1. Luxe Box by Loose Button
2. TopBox
3. Beauty Box 5
4. Ipsy
Now for those of you who aren't up to speed on the beauty box craze right now, they are monthly packages that contain anywhere from 3-8 trial sized (sometimes they throw in a full-sized) beauty products! If you're anything like me, this is something to get excited about. You can usually subscribe for a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, or annual subscription depending on the company. Some companies offer discounted rates for the more boxes you subscribe to at once, kinda like a magazine subscription. Now at first glance that might seem like a good deal, getting a box free or at a discounted rate for buying more upfront, but if you decide you want to cancel after 3 months on a yearly subscription you can't. They will not refund your money if you decide you don't want it anymore. The other problem you might want to be cautious about is the recent Glymm scandal. Glymm just recently disappeared. Yeah, thats right packed up and left with everyones money.
You can read up on that here: http://metronews.ca/news/canada/646513/glymm-the-ugly-side-of-the-beauty-box-business/
Before You Buy Review
Luxe Box by Loose Button
Luxe Box was one of the first Canadian beauty boxes around. This made Luxe Box a huge hit in the beginning. But once people started receiving repeat products and lower quality boxes customer started to seek out new beauty boxes that started flooding the market. Since then Loose Button has instead attempted to capture the higher-end beauty product users and send out seasonal boxes (every 3 months), instead of monthly. They send out 7-8 premium brand trial sizes and personalize their packaging. They definitely take the crown for most sophisticated, but its only catered to the crowd of people that can afford the full-sized products after testing the trials. The people have more money then say, a college student, or a 20-somethings trying to get on their feet. The thing that deters me from liking this box is the website is out of date, which leads me to believe that their beauty box isn't a priority in the company. You can get this beauty box for $26 every 3 months with shipping included.
TopBox
TopBox was the front runner for the box I was going to subscribe to because their products seemed so promising. I'd taken a look at previous boxes and liked what I saw. However, this year (2013) the last couple of boxes they have sent out, didn't seem to fit what I was looking for. It seems to be going down-hill a little bit. This could be due to the fact that it is so popular that they can't afford to send out "luxe" samples anymore. I've read multiple reviews claiming that there is a waiting list for this box. I can't verify how long the waiting list is right now, but I have seen its been anywhere from a month to eight months! Could be less now that the products aren't as popular in the reviews I've been reading though. They usually send out 4 samples which appear to be very make-up based. It is $12 a month, which is right around the price I'd be willing to pay for a beauty box. I believe this is including shipping.
Beauty Box 5
You don't see nearly as many reviews for BB5 as for TopBox or LuxeBox but in my opinion it could be an up-and-coming company that might be worth trying out. As opposed to a heavily make-up based box, this company features more body and hair products as well as beauty tools. I love the branding of the company, but I feel it could feature more higher end products. They feature "drug-store brands" as well as a lot of brands I've never heard of. Which, might not be a bad thing, as people are subscribing to try NEW brands. However with "tiffany blue" as their company colour I would have expected a little more in terms of the brands they send out. This box is priced at $12 a month...right in my budget! I might be tempted to try it out, but it hasn't swayed me out of the box I've chosen to try out first.
Ipsy
This is another box that isn't as often talked about. I found it buried in a review from 2012. Much like TopBox, this company is definitely very make-up based. They usually send out 4-5 products along with a little carrying pouch every month. Before you even subscribe for a box, you can sign up for an account and take a beauty test which allows them to slightly customize your box. I found this a great feature because not everyone has the same skin/body/style. This company isn't talked about as much as TopBox but in my opinion sends out better samples and is more consistent in the quality of products every month. This one is $10 for the box, free shipping in the states, but I live in Canada, so there is about a $5 shipping charge, which makes it $3 more then TopBox. Since I've chosen to start with this box, as it appears to be the best deal, I'll let you know if it is worth the money once my first box arrives in May.
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