Arianna Huffington Quarterly Box Review – #ARI04
This is the fourth Arianna Huffington Quarterly box. Her box is focused on health, wellness and mindfulness. (I think it is a really unique theme for a subscription box!)
A little more about Arianna from Quarterly:
Arianna Huffington is the editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group and author of fourteen books. She sends items that help her take her mother’s advice: “Don’t Miss the Moment.”
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Arianna Huffington Quarterly Box
The Cost: $100 plus shipping
The Products: Items that follow Arianna’s mother’s advice, “Don’t miss the moment.”
Ships to: US and Worldwide
Delivered via: USPS
Check out all of my Arianna Huffington Quarterly Box reviews!
Each Quarterly box comes with a letter from the curator detailing the items included.
Gold Card Lifetime Membership to Thrive – Value $600?
One reader mentioned that the free lifetime membership showed up as 10-years free in her account, so I used that to determine an approximate value for this lifetime membership. (Membership to Thrive costs $59.95 a year). That’s assuming Thrive Market is still around in 10 years, so the value on this is really somewhat dependent on how each individual subscriber values it.
If you aren’t familiar with Thrive:
Thrive Market is a membership-based online shopping club on a mission to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone. Thrive Market members can buy the best-selling foods and wholesome products in everyday sizes, always 25% to 50% below retail prices. For every paid membership, Thrive Market donates a free membership to a family in need.
So far I’m impressed with the prices I’m seeing on Thrive – a few of my staples I buy from Amazon are a little cheaper on Thrive. I haven’t bought anything yet though because my free membership code doesn’t work. I emailed Thrive just now to let them know, so I’m sure it will be resolved – but just something to be aware of. (The gift card code does work though – and it works like true gift card).
Peacock Parfumerie Dead Sea Mineral Bath Salts in Hope – Value $30
I’m a sucker for packaging, and these bath salts are gorgeous! (I love the little feather charm around the neck of the bottle). Arianna included these since she loves to take a hot bath before bed. From her letter: “Soak in the fragrance of flower petals and let these evocative bath salts soothe your senses when the day is done.”
Ashram Chic Custom Mala Bead I AM Happiness Necklace – Value $54
The Mantra for this necklace is I Am Happiness, and the Ashram Chic company supports the Third Eye Vision mission to fund free eye clinics in developing countries.
Rest Well Sleep Powdered Drink Mix – 30 packets Value $49.50
Well & Company Gratitude Journal – Value $?
This powdered drink mix is designed to “help your body relax and unwind so that you can wake restored.” It’s a pretty pricey item, so I’m glad that Arianna included a full month’s supply – enough to see if it works or not!
The gratitude journal includes just blank pages. On the inside of the cover are instructions on how to use it:
People who keep a Gratitude Journal receive a multitude of wellness benefits according to the University of Davis and others.
They are more optimistic
They are happier
They have fewer physical problems
They fall asleep more quickly
They sleep longer
They wake up feeling refreshed
Keep a Gratitude Journal is easy! List 5 things that you are grateful for. Write one sentence describing each. Journal 1+ times per week.
Verdict: This box has a value of about $159 – before you count the Thrive Lifetime Free Membership. Depending on how you value that part of the box, the total could be a lot more. I’m happy with this box – I love the themes of Arianna’s picks, and I will use every item included.
What do you think of #ARI04?
Written by Liz Cadman
I just received my box and it did not contain a gift card ($25) from Thrive. I emailed them and was told the boxes only contain the membership code, but no gift card. Had I known that, I may have thought twice about starting this subscription. How did some subscribers get them???
I just activated my Thrive membership. I was annoyed because it looked like I had to choose between the 15% off for the new order or applying the free membership but when I removed the 15% off coupon and added the membership they still took the 15% off! So far so good. The selection isn’t quite what I would hope but if the shipping ends up being quick this might be a nice way to shop and if the service is popular I imagine they will expand their selection.
It seems as though Mala beads are very popular in subscription boxes right now! I don’t know that I’d ever really heard much of them before a month or two ago. I am neither spiritual nor into yoga, and wouldn’t know what to do with them other than give them away or wear them as jewelry, which I’ve seen other commenters say is not the point. Other than that, I don’t think I would really use anything in this box.
Liz is this box sold out?
They may still have some – I recommend emailing [email protected] to see if you can still buy one.
I emailed them earlier this week and they still had boxes available. I am getting one for the membership alone!
I love this box! I got mine early last week and have used every item. My Thrive membership code didn’t work when I tried to use it on Friday but by Saturday customer service had gotten back to me with a new code that worked like a charm. Some of my pantry staples are much less through Thrive than Amazon Prime, yes shipping is slow but I don’t mind since I pre-plan meals for 2-3 weeks and order staples before I am out of them.
The bath salts are delightful.
The beads are new to me but I’ve been using them when I get stressed and they help me to focus.
I have always had trouble falling asleep at night and the rest well beverage seems to be helping; the real test will be this week when I go back to work. I’ve also been using the journal as a “blessing counter”. I regularly journal my day but that includes good and bad things. I’ve found by keeping a running tally of just the good right before bed, I’m in a much better frame of mind.
I got this box and really love it. The Rest Well is very relaxing. I’ve been wearing the Mala daily. I bought it for the thrive membership. My code did not work either, but they were able to issue me a new code very quickly. I already utilized the $25 gift card, it was very easy and no strings attached. the bath salts are gorgeous, and a large size. This will go into my gift pile because it is so lovely. This was my first ariana box, and I am super pleased with it.
I posted this in the spoiler thread but I’m posting it here too in case anyone is curious to hear my experience with thrive so far.
I am doing the 30-day free membership to thrive and have had some issues. they offered me a free eye cream with my order but I didn’t get one (later said it was because they ran out). They sent me perishables without a cold pack. They said I could return them at my expense and the implication was that they’d resell them. After I complained about all of this they offered me 10% off my next order and said they were looking into using cold packs in the future. I haven’t had the best first impression but they’re new and maybe they’re still working out the kinks. Oh yeah, it was over two weeks from the time I ordered until the time the box arrived.
Most of the prices were very good though!
I loved this box! I have already activated my membership and used the gift card. I did a price comparison of Thrive Market and Amazon Prime and Thrive was cheaper on 8 out of 10 items. I am also going to start taking digestive bitters and urban moonshiners bitters were 40% less on Thrive. I also loved the bath salts and Malaysia but haven’t tried the rest well yet. For me, Arianna had one less than ideal box but I have loved all her others.
So, the Thrive website is down. I was gonna have a look at the things they offer (since the only thrive I’ve heard about is the stored/freeze dried, etc foods).
The box in a whole looks nice though.
This is a nice box, but I am a little put off by quarterly after seeing a few of the past boxes. I subscribe to the Nina Garcia, Pharrell Williams, and YA BookRiot. I liked the recent Nina Garcia but another subscriber mentioned that a few of the brands were owned by a parent company and that maybe Nina didn’t really hand pick all the products. And in my Pharrell box I recieved a bracelet that was from the same company as this boxes necklace. It just makes me wonder how much input these celebs really have on these boxes. Some things definately seem stragetically placed.