April 28

Mystery Box – Dark Academia

Hello and welcome back to another Mystery Box review! Today I want to show you another Box made by the same people who did the Blinddate with a Book Box I reviewed about a year ago. It’s very similar in the way that’s it included a mystery book again, but it has some very different extras which is why I wanted to show it to you^^

Pictures from the Esty Shop Coffeeacademia, advertising the box

The Box is themed after Dark Academia, which was something I have heard about before, but could not really tell what it was about actually xD So I did a little research and it turns out, it’s actually similar to something I do know which is Cottage Core. Liking Cottage core basically means adoring a kind of lifestyle where you would live out in nature in a cottage far away from modern cities. It’s about the idea, the aesthetics and the items connected to it. People buy certain clothes, decorative items and even books, to match this idea.
Dark Academia seems to be the same thing, but of course with a different image in mind. It’s about people wearing student clothes inspired by universities like Oxford in 1930, reading high literature books and watching artistic films. The “dark” part of the aesthetic comes from the gothic building style most older universities have. So instead of wanting to live in a cottage people like the idea of studying in dark corners with candlelight, reading books that make them think about life or books which take place in an academic scenario too. So with all of that in mind, I am actually pretty curious about what I will be getting in this new Mystery Box 😉

Firstly I sadly have to say that my original box got lost in the mail :/ I would normally not have mentioned it, since it got replaced as soon as the Shop got wind of it being missing and I even got some extra gifts because of it, but it did have slightly different contents, which I will be talking about in more detail later in the review. But for now, let’s get back to the opening of the package! As we know it from the Etsy Shop Coffeeacademia everything was packaged nicely, which makes opening this box not only about the items you get but an experience all in itself. What I really love about boxes from them in particular, it makes them stand out from other Mystery boxes I have opened. Most things were wrapped in this vintage-looking brown paper, one of them even had some scrapbooking on the top, which I think looks beautiful and I even tried to save it somehow, even though I don’t know what to do with it later. But it seemed too precious to be just thrown away after getting to what was inside! And there were a lot of things 😉

Let’s start with the extras before we get to the main attraction of the box. One of the first things we get is a metal candle holder which has a little handle on one side and really reminds me of the old times when people needed to carry a candle around at night if they wanted to see. With the theme of dark academia, I could imagine a scene where scholars would be studying books until late in the evening or even the night and at some point, when they want to get another book, they have to carry their candle to the bookshelf, to be able to read the names written on the back of the books sitting there. Still, it somewhat bugs me that originally I thought I was getting a wooden candleholder without a handle, to only be used on the desk. Because even though I just described a possible scene, when I look at this kind of candle holder, for some reason my mind goes to a different kind of aesthetic. Still, I like the candle holder very much, it’s just not as fitting for me.

Next up is the little bust which of course is to decorate your surroundings to feel more in a room that could technically be at an old university. Where they have busts and statues standing around, for people to look at, take in and get inspired by. I can see how it would help get into the right mood for studying, but when I say this bust is little, I mean very little, maybe 3-5cm depending on how you measure it. I can’t say for sure, but I feel like on the picture they made to represent their box on Etsy they tried to make it look bigger. And for me personally, I think it would have needed to be at least a little bit bigger, maybe 10cm to actually have the effect I just talked about. With a statue smaller than my little finger, I can’t really try to imagine myself sitting at an old prestige university…

Last but not least we got a feather quill pen in a beautiful turquoise colour with a leaf, that vaguely reminds me of lord of the rings. It does look cool and all, but I have to say it might be almost the item that got me disappointed the most, mainly because I do already own this kind of quill pen. One thing to mention is that the box I did buy(or better got gifted) was a limited edition box, but almost right after the last box was sent away, the shop seemed to have made it a regular thing, maybe because it was received so well by their customers. In this new dark academia themed box, they did use different pictures even though most items were the same. Now that’s exactly where my problem comes in because I do think for the new box they got different materials and on the pictures, they do advertise a different kind of quill pen, the one I got obviously. But the quill they did advertise before was a little different. It had a long golden shaft with some marking on the top and the bottom and it looked really special to me, since as some of you know I do use different kinds of quills for writing letters or greeting cards for special occasions, so I do already own some but not this particular one. And I was really looking forward to getting a model like that, it might have even been the reason why I decided to get the box in the first place. So not getting it eventually makes me a bit sad. But I don’t really know if it would be fair to really include that in the verdict at the end since the shop obviously could not really do something about it, they did not lose the box and they did not have any spare models of this quill or at least that’s what I assume since they did not really tell me. Which I do think, they could have.

