I’ve planned to make a comparison box blog post for the past number of months. It got delayed as last month Glossy Box launched and I wanted to wait til the second month to review them all to get a fair review of them all. But wait. There is another box subscription. That makes 5 available for Canadians. When will it stop? Now we have Beauty Box 5 which recently launched. I’ve yet to try it out. 5 is just overwhelming and getting a little out of hand. Plus the brands they’re working with aren’t as appealing to me.
First things first. Most of the boxes (if not all) make you fill out a questionnaire at the beginning describing your hair color, skin color, preferences on receiving hair over skin products etc. So of course, not everyone gets the same products per month. Which is the fun part, seeing what everyone got different than you. Can’t wrap your head around why people pay for these deluxe samples? Why won’t we just walk into Sephora and grab a few samples to try out for free?
Almost every box that I’ve subscribed to has at least one full sized product that more than pays for the box itself. Samples at Sephora can be contaminated from everyone dipping their finger in and trying out the sample before you arrived there. How old is the sample? When was the last time they brought out a new bottle? Plus, it’s like Christmas to me, every month — not knowing what’s inside and opening it and being either pleasantly surprised, feeling “eh” about it, or not liking it at all. It’s all trial and error. Which is why I’m writing this (super long) post about it. I’m debating unsubscribing from more than one box. Because at the moment I’m subscribed to all four available which seems to be getting out of hand.
A lot of the boxes are inconsistent with mailing out their boxes. TopBox seems to have it altogether with delivery times, but the other three you can get anywhere within that month. They don’t have a set date as to when they mail out their boxes. It can be a little annoying to wait on it.
Top Box — $10 a month ($11.30 in total, with free shipping). The first month they launched they had everyone lured in with the Deborah Lippman nail polishes. I of course purchased my subscription box as soon as I saw an unveiling video on YouTube. As did everyone else and their dog, since Top Box is now sold out until June 2012. My first box was the December issue and I wasn’t all that impressed. The thing that makes Top Box a bit unique in its own way is that it doesn’t come packaged in a mini-shoe box like the other three Canadian subscription boxes. It comes in a cylindrical tube. Topbox ships on the 10th day of the month so it’s almost always the first one to arrive to my door step. In January, my second topbox was great. There were 4 very large samples and products that I was happy to see: Shu Umera (a very high end product) shampoo, a principessa dry shampoo that I still use and a few others.
Topbox featured me as a blogger on their Facebook and blog back in January. That was pretty neat!
This is what arrived in my March Top Box.
View my March Top Box unveiling on YouTube.
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Loose Button Luxe Box — $12 a month ($13.56 in total, with free shipping). Luxe Box was the first subscription box available to Canadians. It launched in February 2011, a few months after the American subscription box called Birch Box that everyone in Canada was lusting after. It started out being just $10 a month and in the spring/summer 2011 they ended up raising the prices to $12 a month. Luxe Box has gone through a few changes with their look, making it look sleek, and improving the overall quality of the box.
Luxe box claims that they customize their boxes but I honestly feel that when I watch other peoples videos I get jipped and get 3-4 samples where sometimes ppl get 5, 6 or even 7…which I don’t get. In December for instance people got a set of velour lashes which are amazing mink lashes (they’re cruelty free as they are brushed off the mink). I also saw something else that I was envious of in December, but I forget what. I don’t know why but nothing really ever “stood out” to me with Loose Button.
Loose Button has incorporated a “First In Line” campaign where at the beginning of the month before your box gets mailed out to you, you get to pick between a few different products and you’re guaranteed that product be in your upcoming box. It would’ve worked well if they had enough IT support because the site kept crashing and it took me a good hour to log in to actually see what I could’ve gotten. None of the products stuck out that much to me, either.
This is what arrived in my March Loose Button Luxe Box.
You can view my unveiling of my March Luxe Box on my YouTube channel. I love filming these as you can view my first reaction to opening these boxes right on film. I’m an honest one!
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GlossyBox — $15 a month (flat rate + free shipping). The most expensive out of the entire four. You do get 200 glossy dot points when you refer a friend, and when you reach 1000 you can redeem those for a free GlossyBox! You are also guaranteed 5 deluxe samples with sometimes a sixth thrown in. I’m not sure why they decided to amp their price up to $15.00 because aren’t all sample boxes generally the same? I don’t know why this one has to be $5 more than the rest.
This is what arrived in my March GlossyBox.
View my March Glossy Box unveiling on YouTube.
Sign up here for a GlossyBox.
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Glymm — $10 a month ($11.30 in total, with free shipping). I have to save the best for last. Glymm is always a safe bet to go for. I always get asked on YouTube, Twitter, or even over e-mail what my favorite subscription box is. It is most definitely the Glymm. I have only been disappointed with one box since they first launched and I’m pleased that they haven’t raised the prices of their boxes like their competitors have.
