Unboxing: Cherry Wallis and Geek Gear's Curation of Magical Curiosities Box

In case you didn’t know and have never read my blog before, I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. And while I am not a big collector of Harry Potter things, I do have my fair share of knick knacks from the series. Books, Pop Funkos (or is it Funko Pops?), movie merchandise/replicas... I have a few HP memorabilia. I’ve also been trying to be more minimalistic too (and save money in the process too!), lately, so I’m trying to cut back on the tchotchkes. But I have a guilty pleasure of watching subscription box unboxing videos on Youtube. And one of my favorite Youtubers, Cherry Wallis, is a massive Harry Potter fan (she has the most amazing replica collection!) and does a lot of Harry Potter subscription box unboxing videos. I am obsessed. All of the amazing trinkets that come out of the boxes are so creative and cool (mostly small business/fan made!), and I get a vicarious thrill watching her unbox all of these amazing items.

So when I heard that she was going to be collaborating with Geek Gear, a subscription box that has a Wizardry box, on her own one time Harry Potter inspired box, called the Curation of Magical Curiosities, I just knew I had to get it! Cherry has such amazing taste when it comes to these things, plus she’s a fantastic artist who has an excellent eye for design. She knows good quality AND great Harry Potter things when she sees them. Girl knows her stuff. So I knew this box was going to be AMAZING.

I ended up ordering the box the day orders opened, and the boxes were sent out near the end of August, but I didn’t end up getting mine until September 4th. Apparently, Geek Gear and Cherry weren’t expecting it to be such a big hit and were overwhelmed with all the orders! Good for them! So while I was happy for them and their success with the boxes, I was dying to get mine. It was so hard to avoid spoilers when people (like Cherry herself) were doing unboxing videos of the box online and I really, really, really wanted to watch them and see what was in the box! But thankfully, I avoided spoilers and now my box is HERE and I’m ready to give my excited (yet honest) review of the box.

*SPOILERS AHEAD! And apologies for my substandard photography skills*

This box has seven items in it, each based on each year of Hogwarts that Harry attended. Let’s begin!

The box came all wrapped up in a dark plastic bag and of course as an Anglophile I was delighted to see that it was from England via the Royal Mail (me = dork).

I then unwrapped it and saw the beauty of the box! I loved all of the details on front! It made it look so magical and like it was delivered by an owl! (Albeit a slow owl, like Errol, since mine was so late. You can’t blame the poor bird, he’s so old). 

The first thing I saw when I opened it was a handwritten looking note from Cherry. I think it was her handwriting, it was so pretty and such a cute message too. It definitely made me more excited to see what was in the box!

The note from Cherry said:

“I hope this letter finds you well, and that the owl that delivered it arrived safely.

I also hope that this box didn’t end up in the wrong hands, as I will likely get into trouble for exposing our kind to the muggle world…

If you’re reading this, I wanted to say a big thank you for all of your support with the Curation of Magical Curiosities.”

Always, Cherry

PS. By the way, the bird bites.”

Cute throwback to Sirius in the postscript!

And notice this cute layer of flying keys and lightning bolt tissue paper underneath! How sweet is that? I’m so saving that for something! (Because seriously, how can you throw that away??)

The next thing I saw were a bunch of loose paper packaging (or “wiggly worms,” as Cherry might say), but they weren’t just plain brown colored, there were also GOLD wiggly worms! What an adorable touch! It made the box look a lot more special and exclusive.

The first thing I took out of the box was this cute pin, of three pumpkin juice bottles with snowflakes on them, with “The Yule Ball,” written underneath. I love how sparkly they are and the details on them are just amazing. Seriously, I would never have in a million years thought of something this cute and creative.

The next thing I randomly grabbed was this box decorated like the Herbology green room. Um, this packaging, you guys! So well designed and the colors! It’s like Professor Sprout designed it herself! How can whatever was inside compete with the awesomeness that is this box? 

And then I opened it. And a freaking Mimbulus mibletonia plant was inside! What????? I was NOT expecting that! The details on it are insane! It looks so much like the one in the movie that Neville has that I was expecting it to shoot out some goo. The Mimbulus mibletonia looks so quality that I swear it looks like a licensed item. I honestly can’t believe it how good this item is. I’m still in shock.

After being a little shell-shocked, I moved on to what was hiding in the gold wiggly worms. It was something wrapped in brown paper and string! So very wizarding world! I honestly had the thought “This looks like how the Sorcerer's Stone is wrapped in the movie,” but I brushed that right out of my head because of course it wasn’t. Was it?

