Looking for the best beauty box for you or a loved one? We’ve tried and tested 14 of the best beauty boxes UK to help you choose
Beauty subscription Boxes UK have changed the way many of us shop for new makeup and skincare products and have definitely altered how we discover brands.
Instead of batting our eyelids for a sample in person, we can treat ourselves to supersized samples of a multitude of products each month for as little as a tenner.
Due to their popularity, it means that there are a fair few to choose from so we’ve taken a look at the best beauty subscription boxes to see which ones are worth your time and money.
FURTHER READING: Best beauty subscription boxes for men
Best beauty subscription boxes UK
The below list is in alphabetical order and the best beauty boxes will ultimately depend on your needs and budget.
EDITOR’S PICK: If we had to choose a favourite, we’d pick the Glossybox beauty box because it partners with great brands, is affordable and allows you to get the Glossybox advent calendar at a reduced price.
- Adaptogenic Apothecary: £54 per month | Jump to review
- Beguile Beauty box: From £30.99 per month | Jump to review
- Cohorted beauty box: £39.99 a month | Jump to review
- FabFitFun: From £45 | Jump to review
- Glossybox beauty box: From £11.75 per month | Jump to review
- Lookfantastic beauty box: From £13 per month | Jump to review
- MINTD: £70 a month | Jump to review
- The Natural Beauty Box: From £25.95 | Jump to review
- The OK! Beauty Box: £15 a month | Jump to review
- P.Louise Beauty Box: £30 a month | Jump to review
- PrettyLittleThing: £15 a month | Jump to review
- Roccabox beauty box: From £10 | Jump to review
- Routine Skincare box: From £45 every two months | Jump to review
- Self Care Sundays box: From £65 bi-monthly | Jump to review
- Sephora Build-Your-Own Beauty Box: From £11.95 a month | Jump to review
Adaptogenic Apothecary Beauty box
- One-off purchase: £60 per box
- Monthly subscription: £54/month
- Individual supplements: £2.50 each
Subscribe to the Adaptogenic Apothecary box
This entry in our best beauty box list is a little different from a lot of the others but it has the potential to be much more impactful. That’s because it’s a supplement rather than a skincare product, and it’s designed to help you better manage the symptoms of your menstrual cycle. This in turn helps with all the ways in which these symptoms interfere with your skin, hair, and mood.
WHAT ARE ADAPTOGENS?
Adaptogens are found in plants and they’re linked with helping to reduce your body’s stress response. Stress doesn’t just interfere with your mood but it can be a cause of redness and irritation on the skin, it can stunt hair growth and is even linked to premature ageing.
Adaptogens help bring your body into a state of balance, known as homeostasis, which is of particular benefit during your menstrual cycle when everything is thrown out of whack as your hormones wax and wane. A problem that becomes even more problematic when we reach perimenopause and menopause.
The first box to launch is called Harmony. It’s been developed with Sara Rooney, one of the UK’s leading medical herbalists, and it contains adaptogenic elixirs for each stage of the menstrual cycle – menstruation, follicular, ovulation, and luteal. The specific details of each sachet and how they benefit each stage can be found here.
We’ve only recently learned about the benefits of adaptogens – you can read more in our guide to adaptogenic skincare – and we’ve started using products from an adaptogenic specialist called Plantopia.
Adaptogenic Apothecary’s Harmony box has been developed to gently and naturally bring your menstrual cycle into what the brand calls natural alignment. By doing so, it alleviates symptoms such as PMT, breakouts, hair loss, period pains, cravings, insomnia, headaches, anxiety, and more – symptoms that many of us have just accepted are a way of life when they don’t need to be.
We’ve already seen the overwhelming benefits that taking supplements can have on our skin and adult acne, which is detailed more in our Aegle’s Acne Clear Now review, and having used the Adaptogenic Apothecary box for the past month we’ve had more energy, fewer cravings, our hair looks and feels healthier, we’ve experienced fewer feelings of anxiety and our period pains have subsided. Not to mention our skin is even clearer.
If you don’t want to sign up for a subscription you can buy a box as a one-off purchase or buy the sachets separately for £2.50 each. At the time of writing, you can also get 25% off your first box with the code New23 at the checkout.
As mentioned above, this isn’t a beauty box in the conventional sense but if our experience is anything to go by, it will have a much more profound impact on not just how you look, but how you feel.
Subscribe to Adaptogenic Apothecary
Beguile Beauty box
- One-off purchase: £40 per box
- 3 months: £35/month
- 6 months: £32.99/month + 50% off the first box
- 12 months: £30.99/month + 50% off the first box
Subscribe to Beguile Beauty box
Coming in at slightly higher than some of the other boxes in this best beauty subscription box list, Beguile Beauty’s USP is that its boxes are personalised to your exact tastes.
