WOWBOX - Curated snacks straight from Japan

September 2016's kawaii & beauty subscription box

I stumbled upon this subscription box while being a good ol' spectator on YouTube, faithfully going through unboxings, and adding on to channels' 'views.' Friends ask me why I watch these sort of videos, and I usually get away with a, "It's fun," generic sort of answer. I can tell they aren't convinced, but that's because they don't understand the psychology of money spenders. Really, this is a shopaholic's cure for filling in the inactive days, though not a cure to stop shopping.

Because really, I'm just sniffing around the net for more things to shop.

Anyway back to today's agenda of more otaku goodness: Japan's box of treasures.

Even otaku and figure collectors need the occasional treats to motivate themselves, and since it's from the nation of our obsession, it's fitting to share it here. 

Usually these boxes are targeted at U.S. audience (hence the USD currency), so a desperate soul who wants a taste of Japan outside of America would have to fork out excess cash for shipping (worldwide No. 1 さいふ killer), tank the extra rate, and all in all pay more than the box's supposed worth. Not cool.

So when I found out WOWBOX offers free shipping worldwide, I grabbed my friend Paul's sleeves and told him, "We're getting this." Naturally, being a heavy snacker that I have observed of him, he seconded the plan.

After securing a co-investor, I jumped straight to WOWBOX's website, and allowed myself to be amazed by the funky and interactive layout.

Fig.1: Themes accessible via clicking the Subscribe button

Naturally, free shipping alone would not be enough to turn me into a WOWBOX convert, if it doesn't come with some cool themes to choice from (Fig.1). One glance and you know the marketing team did their research well, so no matter what gender, age, and location you're from, there's definitely something to suit everyone's taste buds.

For sotong (blur) people, they have this dandy tooglebar at the bottom that guides you through the actions doable and steps left to payment. I screenshot this to show the degree of customisation it affords, and this was how my first plan went with them. Basically, they're giving customers little reason to not subscribe.

For this kawaii & beauty box, the smallest (regular) starts at $24.99/month, and as with all other sub boxes, the longer monthly plans you opt, the cheaper it gets (although the amount saved isn't all that significant).

What you can expect in a typical WOWBOX:

- Japan's mascot snacks
- D.I.Y. snacks
- Wa style snacks (think cherry blossoms, kimono girls, all the stereotypes you can think of)
- Beauty snacks (e.g.: collagen)
- Health[ier] snacks
- Drinks or products (only for Large box)

P.S.: You can cancel the subscriptions/ switch themes anytime before the next box's deadline (more on this later). All boxes are dispatched on the first week of the next month.

So this baby arrived 2 weeks later, but because my courier likes to deliver when I wasn't at home, I had to go down to my post office and collect the next day. Again shout out to the Marketing and Design team for the attention to details and faithfulness to theme. While the box was rather beaten up around the edges, it was safely cushioned by air packets within.

First glance inside the box and as expected, everything was pleasingly lay out... Fine the box was a mess when I peeked in, I mean, it's a blessing that it arrived, given it's free SAL shipping, so no complaints here.

As I'm typing this I realised this is actually our second box. In all honesty this was an unintentional purchase, because I forgot to terminate the subscription. If you opted for a 1 month plan, remember to sign in to your profile and CANCEL to prevent surprised billing notification (like me). And do so before the following box's deadline.

My opinions on the snack:
Unfortunately neither Paul nor I got to try them all... On the food testing day, we had overstuffed our silly stomachs with dessert (Fig.2) right after lunch and right before WOWBOX tasting. Out of spite, we decided to distribute the snacks among 2 other good friends.

Even more unfortunate? I don't even like sweets. However, I'm impressed by the Pure collagen beauty snack - it's mixed berry yogurt flavour gummy with sugar sprinkles, slightly sour and stimulating for the senses. Totally the go-to snack during office hours, or when you feel like giving up and fall asleep under the lecturer's nose.

Edit: Just tried the Maple Nuts Grandola... Hmm nobody told me grandola taste so good! Or was it just this Asahi one?

Love that it comes in two separate smaller packets (each containing 2 pieces of grandola), so I do not have to finish everything in one goal - I always prefer my breakfast a combo of solid and liquid diet~

Fig.2: This is the culprit - our first endeavour at a 4 tier waffle palace, topped with matcha and charcoal ice cream. In retrospect, it was amazing, but it wasn't such a brilliant call for 2 people who just had lunch to challenge this. Not good at all.

1 month later...

It's so easy to give people advice isn't it? Imagine the surprise when I received yet another billing notification from WOWBOX... Turns out I cancelled the plan after the following box's deadline, like right after the deadline. What has turned out to be a try-try matter has become a recurring experience, like figure collecting.

Once again, tragedy repeats itself - I wasn't home when the courier came.I was serious when I made the claim that my courier specifically picks my non-present hours. I felt really silly by how shocked I was by the change of box colours, even though it makes sense since this is a new theme.

So on top of this being the October's New and Limited Theme, it is also Halloween. That means the Marketing Team has less trouble fulfilling the Limited expectations of this box, good for you people.

As I have confessed earlier, I'm not a sweets person, so you can imagine my dropping enthusiasm as I took one gummy after another out and arranged them nicely for this blog. I can't imagine finishing all of these sugars, so again out of spite, I've gave the D.I.Y. vegetable gummy (2nd row, most left) to my good friend Zara. Trust me, after the (disappointing) first try & taste at these hands-on sweets, I won't be running to Japan's mart and picking up these any time soon.

Not wanting to end on such a negative note, here were some candid taken while my nonsense buddies were fooling around in public:

That's Paul, the one proudly planting his red shoe on H&M's pedestal while snacking away at Taiwan Chicken Chop

Kri at the back, never one to shy away from cameras, much to my peril (the second  I left my phone unattended, I'll be looking at 100 mug shots of him)

Busy customising their sushi and salad at Maki-san in Cineleisure

Should you give WOWBOX a try? Definitely - after all, most of these aren't available outside Japan and who knows, you might just find your next favourite snack, like I did with the collagen gummies.

This, like all other subscription boxes, is really a hit or miss. Don't expect too much, enter with an open and adventurous mind, and itadakimasu.

xoxo