Three Beauty Subscription Boxes That Are Worth The Spend

Signing up for a beauty box subscription literally is the gift that keeps on giving. Beauty lovers get a uniquely curated selection of the latest and greatest in beauty from much-loved or brand new to the market brands delivered to their door each month – who wouldn’t love that?

There are so many to choose from, and I don’t know about you, but I can only afford one… However, in the interest of full disclosure, I also have a monthly subscription to Papergang, a stationery-only subscription that satiates my addiction to notebooks and fine paper – so if I cancelled that I could probably do a second beauty box.

WHY SUBSCRIBE?

The great thing about beauty boxes in general is that, without a hefty outlay, you can trial a host of new products each month and use enough of it to determine if it’s worth the full investment. I also love to use my mini versions of things for travel, and I adore finding a new brand in its infancy and knowing that I experimented with it before it was a mainstream hit – kinda like a new indie band you saw “before they were cool”.

As an aside, I think beauty subs boxes make an absolutely incredible Christmas gift – if you’re a boyfriend or husband or girlfriend or family member lost as to what to buy the beauty lover in your life, read on. Here are the three that not only deliver to Ireland, but that I think are the best in contents, quality, range and added extras.

1. Birchbox, from €13.50 (plus postage)

Classy and fabulous, with a focus on skincare, the beauty of Birchbox is that if you commit to a year, the monthly price gets far cheaper. Brands like Caudalie, Eyeko, Klorane and more feature, and give some of their never-seen-before items a first preview. Slightly higher-end brands than the Glossybox (below) this one also contains five products, and the contents more than cover off the monthly fee. I also love that, for the most part, they steer away from fad products and favour future cult staples.

2. Glossybox, from €14 (plus postage)

The most instagrammable of all, Glossybox’s signature millennial pink box is a draw in its own right. It usually contains five products, at least one of which is full-size, and sometimes you’ll even get a little treat, like one time there was a Kinder Bueno in mine. There are occasional things like limited edition design boxes in collaboration with a host of cool people and designers, too. I particularly like when you open the box to see a brand new makeup brush – the dream beauty subs box entry.

3. Sniph, from €11 (plus postage)

This is actually a genius one, when you think about it. Taking a risk on buying a new bottle of something as expensive as fragrance is a big deal – you might spend up to €100 if not more on a bottle of perfume, only to find after a few days that you hate it or it reminds you of your least favourite teacher or your ex-boyfriend (*shudder*). Avoid that with Sniph – you tell them your fragrance general preferences and they compile a taster box for you each month to road test different scents. Super handy for travel, ideal if you’re a fragrance hopper, the Sniph box is definitely worth a go for big fragrance buffs.