Escape Monthly November 2014: Hawaii Unboxing!

What it is: Subscription box with items from all around the world. 
Where to get it: EscapeMonthly.com
How much is it?: It used to be $39.99, now it is $49.99. They often offer $10 coupons
Types of Products: Snacks, Beauty Products, Souvenirs, Gift Items and Toys from around the world.
What are the Perks?!: $10 off coupon + monthly entry for a vacation voucher.

Escape Monthly November 2014: Hawaii 

Unboxing and Review!

It is a sad day... This will be my very final Escape Monthly Box. Part of me is sorry to say good bye after only a few months of exploring different parts of the world. But, most of me is resigned to the fact that this box is just not worth it anymore. I will fully explain at the end of this unboxing review.

Let's Take A Look...

Upon Opening:

Ok, this looks a little weak. But, it's Hawaii, stuff's expensive there! Let's see what we got!

Our Menu:

1. Moon Hawaii Travel Guide: Listed at $19.95

2. Honey Girl Organics Gift Bundle: Listed at $38.00

3. Personal Paradise Noni Papaya Pineapple Body Wash: Listed at $3.00

4. Personal Paradise Noni Papaya Pineapple Body Lotion: Listed at $3.00

5. Kona Glazed Macadamia Nut Bag: Listed at $6.00

6. Royal Hawaiian Orchards Papaya-Lime Crunch: Listed at $6.00

7. Hawaiian Rainforest Naturals Stress Release Bath Crystals: Listed at $4.00

8. Bonus Seashell Lei: Listed at $10.00

1. Moon Hawaii Travel Guide:

Listed at $19.95

As opposed to last month's travel guide that was listed at $19.99 and ended up retailing for $12.99, I was actually able to find this listed for $19.99 on Moon's website.

But, all in all, I am just stacking up travel guides that I most likely never use in reality that have a very low resale value on Amazon.

2. Honey Girl Organics Gift Bundle: 

Listed at $38.00

Oh boy. I received a full sized Honey Girl Face and Eye Cream that is available on Amazon for $33.99 and on the Honey Girl Website for $32.99. Though, the listing is in red- so it may be on sale. And, a tiny sample of Honey Girl Night Creme. 

At least these two items technically make up for the cost of the box. Though, I don't see how they add up to $38.00...

**I want to add an edit- I do not think this is the full-sized product as it has been advertised**

3. Personal Paradise Noni Papaya Pineapple Body Wash: 

Listed at $3.00

Soooooo Escape Monthly actually sent me the shampoo instead of the body wash. This would be ok if this wasn't like, the 5th time this has happened. I have tried to err on the side of being optimistic and supportive of my subscription box companies. I am honestly kicking myself for not mentioning this in past reviews. But, this has also occurred in boxes I have received well before I started blogging here.

Also, with some sleuthing work, I was able to find out that the full sized bottle of shampoo is $9.95. So, the sample price seems about right. However, I was also able to find out that this size and product is typically given in Westin Hotel rooms as complimentary body products... o_O

4. Personal Paradise Noni Papaya Pineapple Body Lotion: 

Listed at $3.00

I actually did receive the body lotion though. 

5. Hawaiian Host Kona Glazed Macadamia Nut Bag: 

Listed at $6.00

This was the highlight of the box to me. The macadamia nuts were delicious. My particular bag was glazed with Kona coffee. Which I loved. They were also listed for $6.00 on the Hawaiian Host website.

Though, I have to say, I'm gotta to be careful with these- the fat content is out of control!

6. Royal Hawaiian Orchards Papaya-Lime Crunch: 

Listed at $6.00

This was actually another mistake I got in the box. Instead of Papaya-Lime crunch, I received Kona Coffee Banana Macadamia Crunch.

Whatever, I thought this would taste better than Papaya-Lime anyway. But, I did feel like they were slightly overdoing it with the Coffee/Macadamia situation. I rationalized it like- I love coffee, I love banana, I love macadamia nuts. Who am I took complain?

I just apparently don't like the combination of these 3 things together because I didn't enjoy this snack at all. And, I mean, I had a melt down about how much I love cookies last month... You have to pretty low on the snack totem to get a thumbs down from me. Oh well, I can't win 'em all.

7. Hawaiian Rainforest Naturals Stress Release Bath Crystals: 

Listed at $4.00

The Hawaiian Rainforest Naturals website has this listed nefarious for $4.00 but what seems to be a perpetual sale of $2.80

I can dig these. I like bath salts. They smell pretty good. And, it will be used. I can dig it.

8. Bonus! Seashell Lei: 

Listed at $10.00

I still don't get these "bonus" items. They're always listed well overpriced souvenirs that look like something you would purchase quickly for a coworker that you despise but have to keep face with.

This time, I received a broken and mangled shell necklace... Ok... And, I would literally be angry at anyone I know who would pay $10 for this item.

