For the last few months, the Little Black Box has been under new management/ownership. As I'd gotten a little bit discouraged with the LBB in past months, I was excited to hear about the new owner and to see what differences she (or maybe they?) had in store.

Of course, I guess I wasn't excited enough to actually open July's box when it showed up, because when I went to open August's box today, I realized I had two. So...two for one review!

First thing I noticed was the improvement in packaging. The LBB is once again in a box, tied with a nice ribbon, wrapped with lovely colored tissue paper. With something like this, the packaging is really important--it makes a bunch of samples feel like a gift, you know? So thumbs up to the packaging.

July's box included the following:

• A sample pack of crafts from Etsy Texas Crafters, including a 1 oz raspberry vanilla soap sample with no indication of where it came from; a tiny envelope and note, tiny package tags, a tiny knitted facial scrubber, and a bookmark from Katies Scrap N Supplies; a green glass bead from Jacque's Place; and a cotton face cloth from Lori Peterson. These are all cute things, with nice packaging, but there's nothing here I'm particularly excited about.


• From SBS Teas, two good sized samples of loose tea: Island Delight rooibos and Enchanted Fairy Cake green tea. SBS Teas has always been a participant in LBB, for as long as I can remember. Shame I don't think much of their product. It's always really flavored, and I am not much on flavored tea.


• A really cute little folded paper star ornament from star crosses.


• A little sample hank of Highland Baby Bear yarn in "Buttercup" from Huggy Bear Knits. Though this doesn't much personal use to me, I think it's a great addition to the box.


• A lilac (not my favorite) soy votive candle from Beautifully Natural Candle Company.


• A full sized bar of soap, in a great little cotton bag, from The Joy of Soap. Mine's Manly Man scent, and I'll be passing it on to the manly man (hah) in my house.


• From Beachcomber's Cove, a greeting card with a bird on it.


• Another long-term LBB participant, a Whiff & Sniff Candles scent shooter in "Coconut Vanilla."


• A cute pair of red glass bead earrings from a.j. wear.


• Two sample chunks of peppermint soap from Sweet Sally's Soaps. These smell great--they're destined for my shower right now.


• A little box of treats from Skin Candy: full-size roll-on perfume in Beneath the Stars; a 2 oz goat's milk, honey, and shea butter lotion in coconut mango; a one-use size sample of foaming whipped sugar scrub in Italian cream cake; a one-use size sample of lotion in raspberry brulee; and a one-use size sample of whipped cream soap in mango peach salsa. This is an awesome little set of samples, and I am really looking forward to trying a couple of them.

August's offerings were:

• A little lavender butterfly hair clip from Lillianna Marie Designs. Cute, but not of much use to me.


• A small sample of hand-spun yarn from Midnightsky Fibers. Too small to do anything with, but it seems nice. Cat toy?


• Possibly my favorite LBB thing ever, a tiny notebook made of Trivia Pursuit cards, from Thistlecraft Designs.


• From jenn's Scents & Gifts, a little hanging deodorizer thing in "Clean Linen." Really not fond of that scent.


• A cute photo card from Marge Cards.


• A pretty cool new addition--a "washcloth candy" from Sweet Monkey Tots.


• A nicely scented little grapefruit soap sample from Two Crafty Chicks.


• From Elsa Coburn Designs, a cute pair of green bead earrings.


• From RufusRabbit, a great pair of dangly earrings that I am going to wear immediately.


• From dela chic, a great little pair of knitted leaf earrings that I am kinda in love with.

and two duplicates:

• Another bar from The Joy of Soap, this time in the oddly nice-scented Cucumber Curious.


• From SBS Teas, a large sample of loose Green Chai tea.

Overall, I'm impressed. There seem to be fewer, higher quality samples, at least so far. I am happy not to have taken five or six scent tarts out of either box, for example. There still aren't a lot of giftables here, though, and mostly what these boxes serve as is an introduction to indie business, which is great, but not something I really need at this point--I'm trying to buy less stuff all around. So...I'm thinking about doing a giveaway for the rest of my year's subscription to the LBB. We'll see.

It's Little Black Box time again!