While it’s true many of the boxes in this list ask you to fill in a form listing your skin type and colouring, or hair type, Beguile Beauty asks you to fill in a more detailed beauty profile to make sure that everything you get in its cute boxes are the kinds of products you’ll want and use.
What’s more, every single product in a Beguile Beauty box is FULL-SIZED. There are no half-measures or travel-sized versions of premium items in its handpicked selections.
Previous boxes have included products that aren’t easily available in the UK – like the incredible Tarte Shape Tape concealer – as well as Korean beauty treats.
For around £30 a month, you can get access to brands including Morphe, Too Faced, Oh K!, Doll Beauty, and even Yves Saint Laurent among many others. To put this cost into perspective, the August 2020 box was worth £93.90 if each of the products were bought separately.
New customers can additionally save 50% on their first box when they sign up for a subscription, representing even more of a bargain.
Subscribe to Beguile Beauty
︎ Cohorted beauty subscription box
- 1 month: £39.99 (renewed on a rolling basis)
Subscribe to Cohorted
If you’ve exhausted the likes of Glossybox and Birchbox (), or you’re looking for something a little more luxurious – either for yourself or your Valentine – we highly rate Cohorted.
It’s significantly more expensive than most beauty boxes, but this is because it not only includes some of the best premium beauty brands, most of the products arrive in full-sized packaging.
Brands such as Pat McGrath, the absolute KWEEN of makeup artistry, Drunk Elephant, Colour Wow, Marc Jacobs, Balance Me and many more.
Cohorted guarantees a minimum of five luxury products per month, across cosmetics, skincare, haircare and fragrance, plus a monthly copy of the Cohorted Beauty Box Booklet Mini Magazine.
The packaging is 100% recyclable if you’re trying to shop more sustainably, and subscribers get exclusive offers and discounts.
Novembers’s offer – New Subscribers use code: COHORTEDGIFTME and you will be receive three months access to Stylist extra & free gift.
Subscribe to Cohorted
︎ FabFitFun beauty box
- Seasonal: £45
- 12-months: £165 per year/equivalent of £13.75
Subscribe to FabFitFun
Firstly, don’t be alarmed that the pricing on the website is all in dollars, FabFitFun is available in the UK and your card will be charged in GBP.
Instead of being a standalone beauty subscription box, the LA-based FabFitFun offers beauty and wellness items as part of its service; all in full retail-selling size and coming in at no less than £200, if you were to buy each of the items separately.
Beauty brands include Kate Somerville, Amika and Murad Skincare but Fab Fit Fun’s USP is that non-beauty brands such as Draper James and Michael Kors can be in your box too; customers are encouraged to indulge in the best beauty, fashion, fitness, wellness, and lifestyle items and add-ons can be included upon checkout.
There’s also the Seasonal option, where you can receive four boxes a year, rather than a monthly haul.
Current offer: You will get a free Vera Bradley gift worth ($100) when you order your first box by using code: VERAGIFT.
Subscribe to FabFitFun
︎ Glossybox beauty subscription boxes UK
- 1 month: £14.75/month
- 3 months: £38.75 upfront
- 6 months: £69 upfront
- 12 months: £11.50/month
Subscribe to Glossybox
The great thing about Glossybox is that often the samples are full-sized products, meaning you really get your money’s worth.
Featuring five products each month – worth more than £50 in total if you were to buy them separately – Glossybox’s samples come from popular hero brands such as Elemis, Avant and Mudmasky.
What’s more, Glossybox also champions smaller businesses and startup beauty brands.
This mixture means you get treated to the pricier products as well as being introduced to brands you may never have had the chance to look at and trial otherwise. Make sure to keep updating your profile preferences so your Glossybox remains as tailored to you and your skin type/needs as possible.
New offer: Glossybox are offering mystery boxes for £7. There are four different mystery boxes, inside each of the mystery boxes are a mix of makeup, haircare, skincare, makeup tools and more.
Subscribe to Glossybox
︎ Lookfantastic beauty subscription boxes UK
- 1 month: £17.50/month
- 3 months: £15.75/month
- 6 months: £15/month
- 12 months: £13/month
Subscribe to Lookfantastic
Six products are included in LookFantastic’s beauty box – offering an additional ‘bonus’ product, compared to its competitors – with more than £55 worth of items. Gifts and goodies include hair, skin and makeup products from brands such as Benefit, Omorovicza and Aveda.
You can receive your curated collection across a one-, three-, six- or 12-month subscription plan and each one comes with Beauty Box Edit magazine.