I'm really at a loss for words in regards to voicing my reasons for ending my Escape Monthly subscription and reviews for everyone. Although every reasoning I have had I can definitely foresee counter arguments for. But, I'll break it down in a list to give an overall feel for why I chose to opt out.

1. Pricing, Billing, and Shipping: Escape Monthly is not a cheap subscription box. It is by far, the most expensive sub box that I personally subscribe to at this time and I have the $10 discount coupon. It is enough that I spent $40 on items of this quality. But, it would be another to spend $50. It is often the very first sub that I am billed for at the beginning of the month- kind of like the clock strikes 12 and the funds are gone. However, it remains to this day, the last box that I receive at the very end of each month. There has always been quite a large discrepancy between the date I get a shipping email and the actual date of shipping and date I receive the product. As an Ebay seller, I would imagine that I would receive quite a bit of negative feedback if items I sold arrived week(s) after apparent shipping date.  
2. Mistakes: Everybody makes mistakes! I totally get it. And, I'm totally okay with receiving an incorrect item. Hindsight being 20-20, I now realize that I should have been completely transparent and candid that I have received many mistakes in my Escape Monthly boxes. This is my first real attempt at writing a blog and there is a learning curve. That's my mistake! I have never had a missing item from Escape Monthly. But, the misrepresented items did rack up and that is cause for concern. In my first box, I received 2 body washes instead of a body wash and body lotion. I rationalized it that there will probably be oversights on products from time to time- I psychologically gave E.M an out and didn't even realize it. But, if you compare this with all my other subs- some of which I have been a subscriber of for over 2 years- I have never received ANY mistake items! Missing- yes, broken- absolutely, off or bad - once or twice. It's just the consistent oversight that every box I have ever received from them had an error.
1. Paris: Two body washes instead of a body wash/body lotion.
2. Puerto Rico: Expired plantain chips.
3. London: Two dry oils instead of one (that I wrote about favorably). That upon opening later on were leaking and cracked at the top of BOTH!
4. Hawaii: Shampoo instead of body wash, wrong/double flavored snacks, broken necklace.
3. Quality of Products/Overall box: There are a few philosophies of thought in regards to the value of subscription boxes. Most of the rabble you hear is arguments for/against the value of a specific month sub box value. I'm a big picture type of girl and never throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think Ipsy is a great example of this. Ipsy is inexpensive and also seemingly random in regards to product distribution. Some months I get items that I love that are worth the full $10 or more. Other months, there might be only one item I love and it's worth less than, say, $4. Or, I may be initially disappointed then find a product I love. It evens out and at worse, I'm stuck with some items I can resell on Ebay to make some money back or I can trade the items for something I may want on the Ipsy website. I just don't feel that E.M. has found their niche yet for creating a comprehensive monthly escape box. The execution just isn't there yet. Money is wasted on the travel guides. Some boxes will maintain an even cost of items. Some cheap, some more expensive, some in between, etc. Other boxes, like this month, will completely be lopsided with one expensive item and cheap snacks and free shampoos. There's no consistency with product.
4. Misrepresentation/Box "Padding": Void all arguments of discount purchases from wholesale to our "retail" sub boxes. If it is not obvious to you, sub boxes make a lot of their profit from buying mass amounts of an items at low wholesale prices then reselling to the consumer at a more fitting retail cost. That being said, as the consumer, we are not obligated to sit and count up the retail value of the cost of a sample of an item then count that into the cost of an overall sub box to rationalize our expense. But, I always felt I had to do this with Escape Monthly. I just didn't trust the company. I would look at an item and say to myself, "Hey now. This cost just doesn't add up..." Upon researching, it was fairly transparent to me that EM was padding a lot of their products to give the box more value. Having a $13 book listed at $19, complimentary hotel soaps listed at $3 dollars, or toy cars listed at $12 when you could easily look up the manufacturer and find the item for less than $5, put a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not saying it's fraud. I wouldn't miss the $12 die cast buggy if it wasn't included. But, it's pretty insulting to try to convince me my box has a much overall high value and worth due to item padding. Yes, you can argue that I may spend over $40/$50 if I bought all those items individually. But, I wouldn't buy an item from a shop owner if it's tagged at $4 and he willy-nilly just decides to charge me $12 because he feels that's the value of it that day. For most sub boxes this works the opposite. You spend $10, get maybe $15-$25 worth of retail priced items and they back that claim with product/price break down that is fairly transparent. EM does the opposite by completing making up their price per product list to create a nonexistent value. Most subbers I know are aware and expect a sub box value to be OVER the actual the amount that they are spending- that's why they sub. Yes, I may be getting "$50" worth of items back with EM. But, that's if for what I've seen. The additional extras are fake. 

If you made it this far, congrats! You have a better attention span than I do. All in all, I will have to give Escape Monthly's Novmember 2014: Hawaii Box a 5/10. It was a fun box. But, with too many misplaced, broken, and lopsided items- I felt I was pushed to say good bye for now!