Review: Kawaii Box (July 2015)

Kawaii Box is a subscription service that sends you a handful of cute products from Japan and Korea every month for just $18.90. Kawaii Box kindly sent me this box to review, and this post is my honest opinion.

Kawaii means ‘cute’ in Japanese, so it’s no surprise that these boxes are filled with an handful of cute stationery, accessories and candy. I feel like I have grown out of cute things like this, but it was definitely worth giving this box a shot, considering I loved going to my local Morning Glory or Artbox store and having a browse.

The box arrived a little damaged, and it was called the July box even though it had shipped on 7th August. I received an email with my tracking information, saying ‘Your Kawaii Box order from July 9, 2015 has been shipped’. They ship from the end of the month, but if they are shipping at the end of July, most people would receive their box in August so it should really be the ‘August box’.

I opened the box and I was welcomed with a greeting card. The back of the card had information about all the items in the box, and luckily, nothing seemed damaged.

The packaging of the box
The packaging of the box
Greeting card and contents wrapped in tissue paper
Greeting card and contents wrapped in tissue paper
Description of items in the box
Description of items in the box
  1. Kracie DIY chain candy
  2. Squishy donut mirror
  3. Dessert eraser
  4. Kawaii toast coaster
  5. Pastel pearl bracelet
  6. Korean glitter glue set
  7. Rilakkuma notes
  8. Mushroom mini plush
  9. Cute pencil set
  10. Flake seal stickers
  11. Alpaca keychain
First look at the items
First look at the items
Kracie chain candy, dessert eraser and donut mirror
Kracie chain candy, dessert eraser and donut mirror
Bracelet, coaster and glitter glue
Bracelet, coaster and glitter glue
Pencil set, Rilukkuma notes and mushroom plushie
Pencil set, Rilukkuma notes and mushroom plushie

I ate the candy the next day, sharing it with my brother and my dad. I can’t read the Japanese on the packet very well but we tried it anyway. It had a strange bubblegum taste which was nice, but we were wondering while we were chewing if it actually was bubble gum.

The donut mirror is cute. It opens up quite easily though, and the sprinkles were already starting to fall off so I don’t see this item lasting a very long time. It might get damaged pretty easily. Even though there is a chain on it, I probably would keep it in my bag rather than hanging it from somewhere.

Donut mirror (open)
Donut mirror (open)
Donut mirror (closed)
Donut mirror (closed)

I probably have no use for the eraser since I don’t use pencils often. Brandon has a whole bag of erasers in his room that is a decade old. We didn’t actively collect erasers, but we had a handful of them that we never finished going through. Even if you used an eraser daily, it would take a long time for it to be used up. I like the toast coaster though! I have a thing for toast, and I use coasters quite frequently. This one is unlike any I have owned – made of wood and quite thin. I don’t like the facial expression all that much, but it’s still cute.

Dessert eraser. Looks like a strawberry dripped in chocolate
Dessert eraser. Looks like a strawberry dripped in chocolate
Toast coaster
Toast coaster

The bracelet is only a little bit stretchy so it won’t fit for larger wrists, but it fits fine on me as my wrists are small. Many years ago, my cousin gave me a more brightly coloured bracelet similar to this, and it got worn out, so this is sort of a nice replacement.

Pastel pearl bracelet
Pastel pearl bracelet

The Rilakkuma notes are cute, even though I don’t like the character that much. I love notepaper, but I have a problem where I don’t like to use cute notes because they are too cute! I’ll probably enjoy writing on and using these when I finally do, though. :)

Rilakkuma notes
Rilakkuma notes
Some of the bear-shaped Rilakkuma notes
Some of the bear-shaped Rilakkuma notes

The glitter glue set looks pretty cheap. I’d probably have my ten minutes of fun with it, or think of something creative to do with it, but nothing beyond that. The mushroom plush probably isn’t my kind of thing either. I could probably find someone to give it to, along with the glitter glue perhaps? Or I could use it for Christmas cards along with the flake seal stickers. I don’t have much use for the pencils either, but they are 2B, which I favour over other pencil types. :P

Glitter glue
Glitter glue
Close up of glitter glue
Close up of glitter glue
Alpaca keychain and flake seal stickers
Alpaca keychain and flake seal stickers

The alpaca keychain is something that I would probably use once my current keychain for my keys is worn out. I think it’s pretty cute.