I was both very excited by and a bit disappointed with this month's Little Black Box. The big downside I saw was the similarity of all the items--it was all either candle stuff or bath stuff, no edibles or cat toys or treats or anything like that.

That said, I loved a lot of the items in this box. Shall we go through them?

First, things from companies I already knew:

From Lemon Lollipop, a lemon lolly and a sample of perfume oil. Their stuff has always smelled too sweet to me in the past, but I like this one--it's the original lemon lollipop scent. I'll likely hold on to it for summer. And I'll definitely eat the lollipop.

From Metropolis Soap Co., a sample of The Black Soap Horror. This is a great scent--lime, tea tree, and lavender. I'll use it immediately. The website also indicates it is a good facial soap, so I might try that.

Whiff & Sniff Candles always has an entry in the Little Black Box. This month, it's a "scent shooter" in "Angry Aphrodite." It smells so good I'm going to put aside my anti-melt sentiment and find a way to use it. The scent is sugary and fruity, tempered with bergamot. So yummy.

From Orglamix, a sample of mineral eye shadow in Pupil Basil. The color, despite its odd name, is a nice medium purple. I'll definitely give it a try.

From Silver City Scentsations, the usual offering of a wax melt. This one's scent is "Earth and Sky," and I don't like it at all. It is very artificial. Probably going to go in the trash.

And the new stuff I was thrilled to see:

Silk Naturals sent a container of mineral eye shadow in Unique (which is a medium silver). Shadow is the only mineral makeup I really like, and I like silver, so I'll use this.

From Mainely Naturals, a little bag of four heart-shaped glycerin soaps, in "Awaken." I like the smell a lot--it's got grapefruit and eucalyptus and geranium in it--and it's this is a generous size for a sample. One thing that does bother me a bit, though, is that the sample is of something that doesn't seem to be sold on Mainely Naturals' website. What good is it to let me sample something if I can't buy it if I love it?

From Cassia Candles and Fragrance, a sample of shea body frosting in "Love Spell." Another nice scent--cherry blossom, peach, and jasmine, and the texture seems really nice too. I think I'll keep this little container at my desk to use on my hands--the cold weather here is really hard on them.

Mainelement: love also included body butter in this month's sample box, a little jar of le'amour body butter in "Rise and Shine" scent. Rise and Shine is your basic citrus scent, and I love citrus. This little jar will serve the same purpose as the Cassia one.

Apparently I'm not the only one thinking a lot about dry skin, because Simply Tempted sent yet another moisturizer, a hand and body cream, this one in "Pink Sugar." Just like it sounds, this is a super-sweet, cotton candy-like scent, and I think it's a bit too sweet for me.

Things That Make Scents offers another scent tart, this one in soy. The scent is "The Coffee House," which is, as you'd expect, a slightly sweet, slightly spicy coffee scent. I like the smell, and since I'm going to have to figure out how to burn tarts for this month's Whiff & Sniff melt, I may as well give this one a go as well.

Capella's Garden Soap Co. sent a very generous addition to the box--a full sized 3 oz bar of lavender essential soap. It smells awesome. I'll probably actually pass it on to Mark, who quite likes lavender and is always out of soap, but it will definitely get used.

So Stinking Sweet also sent a full sized bar of soap, this one glycerin, heart shaped, and orange, with "Kiss Me" imprinted on it. It's a citrus scent, mostly orange. I'll probably pass this one on.

Finally, Hippie's Creations included a generous sized shampoo bar sample. It smells awesome--tea tree, fir, and lemongrass. I've tried bar shampoo before and not liked it, but I'll give this one a try.

In general, I thought the items in this month's box were of a much higher quality than I'd expected, with no real duds. Makes me VERY excited to have a subscription to LBB for the next eleven months.

I'm so behind on these reviews! I got both the Little Black Box and the Sweet Delight Divalicious Sample Box for November and didn't tell you about either of them! I apologize! Let me rectify that.

Both boxes arrived quickly. I've been extremely happy with the shipping time from both of these companies every time I've ordered. The Divalicious box takes a bit longer, coming from Canada, but it's always here in a very reasonable interval.

