Black Box Review

Yes the title could sound a bit dodgy. If you’ve never heard of Black Box or Sample Co you are in for a treat with this post.

SampleCo Black Box is New Zealand’s first In-Home Marketing business that allows the consumer (that’s us!) to try products that are tailored for us…for free! Free?! What, where? Sign me up!

All you need to do is sign up, answer a few questions and then play the waiting game. When a product campaign comes up that matches your profile, you go into a draw to receive a Black Box.  In this box will be a number of full-sized products for you to try. After you have received your black box you just need to fill in a simple feedback form on what you think of the products you received in your black box.

Here are a few of my thoughts on some of the products from the box:

Airwick Diffuser – I love the smell of this, although in our small apartment we did find it was a bit of an overkill where we originally put it (bathroom) so we swapped it with the one in the lounge and it’s been a lot better.

Almond Breeze, Almond milk – This was good, although personally I don’t notice the difference in taste to others on the market so I would continue to purchase whatever was cheaper.

Hubbards Muesli – We both really enjoyed this, it was nice and crunchy and had a nice selection of different goodies in it. It has a slight hint of vanilla which made it a little sweet, but not too overpowering.

Hubbards Muesli Bars – While these did have a nice flavour, I felt like I was eating air. It didn’t really feel as though I had eaten anything after eating one!

Pad Thai Noodles – Much easier than using the dry noodles, we purchased a second packet as one wouldn’t have been enough for us. Some clever marketing on behalf of Valcom, given that you needed to purchase the pad thai sauce (or make it from scratch but I imagine not many people have the ingredients at home to make pad thai sauce from scratch!) to be able to make the pad thai! As a random side note, I spent three weeks in Thailand and have never ever had a Pad Thai made by anyone other than me (who knows If what I make tastes like the real deal!).

Dish Brush – This was very weird to begin with but I like that it releases the dish washing liquid as you wash and food doesn’t get caught in it, as I absolutely hate it when food gets stuck in the bristles of traditional dish brushes.

There were a few animal products, including cat treats, worming products and pet milk which to be honest I couldn’t tell you if they were any good or not! There are a couple of the other household items we haven’t used yet so I can’t comment on them either.

Have you ever received a black box? If not are you going to sign up now?