Last month saw the launch of the first ever UK beauty product subscription - GlossyBox. I, like many, received the first ever box containing a full sized Nars product and 4 other samples all for £10. But instead of instantly reviewing the service and the contents I decided to hold off.
And I'm glad I did if I'm being honest!
I really don't believe it possible to fairly review a new service or a brand just on a first glance, so I maybe read 20 + reviews of the first box and also used all of the smaller sample products until used up or used the large samples at least 5 times each. I also held off my review to see what the second box contained (which was delivered this week) as I knew this would give a better idea of the what the brand where providing for £10 per month. So I feel like I've soaked up enough information to rationally give my own opinion on the concept, brand and their 'journey' so far!
So if you are interested, here are my honest thoughts on Glossy Box -
Now I firstly want to note I've seen quite a lot of reviews on the box and the content inside but if I'm honest, reading a review of the box is pretty useless as if you haven't subscribed two months prior you won't be ever able to receive that specific box and also it definitely doesn't determined what will be in future boxes as the brands used change monthly! So I feel actually reviews on the content is slightly pointless in some ways, though of course the price/details and service given can pursued (and not pursued) people to sign up. However I also feel it's hard to review a service that has only been going for 2 months plus every ones lifestyle and frankly bank balance are different!
Which leads me to say that I know this review may come across as quite harsh but then again I am a beauty blogger and I am obsessed with beauty products and don't really need a subscription that provides me with monthly samples (which is why I've seen a lot of pretty harsh tweets from Beauty Bloggers about this months contents of Glossy Box). Though I know 'Lauren X, 27' who doesn't read blogs but loves makeup and only purchases products every couple of weeks would be an ideal candidate to subscribe to the service.... if you see my point! I digress, so here are my thoughts in a more structured way...
The Background info on GlossyBox - The concept is simple: For £13 per month you will receive 5 luxury product miniatures to try out. The subscription works on a monthly basis by direct debit so you do have to cancel if you don't want to receive any more boxes. You can also receive Glossy Dots if you give feedback on the samples you receive which gain you a free glossy box... though they have just increased the amount of glossy dots you need from 30 to 100. To read more about the subscription click here.
The Price - The monthly price for the first ever box (in May) was £10 including delivery, the second box was also £10 however the future boxes (from September) with be £10 plus £2.95 for delivery. Now without getting into 'is it worth it per month?' just yet. I really think any company to do that is being risky and slightly foolish! Basically most people like stability and consistency, especially when it comes to a new brand - it's simple. People also LOVE free delivery - mainly because postage is seen as an extra cost, a lot of online shops offer free delivery and also a lot of people highly dislike the Royal Mail... as lets be honest, it is less than royal in service! So if GlossyBox knew that extra cost was going to have to happen that should of priced the monthly boxes at £12.95 from the get go!
As for the whole 'is it worth it per month' it totally depended on the individual but here are reason why it may or may not be worth the monthly fee of £13 1) if the products are suitable for you 2) if you like most of the samples 3) how you value a £13 per month subscription. So as you can see they is no way I could answer that for everyone. For me right now as I buy products every week and buy products I like the idea of, it would be as definite - no. But if I wasn't a beauty blogger and didn't spend that much per month on products I would definitely say £13 is worth it for the subscription.
The Content - For me Glossy Box are trying to provide a luxury content that will interest women to spend more money on high end product, find new luxury brands and also feel like it's a little box of treats! So it's important that they stick to that... however they are never going to be able to please everyone with that brief as people that don't fit into them categories will also purchase the box! The content so far has fit their own brief quite well I would say - minus this months mini can of Batiste dry shampoo (which however popular doesn't fall into that luxe category) but aside from that the products have been of both a luxury price tag and luxury in quality. So they have achieved what they have set out to do in that respect but as for if every customer will be pleased with the content each month is a different story all together but it is all about trying out new products and sampling them... and NOT judging the products the instant you open the box.
