Disclosure: I purchased this box with my own moolah, and this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may earn commission. Opinions shared are mine.
Sadly, I broke up with Birchbox this year after many years of getting the subscription box. Lately, I just wasn’t feeling the love with my box. The joy of getting new cosmetics (especially mascara and eyeliner) was muted by all the self tanners and stinky shampoos that kept coming. Did anyone even look at my profile?! The final nail in the coffin was the change in points. When I first subscribed, they had a policy that rewarded customers for reviewing samples. It basically worked out to getting several dollars “off” the Birchbox or purchases. In July of 2016, the policy changed, making it almost impossible to accrue those reward points. Though I could still earn points from making purchases in the Birchbox store, it wasn’t as cost-effective. Once my subscription ran out, I opted not to renew. Never fear…I’m still receiving and reviewing Beauty Box 5 boxes. I’ve also found a new favorite – Amazon sample boxes.
These are only available for Prime members, so if you haven’t joined yet, you’ll want to grab that membership first. Click here to try Amazon Prime with a free 30-Day trial. The great thing about these boxes? Buy a full-size item that you sampled, and Amazon will give you back the box price as a credit.
Great deal, right? The box I’m featuring today is the Luxury Women’s Box. This box costs $19.99 so I’ll get to spend that amount in credit toward purchase. I love that Amazon keeps up with this credit for me! You can choose single samples or boxes of items. There are K-cup boxes, snack boxes, and more. I love having happy mail like this!
Amazon is more than up-front with these boxes. The photos and product listings give an accurate expectation of what a box may contain. The box itself is lovely — it’s a hard, two-piece box with a linen-like cover. It can be used to hold pens, paper, and other odds and ends when the samples are long gone. The box was packaged within a plain Amazon box, avoiding bumps and bruises that my other packages tend to suffer.
The samples were from better brands that, while I might not classify as “luxury,” are definitely a step above drugstore brands. Most of them are in foil packets or similar packaging, which makes it difficult to determine their actual effectiveness. Still, I felt like I had a good assortment of samples and was able to experiment with scents, textures, and the like.
I used my credit to purchase 2 tubes of L’Occitane hand cream. It was only valid on the scent from my box (almond) which was fine since I liked the delicate fragrance. This is a brand I know and love, so these won’t go to waste! They’d also make a wonderful teacher gift or stocking stuffer. Using my credit, I paid just $4 and some change. I opted for no-rush shipping to get an extra $1 toward a video. Here’s what my final screen looked like:
At this time, Amazon only allows one purchase per member.
Have you tried the Amazon sample boxes?
I love beauty samples but have never subscibed to Birchbox. I didn’t know Amazon had these types of boxes now before today!
I love to try beauty and food samples. I like tasting a new food product before buying the whole package.
This is looking good real nice
How do you get the link? All it did was add it to my cart!! I don’t want to do that!!
I like to try food samples. I’m not into beauty products. I don’t have extra money to do subscription boxes.
Thanks for the contest.
Jan, take it out of your cart to make sure it doesn’t require you to make a purchase. Right-click to copy the link and paste it into the widget box.
I love health and beauty samples the most to experiment with a new look. I give away the samples I can’t use or won’t use.
am unable to get the link because I am not a prime member but I would love to try the Daily Beauty Sample Box. .
I love to try food and fitness samples!
Thanks for the thoughtful and experience review of Beauty Boxes. I appreciate the link to the Amazon sample boxes. The k-cups would be a great one to gift with a nice mug or two.
I haven’t had the best luck with sample boxes for people, but I absolutely LOVE getting subscription boxes for my dogs and cats. They get to try treats and food they might not have tried otherwise, and one of my dogs got his favorite toy out of one. One of my biggest complaints is that some of these sample boxes give a value to the box, but I have found for some that the value of all the items in it are actually less. Of course, for some, you get some really great deals!
I agree, Linda. Sometimes the value doesn’t seem to be there, or it’s full of items I wouldn’t normally purchase. I like it when I have a sense of what to expect!
I like the samples you can get, because they are small enough to take most anywhere with you and not be so bundlesome.
I haven’t tried any sample boxes. I enjoy food and beauty samples.
I’ve never tried any sample boxes but my grandson loves sample boxes for his pets.. But this is the first I knew about Amazon’s sample boxes. Thank you.
Years ago I subscribed to a beauty and makeup box, before subscription boxes became all the rage. I got to where I did not like what they were sending me, but at that time you still had to pay for it. So I cancelled it.
I sometimes get the Target Beauty Box, depending on what is included in the box. I’ve also gotten the Walmart box a couple of times. I enjoy getting PinchMe boxes and I’ve even gotten one Daily Goodie Box. I have a lot of allergies so a lot of the boxes aren’t worthwhile to me. I give away the items I can’t use. I’m debating on getting the Aveeno Sample Box from Amazon Prime. My favorite sample box is Target.
I love to try beauty samples. I love having the chance to try before I buy.
I love to try samples of healthy snacks or natural beauty products that I have not discovered myself.
I like samples, so I can try a new (to me) product before buying it.
I tried the Amazon snack box and quite liked it. Most of them were healthy, and all of them were tasty.
I cancelled Birch Box after 2 boxes. I was not impressed at all! I don’t think I used any of the products. The only one I was happy with was an eyeshadow. Unfortunately, that came broken. I contacted them but instead of replacing it, they gave me points.