Subscription Boxes-- Yipee!!

So I jumped on the bandwagon a little late, but I have joined the world of Beauty Subscription Boxes.  I did my research online and tried to find which one I may be happier with.  The most popular that I had found (based on the beauty gurus of Youtube) are as follows:

Beauty Army:   $12 per month  This is a subscription service which asks you to take a beauty profile quiz based on your likes and dislikes.  The results of this quiz reveal a store of sorts with 9 samples.  From the 9 samples you can choose 6 to put in your Beauty Army box.  If you don't like your samples you can retake the quiz.  If you still don't like it you still have the option to skip that month.  I didn't choose this box because after taking the quiz it seemed to present me with a set of samples of products that I can find during any regular shopping trip.  I really wasn't excited to try samples of products that I could find at the mall or Target.

I would be SUPER happy with that Nars Lipstick lol...

BirchBox: $10 per month.  This subscription service hand-picks 4-6 samples and is delivered monthly.  Birchbox does offer some really great rewards for their subscribers such as earning points by reviewing products, inviting friends and even just from ordering.  I didn't choose this box for a couple of reasons.  One reason is because of the fact that I am STILL waiting on a response from my request for an invite.  Another is because when I took a look at the reviews on YouTube a lot of them said that it was a lot of foil packets and perfume samples.  There was the occasional good sample, but on the whole it was a bunch of stuff that you wouldn't really be interested in trying again.

Ipsy Glam Bag  $10 per month.  This subscription service was actually created by YouTube beauty guru Michelle Phan.  She was constantly being asked what her favorite beauty products were, so she created Ipsy (formerly MyGlam Bag).  Each month Michelle and her team of stylists choose different beauty products and they get sent to your door.  This subscription is also interactive in that you get to see the stylists all talk about the products and explain them.  It was honestly a toss up between this one and the one I chose.  I ended up not choosing this one because I had seen a few reviews and they were all mixed.  I may try this one further down the road.

Finally-- the winner! I chose to subscribe to GlossyBox :)  $21 per month.  This subscription is new to the US (within the past year).  It is now a popular subscription service in 15 different countries!  This box will include 5 travel size products based on your beauty profile that you create when you subscribe.  Each month a box is mailed to your front door.  They sometimes collaborate with different beauty brands/companies and create specialty boxes (Like mine this month).  I chose GlossyBox for many different reasons.  When watching the reviews on YouTube this was the hands down favorite between most of the channels that I watch.  I also loved that it said "travel size" products instead of "sample size."  This automatically told me that they would be larger than most.  I also chose it because of the brands that it was associated with.  These are brands that I may not try because they are up and coming or more expensive than I would normally try.  


This month, January 2013, GlossyBox teamed up with The Man Repeller and created an awesome box!  My box was a little late (apparently this month was an overwhelmingly requested month) and I got it today.  Here is what I got to open today!!

The box cost me $20 (I chose a 3 month subscription for a discounted rate) and after looking at all of the samples and averaging out the cost of the travel size my box came out to be worth a total of $52.16!!  I have to say... based on the products and how accurate they are to what my beauty profile says... I would say so far, so worth it!!  Plus-- I got two full sized products-- the O.P.I. nail polish and the Vincent Longo lipstick (swatched to the right).  Overall, I am very pleased with my choice!

Which subscription box would you like to try?