The Target MarketGlossyBox isn't beauty bloggers - so far from it. It's for women that like beauty products but haven't the time to shop weekly or even may feel guilty of spending weekly, it's for women that know that they like luxury product but are daunted by the idea of leisurely looking around the high end counters and asking for samples, it's for women that like the idea of trying different brands as they don't have a clear idea of what they love/don't love when it comes to beauty. So basically it's aimed at a lot of women - however all the reviews/options I have heard and seen have been from beauty bloggers that don't fit into this category's if I'm honest. Of course we can enjoy the boxes (we aren't exactly a breed of our own!) but we are bound to be more savvy, opinionated and harder to please, hence all the more negative reviews (which is exactly what I am doing right now as I have become hard to please by being surrounded by new products and knowing exactly what I like and dislike). Of course GlossyBox can't help this as blogging is a source of media now, however they should of been the ones being savvy and not provided boxes for free to beauty bloggers to review as we will be your harshest critics or on the other hand we can be totally suck-ups when we are impressed by something i.e the full size Nars product in the first box.
How they could improve - However much this is coming across as 'another negative' review I actually don't think they need to improve that much as I think their target market and average women that signs up (and can afford the service) will be impressed by the content and service - The boxes are chic and well made as is the packaging and presentation, half of the samples are larger than average if not full size and the samples are of good quality and range in product type (hair, skincare, cosmetics, perfume). Though my own words of advise would be on their luxury content - luxury to most person means quality items that are higher in value to standard products and has nothing to do with the popularity or status of a product. Which is something Glossybox have to always be on the ball about and never to make the same mistake of including a £1.50 product amidst actual luxury items. They also have to make sure they don't go down the route of providing natural/organic expensive products that aren't actually seen as a luxury by most people but in fact an expensive niche/type of product. So basically to be a big success the products have to breath luxury - though of course this is no easy achievement with such a new company that has to built up relationships with huge luxury high end brands!
Another blip has been when people can actually receive their first box - as currently if you signed up you will receive your first box late September. Of course they don't take the payment until then but that is a pretty long wait. I think this is definitely something they need to tackle if they want more and more people signing up to the service and should at least aim to sent out everyone's first box within 6 weeks max!
Overall - For me personally if I wasn't so obsessed (and in the know) about beauty products right now I would more than likely love the box, but as it stands the box isn't really aimed at me, so though I can appreciate and use the products they just don't rock my world, if you get what I mean!
But I still do value Glossy Box as a new company already as it was a huge gap in the market and still is, as so many people don't know about the subscription service. But hopefully as the brand and concept grows and other brand step up to the plate (Bourdior Prive) they will get even more coverage via magazines and TV and will be known about by the average woman who I really believe would really enjoy the service!
So if you are one of the beauty bloggers that has been left under whelmed or in some cases disappointed, you should in a non- cheesy way be patting yourself on the back for actually not needing the service because you are generally knowledgeable about beauty products!
The Background info on GlossyBox - The concept is simple: For £13 per month you will receive 5 luxury product miniatures to try out. The subscription works on a monthly basis by direct debit so you do have to cancel if you don't want to receive any more boxes. You can also receive Glossy Dots if you give feedback on the samples you receive which gain you a free glossy box... though they have just increased the amount of glossy dots you need from 30 to 100. To read more about the subscription click here.
The Price - The monthly price for the first ever box (in May) was £10 including delivery, the second box was also £10 however the future boxes (from September) with be £10 plus £2.95 for delivery. Now without getting into 'is it worth it per month?' just yet. I really think any company to do that is being risky and slightly foolish! Basically most people like stability and consistency, especially when it comes to a new brand - it's simple. People also LOVE free delivery - mainly because postage is seen as an extra cost, a lot of online shops offer free delivery and also a lot of people highly dislike the Royal Mail... as lets be honest, it is less than royal in service! So if GlossyBox knew that extra cost was going to have to happen that should of priced the monthly boxes at £12.95 from the get go!
