Changes Are Coming To My Luxe Box

Last night my plans to write up a product review were derailed when I learned that Loose Button was changing the Luxe Box format. As someone with a Luxe Box subscription that doesn’t expire until December, this sudden overhaul naturally concerned me.

Prior to yesterday, Luxe Box was a “…exciting service that delivers 4-5 deluxe-sized beauty products to your doorstep every month.” But now it's a quarterly service that will ship its subscribers, “…7-8 trial-sized beauty and lifestyle items every 3 months.”

There’s also the promise of “…invitations to private events, early access to product launches, special offers and more” and exclusive content, such as “… beauty tips and tutorials”  (free shipping, which was part of the monthly program, remains in place).

The quarterly box isn’t a new option or something that current subscribers like me can switch over to once our monthly subscription is done. Nope, June will be the last month for the monthly boxes and then only the new “seasonal” boxes will be available. Understandably this sudden change has pissed quite a few people off.

Now, I and other subscribers do have a few options. Those who have pre-paid for a set amount of time (like me) have had the remaining dollar value of our subscriptions turned into credits. We can either cash those credits out (a fact that’s not too obviously stated) or put them towards one of the new quarterly box plans. If you go with cashing them out, you’ll also receive a monthly box for June, since that’s already been paid for.

But if you choose to roll your credits over, you’ll receive the first seasonal box (due in August) for free, instead of the $26 that Loose Button is charging for it.

I have $50 in credit, which would let me purchase the semi-annual plan (it costs $50 exactly) and give me two more seasonal boxes (one in November and one in February).  I am looking carefully at this option since it gives me the most bang for my buck: Three seasonal boxes for the cost of $50.

Loose Button posted this image last week on FB

But here’s what concerns me. First, we’re going from a monthly box that cost $12 and contained four-five items to a quarterly box that costs $26 and contains seven-eight dollars, so you’re paying more for less.

Second, Loose Button has changed how they describe a Luxe Box. It’s now something that will contain, “…trial-sized beauty and lifestyle items...”. “Lifestyle” makes me think that they are expanding these boxes beyond beauty products (something that the owners have already talked about doing) and really, I’m OK with the idea of getting one non-beauty product item in my box. But I still want the focus of my box to be on beauty because that's what interests me the most.

I’m also concerned about replacing “deluxe-sized” with “trial-sized.” I know that Loose Button has gotten a lot of grief about their use of “deluxe-sized” size and I realize that they probably changed their wording in hopes of reducing some of that grief but if I’m paying $25 for a box, I want deluxe-sized samples (at least), not “trial-sized” ones, a phrase that I think is open to quite a bit of interpretation.

And finally, I just don’t like how quickly this all went down. OK, maybe Loose Button did only decide to switch formats a few weeks ago but it just all seems a bit fast and a bit messy.

I know that I could quit and get my cash back, as well as one last box, but that does nothing to help me with the fact that I like getting a monthly Luxe Box. I did look into some other similar companies but the only one I would consider signing up for is Top Box and it has a waiting list.

So yeah, I think I am going to roll my credit over to the semi-annual plan, even though I’m not impressed with Loose Button, and just hope for the best.

Here’s to hoping that they surprise me.