose I could design this mug myself, but since it's covered with some foreign sticky stuff, I really don't know what to do with it and I don't want to touch it. I have no idea what the value could be on this because theres no content card with this box.
Okay so I am a journal HORDER! I love journals, I have a dozen already and I was totally cool with having two more in my favorite color. The tiny one says "There is no charm equal to the tenderness of the heart" So that's pretty cool. The larger one just says Pride and Prejudice which is a little odd, mainly because I thought it was the book at first. My problem is the large brown mole like stain on the Pride and Prejudice book. That's how it came to me. Gross. Also look at the pages.
They look a little wrinkled, like someone spilled water on them. Not cool. I don't know the value on this either because again, no produce tag.
So this is the big ticket item of the boxes. LitCube own creation LitCuties. The concept is that it's like a plush POP figure but of literature characters. I love all three of those things, so I was actually excited for this. Originally the box was only suppose to have Elizabeth Bennett, but since the ChickLit Design thing fell through, we got Darcy as well. Now, when I think of a plushie, I think of something soft and huggable. Elizabeth hair is huggable. That's about it. Lizzie head is super flimsy and her body is not very soft at all and her dress is very flimsy as well. Darcy whole body is stiff and curved forever at a angle. They're kinda cute but I wouldn't pay the 29.99 they're being sold at. Before I got my box I was really tempted to pre-order the Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester LitCutie because they're my personal OTP, but after getting this I don't believe there worth the money.
The box was advertises to be a 100 dollar value but from the values I can find it only adds up to be worth 39 dollars, less than what I payed for. Honestly I feel there is no really theme to this book, other than vaguely Austen. Honestly it feels more a Dollar General sale bin then a book box and probably the worst subscription box I've received. I've never been more disappointed and more ripped off.
I'm apparently not the only one who was disappointed with their boxes. Many people have taken to Instagram to complain about their boxes which apparently has pissed off the owner of LitCube who posted on Instagram yesterday saying "Kind words cost nothing" and basically goes on to say that she lost a lot of money making these boxes and everyone should be nice to her. On one hand, I feel really bad that she lost thousand of dollars on this, but at the same time, this is a business and this happens sometimes in business and sometimes you get bad reviews and you shouldn't censor people or make people who payed for your product feel bad for not liking it. So I wrote this:
"Kind words cost nothing but people paid 40 something dollars for this box and they are allowed to have their own opinions on what they paid for. I'm sorry for what happened to you, it's a bad situation and I think we all tried to be understanding. However, the buyer has the right to share their opinion about what they paid for without having to be guilted over not liking something they spent money on"
LitCube immediate blocked me after I posted my comment. Like in the span of five minutes. This is the first time I've ever been blocked, by a business no less. Not gonna lie, I feel pretty bad ass. Like my reviews are so deadly, people block me. Apparently I'm not the only one who's been blocked by LitCube. Everyone who has posted a negative review has been blocked by LitCube which is honesty the most immature and shady thing you can do as a small business. By saying that you only want good reviews and blocking all others is a very telling sign that you don't really believe in your product and you know that it's bad. It's censorship and a little bit of lying. If she was really overwhelmed by this box she should have canceled and give everyone a refund, or give them a coupon of a free box in the month of their choosing. But don't make it seem like it's our fault for not liking a product that was not worth the money we paid. My stuff is damaged and she not going to do anything about it? Super Shady.
So, my lovely readers, take my advice and stay the heck away from LitCube and their shady boxes.
So what do you think? Was I too harsh? What is your opinion on the Lost in Austen box or LitCube in general. Have you been banned by LitCube? Let me know in the comments below.
Stay Stylin'
Elle
It's October.
Now, Litcube has had a lot of problems between July and now. The partner ship with Litcube and ChickLit Designs fell through because the company that was making there product scammed them out of a lot of money. Not to mention the whole hurricane Matthew thing. LitCube has been through a lot. And, while I was really disappointed about not getting a ChickLit Design idea, I was really excited for this box.
Okay so the box looks super pretty. The writing is a really nice touch and very Austen.
The source of the smell was this
This is apparently a wax crumble for like wax warmers. Lucky for me, I got a wax warmer last Christmas and always looking for more scents. Also the scent is a little too strong that I don't want my room to smells like a overripe jolly rancher. Also wax crumble? Wax melts I can understand, wax crumbles just seem really messy. And there just in a plastic bag with a flimsy label. Honestly it looks a lot like the wax crumble that was in LitCube's Star Hollow box last month. Little shady. I went on wax crumble.com where this apparently from and theres nothing on this site that looks like that. It looks like they took a bunch of wax melts and broke them up so it would be cheaper. Double shady.
(Value I found online:6 bucks)
So all LitCubes are suppose to come with something readable, wearable and snackable. This is the readable. Okay, so you know how they have like literary adaption of TV shows and Movies (like movie first then book.) like High School Musical books. Apparently they do that to YouTube series now because I'm now the owner of "The Secret Diary of Little Bennet" based on the YouTube series I watched three years ago. I'm a little bummed about the book because I really expecting a Jane Austen novel, like the covers that LitCube sells. But no. Also super disappointed now that I've learn that LitCube uses BookOutlet for there books when there on sale. I did not pay 45 dollars for a BookOutlet book (not that I don't love you BookOutlet, but I'm going to spend 45 I would get a lot of books from you, not just one). Value: 3.99
Now, I love a good mug. For the amount of coffee and hot chocolate I drink I need all the mugs I can get. However, when I opened the mug from the box, it was sticky, like really sticky with residue all over the rim of the cup which is super gross. Where is it from? How did it get there? Super gross. Also the quote on the mug "Know your own happiness" is very hard to see because it looked like it was scratched on. A cool idea would be to put a pack of markers in the boxes so it could be like a "design your own mug" or "fill in the quote" and I suppose I could design this mug myself, but since it's covered with some foreign sticky stuff, I really don't know what to do with it and I don't want to touch it. I have no idea what the value could be on this because theres no content card with this box.