But it was!! I was gobsmacked! I now have my very own Sorcerer’s Stone! (Or Philosopher's Stone, all depending on where you are. You know us Americans just want to be different from everyone else in the world. If we’re not removing U’s from letters, we’re changing book names to our liking) It looks more like how I imagined it in my head when I first read the book. Less choppy and roughly cut like the first movie, but more smooth and jewel-esque as I had first pictured it. I wish I could wrap it back up as prettily as they had, so I could feel like it’s more secure. The Sorcerer’s Stone is very precious, I just can’t have it lying around!

There was another box, small, blue and long, that said “Memory Vial”. Oh my goodness. On the very top of the box it has a small illustration of the pensieve, and on the side of the box it said “This exquisitely crafted vial bottle will hold your closest memories for many years to come.” Oh, yes. Yes yes YES!

It was, in fact, a legit memory vial, a la Dumbledore and Snape! The glass bottle itself is a beautiful shape, with a lovely looking stopper. I can just imagine some dreamy, cloudy memory floating in there, just waiting to be poured into the pensieve. And silly me didn’t even noticed that it came with stickers to put on your vial, so you can label your memory! (Which I forgot to photograph, but trust me, the label stickers are gorgeous!) So so so brilliant!

After calming down after the memory vial, I saw the next item. It was Time-Turning Tea, a passionfruit infused tea. Unfortunately, I don’t like tea (does this mean I can’t live in England ever? Please don’t say that), but it sounds really pleasant and I know my older sister who LOVES tea will gladly drink this for me and give me her review. It honestly makes me wish I liked tea, because it does sound quite delicious.

The next item I saw was a brown envelope, sealed with an interesting looking sticker. Inside were some pages from Advanced Potion Making! The recipe on the first page was “Draught of Living Death", and the rest of the pages had the rest of the recipe, along with scribbles and runes drawn on (perhaps drawn by the Half-Blood Prince himself?). The amount of detail and thought gone into this item is just mind-boggling! I love having a little piece of a Hogwarts textbook. Can we get some Hogwarts, A History pages next??

Under that was a large print, the last of our seven items, and to my great surprise, it was a lovely illustration of a baby mandrake! And not only that, but it was drawn by Cherry! I knew she was a great artist, but this was such a great way to incorporate her talent into the box! Not only is it a great quality print, the illustration is just spot on and portrays a chunky, grumpy baby mandrake perfectly! (I personally love mandrakes and feel like every Harry Potter fan who has a child should do at least one photoshoot of their child as a mandrake in a pot) It was a fantastic way to end the box, honestly.

Underneath THAT, was the cheat sheet, hand written again in what I think is Cherry’s writing, describing each of the items, Cherry’s stories of them, who or what small business made them, and what year they correspond with. Year One, was the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone. Year Two was the Mandrake artwork. Year Three was of course, the Time Turning Tea. Year Four was the Yule Ball pin. Year Five was the Mimbulus mimbletonia plant. Year Six was the Draught of the Living Death pages from Advanced Potion Making and Year Seven was the memory vial.

All in all, I have to say this was such a strong and magical box! I loved every single one of these items and found the quality and artistry in each and everyone one of them so amazing! Cherry and Geek Gear honestly could not have done a better job, with the presentation, the creativity and uniqueness of the items. You can tell Cherry put her heart and soul into this and as a fan I just want to say that I am so proud of her! I am more than impressed and just wished the box had been endless, like Hermione’s purse. Just more and more magical items coming out, nonstop. Thinking about it, I really don't know if I could pick a favorite? I mean, I kind of love having the Sorcerer's Stone. But the memory vial?? And the pin?? Okay, I can't pick. I love it all!!!!

I would of course buy another box from Geek Gear/Cherry again, despite trying to cut back on both collecting things AND spending money, but if it’s got Cherry’s name on it, you know it’s going to be good. And speaking of that, today, the day that I am posting this blog, she apparently is coming out with something magical and Christmas-y coming out for pre-order! So if you’re interested in something Harry Potter related that Cherry has to due with, please check out her Twitter and her Youtube channel, since she’ll be making the announcement there today! I know I will most likely be signing up!

What did you think of Cherry’s Curation of Magical Curiosities box? I was so impressed by it that I honestly can’t get over it. Which item was your favorite?? Let me know in the comments below!

Stay Weird!