As for the whole 'is it worth it per month' it totally depended on the individual but here are reason why it may or may not be worth the monthly fee of £13 1) if the products are suitable for you 2) if you like most of the samples 3) how you value a £13 per month subscription. So as you can see they is no way I could answer that for everyone. For me right now as I buy products every week and buy products I like the idea of, it would be as definite - no. But if I wasn't a beauty blogger and didn't spend that much per month on products I would definitely say £13 is worth it for the subscription.
The Content - For me Glossy Box are trying to provide a luxury content that will interest women to spend more money on high end product, find new luxury brands and also feel like it's a little box of treats! So it's important that they stick to that... however they are never going to be able to please everyone with that brief as people that don't fit into them categories will also purchase the box! The content so far has fit their own brief quite well I would say - minus this months mini can of Batiste dry shampoo (which however popular doesn't fall into that luxe category) but aside from that the products have been of both a luxury price tag and luxury in quality. So they have achieved what they have set out to do in that respect but as for if every customer will be pleased with the content each month is a different story all together but it is all about trying out new products and sampling them... and NOT judging the products the instant you open the box.
The Target MarketGlossyBox isn't beauty bloggers - so far from it. It's for women that like beauty products but haven't the time to shop weekly or even may feel guilty of spending weekly, it's for women that know that they like luxury product but are daunted by the idea of leisurely looking around the high end counters and asking for samples, it's for women that like the idea of trying different brands as they don't have a clear idea of what they love/don't love when it comes to beauty. So basically it's aimed at a lot of women - however all the reviews/options I have heard and seen have been from beauty bloggers that don't fit into this category's if I'm honest. Of course we can enjoy the boxes (we aren't exactly a breed of our own!) but we are bound to be more savvy, opinionated and harder to please, hence all the more negative reviews (which is exactly what I am doing right now as I have become hard to please by being surrounded by new products and knowing exactly what I like and dislike). Of course GlossyBox can't help this as blogging is a source of media now, however they should of been the ones being savvy and not provided boxes for free to beauty bloggers to review as we will be your harshest critics or on the other hand we can be totally suck-ups when we are impressed by something i.e the full size Nars product in the first box.
How they could improve - However much this is coming across as 'another negative' review I actually don't think they need to improve that much as I think their target market and average women that signs up (and can afford the service) will be impressed by the content and service - The boxes are chic and well made as is the packaging and presentation, half of the samples are larger than average if not full size and the samples are of good quality and range in product type (hair, skincare, cosmetics, perfume). Though my own words of advise would be on their luxury content - luxury to most person means quality items that are higher in value to standard products and has nothing to do with the popularity or status of a product. Which is something Glossybox have to always be on the ball about and never to make the same mistake of including a £1.50 product amidst actual luxury items. They also have to make sure they don't go down the route of providing natural/organic expensive products that aren't actually seen as a luxury by most people but in fact an expensive niche/type of product. So basically to be a big success the products have to breath luxury - though of course this is no easy achievement with such a new company that has to built up relationships with huge luxury high end brands!
Another blip has been when people can actually receive their first box - as currently if you signed up you will receive your first box late September. Of course they don't take the payment until then but that is a pretty long wait. I think this is definitely something they need to tackle if they want more and more people signing up to the service and should at least aim to sent out everyone's first box within 6 weeks max!
Overall - For me personally if I wasn't so obsessed (and in the know) about beauty products right now I would more than likely love the box, but as it stands the box isn't really aimed at me, so though I can appreciate and use the products they just don't rock my world, if you get what I mean!
But I still do value Glossy Box as a new company already as it was a huge gap in the market and still is, as so many people don't know about the subscription service. But hopefully as the brand and concept grows and other brand step up to the plate (Bourdior Prive) they will get even more coverage via magazines and TV and will be known about by the average woman who I really believe would really enjoy the service!
So if you are one of the beauty bloggers that has been left under whelmed or in some cases disappointed, you should in a non- cheesy way be patting yourself on the back for actually not needing the service because you are generally knowledgeable about beauty products!
