A Year of Look Incredible Boxes

Data geeks rejoice, I’m back with more beauty related charts. I’ve been signed up to Look Incredible for a year now – and thought after 12 boxes it would be a perfect time to round up my thoughts on the subscription.

For those who aren’t aware, Look Incredible is a slightly more premium monthly beauty box subscription. Coming in at £18.99 (exc delivery), but it comes with the promise of 5 full size item each month. Unlike lots of other boxes now-a-days, from what I’ve seen in reviews everyone receives the same items each month, if there’s a lipstick there might be a variation of shades but not the actual product lineup itself. I’ve never felt hard done by, when looking at other people’s reviews which is good, in the past when I’d been subbed to Birchbox for example comparing other people’s boxes where there’s 12 different products and multiple variations each month I never felt like I ended up with my ‘perfect box’ someone else’s was always more my cup of tea.

The box is billed at the start of each month and normally seems to arrive on the second Friday of the month. Delivery is via royal mail and as of yet they just ship to the UK (sorry I know lot’s of my international readers constantly have their eye on this subscription from me, sad to report that yes it is still UK only for now!) (UPDATE THEY DO SHIP INTERNATIONALLY NOW, SHIPPING IS A LITTLE PRICEY, but still might be worth a look! They swap out any products like Nail Varnish which they can not send via Royal Mail). The box whilst it’s never been declared as so has tended to come with mostly makeup items, if you have skin that’s sensitive to skincare or hate trying haircare it’s not a box that’s dominated by these things at all. In general the boxes on average seem to be worth in the region of £60-£75 sometimes I beg to differ on the individual RRP price of items listed, for example labelling an out of trend OPI shatter polish as worth £10, which I’ve regularly seen in Poundland, feels a bit insulting – however instances of this are few and far between and usually the boxes offer great value for me and the best I’ve come across.

Deluxe Box is White with Red Bow, Standard Box is black and gold (more deluxe?) with a beige bow
Deluxe Box is White with Red Bow, Standard Box is black and gold (more deluxe?) with a beige bow

I do think the last 6 months of the year I’ve found myself less excited about the products and brands that are in the boxes. That ties in when they launched their more premier ‘Deluxe’ box – where in general the brands seem to be more in line in my opinion to what I signed up for in the first box. That comes with a catch, the regular version of the box is £21.49 including delivery – the deluxe version is £35.00 including delivery. That’s a lot of money to spend on a box each month, it’s the same amount of products – same premise and often they’re total value price points haven’t been that different to one another.

August’s Look Incredible Box

This has been the first month that I’ve tried both boxes, however I’ve been carefully keeping an eye on it’s contents each month on Which Beauty Box’s Blog. To be honest the only reason I’ve signed up for the deluxe version was for comparison in this post. But otherwise I’ve not actually felt compelled enough that they’re worth another £15 IMO. The Deluxe version I’ve noticed is also guilty of using discontinued products with a full price tag – recently they included the Too Faced Cat Eyes Palette with a retail value in the £30 region – when I’ve spotted it in many TK Maxx’s for £12.99. It’s not necessarily a sticking point for me as I don’t really mind as long as I feel like it’s good value overall and I’m excited by over half of the products in the box, but I thought that it is worth noting.

Some of the contents of January's Deluxe Box
Some of the contents of January’s Deluxe Box

This month I’ve felt much happier with the contents of the ‘regular’ boxes contents than I have for a few months, this time it has 5 products I’m excited to try, for the past few months it’s been 2-3. Overall I did prefer the deluxe box this month, however it did contain a real gem – the Too Faced Soul Mates bronzing blush that I’ve wanted to get my hands on for a while.


I decided to do a few charts as the last time I put them in the post, it turned out other people were as data geeky as me. These charts are based on the 12 regular subscriptions I received – I discluded the one deluxe box.

