I cancelled my Birchbox subscription quite some time ago as I hadn't really been excited by the contents for some time. Given the price I decided to save my pennies (well they were inevitably spent elsewhere) until I found something that really took my fancy.
One of my beauty obsessed colleagues in the office has been subscribed to You Beauty Discovery for quite some time and I'd noticed on more than one occasion, she'd been receiving some pretty darn peachy full sizes, all for the tidy price of £6.95 a month including delivery! As such, I caved and thought I'd give it a try for myself.
As with most beauty boxes, the You Beauty box is also small enough to pop in your letter box. The main difference between the You Beauty box and Birchbox are the following:
1) The magazine comes with money off vouchers/freebie vouchers as well as tips on the products
This is a big plus for me because if I like the product, I'm inevitably going to want to go out and purchase it so some money off or a freebie with my purchase certainly increases that temptation to spend.
2) You get to pick TWO of your samples each month
Whilst this means there's no surprise in what to expect, it means that you are going to get to try products that you're excited about and you actually want to try! Products this month included a FULL SIZE Miss Manga mascara from L'oreal and a L'Occitane En Provence Shampoo & Conditioner at 75ml each. I decided to go for the Dr Bronner's Lavender Soap (34g) which smells divine and a Green People Sun Lotion (20ml) as I've fancied trying this for a while.
3) The sample sizes are pretty darn generous!
My real gripe with Birchbox was that some of the sample sizes were incredibly small. As I've said above, there are often full sizes with You Beauty, although you need to be quick in order to nab them. Even if you don't manage to grab a full size, the 75ml L'Occitane sample is still pretty impressive.. Even my samples above were pretty generous.
4) You still get some other beauty extras
This months extras included a Dove Men Shave Cream which is quite handy to travel with, although I probably just use this on my pins. I also got a perfume sample and some Egyptian Magic which I know I love so am delighted to have another sample to play with.
5) They do limited edition boxes included ones from Mio and CFW.
This is another peachy thing, I won't waffle but seriously you should check these out. The Mio box includes Mio Body Brush, a Zumba Fitness DVD and a gym bag. Good times all round eh?
Overall, for £6.95, I think the contents are pretty darn good, I love the vouchers, the sample sizes are pretty generous (if not full size) meaning you get much more bang for your buck. Beauty lovers, I do think this box is worth a nose if you're on a budget but still want to treat yourself or try something new.
Have you tried You Beauty Discovery before? Did you get any exciting samples? Have you ever had full sizes?
I like the extra perks in this one with getting to pick samples, getting tips for using the products, and also getting coupons off full-size purchases of the items. Those are definitely incentives that make it stand out. I ordered a "free" Julep box last month via a Facebook coupon and just had to pay shipping. Of course, somewhere in the fine print, it signed me up for a subscription I didn't want and charged me and sent me the next month's box, too. So now I have products I don't want to use out of spite (lol), plus I'm out the $25. As it is with most subscription boxes, the items are really hit or miss, so I like that with this one you can pick two of your samples. It guarantees you'll like at least some of what you're getting, plus, you're still getting surprise items, too!
ReplyDelete<3 Liz
www.withwonderandwhimsy.com
Aye, like I say, it's frustrating when you're parting with your hard earned cash and ending up with samples that just don't tick the boxes. I hate that about a lot of beauty boxes, I just end up feeling really underwhelmed, especially when other people seem to end up with better samples than you, I remember with Birchbox and people were getting the Balm and Aromatherapy Associates and I always seemed to get brands I'd never even heard of which were just a wee bit pants (yes, I used pants!).
ReplyDeleteAt least with You Beauty, you know you're going to love what ultimately ends up coming through the door- this for me is a huge plus. I'll be keeping my subscription for a wee while to see how it goes.
Laura x