A couple of weeks ago, in the interest of *ahem* research, I signed up for Beauty Box as I was curious to know what it was all about. Ah the things I do for the blog 😛
Beauty Box is a subscription service that handpicks the best and latest beauty products for members to try. At AU$14.95 a month, members will receive a beautifully wrapped box in the mail that has a great mix of 4 to 5 deluxe beauty samples.
This service is equivalent to the popular BirchBox in the US. There are other very recent sample subscription services like this in Australia too, like Lust Have It and Bellabox. At the moment, Beauty Box is the only service I signed up to.
I received my first box earlier in the week. Come open the box with me, won’t you? 🙂
A card describing the products. In the box we have Playboy’s Play It Spicy Body Spray, Sally Hansen Everyday Strength Medium Nail File, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty Sleep, Marc Jacobs Oh! Lola! (3 vials) and a bottle of Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil.
I believe that for samples subscriptions like this, the very first box sent to the members has to completely blow them over. It has to be so good that the members will look forward to the next one.
To tell you the truth, I found this…meh. I guess I had higher expectations, and the first box was just so-so. The only items I liked from the box was the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil and the Marc Jacobs perfume samples (good for traveling). Still, I should count my blessings I didn’t get any self-tanning products, which really isn’t my thing 😛
A cute thing about the box is that high-end brand samples will be wrapped in pink paper with a sticker “Beauty Treat” on it. Not bad, I suppose, that the first one was from YSL.
Will I continue my subscription after this? To give Beauty Box the benefit of the doubt, I will continue for the next couple of months. Hopefully by the third month, they would have gotten their bearings straight and improve with better samples.
Beauty Box’s current brand partners are Jurlique, Shiseido, Biotherm, Shu Uemura, Bobbi Brown, John Frieda, Marc Jacobs Fragrances, Sally Hansen, Garnier, Playboy fragrances and YSL.
Did you sign up for Beauty Box or an equivalent service? How did you find it?
Update: Beauty Box has been taken over by Glossybox, and is now defunct. Please check out Glossybox instead.
I”ve just signed up for Lust Have it and haven’t received my first box yet, I hope I’m not disappointed by it. I feel a little meh about your beauty box too, the playboy body spray is more tailored to a younger market yet they have more high end stuff in there – it seems out of place.
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Megan: I agree. In fact, I wasn’t too happy about the Playboy spray. It felt a bit…cheap. I’m not sure if I’m going to sign up with Lust Have It yet. I think I’ll wait a couple more months and read the reviews first before I make my decision. As for Beauty Box, oh well, again, have to play the waiting game for another couple of months to see if it’s worth it.
OH Wow! This is So Much Better than Birchbox :)) you are lucky there in Australia to have so many services to chose from. I like this box, I would definitely be happy to receive samples from Shu Uemura and YSL instead of drying lip balm and glittery nail stickers:) I don’t even mind to pay more.. Don’t complain, if you saw my last Birchbox you would cry ))
Headsolight: I saw your Birchbox post. Oh. Em. Gee. I’ll have to shut up about my box now 😛 Aren’t there any other sample subscription services in the US other than Birchbox? Or is Birchbox monopolising the market?
When one of these services started here, at least 3 more came along, charging the same fees, wanting to compete with each other. In a way, I’m glad there are more companies with the same service. That way, they have to make sure they step up their game with good samples.
Hehe, exactly.. (Thank you for checking me out !) Birchbox is the cheapest one, there is a couple of other services which are, like, 2.5-3 times more expencive. I subscribed to TestTube, which is $38 including shipping and comes every 3 months, the testers promise to be good. There is also Yellow box, which is approximately $30 a month, but it must be so great, that it’s always sold out.
I am waiting for the Canadian Loose Button to launch in the US, it costs about the same as Birchbox, but looks more interesting.
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Aww wowowowowow! I love the packaging, so cuute! But yeah after clicking your post, I’m a bit dissapointed too 🙁 Maybe the other packages will be better! Excited to see more of your posts!
Alice: Hautebox and ILoveThisBox haven’t launched yet, but just comparing Beauty Box’s and Lust Have It’s packaging alone, Beauty Box wins hands down.
I’m hoping the subsequent boxes will be better too *fingers crossed*
I’m subscribed to Lust Have It and have been pretty happy with the two boxes I’ve recieved so far. The best product in the first box was the Dermalogica Daily Microexfoliant sample and in the second box I was very excited to see a sample of Lancome’s Doll Eyes mascara. But I agree they can a bit hit and miss especially since everyone has personal preferences and what one person would love to recieve another will hate and you can’t please everyone.
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Lauren: I was very happy to see that Lust Have It’s first box had the Dermalogica Microfoliant and Bioeffect serum. So far, they’re doing well. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Beauty Box. Even though in terms of packaging, Beauty Box is better, but heck, I’m not paying 15 bucks a month for just a pretty box 😛
The packaging itself makes me excited already! How pretty!! What are you going to do with the empty box every time you receive one? Just asking coz I just did a post on that. HAHA
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Bun Bun Makeup Tips: I read that post of yours! Good one. I recycle mine too. Every house in Australia has a separate bin for recyclables so all of my beauty product boxes go directly into that bin 😛
However, for the Beauty Box box, I’m keeping it to store stuff like jewellery, stationery, etc. It feels like a waste chucking such a good quality box into the bin 😛
I have subscribed to Lust Have It and so far I’m pretty pleased with the products except for the tanning lotion*T_T*.
I guess with this type of sample boxes, we can’t please everyone since we have different preferences. However, it is still very good to discover new items that might just work for us.
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Ria: Aww man, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there’s not going to be any tanning products in future boxes. Seriously, these people should know that not everyone’s a fan of these products.
i think it’s really cute (at least for box 1 :3) if you do intend to continue subscribing, please open the box for us every month 😀
orqngefirefly: Haha will do! 😛
Im lush all the way.
I had some issues with payments after they cancelled my subscription (due to me being annoyed that we must review and told them what i thought ) they still tried to take money out.
How do you feel about the review? They say its a option but after a while you will no longer receive a box .
I also head a few people have been double charged for next month.
xxx
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Melissa: Woah, that’s dodgy. Really? I know about the part about the optional reviews, but is it written somewhere that if you don’t review, you won’t receive a box? Does that mean they’ll refund you?
I’ll have to make a note about this when I check my credit card statements. Thanks for the heads up! 🙂
Wonder if they’ll start a service in Malaysia? I agree with the totally meh feeling on the Playboy fragrance.