Subscription Boxes – Who’s Who

I’m so excited that I finally have a chance to talk to you all about subscription boxes! We are huge beauty product lovers (as I’m sure you can imagine with a blog like this) but let’s face it…it’s expensive. We like a bargain as much as the next person but it can be hard to figure out what you like when you have to buy full size product to try it out. In walks the subscription box service…Problem solved! Subscription boxes come in all different shapes and sizes, we’re going to focus on the most popular beauty based subscription boxes today and introduce you to their system, what kinds of products you can expect, and an overview of our experience with each of the services!

Pros & Cons of Subscription Boxes

There are a lot of pros to beauty subscription boxes in my opinion! You get to try out high end products for a very low price, you receive a variety of items each month, there’s no shopping required and your items are delivered right to your front door usually with no shipping costs! I have to admit it is a goal of ours to someday have our own beauty subscription box service so I really do believe in the pros of beauty subscription boxes. They are a great value for the money but there are always cons to any system. Some services are first come first serve and require no subscription so those are even less hassle because you don’t have to remember when you will be charged!

The cons of a subscription box type service come in after the first few months. There will no doubt be products that you don’t want, can’t use, or just plain don’t like. You will quickly realize that you have to find something to do with these items or they build up fast, especially if you have more than one subscription box coming each month! Another thing many people do not like is the automatic payments. If you don’t skip, cancel, or otherwise shut them down, you get charged and your box ships. It’s kind of there in the name but it does get frustrating for some users. Finally, in the cons column I have to address the fact that a bunch of the beauty subscription boxes are limited in number each month. If you are not a subscriber it can be hard to get on the list to get a box, others are first come first serve with no subscription which is good for financial reason but bad if you don’t remember to hurry up and log on when they are restocked!

Beauty Subscription Boxes

Ipsy

Ipsy is a great service for beauty subscription box newbies! We love ipsy because it is very cheap, just $10 per month with free shipping. Ipsy is focused mainly on beauty and makeup products and depending on how you fill out your questionnaire at the begining of your subscription you will receive more beauty or makeup items. I think Devyn and I both get a pretty good mix of items but it is typically focused more on makeup because that it is what we both prefer! We are big believers in the review system as well. You can go into your ipsy account each month and review the products that you received in your bag…a super collectable, adorable, limited edition, makeup bag that your products are shipped in each month! The more you review the more points you get towards extra items for your bags and the better your bags get over time! I will say that ipsy is hard to get into at first because they have a waiting list but you can use any of these links to get started right away! Another great thing about ipsy is that they have a really large following and you can find many groups on Facebook dedicated strictly to swapping and selling items for your ipsy glam bags! This way if you receive products you do not enjoy you can trade them off for things you will like more!

BirchBox

BirchBox is up next! This is a great service that is very similar to the ipsy program but in my opinion is more focused on beauty products. They send out a lot of skin care, hair care, nail polish, etc. I have not received a much makeup from BirchBox so that is something to keep in mind if you are looking to choose just one of the beauty subscription boxes. BirchBox is also just $10 a month including free shipping so it is cost effective and there is typically no wait time or hold up when starting a subscription with them! You can also use the review system on BirchBox to get points and to build a better knowledge of what you like so that your boxes are more catered to your specific interests. BirchBox comes each month in a collectible box. I’ve seen people use them for little craft projects, storage for their samples, makeup, etc. and I have also noticed that people swap them to others who might want an extra or who missed out on that particular month! You can’t skip a month with BirchBox  you have to cancel if you don’t want that months box but at $10 per month it’s really not too expensive to keep getting your box each month! Right now if you use any of these links and the code PIXIPALETTE at checkout you can receive a free eye shadow palette from Pixi (valued at $12) which makes your first box basically free! This awesome palette is neutrals with shimmery and matte finishes that are beautiful for any skintone! Check it out now and take advantage of this extra bonus!

Julep

Julep is perhaps my favorite of the beauty subscription boxes. If you use any of our links for Julep you can get your first month for free and get a 12 piece beauty set, this is an awesome deal so I definitely recommend trying them out! You can cancel after  your first free box and still enjoy all the great products! I jumped on board with Julep a long long time ago and it has been so fun to watch them grow and evolve. They’ve expanded so much over the last few years into the makeup range of products and I really love them all! It’s not been without it’s struggles as they have worked out the kinks while growing so rapidly but I think especially this past year they have done a wonderful job! I can’t say enough good things honestly! Julep is a little different because they are only going to be sending you their brand of products. They create a new nail polish collection each month. New colors, formulas, textures, and more and then they also introduce new makeup items each month as well! Julep’s subscription service deems their users “Mavens” and as a Julep Maven you are able to get whichever of the curated boxes suits you most or you can customize  your box to get exactly what you want! The traditional Julep Maven subscription boxes are $19.99 per month, free shipping always (for Mavens) even on regular shopping on the site, and non sub box orders! The great thing about Julep is that you can skip a month if you don’t want that particular box. I think new Julep Maven’s are limited to 1 skip every so many months but you do always have the option to cancel. They have wonderful customer service. I’ve dealt with them many times for products that arrived not as expected and they have always replaced with no questions asked!

Allure

The Allure beauty box is new to me. I have not received my first box yet but I have heard rave reviews of this past box so I figured I would give it a try! Allure is just $15 per month and is aimed more towards high end beauty products in each box. If you use any of the links here you can get $5 off your first box! How fun is that! They provide the option to cancel, no option to skip so keep that in mind if you just want to do a once and one trial! They have easily accessible customer service though so it’s not a hunting game to figure out where and how to cancel!! This past month the subscribers received a TON of awesome products that were valued WAY OVER the $15 purchase price and I’m a little jealous I didn’t get signed up in time to receive that box. Don’t be like me and miss out because you waited too long 🙂 Sign up now and take advantage of that $5 off deal!

Fab Fit Fun

Target & Walmart

Target and Walmart both offer a beauty based box each month only they are not a subscription. You need to log into their site each month (typically during the first Monday of the month for Target) and buy the box itself. They are between $5-$10 each month based on the number of products that are being shipped out and they always come with a great coupon for your future purchases! I love that these are no a subscription and that I KNOW what I’m getting for sure before I even purchase them! I order these pretty regularly as does Devyn and we are usually pretty pleased with the variety and quality of the products! No hassle of managing a subscription, no worries about not having the extra money that month, and best of all they’re cheap! They’re the cheapest of the beauty subscription boxes and I have found some of my most favorite products in these boxes! Definitely a great place to start if you are unsure of the subscription box life 🙂

Do you subscribe to any beauty subscription boxes? What do you love about this kind of service? Do you ever cancel or unsubscribe or do you just tough it out if you don’t like the products?

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