The Holiday Divalicious box, which cost $25 Candian, including S&H, contained:

• A cute Christmas gift tag from Papertivity. Not really something I'll use, as I don't wrap gifts in paper much, but still very nice.


• A really nice blank card from A Flair for Paper, which I will definitely use.


• A blank card from Lindy Gruger Hansen. Not my style, but nice.


• A sample Cleansing Sugar Cube from Vixen & Venus. I don't love the scent (Strawberries & Champagne), but I've wanted to try these, so that one's a win.


• A bag of bath tea in "Satin Sheets" from Zhi Bath & Body. Smells truly awful. So bad that I threw it away rather than even considering re-gifting it.


• A bag of very nice smelling Spiced Cranberry bath salts from Kootenay Bath Products. I used these already and they were wonderful. I will definitely consider buying from this company.


• A small bottle of nice white tea lavender lotion from Birdy Botanicals. Nice scent, good sized sample. I'd probably try something else from this company was well.


• Also from Birdy Botanicals, a good sized sample of Anti-Aging Facial Serum. I'll have to see how their stuff works, but based on scent and packaging, I'm totally a convert to this company.


• A mango soap slice sample from Sanibel Skincare. Not fond of the scent, or the fact it has rice bran in it (WTF?).


• A very strange Cup of Cocoa wax melt from Country Home Scents. It seems to have real marshmallows on it. And I don't have a burner. Re-gift.


• An espresso flavored lip balm from Natural Fix Cosmetics. Smells really good. I'll use this.


• A couple of tasty gingerbread scented tea lights from Crystal Lights. Burned these already and they were lovely. Great holiday smell.


• A very nicely packaged geranium guest soap from Cupertino Soap Company. Not a smell I enjoy, but it's a nice soap. I'll re-gift.


• An awesome smelling bath tea bag from Luken Girls Botanicals. Definitely will use this.


• A really cutely packaged (in a little blue and white box) pair of guest soaps from Smelly Monkey Soap. One is lemon verbena, one is rosemary orange. These are GREAT. Fantastic packaging and a great product.


• A little wax tart that seems to be disintegrating from Jennuine Candles. Didn't hold up well at all.


• Two very small samples of Winter Grapefruit soap from Lost River Rags & Candle Lights. These smell great, but the samples are too small. Really kinda cheap seeming.


• A lovely pair of red Czech glass earrings, packaged well in a little jewelry box and tied with a ribbon, with no indication where they're from. Totally giftable.


• A pair of pewter earrings I don't much care for from Zerbena Boutique. They're just kinda ugly.


• A little green glass beaded key chain or cell phone charm from Susan Kay Designs. It's pretty, but I don't know what I'd use it for. Giftable, maybe?


• A cute little copper swirl ring from a.w.e Jewelry. Too small for me, but cute. Giftable, for sure.


• Some really nice smelling small solid lotion bars in Cocoa Sandalwood and Orange Vanilla Cream from Paradise Potpourri. I think I'm more likely to use these as bath melts than lotion bars, but they smell great.


• A generously sized and awesome smelling Spicy Pumpkin Pie soap sample from Juicy Bath. This is going in my shower, and I'm picky about pumpkin scents.


• A full size blueberry mineral lip balm from The Mineral Owl. I haven't opened it yet (it's wrapped), because I think I want to use it a stocking stuffer, but great labeling and a full sized product, so that's awesome.


• A raspberry lip balm from Mountain Sky Soap. Again, I didn't open it, but it's full size and has a good label. They included a brochure, too, and it looks like a cool company.


• A little magnet made from a bottle cap from Scaredy Cat Primitives. This is kinda hokey.

Not a bad haul, huh? This box seemed particularly strong on soap, which I don't think you can ever have enough of, and included at least two companies I plan to check out further, so it was definitely worth while.

The Little Black Box was also excellent in November! It was $17 including S&H and contained:

• A sample of lotion in Dragonfly Dance from Gaea Blessings. I can't quite describe the scent--pleasantly herbal hippy?--but the lotion has good, natural ingredients. I'll use it.


• A green and pink polka dot bird applique patch from Designs by Vanessa. Not something I'll use, but completely cute--I'll pass it on to someone who'll love it.


