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Essence Beauty Box Subscription Review – September 2016

Celicia Gantz
ByCelicia GantzSep 26, 2016 | 31 comments

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Essence Beauty Box
3 overall rating
12 Ratings | 0 Reviews

Essence Beauty Box is a beauty subscription service geared for Women of Color (WOC). Each month, the Essence Magazine beauty team puts together a box to give you the opportunity to discover brand new products and Essence’s staple favorites.  

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My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

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The Subscription Box: Essence Beauty Box

FYI - This is the last box from Essence Beauty Box - the subscription has ended.

The Cost: $15.00

The Products:  A variety of hair care, beauty, and lifestyle products

Ships to: US only

Good to know: You can still purchase past boxes for $10 (while supplies last)!

Check out all of our Essence Beauty Box Reviews and the Women of Color Subscription Box Directory!

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September will be the last BeautyBox from Essence. This card advises subscribers that the they have included a brush set and how pre-paid subscriptions will refunded. For further assistance, contact customer service.

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This month the theme is “Runway Ready”. The EBB team provided a product card detailing every item we received for the month. It says summer is ending and to remember to give our beauty routine a seasonal shift. They have included products to revive our hair, skin and nails!

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Beauty Pouch with 4-piece Brush Set - Value: $10.00?

This is the bonus item for all subscribers. It’s really cute! I already have a small beauty pouch in my purse, I pulled the brushes and I’m using this to store the highlighters and pens I keep in my purse for notes. I love it.

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Zoya - Nail Polish in Rue - Value: $10.00

Simply beautiful! Rue is described as a nude, cool pink. It pairs well with other nudes and can be worn under glitter polishes or clear nail wraps for effects.

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KeraCare - Silken Seal Liquid Sheen 1oz - Value: $5.25

Spray this protectant on freshly washed hair before heat application. The formula is non-greasy but provides a nice sheen and allows hair to retain moisture. I like the soft scent, it reminds me of baby oil. We rarely use heat to dry our hair, so I will pass this along to a friend.

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Black Radiance - Body Building Mascara - Value: $1.50

I love getting mascaras in subscription boxes. It helps me to remember to toss ones that have been in use for a while. I’m still working on a few others so I didn’t open this one yet. It says to apply one coat for a natural look, and to apply two coats of mascara for thickness.

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Boscia - Cool Blue Calming Mask - Value: $2.50

I’ve been able to try just a handful of Boscia products thanks to Sephora samples. I haven’t found anything that I’m in love with, maybe this peel-off mask will be the one. It’s made with fine ingredients to cool the skin and calm inflammation.

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Cutex - Advanced Revival Nail Polish Remover Pads 3ea - Value: $1.50

I love using polish remover pads. They are practically mess free and so convenient. Cutex isn’t my top choice for removers anymore because Abigail is sensitive to the acetone. But I don’t mind using it on myself when she’s not around. One pad removes all the polish on a pair of hands or toes! I’m taking these to store at my desk at work.

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Cougar Beauty Products by Paula Dunne - Face and Body Highlighter & Shimmer 0.18oz - Value: $31.68

Cougar Beauty Products is a mineral makeup company based in the UK. Their website says you can lightly dust their highlighter/glitter from head to toe for just the glow. I used very little product for my swatch and unfortunately I could see that my skin was casted off white/gray underneath. It was hard to photograph correctly with the lights. Against my skin tone, in person you would have thought I mixed a tiny bit of baby powder with the highlighter to get that effect.  I will definitely pass this along to a friend.  It’s very beautiful though! 

Here's a closer look at my swatches:

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Verdict: This September, Essence Beauty Box had an estimated retail value of over $62.00! I’m so glad EBB finished the subscription with a great value. Personally, this was not my favorite box from this subscription. My favorite products with month are the nail polish and the brush set. I will miss the curation and discovering even more beauty brands.

What did you think of the last Essence Beauty Box?

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Each box includes Sample or trial sizes of five hair and beauty products. More from Essence: The ESSENCE® BeautyBox is a service to help women of color discover beauty products. We understand the challenges and frustrations in finding a variety of products for our shades and skin tones, identify... read more.
Celicia Gantz
Celicia Gantz
Celicia was introduced to both The Honest Company and CurlKit in March 2013 and has been addicted to subscription boxes ever since. Always on the hunt for the undiscovered family staple, she loves trying new skincare, natural hair care, makeup, and finding delicious snacks with hidden veggies for her kids (and Hubby too). Favorite finds: Body Oil, Stuffed Animals, Books, non-GMO Tortilla Chips and Perfume Samples.

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31 comments

Michele

I ordered 2 of the BaeCation boxes only to receive an email a couple of weeks later that they are on back order. How are they on back order if they no longer are offering a subscription service and that was a clearance sale. The phone number in the email I received is for their magazine subscription service. The woman there transferred me to a different number but that rep could tell me nothing. She took my name, number, and order number and promised someone would call me back…it’s been a week ?

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Janis

I haven’t gotten any of mine either. Received a confirmation of the order and then recdived an email on the 4th of October saying they were shipped, but still haven’t gotten anything. I ordered two of the boxes. I see they no longer have any active links regarding their boxes. Might have to dispute the charges on my credit card.