Out of the eleven items in the box, I only liked about half – the keychain, bracelet, stickers, notes, candy (I guess everyone likes a bit of candy) and coaster. The rest could have been better – like the mushroom plush – and the others I didn’t like as much.

Still, for $18.90 a month and free shipping worldwide, I would say that is affordable and worth the money. I know I am not really into cute things anymore, but this box would be pretty good for someone who likes anything cute, and perfect for younger girls.

Let me know what you think of Kawaii Box and if you would consider subscribing.

All the contents of the box
All the contents of the box

Comments on this post

It’s pretty cool how there are so many subscription boxes out there! I like the sound of the Kawaii box, especially since it has cute products from Japan!! The logic of the shipment called a “July box” even though it ships at the end of the month doesn’t make sense. I would think the name should be whatever month it arrives in. I’m glad to hear nothing inside the box got damaged.

The contents inside the box are cute! The pencil set are so cute!!! Somehow, I would think this is a perfect box for ~my young daughter in the future~ (but anyone of any age can still freely enjoy the box). The toaster coaster is adorable. For the amount of items you get in the box, the price is not bad at all! Hope you enjoyed it!

I’ve heard of Kawaii Box! It was very tempting because I still love cute things, and I think I would like most things they send.

That’s too bad the sprinkles were already falling off the mirror. I think a donut mirror is such a cute idea. I can’t get myself to use up cute erasers though (and I find they usually aren’t very good erasers anyway).

I like the coaster and the bracelet! I especially like the light, pastel-ish colors on the beads. I also like the Rilakkuma notes. I don’t really collect his merchandise, but I do think he’s an adorable character. I used to have issues using up cute notepaper, but now I just bring them to work to take notes on :)

Aaahh, this is tempting me again to try it. I would probably have fun with it, but I shouldn’t collect so many things XD;;

I love getting the Kawaii Box each month and most of the time I do really like the items. Sometimes they can be a bit cheap, but I never expect anything that is super amazing quality. The shipping kind of became a problem. Previously they had it setup so that you would get the July Box in July (or any month) but because of people overseas (USA) it was taking even longer to ship to them, so they changed it completely. I did like being able to get the box for a month in the same month. >.<

I liked reading your review. :D

I think I’m in love with the Kawaii box. I can’t believe it’s not that expensive either and all the stuff you get is pretty awesome, I think. Glad you liked it at least.

Mmmm, yeah, based off what you got I can’t really say Kawaii Box is worth the money. The coaster is pretty effing cute but it doesn’t seem heavy duty. The Rilakkuma notes are really cute and so is the keychain, but everything else seems kind of lame.

I think I probably wouldn’t really be interested in most of this particular box, though looking at their site there were things in the previous months’ boxes that I liked more. Maybe it’s a case of wait and see what’s up for the next month before you decide to jump in and order it, I see it as less of a subscription and just go case-by-case! Personally, the decision for me is deciding if the one item that I want is worth $18.90 – and hell yeah I probably would pay that much for the one thing I want which is the alpaca keychain hehe :3

I don’t think they reveal what is in the boxes until a month later so I’m not sure what you mean. It’s confusing but they ship the month’s boxes at the end of the month. So if you subscribed this month, you would get the September box, but it wouldn’t even be shipped until the end of September, and you’d get it in October. In October, they would then reveal what was in the September box.

I really enjoyed your review! It was extremely informative. I love your website by the way!

-Alexis