Monday 23 July 2012

Battle of the Beauty Box

I will admit, I've been relatively late hopping onto the beauty box bandwagon but that wasn't for lack of wanting. Over the past couple of months I decided to branch out from just Glossybox and I currently have Joliebox and She Said Beauty subscriptions running along side, with the aim of making an executive decision hopefully by the end of July as to which box is for me.

June was the first month where I could compare all three boxes side by side, and unfortunately there was one that shone, one that completely let itself down and one that was good but was let down by certain external factors.

Glossybox
It's no secret that this months Glossybox has had a lot of heavy criticism, about the box itself and the staff at Glossybox.
As a subscriber to this box, I was pretty disappointed with it, I'm not even going to try and convince myself otherwise. Glossybox costs £12.95/month (inc. p+p) which I really don't think this box was worth at all. Most months there's usually at least one product that stands out and I start to use regularly. This box has been shoved into a dark corner yet to be opened again.

I had a little incident at the end of June with Glossybox - I had previously been on a 3 month subscription that ended in June, so I thought I'd renew my subscription and didn't think anything else of it still being June, as I thought my account would show that I had already had June's box, and therefore it would register that this new subscription would be for July's box. I was wrong. A couple of hours after I took out the rolling subscription I got an invoice for June's Glossybox - cue me frantically ringing them telling them I don't want June's box, I already have one. I was informed that as they were still dispatching June boxes, I'd technically paid for another one. Luckily I called in time for them to cancel it. However, I did check the website in the t&c's and I couldn't find a cut off date for subscriptions which was a little frustrating.

I know a few people who have since cancelled their Glossybox subscription, but I'm not one of them. I'm giving them one more month to prove themselves, then the subscription will unfortunately be cancelled and it will be bye bye Glossybox.

She Said Beauty 
I have now received two She Said Beauty boxes and both times I haven't been disappointed! I will admit, aesthetically I'm not as keen on the boxes - they have a tendency to come a little unstuck, but I'm more interested in what's coming in the boxes, not what the products are coming in. She Said Beauty boxes have been sent promptly, and arrived in record time. They are sent at the end of each month, ready for the start of the next month. So August's box will probably arrive at the end of July, which if I'm honest makes more sense to me, as opposed to arriving mid way through the month or even at the end of that month. The She Said Beauty website allows you to post reviews and they've even turned it into a social networking sort of site, so you can interact with other subscribers, follow them, and like products.

This box is the cheapest of the three (11.95 inc. p+p) which although it is a pound a month, it works out as saving the amount of a whole box a year.

JolieBox
June was my first month of subscription with JolieBox and unfortunately it wasn't without it's ups and downs.

June's box for JolieBox was their birthday box and there were two different box designs - I received the  orange box which is the one I wanted!

Everything I received this month was skincare related which I was quite happy about it, I get the impression that JB focuses more on skincare than it does makeup or fragrance which is something that I really like.

There was a mailing problem with the boxes this month, meaning that they arrived near enough 2 weeks later than planned which I will admit was quite frustrating but it is a luxury product, not like a birthday present so I don't think it was the worst thing in the world. The only thing that I found ridiculous was that you pay £2.95 for delivery for each of the boxes, which should bring the same level of service and reliability. If delivery was less I'd think I'd gotten what I'd paid for. Joliebox kept people updated via their social media sites, but unfortunately many subscribers turned on them for something that was beyond their control. If I'm honest, if I didn't work where I do (customer service for a company that ships products and therefore have problems with shipping on occasion too) I probably would have joined that bandwagon and been severely disappointed, verging on angry.

Jolie Box too has started a customisation profile, with the aim of supplying you products suited to your skin type and tone which started with June's box, but given the problems, some people received the wrong product. I think I did too, but I'm still going to give it a go!

JB is like GB in that it is £12.95 inc. p+p.

-----

All in all going by June's boxes, I would most likely keep up with JB and SSB boxes rather than GB but I'm giving GB one last chance, then if it doesn't improve, unfortunately I will have to let them go. I've loved the anticipation of getting new boxes each month, but it is costly, and I'd ideally like to get down to one box, but I'm not too sure which box that will be yet! All in all over the last month I have been impressed by two boxes (despite one being hindered by their delivery service) and thoroughly disappointed by the third.

This probably hasn't been as informative as I hoped it would be, but I believe these beauty boxes are all down to preference, and I wouldn't recommend having too many subscriptions out in one go as it can become a little costly!


Kate x

2 comments:

  1. i was planning on getting the she said beauty box, but i wasnt sure, as there has been a lot of hassle with the glossy box and that has put me off a little, do you think its worth it? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for not replying sooner! This post was somehow published before I finished it!

      I've really been impressed with SSB, they send the box out at the end of each month, ready for the next month, i.e you'll receive August's at the end of July which personally, I think works out better!

      x

      Delete

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please feel free to leave comments - I love reading them! Alternatively you can tweet me @nwgirlontheblog.