As a little extra for the box getting lost I guess, next to the candle holder coming with two instead of one candle(one green, one white candle) I got a cute little pin. It’s shaped like a blue heart with golden embellishments and it says “courage, dear hearts”. I don’t really get the connection to the theme of the box, but I do like the pin as a little compensation. I also got two little things, which I think can be used as bookmarks but are not the typical bookmark 😉 One is a very thing metal feather painted in gold and the other is a little sword, not sure what it’s made of, but it’s painted in silver. Only the feather was mentioned on Etsy, so I assume again the sword might be a little extra, which I am very happy about. Looks cool in a book, I am just a little scared that it maybe get lost easily, but we will see about that 😛
I also got an already sharped pencil, a very small post-it block and some page markers in different colours. I don’t really know where to include them since they were not advertised on Etsy and also don’t really seem to fit the aesthetic… The pencil is very typical, just a solid orange-like colour with no writings on it and a red eraser on the end. The post it’s and the markers look like very normal(and kinda cheap) office materials. I guess it can be used for studying, but not in an aesthetically pleasing way and I thought that was what this whole box was about, so I am a bit confused.

In almost every box the shop sells they do also put a cup because drinking a hot beverage might it be tea or hot chocolate, or a coffee maybe while reading a book, is most people’s definition of a great book date. They also always include one of the aforementioned beverages in this case they send me two small bags of tea, which I do appreciate(even though I liked the option from the last books I got from the shop, being able to actually choose because I would have chosen hot cocoa). But the cup itself is always kinda underwhelming… With the packaging, the scrapbooking and the vintage feel of everything, when it comes to the cups I would have expected to see something more special. In this case, maybe a cup which is made to look like it’s a cup from one of those famous universities, or a cup which has a reading quote on it for example. I just feel like it’s a wasted opportunity and I also don’t really need a boring cup with every box, because they have no advantage over the cups I do already own.

Now to get to the heart of the box, let me show you the books that I have got! The smaller one is a penguin book with short tales or maybe even fables in them, which I feel like do fit the idea of dark academia very well. Because when I think of this topic, heavy literature comes to my mind ASAP. For some reason mostly stuff that I know if I would read it, I might not be able to understand it on the first go xD And these fables are exactly that, but in a more user-friendly kind of way, since rereading such a one-page fable is easier than rereading big chapters in an old book. So I feel like this one really hit the nail on its head for this box. The other one not so much…
The second book I’ve got is a spy/assassin story from what I understand. It’s not exactly “wrong” since when it came to choosing which kind of book I wanted, I choose the option “Suprise me with an English book” but I also wrote to the shop and asked for a vampire book(if they would have any). They actually never answered me and I can’t say for sure, that the book which got lost with the other package might not have been a vampire book, but I still was kinda disappointed with this one. Not only did it not consider my wish for the genre, it also does not seem to have anything to do with the theme of dark academia at all.

Final Verdict
Coming up with a verdict on this box is very hard for me. First, there is the problem with the original box getting lost and the question of: Is it fair to view this box with the expectations I had for the other one? On the other hand, I feel like the shop could have at least asked if it would have been okay to send a replacement package and what to include. We can’t say something about the other box, but my vampire request did not seem to have been considered at all in this one or at least I have no indication of they may be trying. No note which says “Sorry we did not have any vampire books at hand, but hopefully this story will be to your liking too!”. The customer experience really was not the best one this time :/ I am sadder about the items I did not get or getting them in a different version than I can really be happy about the items I did get. I do like the idea of a themed box like this one and I would love to try another theme done by the shop one day maybe. I also think that fans of the dark academia aesthetic will like this box, if they don’t expect to get certain items, but rather just wish to get a fitting selection. So I guess I would say I am not the biggest fan of this box in particular but if you are interested in it, there is no reason not to buy it 😉

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Mystery Box, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT
April 6

Witches Box – Ancient Egypt

On my blog, I like to share things with you, that I enjoyed very much or feel the need to recommend to you. Sometimes I also like to try out stuff, to find out if it’s actually worth buying or not, so you don’t have to 😉 The Box I want to present to you today is one of these things, which almost sounds too good to be true and is also quite expensive compared to other mystery-like boxes that I have reviewed here. It’s called Witches Box 3 and is part of a seasonal mystery Box series by the Etsy Shop Zwinkerglanz, which next to doing boxes as this one specialises in self-made jewellery and witchy decoration and the box cost 79€. In the end, I actually paid 20€ more, but it was only for one item especially made for me and I will let you know what it was, so you know what exactly was part of the box before. Let’s take a look at it together!

