FabFitFun Hits The UK | Is It Worth It?

Thursday 18 July 2019


FabFitFun is the American import that has hit our shores with a splash recently.

Beauty junkies and fans of unboxing videos on this side of the Atlantic will have enviously watched as subscribers in the states revealed their hauls of lifestyle goodies from the company for a while now - and at last, we can get in on the act as the box now ships to Europe as well.



FFF is subtly different to some of the boxes we’re used to seeing over here. For a start, in true American tradition, it's larger - full size products and more of them. It releases on a quarterly basis, each time with a new season edit of products focused on wellbeing - it could be exercise equipment, homeware items, beauty products or accessories - this gives it a much broader range than the usual beauty sub boxes we’re used to seeing over here.

I was eager to try it, so I signed myself up. Delivery times are very, very long, so I had quite a wait until the box finally turned up. But would the contents make up for it?

The first thing to state about FFF is that there are choices involved. I think I had been slightly misled by watching a load of unboxing videos from paid influencers and minor celebrities, whose boxes included every item out of a list of options that normal subscribers make a choice from.

This meant that my first experience was disillusionment, as there weren’t as many items as I initially expected. Hovering around the £50 mark, the box is quite expensive, and although 9 items isn’t bad value, especially as everything is full sized and quite high-priced, but it didn’t quite blow me away as much as the boxes I’d seen online, which are quite misleading.

Because I wasn’t expecting to choose items, I also chose badly in a moment of panic, and missed out on some items I’d been looking forward to receiving such as some Sol De Janeiro body products and some cool looking silicone wine glasses, simply because I didn’t quite understand that a lot of the items were either or.

Confusingly enough (to me) you could also choose to upgrade and pay for additional items on some of the options, but not others. All in all, when my box came, I felt a little underwhelmed - partly due to my own choices, but also down to their marketing!

Generation Clay Brightening Purple Clay Mask


I do love my weekly ritual of a face mask in the bath when my little monsters are tucked up in bed, so I'm always open to finding new ones to try.

Enriched with Davidson plum, a superfruit, this concoction from Generation Clay contains natural alpha hydroxy acids to perk up tired out, dull skin and help to lighten dark circles and pigmentation. I certainly have dark circles for days, so I'm pretty much the ideal candidate to test this out.

There's also witch hazel to hoover up excess oil, Vitamin E to smooth the skin, antioxidants to counteract free radical damage and a fruity little extra - desert lime, a thorny Australian citrus fruit which hydrates, helps skin to drink up antioxidants so they work better and boosts collagen production into the bargain.

So, not just your average clay mask but a skin powerhouse to be reckoned with!

The result should be dewy, gleaming skin. I tested it out in the bath but I don't think it worked to it's full potential as it didn't set. However, I did think my skin looked noticeably brighter and more even after. A great little weekly mask treat to perk you up.

Summer & Rose Navy Aztec Print Tote Bag


So this was a bit of a panic buy! I added it to my selection in a little bit of confusion, but a stylish, sturdy tote bag is always a win, so I was pretty pleased with this.

Made of a thick quality canvas with chunky cream rope straps, this seems like it will be really durable. It's the perfect bag to take to the beach, on holiday or for summer trips to the park for a picnic. A bag like this lets you just chuck in all the never ending items that the kids need every time we leave the house and acts as a really useful catch-all.

There's a snap closure on the top to keep it all together, although I would use a smaller closed bag or pouch inside to hold my personal things for added security. It's roomy enough to hold everything you need for a day trip, and the smart pattern means you'll look good on the go.

Doctor Rogers Restore Healing Balm


Retailing at £30 on Net-A-Porter, this was a high value addition to the box. From a Seattle based dermatologist, this multipurpose balm has a great provenance, grounded as it is in the daily treatment of thousands of patients and their most common skin concerns.

Sort of like a luxe version of Eight Hour Cream, this is made with plant extracts like Castor Seed Oil and Glycerin. Those workhorse ingredients intensely nourish and hydrate dry and damaged skin.

It can even be used on eczema, burns, cuts and scrapes - which, with two kids, one of whom has eczema and the other is an accident prone preschooler - sounds like a handbag lifesaver! Free of parabens, petroleum, lanolin, sulfates and fragrance, I would also feel confident using it on the kids knowing it's safe for their skin.