I always enjoy their Jelly Belly candies they include each month with their boxes. Always something I look forward to. I love candy. Anyone who knows me, knows I have a major sweet tooth, so it was great when Glymm was giving out candy. They had candy for a good 6 months or so until randomly one month they stopped including the goodies for us. Apparently it broke in the mail. I want candy.
Glymm has a shop where if you refer a friend, or even buy a box for yourself you accumulate points to put towards their shop, when you receive your box in the mail a week or two later you fill out a questionnaire giving your feedback on the box. You get 10 points for each item you review. I’ve collected all of these points since the beginning and now I’m wondering what to spend my points on. They now carry St. Tropez products, and I’m torn between that or T3 products which I wrote about here. Glymm also keeps us in the loop with new products being brought into the store with fancy product photos
(see?) and making us lust over the latest trends. Sometimes they offer free shipping too. Not often enough mind you!
This is what arrived in my March Glymm box.
View my March Glymm box unveiling on YouTube.
Sign up here for a Glymm Box.
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I have already unsubscribed from one box. Being Loose Button, because I found that I didn’t get anything all that awesome in any of my boxes for the past couple of months. I missed out on the velour lashes, and also a really nice perfume package with a handful of perfumes. I had to draw the line somewhere on subscribing to all of these boxes. Four is just way too many. I’m also thinking of ending my other subscriptions because the excitement has worn off and I’d like to save money, because adding up the cost of three boxes per month is a bit much for someone on a budget. I also have an abundance of samples I need to use up which are just sitting around in a bag!
Ideally, what I’d like to see in a brand new launch of a subscription box for Canadians? Let us pick out our samples, each and every month. Sure, I loved the surprises, but now I want to be able to pick out my samples, especially if I’m paying for it each month.
Looking for a subscription box for yourself?
UK based:
Middle East
USA
Canada
- Glossybox ($21 month)
- Top Box ($12 month)
- Luxe Box ($12 month)
- Glymm ($12 month)
- Beauty Box 5 ($12 month)
- Beauty Army ($12 month)
- ipsy ($10 month + shipping) (see my review on this in January 2013)
- SeasonsBox ($34.90 month)Â (have never purchased one of these)
This was not a sponsored review.
33 Comments
Great review and comparison.. very helpful. I won a LUXE Box from Loose Button on a giveaway and the contents were great and I was tempted to subscribe but have been holding off. But I keep enterig giveawas… had not heard of the others.
this is really useful. thanks so much
SUPER useful. I am totally getting Glymm when I am out of school!!!
I agree – the boxes can get very overwhelming… I’ve recently cancelled my Glymm subscription for the time being although I enjoyed the boxes – amd giving GlossyBox a try now, loved my March box – and I’ve signed up for TopBox for June! Looking forward to trying it out!
Also, if anyone is interested in trying GlossyBox, I have a code for $1.50 off your first box – you just have to enter GLOSSY8 at checkout :)
I loved the free boxes that I received, but I couldn’t justify spending the money on them. I never used any of the samples. Only ate the candy. I just didn’t get anything beneficial to me, so I would totally love a box that let you pick out the samples you wanted. That would be perfect!
Just saw you have ‘beauty army’ under the canada section, I tried to look on their site as I would love to try them out but it doesn’t say the ship anywhere besides the USA?
Nancy says: Oh shoot, really. I thought they were branching out to Canadians eventually. I might be wrong.
:| I’m glad I saw your posts on Glossybox because I will never order from them again. $15 a month?
Here in the UK ~where they are based!~ they are charging us the equivilent of $20.49 CAD. Stupid money. $20.49 on SAMPLES. Totally ripping us Brits off. Not buying from them on principle.
Actually, I worked it out in my beauty box comparison post, which you’re welcome to check out, but Glossybox is pretty reasonable charging $15 for 5-6 samples – it works out to cost less per sample than Loose Button’s $13.56 for 4.5 samples.
You got a brush with your March 2012 Glossybox? Jealous! And I am not pleased that we got essentially the same March 2012 Glymm Box, except you got TWO samples of the Anastasia lip gloss, whereas I only got one.
Thanks for sharing!
Personally I unsubscribed from Glymm box. Because for the past 4 boxed I got nothing that I like and all things that arrived didn’t match my beauty profile or season’s trends. i.e. I got brown eyes, and they sent me baby blue eyeshadow. And for March they sent me red nail polish with red glitter. Hello, Christmas is long over.
It is 6 days until the end of April and my Glossy Box is nowhere is sight, so if it is too late or not good enough I will unsubscribe.
I had some pain with Loose Button because they lost my 1st box, but they cancelled membership pretty fast and sent me a complimentary box. So, now after 5 months I subscribed to Loose Button once agagin, and I am loving it! :)
Hugs,
Diana
I haven’t gotten my April glossybox either!! It’s the first one I’ve subscribed to and I’ve been anxiously waiting all month for it. Since its still not here I decided to try and find out online if everyone else had already gotten theirs. … Not a good impression so far!
This page was super informative and I’m definitely going to sign up for another box!
