Do you need a monthly subscription beauty box?

Today, let’s talk about subscription beauty boxes.  Have you heard of these things?  It’s almost like Netflix but with beauty goodies:  you sign up for a monthly delivery service of a box filled with sample sized products.  (Sometimes you get a full size, but that is the exception, not the rule.)

Photo taken from Birchbox's website

The products range depending on the service you sign up with, obviously.  Boxes cost $10 - $21 a month and come with 4-7 samples, again, depending on the service you pick.  Here’s a breakdown of some of the more popular subscription services:

• Birchbox
• $10/month
• 5 samples (I think.  I can’t find it on Birchbox’s website.)
• http://www.birchbox.com/
• Goodebox
• $16/month
• 6-7 samples
• http://goodebox.com/
• GlossyBox
• $21/month
• 5 samples
• http://www.glossybox.com/
• Beauty Box 5
• $12/month
• 4-5 samples
• http://www.beautybox5.com/
• Beauty Bar – Sample Society
• $15/month
• 5 samples
• http://www.beautybar.com/SampleSociety/About.qs

Now, don’t get me wrong:  I’m a sample addict.  I love samples and think they’re lots of fun.  However, I also love getting a full-sized lipstick that I adore.  Of  course, the boxes do introduce you to brands you might never have even heard of before!  

Photo taken from Beauty Box Five's website

With box services, you can sometimes customize by inputting your skin-tone and skin-type (oily, aging, sensitive, etc.).  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that your box is totally customized to fit you perfectly.  I’d rather spend $10 - $21 a month on a product I adore than to get five products that I’m meh about.  Plus, if a product were “anti-aging” or for a skin-tone darker than mine, it’d immediately have to go in the give-away pile.  Bummer.  

Photo taken from Glossybox's website

For me, these boxes aren’t a good deal.  I don’t just have an extra wad of cash each month to put toward samples that might not do me any good.  I think a better strategy would be to put aside $10 - $21 each month for six months to a year and buy yourself something really nice!  

Photo taken from Sample Society's website

These boxes are an issue of quality vs. quantity.  I’m not saying that the products in the box are always poor quality.  (I know for a fact that they aren’t.)  However, I’d rather have one truly stellar product that works great for me than a bunch of samples.

Do you need a subscription beauty box?  Well, if you have the extra money, go for it!  If you’re like me and try to pinch pennies here and there, then go without.  

XOXO

-K

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None of the links in this blog post are affiliate links.  I will only ever use affiliate links to direct you to products I really like.