Review: Cauldron Crate
One Star. Begrudgingly.
You see, after my WitchCrate fiasco I wanted to find some good ones to spend money on. I upgraded my Enchanted Crystal subscription to three months of the Big Box. Then someone suggested Cauldron Crate. They had a 50% off coupon running when I went to check them out, and I figured, "Hey, it's only $20 what could it hurt?" My stomach apparently. The smells in here made me quite nauseous.
I hope the owner of Cauldron Crate isn't reading this. Not because I wouldn't tell them this in person, but because this review is going to make someone cry. This box is awful. There were some bright spots, hence the one star, and not a goose egg.
The Cauldron Crate was a pretty weighty box. I was surprised at the weight of it when I grabbed it up off the porch. I paid $20 and the postage on the top of the box was listed as $16.65.
I was billed immediately and taken to PayPal to set up a recurring payment for the following month, guaranteed to pay them automatically. I figured if I hated the box, I could simply discontinue the payment. They found a way around that. The 'crate' wasn't shipped until the day the second payment was taken from my account. Curses.
So nearly a two full months after subscribing, it arrived. The card let me know inside there's:
As the owner of a business, I'm concerned for the business because that only leaves $3.35 for content even before profit.
The first package contains the loose incense, charcoal, a teardrop shaped citrine about the size of my finger nail, the "hand rolled cone" and camphor. The loose incense wasn't great smelling. Heavy on the mugwort. I can see why they chose the herbs they did, but without explaining it to the beginners using this kit, they're not learning anything. Even if the incense has usefulness, if it smells bad, no one is going to burn it.
The charcoal is helpful since they included loose incense. The small square charcoal is the cheaper option for the boxes, but the slightly larger bowl-shaped charcoal would allow the loose incense to remain on the burning charcoal instead of falling to the sides.
The citrine is tiny and adorable. No clue why it was included in the box, or what they intended it to do. Nothing about what citrine does for a beginner. I know what it does, and I know that it is citrine. However the card just says "Gemstone Charm". This tells me they purchased a bulk lot and put one random charm in each box. It would be much harder on a beginner to figure out what to do with a random 'gemstone charm' without even a clue as to what stone it is.
The 'hand rolled cone' is incense. Yes, most of us are saying, "Uh, duh." however nowhere in literature does it get identified as incense. Not even a scent is hinted at. Just another thing that was thrown into the box for no discernible reason. Without even a hint as to what's in it I'm not burning it. I'm allergic to a few things, it's not worth it. If I had to put money on it, I'd say it smelled like cheap, gas station dragon's blood incense. No clue why they included the camphor.
"Short Spell Sachet"
Apparently saying a prayer and throwing this thing in a fire is supposed to... Do Something. I guess.
Again, no clue what's in it, or what burning it will do to the air around me.
Anna Riva's Mystic Fortune Cards
They sell for eight to ten dollars online. Lots of planetary symbols with meanings printed on the face of the card, so no 'little white book' needed. They'll be a cute addition to the current collection I have of divination systems.
The next packet was a parchment card about Teenah's Teas & Tonics and how small their carbon foot print is. The tea ball is helpful for folks who don't have tea paraphernalia. The tea is called "Shh...Not Now" and is supposed to be restorative. It's lemon balm and lavender, both sedatives.
The small bag includes quartz, onyx and garnet. I'll add these to my crystal grid supplies. Rocks are great.
I'm happy that the artist was identified by instagram username so anyone interested in her work could visit and learn about future purchases.
"1 one of a kind, hand painted Alter Art [sic] piece by Lena B. " I never know if people use 'alter' instead of altar because they don't understand the difference. Either way it makes the writer in me cringe :every time:.
As a photographer, I can respect everyone has different tastes in art. I can respect the techniques used by this artist. To say this was *not* my taste, is an understatement.
When I picked up the next parcel the pentacle fell off of the cord enclosed. So I tipped the bag over so I could remove the candle and "BOS page" and a herbs and debris dumped on the floor. I had to put it back into the box to remove the paper and see the candle. Presentation is important to me. Whether it is the years of practice, or the photography background, I want my tools to look clean and attractive. Sadly this looked neither clean nor attractive. The materials covering the candle seems to be a blend of glitter, powdered charcoal and herbs. While this blend could be effective for the practitioner the presentation could use some work. I'd suggest limiting the blend to herbs. Charcoal could cause the outside of the candle to burn creating a fire hazard. Herbs normally fall into the wax or burn sparingly. Putting the blend in a small baggie for the practitioner would allow them to burn as incense, or place around the base of the candle away from the flames.