Number of Products by Type

look-incredible-type-of-content

Type of Makeup Product

look-incredible-types-of-makeup

Number of Times Brand has Appeared

look-incredible-brands

One thing I had noticed over the course of keeping an eye on the deluxe box was that the total value wasn’t that much higher considering the cost of the box is a fair whack more. Here’s January’s box as an example.

look-incredible-deluxe-vs-standard-box-values


Pros of Look Incredible

  • Full size products, there’s no foil packets of ridiculously expensive creams you’re never going to buy that pumps up the total value of the box (I’m looking at you Birchbox!)
  • High end brands, I’m not sure how they get their hands on the brands in the box, but you rarely see many of the brands included in other beauty boxes
  • Great ROI – whilst the box is more expensive, the value you get back is great
  • Most of the products I’ve tried, I’ve not only liked – I’ve loved, the product selection is excellent
  • More makeup focussed – if you have sensitive skin when it comes to skincare you won’t be left with half a box each time you probably can’t use
  • No box variations – you don’t feel like you’ve drawn the short straw as everyone else has the same
  • Good colours – rarely have I ended up with a colour that’s just odd, I remember receiving an illamasqua eyeliner in a glossybox before and it was orange. Everything is in the ‘normal’ colour spectrum.

Cons of Look Incredible

  • They don’t always cycle the products well, some months you can get 2 lip products or 2 cheek products in the same box, or you can end up with 2 mascaras one box after the other
  • More expensive than other boxes – whilst I think it’s excellent value if you don’t want to spend £21 (or more!) on a box then it’s not a cheap option.
  • Dislike the packaging/branding, small point but I don’t think the bows match the packaging.

My Favourite Item to arrive in the box - bareMinerals The Soundtrack Quad
My Favourite Item to arrive in the box – bareMinerals The Soundtrack Quad

I’ve decided to try one more month of both boxes before making a final decision on which to continue with, as I do only want to be subscribed to one or the other.

What do you think of Look Incredible?

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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22 Comments

  1. January 20, 2017 / 1:59 pm

    so WISH we could get this box Miss R !!!!!!!!!!!
    SERIOUSLY xo <3
    Have a great weekend xo

    • January 20, 2017 / 2:09 pm

      I’m sorry! I feel guilty sharing it when so many people can’t get their hands on it – but equally it’s so good have to shout it from the rooftops!
      Have a good weekend gorgeous xx

      • January 20, 2017 / 3:41 pm

        XOXOXOXO lol ….
        no Guit xo
        YEAH i am with u – shout all the Good stuff out xoxoxxo

  2. January 20, 2017 / 2:35 pm

    Boooo… UK only. I stopped reading after that sentence! 😛 😉

    …but you make a good point about discontinued products that you can find discounted. It’s not a true value that they’re claiming.
    And ooooh CHARTS! 😀 I love that makeup is the highest portion of products. And the brand breakdown is aces!
    It was through this box that you found the bareMinerals The Soundtrack Quad, which is a.worth it for that alone!
    Again, boooo that this is UK only. >:(

    • January 20, 2017 / 4:53 pm

      Yeah it can definitely be misleading – that’s why most of the time I don’t even bother list what their value is! I only did this month for the purposes of comparing and this end post!
      I got another BM Quad in TK Maxx today – I have them to thank for introducing me to Bareminerals at least, it’s a brand I was never interested in!
      I also like it because it’s such a makeup heavy box, I like trying out new makeup – but don’t like ending up with a pile of bulky skincare I try to use one thing til it’s done now-a-days on skincare!

  3. January 20, 2017 / 2:42 pm

    Great post….interesting the differences for paying so much more a month…I’d be inclined to buy the cheaper one on the basis of the discontinued products alone! I’ve still not found a subscription box I’m tempted enough by to sign up :/ Birchbox was my last one and by the end of my year i wasn’t impressed :/ Great informative post though!!! 🙂 xx

    • January 20, 2017 / 4:50 pm

      Yep I know what you mean – that’s why I’ve not caved to the deluxe box before – the proportionate value isn’t the same as one for the other… I think without having the lower priced box to compare it’s actually good. But it does feel like a bit of a raw end of the deal when you compare one against the other!
      Euch Birchbox – really bad value for money I thought, I was only subbed for about 4/5 months but the samples are so small – I’d rather spend the extra on the regular version of this and get full sizes!