Solving everything from dry lips to flaky cuticles and frizzy flyaways, this is a great product to take away on your travels.

Invisibobble Original


Hair ties are something no-one with long hair like mine can ever be without - you never know when you might need to quickly put your hair up, and there's no better hair tie for doing a messy mum bun of doom than these slightly odd accessories which look like the cord from a 1940s telephone.

The main premise is that these don't put that annoying dent hair gets when you've worn it up for a while, although I've never found that works especially well. I do still like them though, just because they are very easy to do styles with one handed and rushing, which every other mum will recognise as being their daily default setting.

They're also good with wet hair as they don't snag and catch or get all gross like fabric covered ones. I quite often pop on a deep conditioner and shove my hair up in the shower or bath, and I also like Invisibobbles in the gym.

This pack of three Crystal Clear  and three To Be Or Nude To Be ties should keep me stocked up for a while!

Eyeko Eye Do Liquid Liner


I must admit, I was a little unenthused by this. Mainly because I’ve had a lot of liquid liner pens in sub boxes lately, and also because Eyeko is a brand I know well and used to be obsessed with in my teens and early 20s, so it doesn’t feel like an exciting new discovery.

The other factor is that I’ve already found my holy grail liquid liner (Revolution Renaissance Flick, in case you’re interested) so I’m not sure this is an improvement. I’m also wearing liquid liner a lot less these days in favour of softer pencils.

So all in all, a great big pile of meh on this one for me, although I’m sure the product is lovely!

Whish Exfoliating Foot Mask


Now this is one item which really caught my eye. Now it's summer, feet are on display a lot more and dry skin can be a real problem. Something about sitting chafing away with a footfile sets my teeth on edge, so the idea of an exfoliator I can pop on and leave to do it's magic is very appealing.

Promising to remove stubborn calluses and hard, dry skin this moisturises and heals as it goes. You pop it on at bedtime, let it dry, go to sleep and wake up to softer feet - which sounds like a total win to me!

With bromelaine (an enzyme found in pineapples), black tea, willow bark, papain and pumpkin seed, this is the treat that your summer holiday feet need. Much better than a pumice stone.

Jennifer Zeuner Star Necklace


One thing which really appealed to me about FabFitFun was the chance to receive not just beauty products, but accessories too - and this delicate necklace is one of those items that is perfect to be worn with a vest top during the hotter months.

Featuring small, elegant stars set to twinkle against your collarbone, it's a really pretty and wearable piece. As it's a double row, it gives that on-trend layered look without you having to do the work and find two necklaces whose lengths sit together well (surprisingly hard, especially when you’re in a rush, which I almost always am!).

Currently selling for £41.00 on the Jennifer Zeuner website, this is a great , high-value addition to the box, and something I’ll definitely be wearing.

Grace & Stella Spray All Day Rose Spray


Hands up, I am a rosewater spray addict, so this product was made for me. Rose is so good as protective essence for skin and has anti-aging properties, plus I love the feel of a mist on my skin. I spray a rosewater spritz after coming out of the shower, before applying skincare, after an exfoliation session to calm skin down or whenever I feel hot and bothered and need a micro moment of calm.

I’ve never used it as a setting spray for make-up, but the Grace & Stella website suggests that you can. It balances the PH levels in your skin, freshens, smells beaut, gives a dewy low and you can also use it to calm down frizzy summer hair.

A product that, once you add it to your daily routine, there’s no going back.

Spiritual Gangster ‘Maya’ Floral Kimono


Very on the fence about this last item. I like the design, but equally it feels very cheaply made - and as it retails at $60 on the Spiritual Gangster website, I personally would expect a better made item.

However, a kimono is a great outfit fix - easy to thrown on over a plain tee and jeans to make you look like you’ve tried much harder than you have (my whole vibe is basically that). The fabric is a very light weight rayon that creases like hell, and inside there are lots of raw seams etc.

I think it would make a good swimsuit coverup on holiday, so it’s definitely coming with me to Italy this year. A lovely item to get in the box but I certainly wouldn’t have paid more than £10 for it individually.

So, all in all, is the FabFitFun box worth ordering, all the way from the States? I would say yes - if you make better choices about the contents than I did! I was initially going to cancel but I’ve decided to do one more box with them and see what I think to it, especially as I’m not currently signed up to any others.

If you’re looking for a good value sub box that offers something a little bit different, then this could be worth a peek.

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