Beauty in a Box

Hello lovelies!  This post is going to be a wee bit different than the yoooooooj (usual...pardon my lingo).  Rather than style, I want to briefly talk beauty.  The topic of beauty is something that has always been an interest to me.  And to whom is it not??  Everybody wants to be beautiful!

I have always been heavily obsessed with skincare, but have only recently started to get very interested in makeup.  And even MORE recently in hair care & styling...due to a horrific haircut I've recently received (*GASP!!*...yes...all my beautiful long hair is gone...and let's be honest.  I cried.  A lot.  I'll update you on this later).

Anyway, what with my recent storm of purchasing beauty/makeup/hair products, I turned to YouTube as a guiding light.  And in doing so I was reminded of something so beautiful.  And it shone like a beacon of "why aren't you in on this yet?!".  And that which I am referring to, my lovelies, are monthly curated beauty boxes.

This phenomenon of monthly beauty box subscriptions is a relatively new thing here in Canada-land. To my knowledge, within the past year it has really become a "THING".  Prior to this, I would watch or read about beautiful Glossy Box unboxings by bloggers and YouTubers in the UK.  I remember watching/reading about them and yearning for something of the like to land itself in Canada.  And it has!  And THEY have!  So many of them!

Needless to say, in the past 24 hours I've gone on a bit of a spending spree and subscribed to not one...but ALL of them (save for TopBox.ca as they are always backed up with subscriptions.  Wait listed =P).  Now before you go ahead and deem me "rash", I do have reason for going ahead and subscribing to all of them.  As it is the end of the year, I thought it only made sense to sign up for a subscription to start off the new year (and how fun will it be to receive boxes straight from January through to December 2013??...I like order in my life =P).

Also, to my defense, I do not plan on keeping ALL of the subscriptions (unless they ALL turn out to be wonderful).  I just wanted to test out each one, and then I will cancel accordingly.  I've subscribed to a total of FIVE beauty boxes, and I'm going to try to narrow it down to just 2 boxes by March or so.

Here are the five I've subscribed to, along with a little bit of info to help you decide which you'll subscribe to (should you do so...and why wouldn't you?  haha):

Glossy Box

Glossy Box offers you 5 luxury samples (and sometimes full size products) in their box every month.  It costs more than the other monthly boxes at $21/month, but they do not tax you OR charge you for shipping.  Just a straight up $21/month which I think is fair.

What I LOVE about Glossy Box (from what I've seen in numerous YouTube vids) is the packaging.  Love the pretty pink boxes!


Luxe Box by Loose Button

Luxe Box by Loose Button works a little differently than the monthly subscription boxes.  This subscription is quarterly, so you receive 4 boxes a year (one for each season) filled with 7-8 hand picked sample sized products.  At a steep $26+ taxes (comes to around $30, thankfully shipping is free) it is the most expensive box, and I DO forsee myself cancelling it unless it turns out to be absolutely awesome.

On a plus side though, the monthly subscription comes with a complimentary 6 month subscription to Flare Magazine.


Glymm Box

So far, I have nothing negative weighing me down about my signup with Glymm.  It is very reasonably priced at $12/month (plus tax, but free shipping!), and you receive 5 deluxe samples.

If you are looking to subscribe to a box, but you don't want to spend a lot, I'd go with Glymm.

my GlamBag by Ipsy

Ipsy (co-founded by Makeup Millionaire/YouTube Guru Michelle Phan) is another reasonably priced subscription.  You'll receive a handful of deluxe samples AND full-size products.  It'll run you at $10/month (plus taxes & shipping which equates to just under $15 for me).  Ipsy is actually relatively new to Canada.  Michelle Phan announced that the Ipsy MyGlam bag would be available to Canadians in October 2012, and so far I believe there has just been one bag (November 2012).

I don't think I signed up soon enough to receive December's  MyGlam bag, but assume my subscription will start for January 2013.


Julep 

Julep (go ahead.  Say it.  It's fun).  This is a box I just signed up for.  Like, fREALZ JUST now...don't even think half an hour has passed since. I was on the fence about this one, because it is centred around nail polish, but I thought "hey, I've already signed up for 4...so why not?!"  Harhar.

Anyway, this box is also kind of pricy at $19.99/month plus shipping (it came to about $25).  You get 3 customized nail products (based on your style quiz), and then the rest of the products in the box are a mystery/surprise.  For some reason I already forsee this one to be a smidge disappointing, but again who can say when I've yet to recieve one!


ANYWAY...

If I keep all of the subcriptions I'll be getting run at about $75/month plus the quarterly Luxe Box at a quarterly $30.  I agree that this is a rediculous amount to be spending on SAMPLES, but I love getting packages in the mail, and the element of surprise just adds to the fun!  And like I said, I know I'll be cancelling the majority of these when I've found the best box!

I'll be doing reviews on each box, so let me know if it's something you're interested in seeing!

Are any of you guys subscribed to any of these boxes?  What are your thoughts?  Let me know which you think is the best!

<3 Jo

*All of the images used on this post were found through a Google Image search.  I have linked sources of each image to the image itself.