A Year of Subscription Boxes
Last year I went on a journey trying out many subscription services that offered beauty products and samples, hair care, nail products, and food items. So I decided to write a post that briefly describes the boxes I tried, my opinions of them, why I quit them, and my overall conclusions.
So many boxes, so little money!
I think the first 3 subscription boxes I tried were Ipsy, Birchbox, and Julep.
Ipsy: $10.00/month: seemed geered towards younger girls interested in trying out make-up.
I quickly did not like the types of make-up I was getting.
Birchbox(similar to Ipsy); getting you about 5 sample size products for $10.00/month, but with much better choices; which included skin care items.
Julep: $24.99/month gets you 3 full size nail polish or related products. The brand is much about hype; some pretty polishes, not everyone likes them though. I got hooked on this one for a while, stocking up on different colored polishes.
Glossybox:$21.00/month: seemed more upscale, offering 5 "luxury" products in each month's box.
Best Kept Rx: $49.00/quarterly; not much talked about; brings you beauty and life style products, picked by their "specialists".
New Beauty Test Tube: after tax, and shipping, runs about $42.00/every other month. I really enjoyed this one. Having been around the longest, (I think) they do have a nice program. You get at least 5 full size or trial size products in a sturdy tube container.
Curlbox:$20.00 for curly girls: you get at least 4 or 5 full sized products to try for curly hair. I liked trying out new product lines with this service, but having them come monthly was just filling up my bathroom to quickly with products I couldn't use fast enough.
On to the food boxes....
Naturebox:$19.95/month for 5 full sized bags of healthy snacks. They do have good quality food items, and great customer service, but I found that CVS carries similar snacks with their "abound" brand for a lot less.
Love with Food: $7.99-16.50-19.99: Everyone seems to rave about this one. I tried it for one month. Nothing special. You get tiny little sample sized packets with like 3 crackers in them. (Not all the products, but some). Not worth the price to me.
Graze: $7.99:per box/month: This is a tasting, sampling size box-like for one person! Very tiny, not worth the price at all.
So, is it fun getting packages in the mail and surprises to open and try? Of course!
Does it make you feel good? Maybe, temporarily. Can we get addicted to shopping and receiving all those little packages in the mail. Yes. But I'm getting into a cloudy area here. We all love to shop. Well, most of us, anyway. And there's nothing wrong with enjoying a few unboxings on YouTube as well. The question lies here:
Can one afford all these "little luxuries"? I guess if you have a disposable income there is nothing wrong with it. To each his own.
I quit these subscription services not only for financial reasons but also, because they were not making me happy. I got too many of the same or repeat products, products that I said I did not ever want, products from obscure-never heard of companies. I think I would prefer to save up my money and just go buy something that I really want to try, and if I don't like it, I can always return it.
So many boxes, so little money!
Ipsy: $10.00/month: seemed geered towards younger girls interested in trying out make-up.
I quickly did not like the types of make-up I was getting.
Birchbox(similar to Ipsy); getting you about 5 sample size products for $10.00/month, but with much better choices; which included skin care items.
Julep: $24.99/month gets you 3 full size nail polish or related products. The brand is much about hype; some pretty polishes, not everyone likes them though. I got hooked on this one for a while, stocking up on different colored polishes.
Glossybox:$21.00/month: seemed more upscale, offering 5 "luxury" products in each month's box.
Best Kept Rx: $49.00/quarterly; not much talked about; brings you beauty and life style products, picked by their "specialists".
Curlbox:$20.00 for curly girls: you get at least 4 or 5 full sized products to try for curly hair. I liked trying out new product lines with this service, but having them come monthly was just filling up my bathroom to quickly with products I couldn't use fast enough.
On to the food boxes....
Naturebox:$19.95/month for 5 full sized bags of healthy snacks. They do have good quality food items, and great customer service, but I found that CVS carries similar snacks with their "abound" brand for a lot less.
Love with Food: $7.99-16.50-19.99: Everyone seems to rave about this one. I tried it for one month. Nothing special. You get tiny little sample sized packets with like 3 crackers in them. (Not all the products, but some). Not worth the price to me.
Graze: $7.99:per box/month: This is a tasting, sampling size box-like for one person! Very tiny, not worth the price at all.
So, is it fun getting packages in the mail and surprises to open and try? Of course!
Does it make you feel good? Maybe, temporarily. Can we get addicted to shopping and receiving all those little packages in the mail. Yes. But I'm getting into a cloudy area here. We all love to shop. Well, most of us, anyway. And there's nothing wrong with enjoying a few unboxings on YouTube as well. The question lies here:
Can one afford all these "little luxuries"? I guess if you have a disposable income there is nothing wrong with it. To each his own.
I quit these subscription services not only for financial reasons but also, because they were not making me happy. I got too many of the same or repeat products, products that I said I did not ever want, products from obscure-never heard of companies. I think I would prefer to save up my money and just go buy something that I really want to try, and if I don't like it, I can always return it.
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