Lookfantastic additionally sells limited-edition boxes throughout the year, with previous collaborations including Eve Lom, Molton Brown and Rituals, and it sells a beauty advent calendar each year, which usually comes at a discount for its beauty box subscribers.
If it doesn’t offer a discount, you will alternatively get early access to the sale.
Subscribe to Lookfantastic
︎ MINTD beauty box
- £50 Premium monthly subscription
- £68.50/month regardless of subscription length
- £70 monthly subscription
- £70 Bi-Monthly subscription
Subscribe to MINTD
Significantly pricier, per month, than the other beauty boxes listed so far, MINTD is about luxury beauty.
For this extra money, MINTD’s beauty subscription boxes offer more exclusive brands such as Sunday Riley and Oskia with up to five products curated each month worth a minimum of £160. This month’s beauty box is worth a staggering £311.
If beauty is where you spend your money, it might be worth signing up to MINTD and creating your personalised profile to get products from the top brands posted to you each month.
January edit for MINTD their Enriched Edit box is worth £311. Also for a limited time only MINTD are offering 50% off in the gift store section, grab yourself some bargains from boxes that are worth £238 down to £75!
Subscribe to MINTD
︎ The Natural Beauty Box
- One-off: £25.95
- Bi-Monthly: £24.95 (Receive a box every two months instead of monthly)
- Monthly Rolling: £24.95 / per month
- 3 months: £71.10 upfront
- 6 months: £138 upfront
- Plastic Free Quarterly: £24.95
Subscribe to The Natural Beauty Box
One of the best natural, vegan, and cruelty-free monthly subscription beauty boxes out there, each Natural Beauty Box box sources five of the the purest natural skincare and beauty items worth an average of £50. Each box is themed around the changing seasons and what skin needs during them.
The brand has a wide range of subscriptions to suit all budgets and these start at £23 each month, which includes free UK shipping, too. Plus, if you love a certain brand you discover in the box, you can buy them directly from The Natural Beauty Box, usually at a discount.
We love the fact each box is free from harsh chemicals, skin irritants, and cheap fillers! This monthly box ships on the 20th of each month and payment is taken on the 1st of each month.
The Natural Beauty Box
︎ The OK! Monthly Beauty Box
- First box: £7.50
- Monthly cost: £15
Subscribe to OK!
The OK! Beauty Box always has items worth more £60 and each monthly box contains different brands like Eyeko, Revitalash, Dr Paw Paw, and many more.
Each month you’ll get a minimum of five beauty products and it arrives in a 100% recyclable eco-box. This box comes with free UK delivery and it’s fully tracked.
The OK! Beauty Box costs £15 each month but if you feel that you’d like to skip a month then you can with this beauty box, or cancel at any time you wish. You’re not tied to a 3- or 6-month subscription, this box is launched on the 15th of each month and starts being processed from the 17th, it takes up to five working days to be dispatched.
OK! Beauty Box has a winter beauty box sale, there are eight different types of winter beauty boxes up for grabs. The OK! Christmas Beauty Box is worth £280 for £40!
Subscribe to The OK! Beauty Box
︎ P.Louise beauty subscription
- One Time Purchase: £30
- 1 month: £30
- 6 months: £150 (charged six-monthly)
- 12 months: £300 (charged annually)
Subscribe to P.Louise
P.Louise has become a fan-favourite on social media and among makeup artists for its eyeshadows and bases. If you haven’t seen some of its looks, they make the most complex and beautiful designs appear easy. However, it can’t be considered a cheap brand so the P.Louise beauty subscription boxes are called Budget Boxes, and they’re described as the “most cost-effective way into your P.Louise journey.”
It’s a mystery around what’s inside each, but if previous one-off budget boxes are anything to go by it includes brow products, eyeshadow palettes, different base colours, and more, some of which are exclusive to the boxes. What’s more, they’re all full-sized products.
The boxes are shipped on the last day of each month.
Subscribe to P.Louise Beauty Box
︎ PrettyLittleThing beauty boxes
- 1 month: £15 a month on a rolling basis
- 3 months: £14.50 a month for three months
- 6 months: £13.75 a month for six months
- 12 months: £13 a month for 12 months
Subscribe to PLT
After releasing some of the best one-off beauty boxes of the past year, PrettyLittleThing has taken the leap and released a beauty subscription box of its own.
There are four subscription options available – one month, three months, six months, and 12 months – and prices range from £13-£15 a month depending which option you choose. The longer your subscription, the more you save.
The September box contained goodies worth £40 from brands including NYX, Mario Badescu, Olaplex, Lullabellz as well as PLT’s own range of Tanning Drops and mascara. In an FAQ about the boxes, PLT says that the boxes will always be worth at least £40 so even if you pay the highest monthly price, you’ll be saving £25 a time. All while being able to try and discover new brands.
