It’s hip to be square these days. The market has exploded with monthly box deliveries of ready to make meals, dog treats and baby toys, a blessing for military families overseas whose shopping choices may be limited.
Mark one more item off your shopping list: beauty supplies. Glamorous, big name brands such as Sephora will deliver the monthly box of goodies to your door, but so will Walmart and Target. Most will deliver to overseas APO and FPO addresses.
The boxes include samples and deluxe- or full-size products with a value of four to five times what you pay after standing in line.
For example, a $10 box may have $65 worth of beauty loot, such as brand-name cosmetics, perfumes, shampoos, skin creams, and other goodies. The boxes are sent out every season or monthly from a number of well-known companies.
Target is the only retailer that launches boxes monthly and can be ordered by month, without a subscription. This means the boxes are on a first-come-first-serve basis - and they are usually sold out within a few hours.
New Beauty magazine’s TestTube was the first beauty box, launched in 2006. But in the past five years, a beauty box explosion has occurred and many new retailers are launching each year.
Macy’s has one in the works called Spotlight. More are sure to follow. Here are some of the most popular ones to look into:
Cost: $5, quarterly (subscription)
Shipping: Included in price
Inside: It’s a surprise! You’ll get approximately 5 premium beauty products per box
Value: $25+
Cost: $5, $7 or $10, depending on box (no subscription; buy online when available, usually around the 1st of the month.)
Shipping: Free
Inside: What you see online, you get. Usually it includes a variety of 5-10+ products from national beauty brands.
Value: $25-$50
Cost: $10, monthly (subscription)
Shipping: Free
Inside: It’s a surprise! You’ll get 5 deluxe samples and a fragrance sample sold at Sephora
Value: About 4-5x the cost of the box
Cost: $10, monthly (subscription)
Shipping: Free
Inside: It’s a surprise! You’ll get 5 deluxe or full-size beauty products based on a beauty questionnaire you complete.
Value: About 4-5x the cost of the box
Cost: $21, monthly
Shipping: Free in U.S.
Inside: 5 full-size beauty products (makeup, fragrance, and products for hair, skin and nails)
Value: $100+
Cost: $29.95, six times per year
Shipping: $8.90
Inside: It’s a surprise! You’ll get a variety of high-end, luxury beauty products in full size or deluxe.
Value: $130+
Cost: $49.99, quarterly (subscription)
Shipping: Free
Inside: It’s a surprise! You’ll get beauty, wellness, fashion and fitness products.
Value: $200+
Want to find more boxes? Go to mysubscriptionaddiction.com or Boxy Ladies, where you’ll find box reviews (and photos of box contents) for hundreds of subscription boxes. You’ll also find boxes with other themes—lifestyle, men, babies/kids, fitness, kitchen/food, clothes, pets, crafts, and more.
