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My love of samples dates back decades. When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, I would accompany my dad to Sam’s Club on Saturday afternoons, an outing that was mostly about buying bulk packs of toilet paper and ogling the massive meat freezers. But by far the best part of that father-daughter adventure was cruising through the food aisles and sampling whatever wares happened to be on display that day. Sometimes it was mini cups of smoothies; other times bite-sized burgers and tiny sesame pancakes. These snacks were adorable! They were tasty! But mostly, they were miniature, a fact that revealed to me that sometimes excellent things come in small packages.
Fast-forward to now. I still love a sample, though I’m less compelled by the edible varieties than I am beauty products. Single-use lipsticks in little square foil pouches? Be mine. Fancy serums and antiaging creams I’d never actually buy but am happy to test out for the heck of it? I’m hoarding a bunch in a zip-lock in my bathroom at this very moment. OK, several zip-locks. A girl can never have too many packets of free Fekkai shampoo and conditioner duos, right?
The only thing is: With these kinds of treasures, you can’t always just head to your local box store and get a fix. You have to wait for them to avail themselves to you, sometimes as extras that get sent along with full-size product purchases, sometimes stuck to postcards inside the pages of magazines, sometimes as gifts from a beauty editor goddess friend. You can’t go out and find them. You have to let them find you. (At this point it bears mentioning: I am not an especially patient person.)
If you can relate to any of this, then let me introduce you to a small miracle. Amazon Samples, a newish but not widely known about service that allows you to order a box of tiny, try-it-out treats as a Prime member, is making my sample collecting habits a little easier these days. Not long ago, when I came across the collection page, I was delighted to discover the women’s luxury beauty box, which comes with products like Vichy serums and Mario Badescu's best-selling potions. There are a couple different varieties of this particular box, and all of them contain a healthy smattering of stuff that you’ve either tried and loved or have been angling to get your hands on. Think: High-end sun care, scrubs, lotions, antiaging treatments, face wipes, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
It’s not just women’s personal care items either. There’s a box for men’s grooming supplies too, and one for pet treats; there’s a box for on-the-go snacks and workout fuel (Gatorade and Optimum Nutrition are both on the list of boxes you can order). And while yes, technically these aren’t free samples—some cost under $10 while others go up to $20—whatever you spend is credited toward the purchase of a full-sized version of a product in your box.
If you’re thinking that it sounds a lot like Birchbox…well, you’re right. Subscription boxes have turned into a major trend over the last decade, and it’s not exactly surprising that Amazon would want to get in on the game. But while a once-a-month beauty box is great, so is being able to order samples whenever you want, targeted to whatever your heart desires. In summary: What could be more convenient than that?
Shop the sample boxes below:
Shop It: Women's Skin and Hair Care Sample Box, $10, amazon.com
Shop It: Luxury Skin Care Sample Box, $20, amazon.com
Shop It: Women's Luxury Sun Care Sample Box, $15, amazon.com
Shop It: Luxury Women's Beauty Box, $20, amazon.com
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