Alright friends, I’m sure this is no secret but I love my beauty subscriptions. But I’ve got some beef to take up about this whole beauty subscription thing. I don’t know if anyone else feels this, but I think the market is becoming fairly saturated. I don’t know if the product companies are feeling too hit up by all the subscription services hammering them for samples, or if the services are taking for granted all of us suckers who shell out $10-$20 per month for these beauty sample boxes, but I’m not feeling the love lately. I don’t expect all full size products in every box. But I do expect more than samples I can get at a drugstore or beauty department for free. I’m happy with deluxe size samples that give me a good idea of whether I will like the product enough to buy it in the future.

Why the rant? I got my Glymm bag yesterday. I should preface this by saying that I’m already slightly annoyed with Glymm based on their processing. I mentioned this in my Glymm review last month, but they charge you on the 30th of the month for the following month. Ie. On December 30 I paid for my February bag…before I received my January bag. I’m not sure why they can’t do their billing like every other subscription service, where if you don’t like the current month and want to unsubscribe, you’re not already locked into the next month.

2nd strike for Glymm was that this month’s shipment was 2 1/2 weeks late. They did send an email letting us know this was happening because they were waiting on a shipment from one of their suppliers. I completely understand this sort of thing happens – delays can sometimes be unavoidable. They did promise in their email that the wait would be worth it. Perhaps I read too much into this. I didn’t necessarily expect any extra products in the bag because of this, but I did expect some sort of credit or coupon for their online store. I am a firm believer that customer appreciation goes a long way.

Ok, now let’s take a look at this month’s bag.

So this is the same bag as last month just in silver instead of gold. Still a cute bag.

So this is a snapshot of all the products and the pamphlet.

LA Fresh Facial Cleansing Wipes – Single packet $1.00 (x2): I haven’t tried these yet, but travel anything is great. These would be perfect for a weekend away to throw in my bag.

Coolway Boost Serum – $4.40 for 1 oz: This was the most generous sized sample in the bag, and the product I was most excited to see. I’m not familiar with Coolway, but I like any product that promises to make my hair smoother!

Lashem DoubleTrouble Mascara – Sample size approx $3.50: In last month’s bag, I received a sample of Lashem’s Eyelash Enhancing Serum and False Eyelashes. I think the mascara is what I would use the most though. I tried it on last night and it does seem to be a nice mascara. Made my lashes pop over my eye which was nice. I’ll probably only get a few tries out of this sample though. The full-size is $20! That’s steep for a mascara.

360 Skincare Lavender Mint Firming Serum – $6.50 for sample: This is an anti-wrinkle eye cream. I’ve never used eye cream before so I don’t have much to compare this too. It does smell very medicinal though. The list of ingredients appears to be pretty natural which is also a plus.

Burt’s Bee’s Body Lotion – this must be a bonus item because it’s not in the pamphlet. It’s a super small size (I think I’ve gotten these as samples at the mall). I’ll never turn down a body lotion though!

Ok so that wraps up the products in the January Glymm bag. There is a nail polish shown in the pamphlet as a Promotion item and I saw online that some people received this in their bag but I did not. I’m not sure if it was only put in random bags, or if mine was missed? Who knows. The value of the sample sizes (not counting the Burt’s Bees because I don’t think that was supposed to be part of the bag), is $16.50. After taxes my credit card was charged $13.56. Now here’s the kicker – we received an email from Glymm recently stating that starting next month the bags will be increasing to $15 per month ($16.95 with taxes). So if we look at this month’s box as a sample I am essentially losing money on samples. This might seem ridiculous – I’m paying about the exact same price as the samples, but the point of these beauty subscriptions is to try out luxury samples at a low price. A typical subscription has about $50-$70 worth of products for $10-$20. You can see where the frustration lies.

I think this may have turned into a bit of an essay, and I apologize for the rant. I pay for these subscriptions myself; they aren’t given to me to review, and I like to be honest with you. If I like a product or company I’ll tell you so because I want to share their awesome-ness with you! This month I’m just not feeling it with Glymm. I have requested to cancel my subscription for Glymm, but I’ve already paid for the February box so I’ll still be getting that. Also, their website says that you must give at least 48 hours notice to cancel and since their next billing date (for the March box!) is on the 30th, I may not have cancelled in time. I’m curious to see what the next 1-2 months bring in the products.

What did you think of the January Glymm bag? Have you ever been disappointed in a subscription before?