FairyLoot - May 2020

Theme: Desert Dreams

Items: 

• Bookish Tin by @chattynora 
• Bookish Wooden Spoon by @kdpletters
• Tea Towel by @eviebookish
• Desert Bath Salts by Little Heart Gifts
• Tribal Desert Candle by @wickandfable
• Sunglass Pouch by @kitstercronk
• Tarot Cards
• Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardourst

Review: 
Images are missing due to my phone breaking and it was hard to recreate images due to items being used. However I do have the book photos at the end.

I am not currently subscribed to FairyLoot. At the time I bought this box, FairyLoot didn’t have a big waitlist for their subscribers, so I got this box easily. I really wanted this box because it had An Ember in the Ashes item. I only recently read the first two books of the series and I loved them so I was dying for an item. 

The first item was the Bookish Tin. This was based on We Hunt the Flame. It’s a lovely blue tin with a gold coloured quote on it. It’s a nice size. I still haven’t found a purpose for it yet but it does make a nice display item on my bookcase. Just need to find things for it.

The next item was a wooden spoon. This is quite a unique item that I haven’t received before. I believe everyone will use a wooden spoon so it’s a very useful item. It has a very pretty design on it, some people may just want to display it. However, I decided to use it with my cooking and it works well. Although I have slightly stained the spoon now but that can be expected. 

Sticking with the kitchen theme there was also a tea towel. This was inspired by City of Brass, another series I haven’t read. It's a nice colourful item that could be displayed or used. I decided to use it and it works well as a tea towel as expected. 

Then there was desert bath salts. I can’t use anything in the bath due to my sensitive skin, so I gave this item to my sister. She enjoyed them and thought they smelt nice. I think she got 2 or 3 baths out of it too.

Disappointedly the An Ember in the Ashes item was the candle. I’ve been missing getting candles but I was hoping for a more exciting item for the Ember one. It’s just one of those things. The candle did smell quite nice, not the strongest though.

I think probably my favourite item was the Sunglasses Pouch. I haven’t read the book but it is pretty and a nice material. So I popped my sunglasses straight in it and got rid of my bulky glasses case.

FairyLoot boxes at the moment include two tarot cards. These ones were Throne of Glass. I like the tarot cards when it’s a fandom I’ve read.

The book this month was Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. This came with an exclusive cover, sprayed edges, artwork on the reverse dust jacket and signed. It’s very pretty. I love the pink with the pale green, much better than the original cover colour. The story involves persian mythology which is something I know nothing about but I’m dying to find out more.

I would say overall, I did quite enjoy this box. It was nice to see a lot of useful items especially for the kitchen. I was just a bit disheartened by the An Ember in the Ashes item. With that in mind, I would rate this box 4 stars.

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

Written by Lauren

FairyLoot - May 2020

Theme: Desert Dreams

Items: 

• Bookish Tin by @chattynora 
• Bookish Wooden Spoon by @kdpletters
• Tea Towel by @eviebookish
• Desert Bath Salts by Little Heart Gifts
• Tribal Desert Candle by @wickandfable
• Sunglass Pouch by @kitstercronk
• Tarot Cards
• Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardourst

Review: 
Images are missing due to my phone breaking and it was hard to recreate images due to items being used. However I do have the book photos at the end.

I am not currently subscribed to FairyLoot. At the time I bought this box, FairyLoot didn’t have a big waitlist for their subscribers, so I got this box easily. I really wanted this box because it had An Ember in the Ashes item. I only recently read the first two books of the series and I loved them so I was dying for an item. 

The first item was the Bookish Tin. This was based on We Hunt the Flame. It’s a lovely blue tin with a gold coloured quote on it. It’s a nice size. I still haven’t found a purpose for it yet but it does make a nice display item on my bookcase. Just need to find things for it.

The next item was a wooden spoon. This is quite a unique item that I haven’t received before. I believe everyone will use a wooden spoon so it’s a very useful item. It has a very pretty design on it, some people may just want to display it. However, I decided to use it with my cooking and it works well. Although I have slightly stained the spoon now but that can be expected. 

Sticking with the kitchen theme there was also a tea towel. This was inspired by City of Brass, another series I haven’t read. It's a nice colourful item that could be displayed or used. I decided to use it and it works well as a tea towel as expected. 

Then there was desert bath salts. I can’t use anything in the bath due to my sensitive skin, so I gave this item to my sister. She enjoyed them and thought they smelt nice. I think she got 2 or 3 baths out of it too.

