I’ve only tried one or two, and they’re not for me. I’m just not that keen on sample sizes, and I already have so much new product that I’m purchasing/receiving that reviewing a beauty box in a timely fashion just never made it on my to-do list.
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No. Too many ingredient allergies and color non-preferences. Would not use >1/2 of the stuff. At least with Sephora favorites, can usually use 75-80%. But, would kill to get the Gudetama lazy egg m/u bag that came in an Ipsy box. Think I’ll google that thing. Soooo cute.
I used to love them, and back when I ran a beauty blog I enjoyed writing and taking pictures of unboxings, but I found that I cared less and less about the samples and I also found I was getting a lot of repetitive things. Collecting five or six black eyeliner pencils from the same brand is awfully anti-climatic.
I cancelled my subscriptions to the beauty boxes, but on the other hand they were a great way to build my brush collection. I still have brushes from Ipsy that I use on the daily and love dearly, and that’s a good investment in my opinion.
I have been subscribed to Ipsy for 3 years and I am usually pretty satisfied. I enjoy the monthly excitement of getting new makeup/skincare for an affordable price.
I actually prefer the sample sizes as it is more realistic for me to finish it and “show some love” (Also, I don’t feel too bad chucking it if the product is awful).
That being said, I dislike the variations that most boxes are subject to. There is always that feeling of FOMO and irritation at getting a black eyeliner when you could have received some cool, colorful or innovative product being teased.
I’ve tried some and I’m not a fan. I have very sensitive skin and multiple allergies, so I have to be super careful about ingredients in both skin care & makeup. Plus I’m really picky about colors and dislike lip gloss and mascara (also allergic to most mascaras) so the color cosmetics are rarely something I’d ever use.
I’m not a fan. I found I was receiving too many neutral eye shadows, pink glosses or lipsticks, and black eye liners. I did receive some products I liked, and like Sarah said upthread, some of the brushes were great. But most of what I got went unused or traded to friends, or even if I did use it, it wasn’t good enough that I’d buy full-size to replace my usual products.
I think I would like them better if I felt like it was a more truly customized experience for my coloring and preferences. I get a monthly tea subscription box and one time I received a sort of tea I really didn’t like and in the comment section on my review I said “Please don’t send me any more XYZ teas” and a few days later I received a personal response saying they’d added a note on my account to not send me XYZ teas *and* they would try to send me more stuff like the ABC tea I gave 5 stars. Sure enough, I haven’t received an XYZ tea since! If I could tell a beauty box “Please don’t send me any more bronzers” and never receive another bronzer, I might have stuck with them.
No. I doubt that once I’ve filtered by suitability and preference, it wouldn’t be financially worth it for me.
I love the idea, however I’m never satisfied with the execution. I think most of them are missed opportunities to make something amazing.
Receiving deluxe samples of new, exciting and trending products or from up and coming brands sounds absolutely perfect for someone like me. And that’s exactly what those subscription usually promise, but not what they deliver.
I think the biggest let down for that is Sephora Play. They have such a huge array of fun products and brands to feature, but they always send the same old stuff from the same brands. In the past year in particular I’ve had repeat products (that I had already received in a past box) every single month. That’s infuriating! I was about to cancel but the 50 points bonus cards we get now seem worth it if they help me reach the amount of points I need to convert to a gift card. So I’m giving them till the end of the year before I reconsider my subscription.
Pro: I love trying new products by brands that aren’t normally on my radar and I have found several holy grail products through my subscription boxes. The sample size products are great for travel.
Con: Box envy– when companies send out more than one variation of the box and it seems like everyone received better products than me. Repetition of products–I have enough black eyeliner, Too Faced Porefessional and dry shampoo to last a lifetime. It’s also a little disappointing when I open a box and the products aren’t suited for me even though I filled out a survey. (I’m looking at you Sephora)
Not interested. Allergic to several common ingredients.
I love the idea of monthly boxes. I started with Ipsy, loved getting surprised every month. Did not like that the items were trial sizes. But it did what it was supposed to do. I made me need to buy full size of certain products.
Now, I recently came to know about the full size monthly boxes. I LOVE Boxy Charm. I love Scentbird. I wouldn’t know about so many brands if I hadn’t ordered from these boxes. They are worth it for me.
Having done Ipsy for a couple of years, I will say that there are pros and cons to them. The pros are that you do get to try out brands that hadn’t tried before, shades of color makeup that perhaps push your boundaries, skincare that you may find works really well for you. The cons are that you can wind up with a gazillion deluxe samples of things you’re just not into, or because they’re small, you totally forget about them or loose them. After a few years, I quit.
Not really a fan. I had a six month Ipsy subscription gifted me by my sister for awhile, and it was fun to receive a package every month, but most of the stuff in it didn’t really interest me. I got a few nice little items but I wasn’t even slightly tempted to renew the subscription once it expired. It was a fun present, but if it’s my own money, I’d rather save it up for the things I actually want, not random crap picked out by a stranger.
I’ve never used them – there don’t seem to be that many available to be shipped to Canada and the value pricing that makes them seem so appealing in the US just doesn’t apply here. Also, I prefer picking products that I know I’ll like (I don’t need hair bobblies or a lot of the other stuff that is often in these boxes).
I actually like them if you are interested in discovering some new (or new to you) products. I have found some HG products through the good boxes (like Clean Beauty Box) that I didn’t know about. I don’t get the boxes that have samples, I’m only interested in the ones that have full size products so you can actually try them over a long enough this.
I don’t really like beauty subscription boxes because they often contain products that are not right for me. The lipsticks are usually pink (ish) and the eyeshadows in shades I don’t wear.
The products are sometimes those that the brands cannot sell (often for a very good reason) and they don’t seem to be worth the money to me. So often the boxes contained the same things – black eyeliners, mascara, sample size moisturisers and foamed cleansers…
I think they can be really fun, and a great way to try out new brands/products. Now days, I lean toward boxes by my favorite indie brands, so I know I’ll like most of the items. I got tired of the more mainstream boxes because as a middle-aged woman, I kept getting black eyeliners, nude eyeshadows, nude lipsticks, and skincare for dry skin. I love brights, and I’m still pretty oily-skinned.
My stash would seem to belie this, but I’m pretty picky about my makeup (and skincare) — getting a bunch of random stuff that I’m highly unlikely to use would just irritate me.
I feel like they’re a waste of money. Quality over quantity. I’d much rather just save up for something I really want than pay for a bunch of stuff I may or may not like. Maybe for someone who isn’t spending any money on makeup or skincare outside of their subscription box and gets overwhelmed by options in stores……
I tried Ipsy but really didn’t like the sample sizes. I LOVE Boxycharm! I have a lot of make up but I find myself wanting to keep everything in my monthly box. Well, all except the lipsticks or glosses. I’m addicted to Lipsense (kiss-proof) and have almost every color.