A'pieu Best Sellers Box Review and 30% Off Coupon

I had my eye on the A'pieu Best Sellers Box for a while and I finally picked one up during MISSHA's Valentine's Day sale. A'pieu is a sister brand of MISSHA and has great Korean skincare.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love!

I am a skincare addict and MISSHA and A'pieu are two of my favorite brands. This box was especially interesting to me because it came with products perfect for my skincare needs, plus cute BT21 extras!

BT21 is a collection of Line Friends characters created with the K-pop group, BTS. Each character represents one of the members of the group. I'm not the hugest BTS fan, to be honest, but I do like their music and K-pop in general. 

The box came with seven randomly-selected BT21 items and, unfortunately, none featured my favorite, Cooky (Jungkook's character). The items are really cute, though, and I'm sure I can trade or sell the ones I won't use. Here's what was included:

• Gel Pen (Baby RJ)
• Passport Case (Mang)
• Removable Stickers (x2 - Tata)
• Wappen Sticker (Chimmy)
• Puffy Keychain (Shooky)
• Plush Magnet (Shooky)

The box contains both makeup and skincare. I'd never used the A'pieu makeup line before so I figured this was a good way to try them out. Included items are:

• Born to Be Mad Proof Liquid Liner (No. 1) - $18
• Born to Be Mad Proof Fixing Mascara Lv. 3 - $18
• Juicy Pang Color Lip Balm (CR01) - $16
• Juicy Pang Jelly Blusher (BE01) - $12

Along with the makeup, the box contained four skincare items. I was immediately interested in the Madecassoside products, as I use the cream and wanted to try the ampoule, too. The Mulberry toner is great for my oily skin, too. Here's what was inside:

• Madecassoside Cream 2X - $20
• Madecassoside Ampoule 2X - $32
• Mulberry Blemish Clearing Toner - $28
• Fusidium Clear Spot Patches - $12

Madecassoside is great for fighting redness and irritation and is the main ingredient in cica/centella asiatica/Tiger Cream. The cream hydrates and soothes and the ampoule adds extra moisture and repairs the skin barrier.

The Mulberry Blemish Clearing Toner is enriched with Vitamin C, mulberry extract, and tranexamic acid to fade dark spots and hyperpigmentation.

The Fusidium Clear Spot Patches are hydrocolloid patches that help prevent scarring and infection on open acne. I haven't used this particular brand yet, but hydrocolloid patches have been a lifesaver for me when I have breakouts (they pull out extra moisture and pus from the pimple).

The A'pieu Best Sellers box is a great deal, with a total retail value of $156, not including the BT21 items! I purchased this on sale for $39.99, and it is still on sale for that price at the Missha website.

If you're interested in the box, I also have a referral link that will get you 30% off your first order. Just click this link to shop. I am not sure if it will work on the Best Sellers box or other items that are currently on sale. The box is final sale and not returnable, and you can't choose which BT21 characters you'll receive, but the skincare and makeup included is such a great value!

• Visit MISSHA's website to view their full line and purchase this box

Demeter Fragrance "Rice Flower" Review

I've known Demeter Fragrance since I was in high school and I know that they have a huge library of scents. I recently tried their Rice Flower perfume, as it's one of the newest additions to their collection.

*Disclaimer: This product was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Demeter was founded in 1996 with the mission of capturing beautiful smells of the garden and nature in perfume form. Their first three fragrances were Dirt, Grass, and Tomato. They've since expanded to over 300 scents, including Vanilla Cake Batter, Baby Powder, Gin and Tonic, and even Pizza!

I was interested in the Rice Flower perfume, made up of rice accord with notes of oak moss, exotic spices, and herbs. 

I love Earthy scents, and this one is definitely that. I was hoping it would be a bit warmer, given the "exotic spices and herbs", but it's very fresh and reminds me of spring. I can pick up on the oak moss notes the most, as well as, of course, the lead notes of rice accord. I think it's a great daytime fragrance.

• Visit Demeter to browse their full line and purchase
• They are running a 10% off sale for President's Day through 2/21 (no coupon needed)

Bottom Line: Demeter has been in the game for a long time and they have a huge variety of scents. You're sure to find something that strikes your fancy, whether you're looking for something traditional or fun (or Pizza!). The Rice Flower cologne is a beautiful scent and a great addition to their line.

Eva Naturals Skincare Review

The team at Eva Naturals creates consciously-curated skincare made from botanicals and safe science-based ingredients.