Before I tell you about the items, let me tell you a bit more about the idea behind this box. It does cater to people who actually are part of the witch culture, but also to people who just love the witchy atheistic and I would say personally I am somewhat in between those two, so it was kinda perfect for me 😉 You actually don’t get to see which items are in the box before they arrive, because the owner of the Shop has to prepare those items right before shipping. But if you do want to know what things are inside you get a beautifully made listing, it’s actually quite the long list which includes 11 items in total. Amongst them are different kinds of jewellery like a chocker and wristbands, decoration like an agate disc, an alter display and a flower-themed fabric fan, but also ritual based things like a small jar of incense, a set of tin jugs and more and more. Just looking at the number of items it quickly becomes obvious where the pricing is coming from. Since there are so many, I tried to sort them into 3 categories.

Jewellery

The mystery Ankh box…
One of the first things I got in the box was a smaller wooden box handpainted in gold with a black ankh in the middle. Technically that would be an item in and of itself, but it also contained two long bands made out of pearls, which can be worn both as necklaces or wristbands. The pearls are made out of a material that is not something I like to wear, my long hair gets caught up in it quick, but maybe I can still use it as decoration 🙂

A chocker with the eye of Horus…
The chocker is made out of a black velvet-like band with a charm that looks like the eye of Horus symbol from the ancient Egyptian culture or better Egyptian mythology. It’s also known as the Udjat eye, which supposedly was helping the god Horus win a fight against one of the evil powers from ancient stories the god Set and thus is often connected to properties such as luck, protection and healing. So it’s a great choice for something to wear I think and it does also look very cool. My only problem is a very individual one, which I should have considered earlier, so it’s totally my fault not the fault of the shop owner! For me personally, the black band is just too short to actually wear the chocker in a comfortable way around my neck. So I might end up just hanging it somewhere as decoration^^


A wristband with a scarab…
The scarab is a symbol of rebirth, which is also very nicely explained in one of the sheets of this box. It’s connected to real dung beetles(aka scarabs) who roll a ball of dung containing their eggs around to protect them. And when the eggs are old enough, newborn dung beetles will emerge, for the people in ancient Egypt that was a sign of rebirth. But it’s also connected to an Egyptian myth about the god Chepri rolling the sun around the horizon to make it rise up again every morning. Because the sun was and is so important to life and development on earth, the scarab is often used as a lucky charm and this is a great companion to the Udjat eye choker 😉

A handmade upper arm bracelet made to look like a snake…
As you can see in this picture it’s made out of a thicker wire to wrap around your arm, which ends in either one long or two short snakes depending on how you look at it. Again it’s something that does not really suit me, at least in the size which it is in if you don’t start bending the material, which I have not yet tried out. I can wear it on my forearm, but because it’s almost black it kinda vanished in between my black tattoos, so for now my husband is wearing it 😉 It does look quite cool, and I don’t know about material costs and everything, but I think it might have even looked a bit cooler, more special and more “Egyptian” to me if it would have been made to look golden. But that’s just a personal view of mine^^

Decoration

One big agate disc…
The agate disc is really fitting to the Egyptian theme, because of the colour scheme, it reminds me and also the shop owner herself(as stated on another explanation sheet) of the desert sand and general geography of the home of the pyramids 😉 She also stated that the stone is as natural as possible, only cut up and polished with oil, which I do find quite interesting. Since to be honest, I mostly thought you need to use some kind of chemical to make stones shine like that, but I am positively surprised! Agate stones are said to boost self-confidence, sharpen communication skills and support health and good dreams 🙂 So I will definitely try and put the disc up in my bedroom! Especially when the sun is shining through it looks mesmerizing.