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Suni

Has anyone else been duped? I ordered two boxes. April’s box was out of stock, so they mailed out the October’s one first, but it’s been over a month now. I emailed them and have yet to receive a reply. It’s “only $10,” but how many $10’s have they taken from all of us?

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Jaime

I ordered December and July. I received July but they sent me October instead of December. I don’t think they’re answering emails. I messaged them a month ago about my charges and never got an answer.

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Suni

It looks like they’re screwing everyone!

Dharshika

Hi, has anyone else received their close out boxes as yet? I got an email on 09/27 to say that my box has shipped but I still haven’t received it. There was no tracking either. Is there any way to find out if these boxes are really coming to us?

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Jaime

Correction: they did get my order wrong. They sent me October instead of December. WTH?! Maybe they figure it doesn’t matter if they are seen in negative light since they’re ending their subscriptions anyhow. ?

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Luna

My back-ordered boxes were December, January and February. I received an email on 10/10 stating they’ve all been shipped. My cc was charged for those three yesterday. Yesterday, I received the February box, but not December or January. I’m hoping they’ll be delivered today. If not, I’ll give it a week or so before I contact them. Good luck with your boxes!!! 🙂

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Jaime

I received mine today. My order was correct.

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Janet

I received mine today…March, April and August boxes. However, they messed up…I ordered 1 each of March ad April, and 2 of August. They charged me for all 4, but I was sent only 3 boxes…one of each. (And, my packing slip says there are 4 boxes in the package, but there are only 3.) So now I have to attempt to either get the box sent or a refund. Wish me luck…last time I contacted them about an issue it took 2 weeks for a response…

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Len

2 weeks and still nothing? Wow..

If you don’t mind me asking, which boxes did you order?

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Len

So I just got the 3 that I ordered…Oct, Jan, and April.

The only issue that I had was that serum in the April box was open.

Jaime

Essence is messing with the charges on my account. I was charged for the close out boxes I ordered then the charge disappeared. I saw charge was again listed on my account so I transferred funds to cover it and now it’s gone again. Anyone else having this issue? I wish I hadn’t ordered any in the first place if it’s going to be this much of a hassle.

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Len

Yep…Was originally charged but then the charges disappeared. Yesterday, I emailed cust service to find out if my ordered was canceled and didn’t receive a response. However, I received a shipping confirmation via email today. No charges yet. I’m sure they will appear soon.

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Kendra

For anyone waiting on the close out boxes I did receive the festival box yesterday. No shipping info came i just got it. On the invoice it said the April box is back ordered.

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Jackie

Thank you for your post. I ordered some April boxes which never arrived. After I read your comment, I ordered some festival boxes in addition -in case the April ones never arrive. Just received an email saying the Festival boxes have shipped. 🙂

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Kiki H

Really sad to see this go because it was one of the few boxes that actually have hair products that work for my natural hair. Also I used the brush pouch for the same thing lol it now stores my favorite PenGems

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AmyM

I’m sorry to see this box go; it was on my list to try and I just never made it. Perhaps, as someone else said, they’re going to do some reworking and come back even better.

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Teresa

What’s up with the coupon? I thought the box was being cancelled.

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Layla

How is the coupon used

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Layla

ok, I see writer removed coupon after I posted this

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Mary K

I didn’t care for this box. I already got the same Zoya shade (which i hate) and the brush case from past People Magazine VIP boxes (Essence and People are owned by same company, so they probably borrowed from the same pool of freebies), I got a different hair product which leaked in the box and that shimmer powder is a repeat from Boxycharm. So it felt like a box of leftovers to me. Still sorry to see EBB go, even if their clearance sale was a bit of a clusterf**k. 😀

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Emily

Is it possible to order this specific box? I want everything in it. I cancelled after August bc I wasn’t impressed with that month, and now I’m regretting it because September has everything I was hoping August would have.

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Teresa

I asked a week or so ago and was told it was sold out. I would have like this box.

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Bonnie

I wish this wasn’t discontinued. It was one of those I was seriously considering, because even though I am not African-American, it looked like a box that would work for me. (I have thick, coarse, curly hair and golden tan skin). The products and colors appealed to me, like those marketed for WOC often do. Since discovering this site about 2 months ago, I went from 3 subs to 7 and I only see it going up 😛

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Amber P

I keep wondering if they’re going through a rebranding and not necessarily closing up shop for good. I know in reading through the reviews for this over the past several months a lot of people mentioned that while this box is targeted towards WOC that it’s actually a great box for any woman. Maybe they’re stepping back and working on trying to market something towards all women?

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tam

I really like the nail polish remover wipes and will purchase more. I also like the brush set. I will miss this box. I hate that I didn’t receive the two past boxes that I ordered due to a shortage of products. I will miss EBB. 🙁

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Kira

I ordered the past boxes a few weeks ago and they haven’t shipped yet. Are they always late with shipping orders? I wasn’t a regular subscriber, but I like the chouse of items.

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Laura

Not sure regarding your question but I emailed them on facebook and am still waiting to hear back on my order. I emailed them on Monday afternoon and got a response from them on Thursday asking for more information to look up my order. I quickly wrote back but haven’t heard from them since so they seem to be really slow in responding back as well as shipping.

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Teresa

I loved this box so much.

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Sharron

I will definitely miss this subscription box. At least I had 3 months to enjoy it.

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