• From Just Right Candle Co., a Sun-Ripened Raspberry air freshener. I don't like that this is just a rectangle printed with their logo--seems a bit like they'd be asking me to advertise for them--but I do like the smell. I may hang this in my closet.


• Packaged really excellently inside a Christmas cracker, an adorable fabric-covered hair clip from Flying Frog Apparel. Way too small to hold my head of hair, but I'll definitely pass this along to one of the little girls I know.


• From Gems by Jerri, a really nice pair of fancy jasper earrings, which I know my mom will love, packaged up nicely with a little rhinestone-encrusted clothespin fridge magnet. Nice.


• A little Scrabble tile magnet from Playing With Fiber. Not something I'm terribly excited about.


• From Sassy Soaps N Such, a small bag of chocolate covered espresso beans (and I'm a fan of those even if you do insist on labeling them "reindeer poop") and a Christmas tree shaped spruce-scented guest soap.


• A sample of mineral eyeshadow in Glitz, from Mixology Makeup. Glitz is apparently an all-over shimmer, so I may try it as a top coat. The website is intriguing, too, if a bit overwhelming.


• From 3 Little Monkeys, another little ribbon hair clip. This one isn't quite as nice as the other one in the box, but the little girl I have in mind will love it all the same.


• A set of three red-and-green Christmas decorated clothespins from QueenVanna Creations. They're nicely made, but what would you use them for?


• Nicely packaged in a little paper bag, a sample of Luscious Lemon Cake soap from SV Soaps. I'm not crazy about this particular scent, but it's a nice looking and feeling soap.


• From SBS Teas, a little red organza bag containing a sample bag of blueberry cream tea (ew), a flowering green tea (yay!), and a piece of Toblerone (I already ate it).


• A sample of peppermint tea tree dog soap from Lucky Dog Treat Company. With Ata's size and amount of hair, washing him with bar soap just doesn't work, but this is still a cool product.


• From Lathered Up, a good sized sample tub of Mango Butter. This is good stuff, even though I'm not 100% on the mango fragrance.


• A very nice smelling and decently sized soap sample from Angelic Soap & Gifts. The packaging on this one is nice, too--it's wrapped in purple tissue paper and inside a little purple gift bag. Unfortunately, the scent isn't labeled. It's got a great cinnamon smell. After looking at their website, I'm definitely interested in buying from this company. Their soaps look fantastic, and they are buy two, get one free!


• From Whiff & Sniff Candles, a Harvest Delight melt. There is something about this scent I really don't like. Like, it almost turns my stomach. I think it's just me, though. I'll pass it along.


• From Barb's Homemade Soap, a really cute little Shea Loves Me Orange lip balm. Smells fantastic. I'll use this. Like soap, there is never too much lip balm.


• A pair of really gorgeous simple black glass ball earrings from Brilliance Found. These are gorgeous and simple and elegant. I'll definitely wear them.

Again, a wonderful haul. I feel like both boxes outdid themselves this month. In fact, I was so impressed that I went ahead and took the plunge and ordered a 2010 Little Black Box subscription. That's right, I'm getting one every month! I'm so excited.

I love the LBB. You already knew that. But the October Little Black Box? Rocking. On sale for $17 and amazing.

And you want to know what's in it, right?

From The Sage Grove Vintage Autumn Candle Collection, a Pumpkin Cookie Crunch scent shot and a 15% off promotional code. I don't like aroma melts much, since I don't use a burner, but the packaging is nice and it's a nice pumpkin scent.

From The Metropolis Soap Co., a One Night With Rosemary Mint soap sample. Smells great, and I love the packaging of the full bars on the website. This may be something I'll buy in the future.

From Pegg Macko Designs, a bookmark and a coupon code for a free card. I'm not all that impressed with it--it's a stamped and has a little cutout on it. Pretty easy to put together.

From Moonlight Eternal, a bright pink beaded bracelet and a 20% off coupon code. Not to my style, but nice enough.

From underglass, a really great kaleidoscope pendant. Packaging is nice, too. And I'm bookmarking the site for a future purchase, for sure.