Disappointedly the An Ember in the Ashes item was the candle. I’ve been missing getting candles but I was hoping for a more exciting item for the Ember one. It’s just one of those things. The candle did smell quite nice, not the strongest though.

I think probably my favourite item was the Sunglasses Pouch. I haven’t read the book but it is pretty and a nice material. So I popped my sunglasses straight in it and got rid of my bulky glasses case.

FairyLoot boxes at the moment include two tarot cards. These ones were Throne of Glass. I like the tarot cards when it’s a fandom I’ve read.

The book this month was Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. This came with an exclusive cover, sprayed edges, artwork on the reverse dust jacket and signed. It’s very pretty. I love the pink with the pale green, much better than the original cover colour. The story involves persian mythology which is something I know nothing about but I’m dying to find out more.

I would say overall, I did quite enjoy this box. It was nice to see a lot of useful items especially for the kitchen. I was just a bit disheartened by the An Ember in the Ashes item. With that in mind, I would rate this box 4 stars.

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

Written by Lauren

Illumicrate - May 2020

Theme: Monstrous

Items: 

• Chamber of Secrets Book Sleeve by @pauhami 
• Monsters & Mythology Decal Set by @lioninthetrees
• Mercado De La Muerte Hot Chocolate by @thetealeafcompany
• Howl's Moving Castle Phone Stand by @fableandblack
• The Witcher and his Bard Post-Its by @thousandwrecks
• The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence

Review: 
The theme for this box was Monstrous, which already sounded interesting enough. The factors that made me decide to get the box was that there was going to be a Howl’s Moving Castle item and a Witcher item. I never expected an anime to be represented in a book box. It was so exciting. Just like to apologise that I don’t have a group photo of all the items due to losing it on my old phone.

The first item was the booksleeve. I now have 3 bookshelves and will be getting more no doubt. I think 4 will be the max I’m willing to have and then I’ll start selling future ones (unless I like them better). I’m not bored of receiving them and I’ll keep any from fandoms that I love. This one was a Harry Potter inspired one. It was based on Chamber of Secrets with the Basilisk. It looks really cool and is obviously being kept.

The next item was a sticker set. I’ve not received stickers before, so I quite liked this. My younger self would have loved these, as a kid I use to collect stickers. They’re very cool stickers and they are already on my art wall.

It’s been a while since I received tea, coffee or hot chocolate, so it was nice to see some hot chocolate again. I can’t say it is my favourite, it’s not my usual plain taste. This hot chocolate is spiced, it kind of tastes like ginger. I can drink it, I’m just not in love with it as I hoped.

The Howl’s Moving Castle item was a wooden phone stand. It’s got a really cute design on it. I don’t really need a phone stand but instead I’m using it as an ornament on my bookcase and I still love it.

For The Witcher item it was post-it notes with the Witcher and the bard on it. I can almost hear the song, ‘toss a coin to your witcher’. It’s very pretty and I do hope when university starts back up that I can find a use for them.

The book this month was The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence. This edition has black sprayed edges and is signed by the author. I love the gold on the cover, it’s got a nice minimalist design. The description of the book is quite vague, so I’m not sure of what to expect with it but I do still look forward to reading it one day.

To conclude, I think this box was great. I’m going to give it 4 stars just because I wasn’t a huge fan of the hot chocolate and the items were less useful to me.

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

Written by Lauren

Illumicrate - May 2020

Theme: Monstrous

Items: 

• Chamber of Secrets Book Sleeve by @pauhami 
• Monsters & Mythology Decal Set by @lioninthetrees
• Mercado De La Muerte Hot Chocolate by @thetealeafcompany
• Howl's Moving Castle Phone Stand by @fableandblack
• The Witcher and his Bard Post-Its by @thousandwrecks
• The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence

Review: 
The theme for this box was Monstrous, which already sounded interesting enough. The factors that made me decide to get the box was that there was going to be a Howl’s Moving Castle item and a Witcher item. I never expected an anime to be represented in a book box. It was so exciting. Just like to apologise that I don’t have a group photo of all the items due to losing it on my old phone.

The first item was the booksleeve. I now have 3 bookshelves and will be getting more no doubt. I think 4 will be the max I’m willing to have and then I’ll start selling future ones (unless I like them better). I’m not bored of receiving them and I’ll keep any from fandoms that I love. This one was a Harry Potter inspired one. It was based on Chamber of Secrets with the Basilisk. It looks really cool and is obviously being kept.

The next item was a sticker set. I’ve not received stickers before, so I quite liked this. My younger self would have loved these, as a kid I use to collect stickers. They’re very cool stickers and they are already on my art wall.