Witching Hour Anointing Oil
The plastic lid of the bottle was decorated with silver sealing wax. I appreciate what they were going for, but made the bottle much harder to open. The label was difficult to read as a it was black type on a clear tape label on a brown background. No ingredients are listed. Not the carrier oil or whether this is skin safe, fragrance oil, or essential oil based etc. If I had to guess, (and since there's nothing else written on the label, I have to) I'd guess wisteria fragrance oil.
One "Dragon's blood Sage Smudge Stix"
If this was a sage smudge stick I'd have been thrilled. I'm a die hard dragon's blood fan. I buy the resin by the pound. Instead it looks and smells as though they took a perfectly good bundle of sage and sprayed it with powdered incense cones. I won't be using this either.
Travel Journal
Made using "scrap faux leather, vinyls papers & other rescued materials". It is made with a softcover instead of hardcover because it "withstands the riggers [sic] and wear of your outdoor adventures.
I like that the journal is soft for travel, because the size is much bigger than I pictured for a travel journal. It's larger than my iPad. The cover is already cracking open in a few places (corners and and of the many spots where the vinyl was bent.
Sadly the only binding in the book appears to be hot glue (There's still quite a bit of hot glue streamers on the book) so I'm not confident in the longevity of this book. The paper its body is made of seems to be a pad of construction paper.
So this is a review. I promised some high points and I'm trying really hard. If there was only $3.35 of my $20 that went to this company, the rocks were worth about that much. I'll use tea, tea ball, the camphor and charcoal.
Sadly out of all of this, I think that's all I'd actually use. My head still hurts from the fake smells. Natural smells don't give me any issue at all, I worked at Lush for 5 years.
Helpful feedback? Don't try so hard. People need quality over quantity. I can appreciate wanting to be careful to give folks value for their money, and that's quite admirable. Instead of fifteen or so items, concentrate on providing a better quality six or seven items. Gemstones are great because they can be used multiple times. A lot of this was single use and creates a lot of waste. If you're taking half the time to create the items (I'm a crafter too, this stuff takes a lot of time!) then spend that time coming up with a theme for your box. It'll help you keep a cohesive box, it'll take your subscribers on a journey and it'll keep you from trying to do too much. What will also help is taking the time to write out why you chose each item. Just throwing it in the box doesn't do anything for the subscriber. "I chose this citrine to bring you the energy to get things done as the sun wanes". One sentence . Not hard. Please have someone look over your print items before they go to the printer. Spelling mistakes make a bad impression.
I doubt I'll review the second box when it comes, unless there's been a drastic change from the last box. Instead I'll move on and find new fun things to review. Onward and upward!
The Cauldron Crate was a pretty weighty box. I was surprised at the weight of it when I grabbed it up off the porch. I paid $20 and the postage on the top of the box was listed as $16.65.
I was billed immediately and taken to PayPal to set up a recurring payment for the following month, guaranteed to pay them automatically. I figured if I hated the box, I could simply discontinue the payment. They found a way around that. The 'crate' wasn't shipped until the day the second payment was taken from my account. Curses.
So nearly a two full months after subscribing, it arrived. The card let me know inside there's:
- Travel Journal
- Loose incense
- Dressed and charged taper with BOS page
- Gemstone Charm
- Tea w/ stainless steel steeping ball
- 2 Smokeless charcoal tabs
- A 'hand rolled cone'
- "Witching Hour" anointing oil
- 1 "dragon's blood Sage Smudge stix"
- 1 each Garnet, Onyx, and quartz
- A short spell envelope
- A coupon for 30% off (not sure where to find this)
- 1 one of a kind, hand painted Alter Art [sic] piece by Lena B.
As the owner of a business, I'm concerned for the business because that only leaves $3.35 for content even before profit.
The first package contains the loose incense, charcoal, a teardrop shaped citrine about the size of my finger nail, the "hand rolled cone" and camphor. The loose incense wasn't great smelling. Heavy on the mugwort. I can see why they chose the herbs they did, but without explaining it to the beginners using this kit, they're not learning anything. Even if the incense has usefulness, if it smells bad, no one is going to burn it.
The charcoal is helpful since they included loose incense. The small square charcoal is the cheaper option for the boxes, but the slightly larger bowl-shaped charcoal would allow the loose incense to remain on the burning charcoal instead of falling to the sides.
The citrine is tiny and adorable. No clue why it was included in the box, or what they intended it to do. Nothing about what citrine does for a beginner. I know what it does, and I know that it is citrine. However the card just says "Gemstone Charm". This tells me they purchased a bulk lot and put one random charm in each box. It would be much harder on a beginner to figure out what to do with a random 'gemstone charm' without even a clue as to what stone it is.