From Lemon Lollipop (new LBB favorite from what I can tell--been in several times), a Sultry Summer perfume sample and a coupon code. This particular scent doesn't work for me, though.

From Soap That Makes Scents, a sample of Pumpkin Spice Body Souffle Soap Whip. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin-y smells, but this seems like a nice product and it was packaged very nicely.

From zany hoopla, a cute matchbook notepad and a 25% off coupon code. I don't use these--can't figure out what I'd use them for since I write so big--but it's very cute and it will make it's way into someone's gift at some point, I'm sure. I love the larger altered composition books made by the same Etsy store, though.

From Sweet Pickles Pottery, a hand-painted ceramic tree topper. We don't actually have a tree topper, and I don't hate this one, so it will be used.

From Gaea Blessings, a nice rosemary scented/flavored beeswax lip balm. There is no such thing as too much lip balm.

From The Just Right Candle Company, a pumpkin vanilla mini melt and a 20% off coupon code. Again, I am not a melt fan, but this one smells fantastic. I think I prefer pumpkin smells when they are sweet like this, rather than spiced.

And my favorite things:

From FMC Alchemy, an awesome What's Your Spell Lip Potion in AmarredeAmor. This is a really gorgeous product--lovely packaging, smells great, tastes good. I'll use this all the time. It's also a generous inclusion in the package--retail value is $5.99.

From Sheba's Secrets, a full-size Angel Wings bath bomb and a 10% off coupon code. I'm always on the lookout for new bath bomb suppliers, at these are only $1.99 each, so I'll definitely be making an order. The Angel Wings scent is nice, but not the type I'd usually choose.

From Shea Loves Me (I can't find a website for it?), a really yummy smelling Sweet Pumpkin shea butter sugar scrub sample and a 50% off coupon code. If anybody knows where this came from, please let me know. I love a good scrub.

Sorry about the lag, y'all. I forgot about my Little Black Box Contest! But I ran random.org today, and it told me the winner was NUMBER 5!

The fifth comment:

Stitch. Knit. Sew!

Jenny, hit me with your mailing address and I'll get your prize right out. Thanks for playing!

As promised, I'm going to tell you all about my fantastic September Little Black Box, which arrived today. After you finish reading this review and are really excited for your own box, if you can help yourself from buying your own, be sure to go enter to win one!

This month's box arrived very quickly--I just ordered it on Sunday night. Though the box was all banged up (thanks USPS!), but everything inside was in great condition.

Here you see the whole haul. Lots of great stuff. Few duplicates from the last box I got, and a great selection of things. As I mentioned in my last review, there is definitely more than $20 worth of stuff here. The contents were:

• A sample of mineral eye shadow from Orglamix;


• A pretty handmade card, a Halloween gift tag, and a 30% coupon code from Lavender Greetings;


• A hair clip from Custom Cuteness;


• A cupcake charm and a coupon for free earrings with a bracelet purchase from Fyrestorm Creations;


• From Jasmine Phoenix, a jasmine pearls tea sachet, some rooibos loose leaf tea, a personal tea bag, and a 15% off coupon code;


• A Christmas gift tag from Just Wright Boutique;


• From Favors with Flavors, a jar of almond lip balm and a 15% off coupon code;


• A small cinnamon candle from Homespun Productions;


• A fantastic smelling scent sachet in a proprietary mint and vanilla blend from Lighthouse Fragrances;


• A handmade bookmark from Sumi Ink & Paper House of tennyoceres;


• A crocheted cotton heart scrubby from Girls Just Want to Have Fun;


• A sunflower soap shot from Spirit Sea Bath Products;


• A Buttermint Baby scent tart from Whiff and Sniff Candles;


• From Elpy Designs, a small wooden magnet

• From Angelic Soaps & Gifts, a small pear soap;


• From Tattooed Geek, a pink lemonade soy candle;


• From SStargell Designs, a pair of small sterling silver hoop earrings and a 20% off coupon code

The earrings are really above and beyond--they're the kind of thing I'll wear all the time. And the scents in this package in general are fantastic--the pink lemonade and cinnamon candles are great, as is the sachet. The tea also looks really good. I'm very happy with this box.