*Disclaimer: These products were sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Eva Naturals is a family-owned company located in South Louisiana. They believe in affordable, accessible healthcare that adheres to the most rigorous industry standards. Everything is made in the United States and sold directly to the consumer, reducing product costs as much as 50 percent of the cost of other high-end products.

I tried the Vanilla Bean Night Cream Moisturizer, which has anti-aging and revitalizing properties of Vanilla Bean. It also contains CoQ10 to promote collagen production and visibly reduce wrinkles and Shiitake mushrooms to brighten complexion.

It smells lovely. I usually am not interested in scented skincare, but this one has a light scent that didn't irritate my skin. The texture is very creamy and thick, making it great for the dryer winter months. A little goes a long way and it absorbed quickly into my skin.

The Exfoliating Facial Scrub is gentle and effective, with nutrients from aloe vera and organic herbal infusions to help skin have a glowing, even complexion. I was surprised to see the jelly consistency, as I expected it to be more cream-based. It was a pleasant surprise!

This physical exfoliator is a great addition to a routine that also involves chemical exfoliation. I use both types, and I will definitely purchase this again in the future. I like how it spreads evenly due to the consistency and has a gentle scrub.

Here's a look at the ingredient lists for the Vanilla Bean Night Cream and Exfoliating Night Scrub. Unfortunately the text on the scrub is a little light, but you can click on the product link above to view them.

• Visit Eva Naturals to browse their full line and purchase

Bottom Line: Eva Naturals is an affordable way to add high quality botanical and natural skincare into your routine. I really enjoyed both of these products, especially the scrub. 

CookUnity Review and $40 off Coupon

I've tried a lot of meal subscription services where you still have to cook the meal yourself, but CookUnity is the first I've tried where everything is already prepared. Here are my thoughts!

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

CookUnity sends pre-made, pre-packaged meals made by a diverse group of professional chefs. You can select from four to 16 meals each week and skip any weeks where you don't want a delivery. You can pause (for up to eight weeks) or cancel your subscription at any time, too.

The plan is a bit pricey and I recommend it for people who order takeout often, as it comes down to equivalent the cost of doing that a few times a week. Here is the price breakdown of meals per week:

• 16 meals: $10.49 per meal ($167.84 total)
• 12 meals: $10.99 per meal ($131.88 total)
• Six meals: $11.99 per meal ($71.94 total)
• Four meals: $13.49 per meal ($53.96 total)

You can change your number of meals received for any shipment, so if you start with six but then realize you only want four, you can easily change between any option for the next shipment.

The CookUnity menu changes weekly and has meals to fit different dietary needs, but this isn't specifically a low-calorie or health-driven subscription. There's so much choice, though, that you can easily pick what you need to meet your preferences.

Unfortunately, CookUnity does not ship nationwide--yet. They're available to most of the East coast, south, midwest, and some of California. You can input your ZIP code to find out if they deliver to you.

My favorite thing about CookUnity is the diversity of food available. I was so happy to see Korean, Mexican, Cuban, Indian, and many other cuisines featured. I chose to receive six meals in my first box.

First is the Chicken Tinga Tacos by chef Akhtar Nawab. The chicken portion was huge and more than enough for the four tortillas (I had it for leftovers the next day). It came with the chicken, obviously, and guacamole and cilantro for garnish. The guac was my favorite part, it was smooth and delicious. I wish the chicken had a bit more flavor, but overall it was a very good meal.

I'm Korean-American but I rarely ever order Korean foods from meal kits because they're rarely ever even close to being authentic. I don't expect full authenticity, but one of my pet peeves is seeing a "Korean" meal with absolutely no actual Korean ingredients. Luckily, CookUnity has chef Esther Choi on their team and I picked her Bulgogi Bibimbap. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this reheated. I was worried the rice would be too dry or tough, but it kept well and this was a delicious, comforting bowl of bibimbap with a hearty portion of bulgogi beef.

Next is the Filipino dish, Pancit Bihon with Chinese sausage, from chef Jordan Andino. I don't have access to a lot of Filipino food in my area so I was very excited to try this. Unfortunately, I found it to be too salty for my tastes. The flavor was good, but it was overall too salty. The portion was huge and had a nice mix of sausage, noodles, and veg. I can't say if it was authentic or not since I have no other experience trying this dish, but given how good the other meals are, I have a feeling it was pretty spot-on.

