Glossybox is the original UK beauty sampling service, and as of spring 2012, it’s now available in the USA . To celebrate, Glossybox offered to send me a sample box to try out. Obviously it’s been a while since the end of April when I got this delivered, so my apologies to the nice people at Glossybox and all of you for being way behind schedule!
The way Glossybox works is that you pay a monthly subscription fee to receive a lovely package filled with at least 5 travel-sized beauty products. You do not have a choice in which products you get, although Glossybox does offer a survey to help customize the box to your product type preferences. In the US, the monthly fee is $21 including shipping, or slightly less if you pre-purchase several months at a time. For your $21, you get a little surprise that is beautifully and thoughtfully packaged.
My Glossybox contained an impressive array of generously-sized samples and full-size products
- C.O. Bigelow Lavender & Peppermint Body Lotion: Smelled lovely but I’m not a big user of body lotion
- Erno Laszlo Hollywood Collection: Saving these for a weekend trip!
- Kryolan High Gloss Brilliant Lip Shine in Toffee: Nice color and packaging, but too sticky for my taste. Might be great for fans of MAC Lipglass.
- Cargo EyeBronzer: I couldn’t figure out how to use this without getting tons of fallout.
- OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips: LOVE this polish, it’s definitely my favorite from the box. I’ve worn it several times already.
- Basq Cucumber Tea Eye Gel: Filled with menthol and leaves a tight film on the skin.
Of these, I can only see myself getting use out of the OPI polish. This is really my fault for being picky more than anything else, but it goes to show that not everyone is suited to this type of surprise sample box. For me, $21 is a good chunk of my beauty budget and I want to spend it on things I’ve picked out for myself. In this case, I would have paid $21 for 1 OPI polish, which is 3x retail. If this box were $10-15 I’d be much more likely to subscribe. The other sample box criticism I’ve seen is that the initial box is often nice, but subsequent boxes are filled with tiny samples of boring products. Based on what I’ve seen from UK blogs (where Glossybox has been around for over a year), this is not the case at all. There is always a good mix of travel and full size products from luxury brands. That’s probably why Glossybox costs more than other sample box subscriptions.
Bottom Line
If you (or someone you know) is too busy to go beauty shopping or loves little surprises, this could be a great treat. If you like to know exactly what you’re getting, it’s probably not the best choice. Glossybox is available in 18 countries, click here to find out which ones.
Disclosure: Products provided by Glossybox for review consideration. For more information, click here.
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