And perhaps have to do some complaining to the Canadian glossybox company, I was so excited for mine :(
Hi!
Have you gotten your april boxes yet?
I’m currently subscribed to all 4, but I’m not getting my first topbox until June. I’m excited though!
I kind of have to disagree with you. I think glymm is the worst of the 3 that i’ve been getting so far. It seems that glymm isn’t putting out the same quality of products that they started with. I was gifted a 3 month sub from a friend and haven’t received my last box, and from what i’ve seen from posted videos, it doesn’t really have that wow factor either. They do have great customer service though, lol.
My april boxes for luxebox and glossybox were awesome though (though they both came a little late). I’m not really a fan of the perfume samples that luxe usually puts in the box but I did get a full size essie polish and useful hair products this month. They’ve been having problems with the first in line program the last 2 months too.
I’m a big fan of glossybox though. When you think about it, you are only paying a couple more dollars since it’s a flat rate. I got 3 full size products in my april box! And they do seem to give more/larger samples than the other boxes (for now anyway).
Lol well this was long, awkward, and random.
Nancy says: Yes I did end up getting all of my April boxes. I un-subscribed from Loose Button so I didn’t receive that at all, of course. Thanks for the comment, it wasn’t awkward or random at all!
Awesome blog, I had no idea there were other sample boxes besides birchbox. I just signed up for another and will def check out the others you mentioned. You are one savy beauty. Thanks!! ;)
Nancy says: Glad I was of some help!
Could you possibly edit this review and talk about the new beauty box 5?
Nancy says: I didn’t subscribe to Beauty Box 5 because I didn’t like the brands listed. So I won’t be doing that, unfortunately. Sorry!
There’s a new box out too, it’s Canadian…..it’s a “lifestyle” box containing all sorts of things. Their first box was just December so they still have amazng and personal customer service. It’s called Seasonsbox. you should check it out!
OH and……………Ipsy from the US ships to Canada and they are seriously awesome with a super cool website and ‘stylists’ who are also YouTube beauty gurus.
I’ve reviewed some Canadian subscription boxes here – http://ayearofboxes.wordpress.com. My next ones are Topbox and Starbox, and now that I see the comment above I think I will check out Seasonbox.
I loved reading your review of this, i hope you dont mind I posted your opinion on my blog for tomorrow!
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I’ve always wanted to try a subscription box! thanks!
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Hello,
You should check out Little Life Box. It’s a monthly health subscription box from Montreal that includes a variety of health product samples. Launching this December and only 19.99$ shipping included.
The Glymm Box looks really lovely; the products look amazing. I’ve yet to jump on the “beauty box” craze; I’m so skeptical lol
Thanks for comparing them all though, you’ve answered alot of questions that I had.
I think these used to be great and exciting, but it seems like the market is over saturated and the products are not up to my expectations.
I really enjoyed ready your blog post, I just received my first ipsy box last week and really like what I got, I finally got off the wait list for top box but I am desperately trying to find the promo code before my 72 hours is up. But I also get wantable, it’s pricier for sure but instead of samples you get 4 to 5 full sized high end products, they have a longer preferences quiz than other boxes so you get things you really want. I’ve gotten 5 so far and have been impressed with all of them but at $36 a month 6 might be my limit.
Wow! Amazing selection of boxes. I don’t even know which one I’d like to get. I will have to shop around and read up more on these. I want to get the best product and value for my money. The thing with samples is that sometimes, you can get them for free from your department store counter or via promotions online. I think I would want to test out full sized products. Glossybox looks good!
I signed up for LuxeBox when they first launched, and it was amazing. I was always happy with the products I received. However, when they switched over to a “seasonal” box (sending only 4 boxes per year, instead of 1 per month), I was incredibly disappointed. You ended up paying MORE money for LESS products. And they started swapping out “quality” brand items (like MAC cosmetics) for “Loose Button” brand items (like a Loose Button kabuki brush). I wasn’t impressed that they were using the box to push their own brand, instead of sending samples for luxe brands, so I cancelled.
I’m about to sign up for Glymm box though. Thanks for the review!
First off, your blog rocks girl!! :-)
Just a note for TopBox
Our last one had Facial Toner that leaked throughout. I emailed customer service about this and never heard a word back. No sorry, not even a response. So I cancelled the box, and got charged anyway. E-mailed customer service again two weeks ago, 4 times… no answer. Finally they respond today and REFUSE to refund because it was processed a few days ago. If they had responded in a timely fashion, they would have caught it in time. I explained this to them and they REFUSE to refund. I would ABSOLUTELY order Glossybox or BirchBox over this. They have fantastic customer service and products.
Wonderful!!! post regarding all types of boxes as well as well compression to each other in which i got few difference and best one so thanks for sharing such a nice post.
How can i win glymm pink box or how can i buy that pink glymm box olz anyone tell me
It is so sad that Birchbox has left Canada, I really enjoyed their subscription box. The price was great and the products were quite interesting. However, since they are gone I have been able to subscribe to TopBox instead…so far I love it!