I've recently been craving vodka sauce, so the Rigatoni alla Vodka from chef Marc Forgione was an easy choice. A pasta dish might be a safe choice from a meal service with so many different types of cuisines, but hey, sometimes you just want pasta. Unfortunately, this was just okay to me. I wanted more flavor. I felt like it needed more salt, spice...something. Overall it was kind of bland (but not terrible).

I actually picked three meals from Chef Esther Choi but forgot to take pictures of the third one. This is the Gochujang Baby Back Ribs. It came with rice and corn cheese as sides, making it a good representation of Korean barbecue. Gochujang is a staple of Korean cuisine and this one was nice and spicy-sweet. If you've never had corn cheese, it's exactly what it sounds like: corn mixed with (usually mozzerella) cheese, sugar, and mayo -- might sound weird, but it is so good. I was very happy to see it included in this meal. I liked the flavors here but the ribs were tougher than I would like, though I suppose it's hard to make fall-off-the-bone ribs with a frozen meal delivery service.

The sixth meal I chose was the Spicy Braised Short Ribs, which came with glass noodles (dangmyeon) and veg. As with the baby back ribs, the short ribs had a punch of delicious Korean barbecue sauce flavor. It reminded me of galbijjim, a braised beef stew, and after looking at the description of the meal on the CookUnity site, Esther lists it as her take on the dish.

• Visit CookUnity to subscribe
• Use this link to get $40 off your first box -- that could be 4 meals for $13.96

Bottom Line: My take on CookUnity is that they send really delicious meals from great chefs, but it is expensive. This isn't a service I will receive every week, but I could see myself treating myself once a week to four meals going forward. I would spend at least $10-$15 on takeout at least four times a month, so while it may not be a huge savings, it is a comparable spend for me.

One last thing I want to note is that I chose to have my meals delivered on a Friday and four of them had a "use by" date of Sunday. That kind of defeats the purpose of ordering six meals, as I couldn't save them for dinners for six consecutive days like I originally planned.

Winter 2021 Cat Kit by Pusheen Review

I wanted to try the Cat Kit by Pusheen Box  because I love Pusheen but couldn't commit to their regular box for humans, both due to price and because I wanted but didn't need all of the Pusheen knick knacks. I finally subscribed and got their Winter Box as my first shipment.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love!

The Cat Kit by Pusheen Box is from CultureFly and is an offshoot of the original Pusheen Box. It's a quarterly subscription that sends Pusheen-themed items for your cat.

The box was large with a cute holiday pattern to match the "Holiday Cheer" theme. The cardboard was durable and had sections that popped out, making it an extra item your cat could play with.

My cat, Tully, actually has never been too interested in boxes, so I bribed her to check this one out with some treats. As you can see in the photo above, there's a circular hole in the top and a square one in the side so the cat can enter and poke its head out.

The Cat Kit costs $29.99 per quarter, plus shipping, or $107.96 for a full year (four boxes), plus shipping. Subscriptions renew automatically and you can cancel any time.

The Winter "Holiday Cheer" box came with eight total items, nine if you count each individual plush toy. Not pictured above is the ceramic treats jar, but keep scrolling to see that. Here's everything else that was inside:

• Fleece Blanket
• Collar and Charm
• Treat Jar
• Cardboard Scratcher
• Cookie Ribbon Toy
• Gingerbread Plush Toys

Tully's favorite item was definitely the fleece blanket. She loves all of the cozy blankets I have, and this one is perfectly cat-sized. One side has a Pusheen print with gingerbread, presents, and trees and the other side is a soft white fleece.

The treat jar with scoop was the hero item of the box and unfortunately mine broke shortly after I started using it. The small handle that holds the scoop completely fell off as I was placing the scoop back in, which was disappointing. I fixed it with Gorilla Glue, but I was hoping for better quality overall from this box. I have heard complaints from Pusheen Box subscribers that the items weren't the best quality, and now I can see why.

The collar and charm are so cute but I knew they'd be useless, since Tully doesn't like collars. She's never worn one and I didn't bother trying to get her to wear this, but I'll gift it to one of my fellow cat lovers.

The gingerbread plush toys are so cute and squishy! They have a slight crinkle to them when you squeeze them, which cats love. Tully enjoys bunny-kicking these.

Here's a closer look at the collar and charm.

• Visit Pusheen Box to subscribe

Bottom Line: Overall, I liked my first Cat Kit by Pusheen Box. Even though the jar broke, I still will stay subscribed for a few more boxes because I think the items are cute and my cat will use most of them. The box cost me a little over $30 after shipping, which I think is a fair price.