Beauty in a Box

Nowadays, going to the department or drug store to pick up your beauty products is so last decade. These days, a bevy of companies have emerged to provide “beauty boxes,” or samples of beauty products from luxury and/or up-and-coming labels shipped right to your door for a monthly fee. Oftentimes, the products are also customized to fit your style. Brands such as Birchbox, BrownBox, Ipsy, Julep Maven and many more are ready to send mini-versions of top cosmetic counter sellers from hair oil to nail polish to lip gloss and everything else in between. It’s the “Of the Month” club gone chic.

There are several advantages to these monthly beauty box subscriptions. First of all, you are certainly getting an edge on new products, as many of these beauty boxes contain just- or not-yet-released goodies from big labels and newcomers alike. Furthermore, beauty boxes are a low-price commitment. Rather than buying the large versions of these products, for a nominal monthly fee you’re able to try them out and decide if you want to purchase them outright. Lastly, some sites have their own boutique where you can pick out your full-sized favorites at a discount or with free shipping.

One of our fellow bloggers reviews beauty boxes from a variety of subscriptions. You can check out Ashley from Beauty Flawed.

Meanwhile, these concepts of straight-to-you fashion and beauty box subscriptions are only getting bigger. At the forefront of this expansion is BeachMint, the parent company behind BeautyMint, JewelMint, ShoeMint, IntiMint and StyleMint, all of which are subscription services for various products. Meanwhile, From the Lab, Glossy Box and Beauty Army are claiming their place among the beauty box craze. As the market becomes saturated with these services, some believe that beauty boxes will be a short-lived trend among product junkies. I say that when convenience meets budget-savvy pricing, there is nowhere else to go but up. The competition may become even stiffer as the beauty box boom continues, but I think that they’ll be around for a long time to come.