It’s been a while since I received tea, coffee or hot chocolate, so it was nice to see some hot chocolate again. I can’t say it is my favourite, it’s not my usual plain taste. This hot chocolate is spiced, it kind of tastes like ginger. I can drink it, I’m just not in love with it as I hoped.

The Howl’s Moving Castle item was a wooden phone stand. It’s got a really cute design on it. I don’t really need a phone stand but instead I’m using it as an ornament on my bookcase and I still love it.

For The Witcher item it was post-it notes with the Witcher and the bard on it. I can almost hear the song, ‘toss a coin to your witcher’. It’s very pretty and I do hope when university starts back up that I can find a use for them.

The book this month was The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence. This edition has black sprayed edges and is signed by the author. I love the gold on the cover, it’s got a nice minimalist design. The description of the book is quite vague, so I’m not sure of what to expect with it but I do still look forward to reading it one day.

To conclude, I think this box was great. I’m going to give it 4 stars just because I wasn’t a huge fan of the hot chocolate and the items were less useful to me.

Rating: 4 runes out of 5

Written by Lauren

Illumicrate - April 2020

Theme: Squad Goals

Items: 

• Aurora Rising Power Bank by @icandrawthingz 
• The Witchlands Character Bookmark Set by @merwildandco
• Gilded Wolves Magnetic Whiteboard by @aenteereads
• World Ahead Tote Bag by @rachelbostickillustration
• Best Laid Plans Pen by Illumicrate
• Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn

Review: 
I first would like to say that I’m sorry that this review is coming out so late. I’ve had quite a busy time at work and university that it has been hard to find time to post reviews as quickly as I would have liked. However, I’m hoping to have a review out once a week on a wednesday. Well until I’ve run out of reviews…

It's also worth noting that since receiving these boxes, my phone had smashed and I lost the pictures. So I'm trying to recreate them but some things may end up being missing. This will change from the September boxes onward. 

This box was with the theme of Squad Goals, which to me sounded right up my street. I knew I was instantly going to buy this box because of the book. As it was about the French Revolution. I was even more hooked to this theme when I saw it mentioned that there would be a Lord of the Rings item.

The first item that I opened in this box was the power bank. I’ve known of book box companies doing this before. But I still didn’t expect to get such an amazing item. Now the fandom was Aurora Rising and I haven’t read that series. But I don’t mind as it’s so useful and it’s much better than just having a plain black power bank per usual with store bought ones.

I then received the Witchlands bookmark set. Again this is not a fandom I have read but I do appreciate receiving a bookmark set over just one bookmark for a change. At this point I’m pretty impartial to getting bookmarks, I have so many but they’re still nice to have and collect. I’m just not blown away by them.

The remaining three items were my favourites of the box and are exactly what I needed. First of all we had the whiteboard. It has such a pretty design and I already owned a plain whiteboard, so it was nice to replace it with a prettier one. I’ve not received an item like this before, so it was refreshing to see and I love getting items I genuinely find useful. 

Then we have the tote bag. This was the Lord of the Rings item I was waiting for. This is probably my favourite tote bag, for many reasons. One because it is a fandom I actually know and like. Two because the design is pretty and it’s black rather than the typical cream colour they come in. Finally because I just love having tote bags, they’re always handy to have and I don’t think you can have too many.

The last item in the box was the pen. I’ve gotten pencils before never a pen. Pens are something I use all the time, a lot more often than pencils, so I was so glad to see this change. The pen is also black ink which is my prefered colour. It has a really nice sleek design, I love the black with gold. It writes really well, just like the totes you can never have enough pens.

The book for this box was Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn. It sounds really interesting, a bit different to books I’ve read before but it sounds like a book I need to read. This Illumicrate edition came with green sprayed edges, exclusive endpapers, embossing under the dust jacket and a signed bookplate. 

I have to say that the sprayed edges are probably my favourite of the books I currently have on my bookcase. Green is my favourite colour and I do have another book with green but this one is such a beautiful shade. I just love looking at it

The endpapers were nice too. They were a map of Paris to the looks of things, in the same shade as the sprayed edges. I love how the book underneath is grey with a little hot air balloon embossed into it. I just really appreciate small details on the naked cover. I look forward to reading this gorgeous book, eventually.

Overall, I would rate this box 5 stars. That’s because there was so many useful items and I have a use for them all for a change. The book edges really blew me away and the theme didn’t disappoint.

Rating: 5 runes out of 5

written by Lauren