BeautyBoxFive Review

Sunday, March 31, 2013

I recently had the opportunity to receive a BeautyBox5 for review. This is actually my first beauty sample box and I have to say that I like it. I had read lots of reviews of sample subscriptions on other blogs but was a little hesitant to sign up for one. I was on the fence about subscription services because sometimes people would get things like samples of snacks or wipes and I didn't want to get anything like that.

BeautyBoxFive comes simply with in a light aqua box, with the contents directly inside. No little makeup pouch or anything, which I sort of like. I have tons of little makeup bags from GWP deals at Macy's and so forth, and I already have no use for them. If you're like me, you'd rather have better sample products/more sample products than another cute, but not very useful bag.

The products are in a small organza bag resting on crimped paper. When I first picked the box out of the mail box, I was surprised because I could hear the products rattling around on the inside, I think that perhaps more paper would have made it a bit more secure (everything in this box was safe, but I could imagine that with products like eye shadow, the rattling could have actually damaged it).

There is also a card included inside which describes the products and lists the retail prices for the full sized.

Model Co Lip Shine in Tease. A full sized .14 fl oz product, retailing for $16. This is just flat out a really nice gloss. A peach color that is so sheer it's almost clear, with pink sparkles. It lives up to the claims of not being sticky at all yet looks very glossy. Lightly scented like fruit, doe foot applicator with a handy mirror on the side of the tube.

Bodyography Foundation Primer in Clear, .53 oz. Retails for $30 for 1 oz. Another really generous sized sample. .53 oz of primer will last me a month at least, even with daily use. I'm puzzled by the claims printed on the card as to it being "oil-free" as I can clearly read various oils in the ingredients list. Plant and seed oils, yes, but oils none the less. Also silicone heavy, this would be nice for dry skins but not oily/combo types like mine, but I found that adding a bit to my foundation made it apply very smoothly.

Coolway Boost, 1 oz. 8 oz retails for $39.95. At first I wasn't sure what exactly this product was, but after some online searching, I found out that the Coolway brand products seek to lower thermal damage done to hair by hot hair tools. The Boost is a hair mask and the sample is large enough for a few uses. It smells more like herbs than your typical conditioner and didn't really moisturize, but it did leave my hair flatter without straightening with an iron.

Demeter Roll On Perfume Oil in Cherry Blossom. Another full sized product at 0.29 fl oz (retails for $10). A light fruity cherry blossom scent. A general crowd pleaser, I quite liked it. Lasted about 4 hours for me before I had to reapply, but fit nicely into my purse for touch ups.

The Brush Guard Variety Pack. Three guards come in this sample, a full sized pack is four guards, priced at $5.50. A very great sample, I had wanted to try out the real Brush Guards!

If every month of BeautyBoxFive were as good as this one, I'd say it was worth the $12. Everything in this particular month's box I actually used. Not only that, but it is well rounded; a hair product, two makeup products , a fragrance product and something from the tool/accessory category. Not to mention two full sized products and the other ones being very generous. I'm glad there weren't any dinkly little one time use shampoo packets or tiny vials of perfumes, these were definitely deluxe samples.

Personally, I probably wouldn't order a box every month (a year's subscription is $100) but I could definitely see myself ordering a box every few months just to surprise myself with new brands and new products. If I knew for certain that I'd see samples of the big named brands (such as BECCA, Ellis Faas ) I would then commit to buying reoccurring boxes or three months at a time.

For a full list of BeautyBox5's brands, click here. To purchase monthly, quarterly and yearly subscriptions, click here.

Have you tried any beauty boxes? What did you like and dislike about it?

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.