A handmade bookmark with cartouche pearls…
There has been a lot of thought gone into designing this special bookmark and I really want to share that with you. At first, it’s made to look golden, because as I mentioned before golden is something often associated with Egypt even though same as today, not everybody was able to afford it. The so-called Cartouches were used to put the name of pharaohs onto graves, paintings and visual stories in general, the names on the two which are part of the bookmark are made up though 😉 Connecting the two is an infinity symbol because infinity was very important to the idea the people had back then about life, death and everything in between. Unlike in Buddism where rebirth is a big part of their religion, back in the day, the Egyptian people thought that there was a life after death for which they had to prepare in many different ways, so this symbol is referring to that. Last but not least the flower is the lotus blossom which seemingly was the crest flower of the northern part of Egypt. I really love how everything looks together and I am looking forward to seeing it hang from my books 😉

A flowerthemed farbic fan…
The biggest connection to Egypt with this item is probably the heat. And with German summers getting hotter and hotter every year, this seems to be a good accessory to have in my bag! I do love the design, but I don’t know how durable the thin wooden plates are. Guess I will find out within the next few months 😉

A bag with an Egypt design…
This item does look a bit like something you would have gotten as a souvenir from Egypt, but I don’t think that has to be a bad thing! I actually like the very typical design depicting two gods and it has the perfect size to either keep some healing crystals with you or maybe put your money away in a stylish way^^ It must be one of the Items I was looking forward to the most and I am pleasantly surprised to hold it in my hands. It’s bigger than I thought and I really appreciate getting some healing crystals with it(which would not have been included normally, but the owner knew that I wanted to use the bag to carry some^^)! The design is sewn into both the back and the front and on the zipper, there is a little protection against the evil eye, which I do find very fitting to the theme overall 🙂

Rituals Items

A set of tin jugs…
As the owner explains yet again, water was always very important in a dry country such as Egypt so it became almost holy in a way. This is why jugs full of water were something very promising and also the reason why the owner might have included those. They can be used for rituals where pouring water is involved but of course, they can also just be some nice decoration for around the house 😉

A jar filled with silver incense and one with gold tinsel(flakes)…
These ritual based items connect many things from ancient Egypt with another: Incense which was seen as the fragrance of the gods, Silver as a very rare but sought after material and gold as the sign of infinity and the divine since it never loses its shine. Even though it’s not real gold, it does like pretty similar 😉 In the explanations sheets, the owner gives some ideas of which rituals or for which spells those items can be used. Nothing which I personally am confident with right now, but maybe I can use it someday in the future^^

A self-cast altar display with ankh…
The display is made out of plaster and it’s supposed to be painted, which I did kinda expect after browsing through the Etsy store before buying the box. If I would not have thought, I think I might have expected something different, something more “finished”. I just feel like the ankh symbol does not really come through with all the other great details when it’s all this chalk white. Sadly colouring in things is really not my speciality I just don’t have enough patience for that xD I know that if you would buy a plaster cast like that in her shop, it would come with the possibility of the owner painting it for me, which I would have liked to have here too honestly. I am a bit sad that it was not stated as an option in the description of the box. But the cast itself is very detailed and beautiful, just not an activity for me personally.

Explanation Sheet and Story…
I tried to include some of the many times when the owner used the sheets to explain why she included an item or its connection to ancient Egypt itself. She also included some fun facts and interesting knowledge, some of which were even a bit unknown to me and I was fascinated with ancient Egypt even before receiving this box! The story she included actually revolved less around magic and more around love, which did throw me off a bit because I was expecting something different, but it was still a pleasant read and we also get some other nice reading recommendations which I will definitely take a look into in the future! All of the sheets also have been designed in a beautiful way, with a frame and different illustrations.

Personalised agate Cartouche necklace…
Last but not least, let me tell you why I actually paid more for the box than originally intended. The box is basically a kind of recommendation of items you might like following a specific theme, but if there is something you don’t want to get because you already own it or it does not interest you as much, you can get it exchanged for something else. I asked for two long Candles to be removed since long-term I can’t really use candles for much, since I am not allowed to lite them in my apartment in Hamburg. We thought about what I wanted to exchange it for and in the end, there were two items that REALLY interested me from her shop. One was a small bag with an intricate design and the other one was a necklace made out of crystals in a way that I had never seen before. Long story short: I got both and needed to pay extra for the necklace 😛 But it was worth it! The necklace was even designed specifically after my idea to make it look like a Cartouche from ancient Egypt, which I absolutely love <3 So technically it could have been part of the box and it would have even fit the theme, but it’s not in there normally. Whereas the small bag was actually a surprise extra for the first people who got the box and I managed to get the last one. If you would get the OG Box, instead of both of these items you would get two long red and gold candles with a sun and a moon on them.

Final Verdict

Actually, I got my mind blown by this box, because it can barely be compared to anything which I have ever gotten for myself. Of course, the mystery element feels familiar, but the sheer amount of stuff, the love and care that went not only into making but also packaging the items and the very nice chats I had with the Etsy owner, made this into a very special experience for me. The Jewelry she made feels special, some items seem really unique to me and the explanations, further instructions and extra knowledge that she provided makes getting this box a vital recommendation for me if you are interested in learning something about a new topic(ancient Egypt in this case) and getting a variety of things connected to it.

