Beauty Boxes - My Take

I’m 99% sure this will be my first and last post on the whole “Beauty Box” thing.  There are lots of them every month and I’ve never bothered doing a review before because there are just so many.  

This one is a bit different, and I’m doing it at the request of Kellie (http://big-fashionista.blogspot.com/) who wanted a review from someone who had tried the four main ones which seem to be out there:

• Glossybox
• Boudoir Prive
• Feel Unique
• Carmine

I’ve tried all four and have come to my own conclusion as to which ones I’ll be sticking with.   Just to clarify, these are my opinions and experiences with each and you may not feel the same.  

Glossybox

Things between Glossybox and I didn’t get off to a great start.  I ordered a subscription for myself and one for a friend and I inadvertently made a mistake on the order for the box for my friend – I ordered her two instead of one.  I emailed the customer service email address and they were very nice and cancelled the extra box, or so I thought.  

When the next month came around, I got my box but my friend didn’t get hers (although they did charge me for it).  I emailed them again and they said that they could only cancel the whole order, not one of the boxes – they didn’t tell me that at the time and to be honest, it all sounded a bit ridiculous to me.  Some fairly blunt emails went back and forth and eventually they sent the other box out.  But they sent it to me.  My friend lives in Cheshire and I’m in Hertfordshire.   I was fairly annoyed by this as the whole business had been a bit of a shambles and eventually managed to get them to credit the cost of the box and the P&P as I was out of pocket having to post it myself.

I sort of got over the less than stellar service and was fairly happy with the contents of my boxes. The first box was very good, including a full size Nars Illuminator and All for Eve lipstick but it did rather tail off after that (or at least my boxes did) I was a bit miffed that even though initially we were told the boxes would be tailored to us personally the products we got were a random selection.  I keep getting nail varnish, which is useless for me because I have French manicure gels on my fingers and toes and so never paint my nails.  I got an HD Brows kit last month which was for brunettes, I’m blonde.  It’s useless.

The other thing that bothered me was that although everyone was paying £10 per box (before the sudden addition of P&P, more on that in a sec), the value of the goods in each box varied dramatically from box to box.  For example, I know that lots of bloggers got samples of the boxes last month and every single one of them had at least two full size products in them.  I had one, and it was the wrong colour for me.  My friend got two full size products – so even two orders on the same account are getting different items. 

I have had other friends get damaged or used items and have their tweets/emails pretty much ignore until they really kicked off publicly about it and even then there was no apology.  Poor show all round.

The other thing which I was frustrated at was the sudden introduction of a P&P charge a couple of months in.  I felt a bit like I’d been glossed over.  All of a sudden, the £10 box is £12.95.  I don’t mind paying P&P but I do mind it suddenly being introduced out of the blue.

The products themselves have been “nice”, but to include a perfume sample which I could get free at a counter, a sachet of shampoo or a travel size can of Batiste as a “luxury” item is just not on and the massive variance box to box bugs me massively.  If the boxes varied because they were tailored to the individual I’d be fine with it, but they’re just a random selection.  I found this really disappointing and as the months wore on I was almost dreading the box arriving each month.  For the last couple of months I’ve been giving them one more chance each month and feeling let down each time.

After five months, I cancelled my box and I actually feel better for it.  My friend is keeping her subscription and so that just goes to show you how hit and miss this one can be.  She was pleased as punch with every box she's had, I was progressively more disappointed.

Boudoir Prive

These guys have actually got their customer service spot on.  They email you when your box is being despatched (or if there is a delay), you get a hand-written note in your box and it really does feel much more personal.

The items themselves are much more niche than those in the other boxes and I think really tailored slightly more to those of us who are looking for more anti-aging products or who like to use things that others often haven’t heard of. 

I think BP take a different view to their products and have in past months included some samples of tea rather than just beauty items which was quite nice.

From what I’ve seen there is very little variance in terms of the products that people get, which is great as you don’t find yourself feeling like you’ve been done.

This one is £10 with no sneaky P&P and I’ve had no problems with service.  In terms of the value of the actual products this is great as I know that the samples are of some pricey products so per ml, you’re getting a great deal.

I cancelled my box, not due to any service issues or being unhappy with anything they had done but more because the products weren’t really “me”.  They were beautiful products, but just not something I’d buy myself. 

Carmine

This is the newest kid on the block and I’m sad to say I was a bit underwhelmed by the contents.

Their service was great, their peeps on twitter are very friendly and I can see that they have really made an effort with the blogging community by selecting some bloggers to write for their site.  They emailed me notification when my box was on its way and it shipped within a couple of days – quicker than all the others out there.

Its just that for a first box, it didn’t have the “Wow!” factor I was hoping for.  The products are nice but I had expected a really impressive first box – particularly as they’d had the chance to see what everyone else had done in theirs.

The products themselves aren’t luxury in my opinion but you’re getting your money’s worth for sure.  In the box was a Daniel Sandler eye delight and a shadow/blush from The Balm which combined are more than the £10 + £2.75 P&P you pay for the box.

I haven’t cancelled this one yet, I’m waiting to see what next month’s box brings.

Feel Unique

I ordered this one after cancelling the Glossybox in the hopes that it would be better and so far, I can't complain at all.

For my £9.95 (it’s the cheapest of the four and no P&P cost) I’m extremely pleased with the products.  There isn’t anything niche here, just decent sized samples of some well established brands.  Thinking commercially, Feel Unique have the best chance of making this work as obviously they already have a relationship with many of the manufacturers and so getting the samples should be fairly easy for them.  Hopefully that will mean that the crazy variance from subscriber to subscriber we saw with Glossybox won’t be an issue here.

The packaging on all of the boxes is lovely and really does feel like you’re getting a present but the Feel Unique one is the best for me. Not only is it black and hot pink (love!) but rather than being a box which you have to take the lid off of (this was a struggle on the Carmine one!) it’s a little drawer with a hot pink ribbon handle. I’m already planning what I’ll be using these for each month, they’re very handy!

The box has been going for a couple of months, so I was very pleased to see that in this box the standard of product included is still high – no “let’s put something amazing in the first box to get them hooked” here.  They even included a perfume sample this month in addition to the 5 products in the box.

If the boxes stay of the high standard they have been with my first box, I don’t see myself cancelling this one any time soon.  I guess we’ll see next month.  

I hope having a side by side comparison of a few of the offerings is helpful for some of you.  I think these beauty boxes are all hit and miss to an extent, the idea is that you'll have a surprise each month and it may be that for me, I'm not really in the spirit of it all - there is an extent to which I wonder whether I'd be better keeping my money and putting it towards something I know I'll definitely use, rather than taking a chance on something random.  The Feel Unique box has definitely brought me back around to the idea of sticking with the boxes for a while, but that may not last.

How have you found the boxes?  Are you pleased with what you've received?  Have you not bothered to even subscribe?  Leave me a comment and let me know.