Best Beauty Subscription Boxes

Customers of FabFitFun could rave about the brand all day. FabFitFun costs $50 four times a year (per season), which customers find to be more than doable when planning a monthly budget. With this subscription, you get 8-10 full-size products for health, beauty, home, and fitness. Each box is geared towards the upcoming season. For example, the Fall 2018 box included a GlamGlow sheet mask (which, if you know face masks, is a STEAL), an espresso machine, and adorable fall tea towels, among other things. Each box has a retail value of over $200, and you get it all for just $50!

Inspired by ipse, the Latin word for self, Ipsy is all about you. Customers swear by Ipsy because it’s only $10/month and you get five full-sized or sample items, plus a makeup bag. Ipsy is great for those who are balling-on-a-budget; it’s not a full $50 per box, like FabFitFun, but you still get to partake in the fun of subscription boxes while slowly adding to your makeup supply. When signing up, you enter your information like skin tone, eye color, etc., and then choose brands you love or would like to try. These include, but are not limited to, BareMinerals, ColourPop, Essie, Kat Von D, GlamGlow, Nyx, NARS, Smashbox, and Urban Decay - all of my favorites! We love this box because you get to make it work for you. You get out of it what you put into it.

Play! by Sephora takes the cake for makeup boxes because it’s from Sephora, the nation’s biggest makeup store. Anyone who knows makeup knows and loves Sephora - and they also know how much you can drop within a single trip there. The beauty box operates similarly enough to others: you get five trial-size products for $10/month. The best part about this box: the brands. You get the top beauty and skin brands, like Drunk Elephant, Anastasia, Tarte, YSL, and BareMinerals. You don’t get to customize it quite like you do with Ipsy, but if you’re willing to roll the dice, it’s worth it.

Birchbox is a lot like Ipsy, but it’s meant to be a sample box. For $10/month, you get five sample-size products that you can customize to your hairstyle, skin complexion, and makeup preferences. Birchbox will send you both niche and prestige brands, and if you like what you get, you can purchase the full-size product at a discounted price. You also get loyalty points for every purchase outside of the box you make. Each month, you review the items in your box to help Birchbox serve you better.