I love a good beauty box. Not only does it feel like a gift for yourself when it arrives every month, but it also helps with finding new products, especially when you are just starting out with skincare or beauty exploration.
But which beauty box is the best?
Comparing Beauty Boxes
ASOS, Glossybox, Birchbox, Latest in Beauty & Lookfantastic
During the last few months I've been subscribing to some different beauty boxes in the same price category that arrive every month with various beauty and makeup products. I think it's a perfect way to be able to try out different products to find the ones you love without spending a fortune on products that you might not end up liking. This way you get travel size, sample size or even full sized products that let you sample them, which you can of course buy afterwards if they turn out to be your new favourite.
It's also such a treat when you receive the boxes each month and get to unwrap and discover what's waiting for you in the box. Like a surprise gift to yourself every month! 🎉
Glossybox was the first box I tried and I had a subscription when I lived in Sweden for a while before pausing a few years when I was traveling and moving a lot before I started last year again. I really like the design of Glossybox and enjoy the review system that they have. Every time you got your monthly box - and also limited edition boxes - you get a chance to give your feedback on the box and the products which gives you beauty credits that you can use as payment on Lookfantastic or on future boxes, such as the limited editions. I totally forgot I even had credits which was a happy surprise when I bought the Elemis Limited Edition box and got £13 off the £40 box with my beauty credits. The limited edition boxes that I've tried (the Elemis and Mother Day boxes) have also been fantastic as you get some really nice products to try for a good price.
It's actually thanks to Glossybox that I've started to be interested in skincare because it felt like an almost impossible task to start with since there's so many different products out on the market, but thanks to this box I got to try some different things and started to figure out what I like in my products and what I want to explore further.
Favourite products found through Glossybox:
NAOBAY - Detox Illuminating Micellar Water
Mudmasky - Winter Mask
Palmers - Cocoa Butter Skin Therapy Oil (Mother's Day 2020 Limited Edition Box)
MUA - Pro 6 Shade Eyeshadow Palette - Rustic Wonders
BYBI - Strawberry Booster
Avant - Gentle Rose Beautifying Face Exfoliant
Illamasqua - Antimatter Lipstick - Meteor (Easter egg 2020 Limited Edition Box)
Minimo - Candy Lip Scrub (Easter egg 2020 Limited Edition Box)
Rituals - Softening Rice Scrub Ritual of Sakura
Avant - Gentle Rose Beautifying Face Exfoliant
Price: £10.00 + 3.25 shipping/month (month by month subscription)
Use my link for 20% OFF your first box !
Photo from April Box 2020
By subscribing to Glossybox I found that I could use my beauty credits to shop at Lookfantastic and that's how I discovered that they had their own beauty box.
From the start I've been so pleasantly surprised by the products in this box. Most of them are quite big in size, there's also lots of brands I've never tried before and they feel like really good quality.
I also feel like Lookfantastic tends to focus more on skincare and haircare which I really enjoy. Sometimes with make up samples in beauty boxes I get the impression that they either are cheap and bad quality or that it's the weirdest colours that doesn't suit any occasion, but perhaps I'm just not that adventurous with blue eyeshadow and orange lipstick ;) and there's definitely really good make up samples sometimes, but I'm more fascinated by trying skin and haircare products since I feel quite secure in what products I like within make up and am happy to complement and try new things on my own.
This is definitely my favourite box and if I could only keep one then I would keep this one since it has a nice sturdy design that feels like good quality, it contains a wee magazine explaining all the products as well as an article and recommendations and the products seems to generally be interesting and good quality products.
Favourite products found through Lookfantastic:
ESPA - Detoxifying body oil
Brushworks - 3d Wonder sponge
NAOBAY - gentle facial toner
Rodial - Bee Venom Cleanser
Rituals - Ritual of Ayurveda Shower Oil
Elizabeth Arden - Superstart Skin Renewal Booster
Korres - Hydra-Biome Probiotic Superdose Face Mask
Magn!tone - ECO friendly MicroFibre Cleansing Cloth
Use my link for a discount on your purchases through Lookfantastic - beauty box or just products!
You can also use the code MOA-RG6 at checkout for a discount as well.