Plus, given the trending nature of PLT, there’s a strong chance that the boxes will contain some of the most up-to-date and popular products found across Instagram, TikTok and more.
You can cancel your subscription at any time, but if you’ve signed up for a longer period then you will have to pay for the boxes until that period runs out. This is common but is worth noting. The subscription will automatically renew, too, so watch out for that, too.
January box is worth £62, this months box is all about the essentials for hair, skin and makeup. We spotted some great brands like CARBON Theroy Facial Soap and SOSU Drops of Gold Tanning Drops.
Subscribe to PLT
︎ Roccabox beauty subscription
- 1 month: £15
- 6 months: £84 (£14 rolling subscription)
- 12 months: £156 (£13 rolling subscription)
Subscribe to Roccabox
Founded on the premise that trips to the beauty counter result in unwanted, expensive purchases, Roccabox came into existence to allow women to try before they buy.
Allowing customers to try a range of different beauty and wellness products before they invest in a larger payment, signing up to Roccabox will give you access to samples from brands such as Huda Beauty, St. Tropez and Nip + Fab as well as soon-to-be cult newcomers.
In addition to the monthly subscription boxes, there are recurring limited edition boxes in the form of a ‘mystery box’ which features previously-included products for a one-off price.
January’s box is all about manifesting new beginnings, the focus is on positivity and wellbeing. There are five mood boosting products in January.
There is also a 50% off sale on boxes, best get them as ewe seen some that have been sold out. There Christmas box is worth £121 for only £18!
Subscribe to Roccabox
︎ Routine Skincare box
- Bi-monthly: From £45
- One-off purchases: From £55
Subscribe to Routine Skincare
Routine Skincare is one of the new kids on the block in our list of the best beauty subscription boxes and its first edit launched on 19 April.
It has a number of USPs which set it apart from others in this list – namely, it offers a choice of boxes, a choice of purchase options (one-off or via subscription), it’s gender-neutral and it celebrates independent skincare brands.
This is before we even get into how luxurious the products on offer are. The boxes available are called Enhance or Embellish.
Embellish is the cheaper of the two and costs either £45 bi-monthly or £55 as a one-time purchase. The Enhance box is £65 bi-monthly or £75 for a one-time purchase.
You can learn more about the brand’s mission, at Routine Skincare.
Shop Routine Skincare now
︎ Self Care Sundays box
- 1 month: £72
- Bi-monthly subscription: £65
Subscribe to Self Care Sundays
Self Care Sundays have put a pause on their subscriptions for the moment, as they are focusing on gifting.
Self Care Sundays was set up by founder Sandra Burley. As the daughter of a dermatologist, Sandra understood the need to take care of her skin, and she set up the company when her first child was a toddler.
She wanted to take time to feel like Sandra again, and needed something easy and that she didn’t have to think about. This is a huge part of why we set up mamabella, which you can read on our About page.
Having subscribed to other beauty boxes, she found that the various products didn’t always go together so she set up Self Care Sundays to be like having a spa day in a box. Everything you might need for a pampering session, or sessions is included, and without any products left unused or on the shelves.
A single box is quite pricey, coming in at £72. Or you can get a bi-monthly subscription and pay £65. You can also gift boxes for loved ones and special occasions.
Recent boxes have contained amazing products from the likes of UpCircle and Skin and Tonic. We’re big fans of UpCircle here at mamabella! In the same way we approach brands, Sandra and Self Care Sundays is focused on aligning with brands and organisations that share her same passion for highly quality, sustainability and living a more eco-conscious life.
This is the ultimate in luxury and curation and we’re here for it!
Subscribe to Self Care Sunday
Sephora Beauty Box
- One-off purchase: £13.95 per box
- 3-month subscription: £13.50/month
- 6-month subscription: £12.75/month
- 3-month subscription: £11.95/month
Subscribe to the Sephora Beauty Box
Unlike the vast majority of the best beauty boxes in this list, which choose which products you receive, the Sephora Beauty subscription box lets you choose.
For each box, you’re shown a large selection of “deluxe samples” – this means they’re typically larger than travel-sized, but not full-sized. However, this depends on the product and brand.
These samples include makeup, skincare, body care and hair care products from brands including Charlotte Tilbury, Lancome, Rose Inc, Wishful, and many more.
You can then add up to five of these samples to your Beauty Box and either buy them as a one-off, for £13.95 or sign up for a Sephora Beauty Box subscription. A three-month subscription costs £13.50 a month, which drops to £12.75 for six months, or £11.95 for a year.
At the time of writing, if you sign up for a 12-month subscription you can get your first box for £4.95.
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