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Target Beauty Boxes $5-10, one time boxes
I paid: $5.50 after tax
Head of the Class box: Retail value $24, My value: $5.4*
Target comes out with a beauty box every so often. They cost $5 to $10 and they usually include samples of products they carry worth several times that much. Sometimes more than one version of a box is offered. You have to order every box individually – you can’t subscribe – which means that you need to be alert for when they come out for sale as they usually sell out within hours. Your best bet if you want to grab one is to subscribe to the My Subscription Addiction blog mailing list.
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This month, Target put out two different “Back to College” boxes, each for $5. While Target discloses what’s in the boxes, I didn’t bother looking and ordered them both, thinking one way or the other, it’d be a good deal. Unfortunately, once I actually looked at what I was getting, those hopes were deflated. While the boxes did fulfill their promise of giving you over a $20 value, the personal value I got from the items in them is barely above what I paid for them (I’m not counting the value of the lip gloss because while my daughter will like to have it, she wouldn’t miss it if she didn’t get it). And the value pales in comparison with the summer box which was $7, but had a $41 value. Still, whatever I don’t use I should be able to swap or give away.
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This is a review of the Head of the Class Box
This box included seven products, three were full size and the others were samples. They are all brands sold at Target. The total value of the box was around $25, higher than the $20 Target has promised.
Like many subscription boxes, this box came with a card listing the products that are included. It also explained how to use the products. It has a coupon for $3 off any $15 beauty purchase at Target. This is what I got:
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Herbal Essences Wild Naturals Illuminating Dry Oil Spray, full size: 2.8 oz, $6
This spray is a great example of how deceptive the beauty industry can be. It’s called a “dry oil spray” and promises that it “amplifies shine”. It does contain small amounts of common carrier oils (apricot kernel, sweet almond and sunflower seed), but its main ingredient is cyclopentasiloxane. It is this artificial silicone what gives hair a silky look. The oils are most likely there for marketing purposes. Still, the ingredient itself is not toxic, though there are concerns about its environmental impact on marine life. It’s a common ingredient in conditioners, so if you want to avoid it, that’s where I’d look first.
I have too many hair oils and products that I don’t use at all, so I’m going to swap or gift this. It’s made in the USA from domestic and foreign ingredients.
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wet n wild Lash Out Loud MaxVolume Plus Mascara in amp’d black, full size, $5
I’m sorry, but I cannot take wet n wild seriously. This is the brand of makeup I wore as a teenager when I was too poor to afford anything else. This is not to say that I actually believe that expensive makeup is necessarily better than cheap makeup, but wet n wild didn’t offer particularly quality products back then. Indeed, this mascara gets very mixed reviews, some users complain it doesn’t provide either thickness or length even after putting on several layers.
Seduced by the “fancy” packaging, my daughter grabbed this and opened it. However as soon as she saw the brush, she declared it poor quality and returned it. I’ll try to swap it or gift it. It’s made in the USA.
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CoverGirl Colorlicious Lip Gloss, in give me guava, full size, $5.5
You guessed it, this is going to my 10-year old. She must have enough pink lip glosses and lipsticks to paint her whole room with them, which, come to think of it, is not a bad idea. This one is a very soft color, I think it looks pretty nice. Made in the USA of foreign parts.
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Yes To Cucumbers Facial Towelettes, 10 count, $3
This is a small and convenient package to keep in your purse. There is little particularly natural or organic about these, though the main ingredient is water, but they are paraben free. My daughter will definitely use these. Supposedly the towelettes are biodegradable, but the package does not indicate if they are compostable nor where they were manufactured. I will contact the company and update when they answer.
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The Bathery Pumice Stone, value $2
It’s sad that I’m excited by a cheap pumice stone, but I need one! This one has a rope to hang to dry. I’ll report on how it works after I spend some quality time with my feet. It’s made in the USA.
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Hollywood Fashion Secrets Fashion Tape, 6 count, value $2
This is a double-stick tape that allows you to keep your clothing in place. As it happens, I have a box of these already which I’ve never used. I gave one a try and it seemed to work quite effectively, though I’ll have to wear it long time to see how it fares. I’ll report later.
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Goody Ouchless Elastics, 3 count, value 40-cents
It’s a good thing that hair ties are cheap because they don’t last long in our house. These will definitely be put to use.
*“Retail value” refers to the total price for which the products in the box sell at major retailers or, when the product is an exclusive, by the manufacturer. In the case of samples, I arrive to this value by determining the per-unit price of a full size item, and then multiplying it by the units in the sample. “My value” refers to the combined value of the products in the box that my family and I will actually use. To be a good value, a beauty box should have a retail value that is at least twice that of the subscription price and my value for the box should be higher than its price.