Price: £15/month (month by month subscription - I pay £13.75/month since I signed up for a 6 month subscription)
Photo from May Box 2020
My first impression wasn't that good with Birchbox. The products I got in my first two months felt quite cheap, except for the jade roller so I actually cancelled my subscription after two months since Glossybox and Lookfantastic suited me better, but decided to rejoin to give them another chance since it is one of the most popular beauty boxes in the UK, so I figured it must be for a reason.
Some of the make up samples doesn't suit me or feel like quite low quality products and I usually end up giving them to friends or my niece to see if they might like them better.
Birchbox also send different products in different boxes and on their websites you can see the products that you might get in your box so I often feel like I was just unlucky and missed out on some good products that I would've preferred. I think I'd just rather not know what I'm missing, instead of feeling like I get the cheaper and more flimsy products that I have no use of.
Favourite products found through Birchbox:
This Works - deep sleep pillow spray
Nuxe - Dry Oil Huile Prodigieuse
Price: £12.95/month, price includes delivery - but you can also choose to pay for 3 months or 6 months straight away.
Use my link for £5 OFF your first order !
Photo from April Box 2020
When stuck inside due to the restrictions with COVID-19 I was gonna cancel my Birchbox subscription and wanted something else to exchange it with to keep trying some different boxes before settling on the ones I wanted to keep so I accidentally stumbled upon Latest in Beauty. This is a subscription service where you get to choose what products you'd like to sample. You can choose at either 3, 6 or 9 products each month - I chose 6 which felt like a happy medium - costing £9/month with 3 products, £15/month for 6 and £18/month for .
It does take away some of the excitement in not knowing what you're going to receive that month, but you do have the option of not entering what products you'd like to receive and let them send you a mystery selection, which I might try one month - but there's a quite big selection of around 130 items to choose from so it's quite fun to put in a bit of research every month to make the selection.
When my first box arrived the first impression was that the box was a bit flimsy and the stuffing that fills out the box had lots of tiny pieces that stuck to the products and kind of ended up everywhere. They also email you A LOT - I think I've had an email in my inbox pretty much every day since I signed up which to me feels a bit excessive and annoying. There is however the option of just buying occasional boxes as they do have some interesting limited edition ones out sometimes or if you prefer to just get products for a specific month. There's definitely a chance to explore some brands that I haven't tried before and I absolutely loved the lipstick I got and also the Sport FX primer.
Favourite products found through Latest in Beauty:
NUXE - Micellar Cleansing Water with Rose Petals
TopShop Beauty Cream Lipstick (Colour: Mink)
Lottie London - Freckle Tint
Sport FX - Cool Down Primer + Recovery Gel
Price for 6 products: £15/month including shipping
Photo of 6 products chosen May 2020
I just discovered in May that ASOS also does a monthly beauty box and managed to get a hold of the Fruity May Box which had 5 products that I've never tried before that felt so fresh and fruity and immediately got me excited to try them. Unfortunately you can't subscribe to this box but just have to keep your eyes out at the beginning of each month to try and grab a box before they sell out (I've put a reminder on my phone, ehe...). I'm definitely gonna keep my eyes open for more of these boxes and see if they might suit me better than Birchbox and Latest in Beauty.
Favourite products found through the ASOS boxes:
I'm a Lemon sheet mask - Tonymoly
Garnier - Nourishing Hair Food Banana Mask
Ciaté - Watermelon Burst Hydrating Primer
Origins - Overnight Hydrating Mask with Avocado & Glacier Water
Price: £12/box + shipping (unless you pay £10/year for ASOS unlimited next day delivery)
Photo from Fruity May Box
Overall
I'd have to say that the Lookfantastic box is my absolute favourite box to receive as I always feel like I get some interesting products from them, but it is closely followed by Glossybox, and now perhaps also ASOS. I would say however that this is very much personal preference and depends on what products you prefer using. Might just have been bad luck for me and perhaps Birchbox is the box that suits you the best, but I would probably recommend going with Glossybox if you're only gonna try one to start with since it is a good quality box often with good products, fun themes and that you get the chance to get GlossyCredits that you can use in the future, but in the end I think it's all up to personal preference which box you are gonna like or not.
Most interesting content: Lookfantastic
Nicest box design: Glossybox & Lookfantastic
Best value for price: Glossybox (especially since you can earn Glossy Credits to spend on future boxes and products)
Let me know what you think and if there's another subscription box that I should try !?