To me, nothing is better than trying new beauty products. I love trying new makeup brands or the latest and greatest hair products. Over the past few years, many companies have started selling monthly subscription boxes, allowing customers to try numerous products for a simple (and usually low) monthly charge. Here are my favorite subscription boxes for anyone who is wanting to mix up their current routine by trying new products!
Sephora Play! ($10/month)
When Sephora originally launched Play in 2015, the waitlists were a mile long! Thankfully, today there are no wait lists and the products are amazing!
Biggest Pros: Sephora sends samples from brands that customers are already familiar with, so there's no guessing game of whether the brand is good or not. The boxes are centered around a central theme, making it easy to use all five samples together. Last month’s box was called “Beauty, Set, Go” and featured products that could be used on the fly.
Cons: Unlike other subscription services that ship the first week of the month, Sephora ships out their boxes around the third week. Now, this isn’t THAT big of a deal, you just have to wait a little longer for your items. Another downside is that the boxes are not catered to your personal interests, meaning you may get products you will never use.
Birchbox ($10/month)
Birchbox is one of the original beauty subscription boxes. Each month you get five makeup, skincare, hair, or fragrance samples in a cute decorative box.
Biggest Pros: When you first sign up for Birchbox you take an extensive beauty quiz to determine your needs and wants. This entails that each month you get will personalized items based on your beauty profile! Each month you have the option to add on “extras” at a discounted price. One of the biggest perks is their point system. Points are earned very quickly and for every 100 points, you get $10 off coupon.
Cons: Many customers (including myself) have noticed that they get repeat products or products that they are generally not interested in (an excess of skincare products, unusual brands, etc.). Going off of this, Birchbox likes to introduce new brands to their customers. While some of the brands are amazing, others are from foreign countries so you may run into unusual products.
PopSugar's Must Have ($39.95/moth)
While PopSugar’s Must Haves, is more expensive than the others, the variety of items included make up for it in every way. (Yes, it is more of a lifestyle box, but it is too good not to include)
Biggest Pros: Since it is not focused just on beauty, each month you receive a mixture of lifestyle items (fitness, beauty, food, etc). Many of their boxes retail over $200, so it truly is a steal when you only are paying $39 initially! In the past two boxes, they have sent granola bars, desk calendars, necklaces, makeup, a yoga towel, tea, candles and so much more!
Cons: It sadly isn’t tailored to your personal needs so some months you may receive items that you will never ever use. If you are only wanting beauty samples, I would say go with Sephora or Birchbox, but if you love variety definitiley go with PopSugar!
Happy Subscribing!