      • January 20, 2017 / 4:52 pm

        I wouldn’t sub to Bb again….too many duplicates and too many things not suitable for my skin type 😏 x

  4. Lana
    January 21, 2017 / 3:41 am

    Great post as usual) I love your blog so much) good news- they do ship to United States , I did contact their customer service couple months ago. There gonna be slight variations since they won’t ship nail polish.BUT…the shipping to USA is really pricy almost the price of the box(((

    • January 21, 2017 / 12:19 pm

      Oh yikes! Not surprised though last time I sent something to Canada in UK mail it was £9 and that was a tiny and light package in comparison! Funny they don’t really advertise it on their website – I couldn’t find anywhere where it said international shipping on the boxes!

  5. Valerie Nguyen
    January 21, 2017 / 7:23 am

    This subscription box looks amazing!! I can’t wait to see more of these posts. x

  6. Lydia Nikolova
    April 8, 2017 / 7:51 pm

    Hello Rachel,
    First of all i would like to thank you for your blog, especially for the Look incredible Beauty Box reviews. I was not sure whether to subscribe for it, but after i reviewed all your post and pictures that helped me lot. I was searching for a box that includes mainly makeup, and also LOOOOVVVEEEE Bare Minerals. So this boxes seem to be everything i wish, even with the repeated products – i can always give them away to my friends and relatives. Also all the other brands represented in the boxes are amazing i have heard almost all of them, but not have the chance to try, as not all are sold in my country.

    Sooooo, i live in Bulgaria, and it seems that they ship internationally, just the shipping cost more – 9.99 GBP, and also I found this information on the site in the FAQ section :

    “……………Do you ship to my country?

    We already ship to many international countries and may be able to ship to your country too. If your country is not currently listed in our list of shipping destination, please email us and let us know where you would like us to deliver to.

    International shipping

    Most items can be sent internationally to a wide range of countries. Unfortunately there are some restrictions that prevent us from sending some items internationally. These items include nail polishes and fragrances.

    This also affects our Beauty Box which means boxes sent outside the UK will have replacement items to make up for items that cannot be send internationally…….”

    I already paid for my April box yesterday, and hope it will arrive safely to Bulgaria. But if you like, i can message you, in case of any difficulties, or opposite if the box arrive safely, just to let you know if they finally ship or do not ship internationally.

    I would like to ask you something – do you know when Look incredible has started with the boxes in general – i mean which is the first box ever? I am asking as there is not much information for them over the internet in general, and at the same time their boxes are much better than the boxes of the others who send only samples and travel sizes, and they include only the best brands. Which looks little weird to me – how a such a site, and such boxes are not popular, compared to the others, who have thousands of reviews on youtube. Also the products that are for sale on the site are not a lot they have only by few of some brands.

    I mean is the site reliable?

    Sorry my post is too long.

    Regards

    Lydia

    • April 9, 2017 / 12:17 am

      Hi Lydia, I’ve been paying for my boxes for over a year now and can confirm they are reliable. I’m always confused as to why more people are not talking about them, however in one way I’m kind of glad often when boxes grow in subscriber size sees a slide in quality of products, I’ve seen the same things happen with Glossybox and Love Me Beauty in particular. I hope that it arrives in Bulgaria safely and doesn’t take too long!
      I’m unusure of when their first box was, I stumbled across them by accident in January last year and have been subbed since, they felt a very new box then but I have no idea!
      Rachael

      • Lydia Nikolova
        April 9, 2017 / 8:16 am

        Thank you so much Rachel! 🙂 Well that explains everything. 🙂 Feel much more secure now 🙂 Looking forward to my box and to see what is inside, as the nail polishes wich are always there should be replaced. Hopefully will enjoy the products.

        • April 9, 2017 / 9:45 am

          To be honest most of the time I would rather not receive the nail vanishes as they’re usually from brands such as ciate and nails inc which I don’t get on with, so I’ll be intigued to hear what your replacements are for these items!

  7. Lydia Nikolova
    April 9, 2017 / 9:19 pm

    ok, will let you know :))

  8. Pingback: Look Incredible May 2017 Unboxing – Helpless Whilst Drying

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