Okay so I am a journal HORDER! I love journals, I have a dozen already and I was totally cool with having two more in my favorite color. The tiny one says "There is no charm equal to the tenderness of the heart" So that's pretty cool. The larger one just says Pride and Prejudice which is a little odd, mainly because I thought it was the book at first. My problem is the large brown mole like stain on the Pride and Prejudice book. That's how it came to me. Gross. Also look at the pages.
They look a little wrinkled, like someone spilled water on them. Not cool. I don't know the value on this either because again, no produce tag.
So this is the big ticket item of the boxes. LitCube own creation LitCuties. The concept is that it's like a plush POP figure but of literature characters. I love all three of those things, so I was actually excited for this. Originally the box was only suppose to have Elizabeth Bennett, but since the ChickLit Design thing fell through, we got Darcy as well. Now, when I think of a plushie, I think of something soft and huggable. Elizabeth hair is huggable. That's about it. Lizzie head is super flimsy and her body is not very soft at all and her dress is very flimsy as well. Darcy whole body is stiff and curved forever at a angle. They're kinda cute but I wouldn't pay the 29.99 they're being sold at. Before I got my box I was really tempted to pre-order the Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester LitCutie because they're my personal OTP, but after getting this I don't believe there worth the money.
The box was advertises to be a 100 dollar value but from the values I can find it only adds up to be worth 39 dollars, less than what I payed for. Honestly I feel there is no really theme to this book, other than vaguely Austen. Honestly it feels more a Dollar General sale bin then a book box and probably the worst subscription box I've received. I've never been more disappointed and more ripped off.
I'm apparently not the only one who was disappointed with their boxes. Many people have taken to Instagram to complain about their boxes which apparently has pissed off the owner of LitCube who posted on Instagram yesterday saying "Kind words cost nothing" and basically goes on to say that she lost a lot of money making these boxes and everyone should be nice to her. On one hand, I feel really bad that she lost thousand of dollars on this, but at the same time, this is a business and this happens sometimes in business and sometimes you get bad reviews and you shouldn't censor people or make people who payed for your product feel bad for not liking it. So I wrote this:
"Kind words cost nothing but people paid 40 something dollars for this box and they are allowed to have their own opinions on what they paid for. I'm sorry for what happened to you, it's a bad situation and I think we all tried to be understanding. However, the buyer has the right to share their opinion about what they paid for without having to be guilted over not liking something they spent money on"
LitCube immediate blocked me after I posted my comment. Like in the span of five minutes. This is the first time I've ever been blocked, by a business no less. Not gonna lie, I feel pretty bad ass. Like my reviews are so deadly, people block me. Apparently I'm not the only one who's been blocked by LitCube. Everyone who has posted a negative review has been blocked by LitCube which is honesty the most immature and shady thing you can do as a small business. By saying that you only want good reviews and blocking all others is a very telling sign that you don't really believe in your product and you know that it's bad. It's censorship and a little bit of lying. If she was really overwhelmed by this box she should have canceled and give everyone a refund, or give them a coupon of a free box in the month of their choosing. But don't make it seem like it's our fault for not liking a product that was not worth the money we paid. My stuff is damaged and she not going to do anything about it? Super Shady.
So, my lovely readers, take my advice and stay the heck away from LitCube and their shady boxes.
So what do you think? Was I too harsh? What is your opinion on the Lost in Austen box or LitCube in general. Have you been banned by LitCube? Let me know in the comments below.
Stay Stylin'
Elle
I think this post is very generous. I was horribly disappointed. Aside from the usual Book Outlet cheapie, the only other value is in the dolls (which aren't even cute or high quality in my opinion. They both look depressed.). It's as though somewhere out there exists a Dollar Store or flea market that got a bunch of Jane Austen themed imported knick-knacks. Collectively, I would say the cup (mine is pretty much illegible, but has a rough texture from the "quote" that is scratched into it), wax, bookmarks, and journals are worth about $5 total. There's no branding on anything (aside from the shifty label on the wax). The book cost 2.99 for the paperback (I think you saw the hardcover price, which was 3.99), probably less for LitCube since they buy in bulk and buy a lot from Book Outlet in general (a lot of their journals come from there as well). The dolls, again, are like a dollar store got a stock of Jane Austen-esque merchandise in. I would say $15 for the pair would be a load. So that makes my value add up to $23. But, that said, it would be $23 worth of stuff I don't like or want. This was my third (and last ever!!) cube. To my knowledge, they almost always use Book Outlet and typically only offer older paperback editions (one of my others was a dragon-themed book, also from 2014, from a series that still hasn't completed ...and I'm guessing never will. My first was an older time travel book from Book Outlet.). There are some great boxes out there, so I'm not sure how this one stays in business (I'm guessing there are a lot of people who have never heard of Book Outlet, or maybe people in other countries have less access to these items). Three dollar books and granola bars just aren't enough for my hard-earned money!
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