What are beauty boxes and who needs them
Last week it became known that the online store Net-A-Porter and Glossy Box have teamed up to create a limited beauty box - box services are still flourishing. We asked the blogger Oksana Ushakov to comment on the idea of beauty boxes and talk about their pros and cons.
Oksana Ushakova blogger Mangoosta.ru
In the last couple of years services of so-called beauty boxes began to grow like mushrooms: boxes with miniatures of cosmetics, which are sent to subscribers every month (or one-time, if you subscribe only for one month). What kind of miniatures in it will turn out to be unknown, and this should add a surprise element so that the box is perceived not only as a purchase, but a bit as a gift. But surprises, as we know, are both pleasant and not so, so potential subscribers often have doubts whether they need this box. Let's see what are the pros and cons of beauty boxes.
Such boxes are most in demand, of course, in regions where the situation is not the best with ordinary cosmetics stores. In those stores that are there, many brands are not represented, and probes are issued on major holidays and only to trade union members, as they say. Samples from beauty boxes can help determine the order from the online store: most of them deliver products throughout Russia, but you can’t touch and smell what you order - and then miniatures come to the rescue. If they are large enough, you can even have time to understand the effect of the tool and decide whether to buy the full-size version. Even if the probe is small, it allows you to understand the texture (not oily, not too light for dry skin, etc.) and make sure that there is no allergic reaction (which happens even with high-quality cosmetics).
One of the nicest bonuses that beauty box services have is limited editions of the boxes, timed for a season (box with sunscreen), a holiday (released in February box with men's cosmetics) or simply combined with any concept (box with organic cosmetics). In addition, they almost always have discount coupons, a gift with a purchase, and the like (sometimes - even chocolates with sweets).
Personal experience
Most beauty boxing services quickly realized that the best way to dispel customer doubts is to show how good their boxes are. And they "went to the people," that is, to blogs, by starting to send boxes to bloggers for free, so that they would show them to their readers. I also did and do this, so I know what came of it. I received beauty boxes of two services: Glambox and Ellebox.
The first pancakes, that is, boxes, sometimes came out lumpy: they put toothpaste probes instead of cosmetics (apparently, not finding brands wanting to participate in filling the box this month), or too specific means (not every subscriber needs acne skin lotion or cream from the age category "60+"), then simply a handful of small probes that are poured into a package in any metropolitan store for any purchase completely free of charge. However, the situation gradually straightened: the brands realized that the availability of their funds in beauty boxes helped promote and sell products, the range of filling was really good. Glambox, which was taken under its wing by the large glossy magazine Allure, was especially lucky: the filling has become consistently worthy (of course, some people still may not receive unnecessary funds, but on the whole, the cost of the box now pays off). Some funds are generally not placed in a reduced, but in full; There are also miniatures which obviously can be enough for a couple of weeks of constant use.
However, not all services of beauty boxes turned out to be honest with their subscribers. Almost a year ago, Ellebox sent bloggers as many as two boxes “with two different filling options,” as explained by service representatives. Say, one subscriber will receive the first option, the other - the second, let's show both. Options, to be sure, were chic: in one of the boxes there was a full-size body lotion worth more than 1,000 rubles (this is at an approximate price of a box of 500 rubles) - and it was only one of the positions. Here are just simple subscribers, not bloggers, nothing like this has come; one can imagine what kind of reaction this castling caused. Has this made the service better — I don’t know: after this incident, I asked for more boxes not to be sent to me.
Who needs beauty boxes
In my opinion, beauty boxes are most needed by those who live in relative remote places and do not have access to many popular brands. Well, or those who just love cosmetic surprises. We do not disregard the inveterate "vacationers" - mini-formats of the funds perfectly go to the travel cosmetic bag. And in order not to spend money in vain, read first reviews about each service (except for the above Glambox and Ellebox, for example, Beautybox or Birchbox): there are a lot of them both in blogs and in forums. That's when the boxes really bring joy.