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Crystals, Mystery Box, Witchy Things | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 16

Papergang – One Year Later

You might all be familiar at this point with my monthly reviews of Papergang Mystery boxes, now it has already been one year of me subscribing to them and I think that’s worth a special review 😉 I actually already did a half years box and my verdict after half a year was actually that if those last boxes don’t manage to sweep me off my feet, I might have to cancel my subscription. Let’s see if they have managed to do that in the end or not!

This is NOT an official design by OhDeer or Papergang, but an interpretation of their old designs to fit the theme of this post created by myself 🙂

One topic I get can out of the way already is the Brexit. It cost me a lot of nerves in the second half of 2021, because at first many of my boxes got lost or shipped back to the UK and when they were delivered in the end, I had to pay extra, A LOT. If you want to know more about why that was, you can read about it in my other post *here*. But gladly the team behind the Papergang subscription found a way to solve the problem, which they had not even caused in the first place. This is why I don’t want to consider it in my review at all. It happened this one time and it got fixed, it could have been communicated better with the customers, but all in all, they did their best 🙂

What I will be focusing on in this review are mostly the points I already criticized in my half-year review and if they did improve upon them or not. Let’s begin with my fixation on the boxes having or not having a theme to them 😛 When reviewing the Papergang next to the scrawler box from October 2021, I have to say that the Scrawler Box did fit my wishes way better because they had a clear goal in mind: Providing you with the utensils you need to do a certain project. And I loved that, they even had the artist from that box make a drawing with those exact things.
But with Papergang it’s not so easy, since it’s not really connected to art. But still, I feel like there could have been more of a theme in many boxes. Like for example focussing on a set to write letters to friends and trying to pick utensils that would help with that particular idea. Or focussing on notetaking and notetaking alone. What I observed after a year of Papergang is that they treat it more like a refill box for stationery you are going to use up over time anyways. In almost every box you will get a graphite pencil and sticky notes, but only one time you get one pencil case in 12 boxes, because that’s not something that gets used up. I would have loved for the things that I get in the boxes to feel less random.

Art is a big debate when it comes to Papergang in general. By working together with an artist for every new box and really only including exclusive items inspired by their designs, Papergang is standing out and I think it’s a brilliant idea. But it could be improved immensely when they would actually include their art. I know they don’t like to put artworks in because people will complain about it not being stationary and not having practical use. But I feel like trying to get the design from an artist on a pen, often does not work out which is why sometimes, I don’t think like the cooperation is really worth much. Not because the artists are not good, but because we don’t even really get anything from them. Most pencils are only in a colour matching the artwork on the front of the box, planners are often printed with their designs, but most other things are not. I just feel like that’s a bit of a waste and it could be such a cooler experience if we would actually get some art to keep or try to incorporate their designs better into the refills we get.

Customer Service was a negative point in my half years review. I admit that was mostly due to me being a bit annoyed at awaiting a cool compensation and only getting some random cards and randomness as you know, it’s not something I am fond of xD But all in all, I have to say the customer service is great, you get an answer pretty quickly and they try to help you solve your problem ASAP. I even got about half of the extra costs for the Brexit problem repaid and not with a coupon or a free box, but with the money no questions asked. If I should name one things that I loved the most about Papergang I would say it’s their customer service, even though I would have liked it even more to not rely on them so much aka not having had so much trouble with the boxes last year xD

This is NOT an official design by OhDeer or Papergang, but an interpretation of their old designs to fit the theme of this post created by myself 🙂

Final Verdict
I have to say sadly there was not one box anymore which impressed me as much as the box from 2020 which I had bought previously to my subscription. I kinda took this one as a stand-in for the whole year of Papergangboxes in 2020 and I later even got some more from that particular year. Maybe this year the topics had just not been my personal favourite or the artist they choose to work with did not cater to my style. Sadly with most of the boxes from 2021 I was just bored which let me cancel my subscription or better not renew it for 2022. Though I will miss having to open and talk about a box each month, I am not quite sure yet if I will get a replacement or not. I would not say I will never again buy a Papergang box, since I have still hope they can improve and maybe, just maybe I will even have a year-long subscription again in the future. But for that to happen, they would have to wow me and we will have to see about that.

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Mystery Box, Papergang, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT