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Breo Box Subscription Review Winter 2018 + Coupon

Liz Cadman
ByLiz CadmanDec 20, 2018 | 22 comments

BREO BOX
4.1 overall rating
50 Ratings | 17 Reviews

Breo Box (regularly $139/quarter) is a quarterly lifestyle subscription box. Their box focuses on “health & fitness and everyday lifestyle essentials.” With every box, you'll receive a handcrafted customized wood box each quarter with 6-9 essential products selected for the season.

This box ships in an outer cardboard box, and inside is this lovely wooden box!

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Breo Box

The Cost:

1st box | $159
2nd box | $139 brēō bronze
3rd box  | $134 brēō silver
4th box  | $129 brēō gold
5th+ box | $129 + perks brēō platinum

DEAL - If you haven’t signed up for Breo Box yet, use promo code FASTSHIP for $25 off your first box and get this box by 12/24! (You must redeem by 12/21 2PM EST) 

The Products: Receive a handcrafted customized wood box each quarter with 6-9 essential products. Each box is also carefully curated to provide products that are fitting to the season.

Check out all of our Breo Box reviews!

This box comes with a card detailing the items included:

Now, on to the items!

Ember Ceramic Mug – $80

This mug is the hero item in the box, and the title is well-deserved. It's amazing!

FYI - The Ember mug didn't have a charge out of the box so you'll need to plug in the base and let it charge before using. (And while you are waiting for it to charge, make sure to download the free Ember app!)

If you aren't familiar with this mug, it keeps your coffee or tea at the perfect temperature to the last drop!

To use it, you sync your mug to the app and you can customize the color of the little glowing light and set a custom beverage temperature or choose one of a few presets for coffee or tea.

It works perfectly, and the mug senses when it's empty, stops heating, and goes into sleep mode!

Sanctuary Mortar & Pestle –Value Listed $45

This a beautiful (and heavy) granite mortar and pestle set. You can use it for making guac, grinding spices, etc.

The exterior is a smooth polished granite, and the inside is unglazed stone with a rough texture for optimal grinding.

My husband Eric + his family have a tradition of making lots of dips on Christmas eve, so this will be perfect for guacamole. (And I'm sure some cooks will hate this suggestion, but if you don't think you'd use it frequently - the bowl is stunning and would make a fab planter!)

W&P Design Wellness Fitness Band – Retail Value $12

This latex rubber stretch band measures about 36 inches long (when used as a straight length and not as a loop).

And the packaging includes 6 stretches/excercise to do with it:

Not a super exciting item for me, but practical, and great for getting some workout in when traveling, too.

Honorable Beast Roll-Up Backgammon Set – Value Listed $45

This is a suede roll-up backgammon set that is perfect for travel. It unrolls and lays flat:

And the zipper case on the edge houses the pieces and dice:

The stitching is well done, and in general I am impressed with the quality of this piece. It feels fancy! I have never played Backgammon in my life, so my enthusiam level for this set isn't high currently, but if you're a Backgammon fan and recommend it, please let me know!

Sanctuary Nutcracker & Bowl – Value Listed $35

This is a deep square bowl (bamboo?) with notches to perfectly hold the nutcracker.

This seems like another holiday party item to me! I'm not sure how much use this will get outside of the holidays, but I'm bringing it to my mom's party this year.

W&P Design “The Popper” – Retail Value $20

After the Ember mug, this is my favorite item in the box.

It's a microwave popcorn bowl that pops open to expand:

Just place the kernels in the bottom of the bowl, put on the lid (it has holes to release some steam), and you're good to microwave! Then add your preferred topping, oil, etc.

It's silicone, BPA-free, dishwasher, and microwave safe, too! Popcorn is pretty much my go-to favorite snack, so this was perfect for me to make a bowl of healthy-ish popcorn and completely control the amount of oil, salt, pepper, etc.

Verdict: This box has a retail value of about $237. I think that's good for the $134 cost with the FASTSHIP coupon. Personally, I'm not excited about all the items in the box, but that's a very subjective critique. Value-wise, I think the quality is there with the items. If you are in love with the Ember mug (and it's amazing), then you could consider that paying $134 for this box is like paying retail for the mug, and only $9 an item for everything else in the box! (And the box itself is a great storage item.)

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, the Winter box is still available!

DEAL - If you haven’t signed up for Breo Box yet, use promo code FASTSHIP for $25 off your first box and get this box by 12/24! (You must redeem by 12/21 2PM EST) 

What do you think of the Winter Breo Box?

Starting at $169.00
Active Deal
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BREO BOX is a quarterly subscription service for both men & women, curated with the coolest and most unique products that you never knew you needed. Discover the latest tech, gadgets, home goods, fitness products, and more, all to enhance your lifestyle. Hand-packed every 3 months, curated to... read more.

Liz Cadman
Liz Cadman
Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She's been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have, FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!

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22 comments

Eileen

We eat a lot of seafood in our house, so I’m going to use the nutcracker and bowl for when we have crab legs.

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Ks

Now that I started using the items, I’m getting warmed up to the box. I’ve been using the nutcracker daily and it’s def better than my TJMaxx one. I love kitchen items so every item is perfect.

Like we’ve been asking for Ember mugs for forever. This box can’t be very profitable with an item like that. I get it. I also get wanting something different…

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Tlc

Aleks and the rest of the team at Breo-
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR FOLLOW UP!! You went completely above and beyond tracking me down from previous MSA comments. We received the replacements and are thrilled with the quality and have been using them nonstop!! Thank you again for the extra effort and integrity to circle back around.

MSA Community:
Breo is a small business that really does take comments and feedback into consideration! I had an issue with a few items earlier this year; emailed and was responded to promptly. The resolve was inadvertently overlooked and languished…which caused me to comment publicly with irritation. Aleks – co-founder- literally tracked me down (he must’ve gone through his past emails) and sent replacement items promptly. There wasn’t any more back and forth or excuses – just a simple apology, honesty and an immediate solution.

I really appreciated this and urge subscribers to provide constructive feedback to Breo directly while maintaining loyalty.

I have boxes and boxes of beauty items that I will never use…reasonably speaking, all boxes have partial or even an entire box can be a miss…I choose to skip or go forward knowing I’ll only use one or two items.

I’m still curious about upcoming boxes from Breo! They definitely have my loyalty and know they’re in tune to the sub box community and their customer base!

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Natalieee

I wish I would have received that customer service. I wrote them regarding my account and how an item I received never worked…. I just got ignored. Not even an apology. Then I was told I was automatically going to get charged for my 3rd box. Which I never did, I don’t even want it anymore. Definitely NOT ever subscribing again. There are better companies out there I’d rather support and give my money to.

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Courtney

We were excited about the old-school nut bowl until the nutcracker bent and broke on a walnut!

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Jessica T

All the items in my box were covered in red dye and thus are ungiftable. When I removed it from the shipping box I got red dye all over my hands and grey scrubs. I didn’t notice it was on my scrubs until I went to the store and looked down. People probably thought I was covered in blood. I really liked the box with the Tesla lighter and echo dot but lately they seem to be going in a different direction. A nutcracker and pestle are the opposite of modern. I would rather have less items that are more usable. Most people that prefer to use a mortar and pestle instead of spice grinder or food processor probably already have one, and I have gone to three stores and have not been able to find unshelled nuts to use with the cracker. I wish they would have included a package of nuts so I could use it at least once.

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TK

My son loves the Ember but everything else is kind of disappointing. The zipper on our backgammon game came broken so the pieces don’t stay in. The band seems like it will break after a couple uses. The popcorn popper is covered in red paint. The nutcracker set is pretty useless. I tried to find nuts to put in it but can only find already cracked/shelled nuts. It’s like this sub has gone back in time. Besides the Ember, not much techy or innovative things in this box. We are at the Perks Breo Platinum level but we won’t be staying much longer if this continues.

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Beth

Sorry, but this box was literally a mess: Red stain bleeding on everything, poor packaging, and mediocre to terrible product choices. Most items look like they came off a discount rack at a big box store. And the popcorn popper is a knock-off of the one Lekue released well over 5 years ago!

I was unhappy with the fall Breo box, hoping the winter box would make up for it. But unhappy doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about this one. I joined Breo when they were all about electronics and technology. Remember those boxes:

—Spring 2018: Electric toothbrush; Blue light blocking glasses; Wireless ear buds; French press; sphere ice mold.

—Winter 2017: WiFi scale; Misfit phase; Igloves; Corksicle; Puzzle; Shower mirror and razor holder.

—Fall 2017: Echo dot; Pebble battery pack; Tesla lighter; Digital kitchen scale; Candle; Infusion water bottle; leather travel bundle

—Summer 2017: FujiFilm instant camera w film; Bluetooth keychain; Swell bottle; HyperChiller; Travel chess/checkers; Cheese board and knife.

I was fine paying the high cost of this sub ($129+) to get boxes like those: full of techy things and other stuff people actually wanted. Does Breo honestly think their subscriber base, those of us who signed up for their “old style” of boxes, would be okay with the winter box? I wouldn’t be happy with it even if I had gotten it at 50% off!

Plus, winter was my 5th box. (Perks Breo Platinum!!!) I asked their CS what perk I would be receiving and I was given the following answer:

“It’l vary season to season, and will be only a small gesture of appreciation. The discounted pricing is the real perk. Something such as product voting, early spoiler reveal, etc..”

How could they possibly have thought that customers would be okay with that?? Sorry, but it’s hard to see that as anything other than a sleazy bait and switch. And for the record, they haven’t even ponied up with even those “perks.”

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Amy

I 100% agree with you! What a total and complete waste of money! I wouldn’t have even paid half of the $129 that I paid for this junk. I’m not sure what happened to this subscription, but I am canceling.

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Marion

Stretch bands are a great fidget for people with extra energy.

You can put them around the legs of a chair to give your feet something to kick against.

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Jules

That’s a great idea! I’m very fidgety, so I’ll have to swap for one of these and try that.

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Liz Cadman

Great suggestion! I wish I had extra energy! 🙂

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MissJ

@Liz Cadman — after the breakdown you have for the 1st box, 2nd box, etc., you have in bold ‘DEAL – If you haven’t….’ If you’ll notice, the last sentence of that section is cut off. I don’t know if you would want to fix that or not?

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Liz Cadman

Oops! Thank you, fixed!

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Maggie

This was my favorite breo box yet! Everything but the fitness bands will be used often (other than the nutcracker, but the bowl is perfect for storing odds and ends on my kitchen counter!)

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Beth

The bowl would have been infinitely more versatile if it didn’t have those cutouts for the nutcracker.

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Maggie

Tbh I’ve decided to ignore them. I think they’re a cool stylistic choice and don’t mind them

Michelle

How well does the popcorn bowl work? Was it difficult to find a good setting to pop most of the kernels but not burn it?

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azdesertgrl

I filled it per the instructions and then just set my microwave to the popcorn setting. I used non-GMO sprouted organic kernels and it worked perfectly! No burnt or unpopped kernels.

I think all the items in the box were of high quality and I will use everything. As a person who frequently reheats their coffee, I LOVE the Ember! I just hope they come out with a larger cup. The mortar and pestle looks lovely sitting on my counter when not in use. My husband and I will use the backgammon game and appreciate it takes up little storage space. The nut bowl brings back great memories of my grandmother’s nut bowl and I will keep it filled. The bands are going in my suitcase for travel.

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Sam

I’ve never seen a popcorn maker like this. I always do it over the stove. I’ll have to try this out!

Liz Cadman

Sounds like this was the perfect box for you! So glad to hear you love the Ember, too! 🙂 It’s a game changer!

Liz Cadman

It is SUPER easy to use. Basically as easy as microwaving a bag of popcorn. I just listened for when the kernels stopped popping every 1-2 seconds then stopped the microwave. Perfectly popped kernels, no burning. Highly recommend!

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