W elcome to another installment of Emmagem’s It List! (Last week, we shared 10 international sites that offer free shipping to Malaysia).
I know of friends who religiously collect sample-sized beauty products. Heck, I’m guilty of it myself – I have a bag full of sachets and deluxe samples that I lovingly store away. My biggest gripe was that deluxe sized samples were really hard to obtain, what with stingy beauty advisors at the beauty brand counters, and I didn’t like going there to beg for samples. Now, with the concept of beauty boxes becoming so popular, I’ve got my source of beauty samples locked down.
What are beauty boxes?
They’re like the beauty equivalent of Japanese fukubukuro (meaning ‘lucky bag’), where you pay a certain amount of money and get a mystery bag of items worth far more in value. For a reasonable sum of cash, you get a box filled with beauty goodies delivered to your doorstep each month. These boxes can contain sachet samples, deluxe samples or if you’re lucky, full-sized items!
Local Beauty Boxes
Here are the ones you can get in Malaysia, and impressive ones, too, if we may say so.
Wonderbox
Price: RM39.90
One of the more consistent beauty boxes in the market, featuring well-known brands like Sampar, Jurlique and Office. Subscribing for a longer period of time earns you WonderPoints, which can be used to redeem boxes or extend your subscription.
Vanity Trove
Price: RM60
The priciest among the lot, but so far their lineup of brands have been nonetheless impressive, with premium skincare samples from La Mer, Clarins, REN and shu uemura making an appearance in their boxes.
Cosmobox
Price: RM33
Cosmobox is quickly gaining a strong following, after being featured in magazines like Female and Women’s Weekly. The founders, Tan Sze Yoong and Beh Lee Yen, are as pretty as their beauty boxes, too!
Beauty Body Face (BBF)
Price: RM40
Founded by Muhammad Norasikin, this beauty box is rather different from others as it’s lovingly packaged and decorated by hand. There are mixed reviews on the boxes, as they vary from month to month.
Modbox
Price: RM19
Modbox is the newest kid on the block, having just launched last month. So far there hasn’t been much news on this beauty box yet, but for the super-affordable price tag, it’s worth a try.
Fabulous Finds (discontinued)
Sadly one of our favourite boxes has been discontinued due to personal reasons, but we wish the founder well!
International Beauty Boxes
The international ones that have yet to arrive on Malaysian shores leave us salivating with desire. But we’re keeping our fingers crossed! Our top ten favourites:
Birchbox
Price: $10 (USD)
Now they’ve even taken it a step further with boxes for men and for the home. 12-month subscribers also get a 5-piece full-sized set for free.
Glossybox
Price: $21 (USD)
A little pricey, but filled with premium goodies from luxury brands like Burberry, Lierac, and Phyto, which cost a bomb for full-sized products.
Beauty Box 5
Price: $12 (USD)
You can choose from different subscription options: monthly, quarterly or yearly (which gives your two boxes free at $100).
New Beauty Test Tube
Price: $29.95 (USD)
Each of these ‘beauty tubes’ come with the latest issue of New Beauty, a beauty magazine. Nice to know that magazine companies are coming up with their own beauty boxes.
Joliebox
Price: £10 (UK)
A subsidiary company of Birchbox (mentioned above), this beauty box gets bonus points just for its name and stylish black box.
Glamabox
Price: $108 (HKD)
Founded by international supermodel, Lisa Selesner, this box is available in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Taiwan and Singapore. All the packaging material used (box and tissue) can be recycled.
Topbox
Price: $12 (Canada)
The samples come packed in a nifty collectible cardboard tube that doubles as canisters for your knick-knacks.
Glymm
Price: $12 (Canada)
You get 4 to 5 deluxe samples, an eco-friendly reusable cosmetic bag, reward points and access to Glymm’s e-magazine. A sweet deal!
Beauty Basket
Price: $14.95 (AUS)
A rather cute and different concept, where the products come nestled within a weaved basket instead of a glossy cardboard box.
Bellabox
Price: $15 (AUS)
We love the blue-and-white colour combination. They’ve even got a men’s box (bellobox) and a baby box (bellababy)!
Happy shopping, girls!
(Photos: from respective brands, and suzlinazreena.blogspot.com, tcmaine.com, themalaysianinsider.com, hk.asia-city.com, beautycrazed.ca, mylittlerabbit.blogspot.com.au)