The 'hand rolled cone' is incense. Yes, most of us are saying, "Uh, duh." however nowhere in literature does it get identified as incense. Not even a scent is hinted at. Just another thing that was thrown into the box for no discernible reason. Without even a hint as to what's in it I'm not burning it. I'm allergic to a few things, it's not worth it. If I had to put money on it, I'd say it smelled like cheap, gas station dragon's blood incense. No clue why they included the camphor.
Apparently saying a prayer and throwing this thing in a fire is supposed to... Do Something. I guess.
Again, no clue what's in it, or what burning it will do to the air around me.
They sell for eight to ten dollars online. Lots of planetary symbols with meanings printed on the face of the card, so no 'little white book' needed. They'll be a cute addition to the current collection I have of divination systems.
The next packet was a parchment card about Teenah's Teas & Tonics and how small their carbon foot print is. The tea ball is helpful for folks who don't have tea paraphernalia. The tea is called "Shh...Not Now" and is supposed to be restorative. It's lemon balm and lavender, both sedatives.
The small bag includes quartz, onyx and garnet. I'll add these to my crystal grid supplies. Rocks are great.
I'm happy that the artist was identified by instagram username so anyone interested in her work could visit and learn about future purchases.
As a photographer, I can respect everyone has different tastes in art. I can respect the techniques used by this artist. To say this was *not* my taste, is an understatement.
When I picked up the next parcel the pentacle fell off of the cord enclosed. So I tipped the bag over so I could remove the candle and "BOS page" and a herbs and debris dumped on the floor. I had to put it back into the box to remove the paper and see the candle. Presentation is important to me. Whether it is the years of practice, or the photography background, I want my tools to look clean and attractive. Sadly this looked neither clean nor attractive. The materials covering the candle seems to be a blend of glitter, powdered charcoal and herbs. While this blend could be effective for the practitioner the presentation could use some work. I'd suggest limiting the blend to herbs. Charcoal could cause the outside of the candle to burn creating a fire hazard. Herbs normally fall into the wax or burn sparingly. Putting the blend in a small baggie for the practitioner would allow them to burn as incense, or place around the base of the candle away from the flames.
The plastic lid of the bottle was decorated with silver sealing wax. I appreciate what they were going for, but made the bottle much harder to open. The label was difficult to read as a it was black type on a clear tape label on a brown background. No ingredients are listed. Not the carrier oil or whether this is skin safe, fragrance oil, or essential oil based etc. If I had to guess, (and since there's nothing else written on the label, I have to) I'd guess wisteria fragrance oil.
One "Dragon's blood Sage Smudge Stix"
Travel JournalMade using "scrap faux leather, vinyls papers & other rescued materials". It is made with a softcover instead of hardcover because it "withstands the riggers [sic] and wear of your outdoor adventures.
I like that the journal is soft for travel, because the size is much bigger than I pictured for a travel journal. It's larger than my iPad. The cover is already cracking open in a few places (corners and and of the many spots where the vinyl was bent. 
Sadly the only binding in the book appears to be hot glue (There's still quite a bit of hot glue streamers on the book) so I'm not confident in the longevity of this book. The paper its body is made of seems to be a pad of construction paper. So this is a review. I promised some high points and I'm trying really hard. If there was only $3.35 of my $20 that went to this company, the rocks were worth about that much. I'll use tea, tea ball, the camphor and charcoal.
Sadly out of all of this, I think that's all I'd actually use. My head still hurts from the fake smells. Natural smells don't give me any issue at all, I worked at Lush for 5 years.
Helpful feedback? Don't try so hard. People need quality over quantity. I can appreciate wanting to be careful to give folks value for their money, and that's quite admirable. Instead of fifteen or so items, concentrate on providing a better quality six or seven items. Gemstones are great because they can be used multiple times. A lot of this was single use and creates a lot of waste. If you're taking half the time to create the items (I'm a crafter too, this stuff takes a lot of time!) then spend that time coming up with a theme for your box. It'll help you keep a cohesive box, it'll take your subscribers on a journey and it'll keep you from trying to do too much. What will also help is taking the time to write out why you chose each item. Just throwing it in the box doesn't do anything for the subscriber. "I chose this citrine to bring you the energy to get things done as the sun wanes". One sentence . Not hard. Please have someone look over your print items before they go to the printer. Spelling mistakes make a bad impression.
I doubt I'll review the second box when it comes, unless there's been a drastic change from the last box. Instead I'll move on and find new fun things to review. Onward and upward!
1 comment:
Thanks so much! I've been considering subscribing to a box and wondering which to choose, dreading the possibility of being ripped off.
Post a Comment