Beauty DNA Subscription Box Review – December 2014

I’ve been a member for 5 months and have received the following (with quick review):
Dr. Jules anti aging cream $40 – quite lovely, Phyto hair mask $38 and a huge let down on all levels, Drunk Elephant Vitamin C serum $80 which I LOVE, Hydropeptide Eye Authority $74 another big hit and new LOVE and June Jacobs Anti-Blemish Wash $48 – very blah/meh.

It’s been pretty good to me so far and I love the element of surprise. Knowing that the products are full size and high end, I think I’ll keep this sub in hopes of discovering new brands and products like Hyrdopeptide and Drunk Elephant.

I recently subscribed to Beauty DNA and I’ve received two boxes so far.

In the first one I received Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum and I have fallen in love with it! It’s such a great product and one I never would have found on my own! So, score on box number one!

I just got my second box last week and it was a little more of a let down, as far as discovering a new product. I received the Moroccan Oil Restorative hair mask (I think the retail was $36-38?). I’m definitely familiar with their products and have a few of them at home. I like the brand and it is a pricier hair line, but it wasn’t anything new. I was really hoping for something that was more high end (Divine, Serge, etc)

I’m super hopeful that this sub will be really curated to the individual profiles, as this is how I understood it from the get go! I’m sad to see that several people have had not so great experiences with them, though.

I would be pretty irritated if all I got was a bottle of conditioner barely worth more than the cost of the sub. I guess I got lucky during my 6 months as a subscriber. I always received a variety of high end items in different categories each month (no hair products because I opted out of the whole category). I think my lowest value month was valued at $80 and had 2 full size items. The rest of the time I received premium brand products including Kate Sommerville, Coola, Juara, and Juice Beauty. For a sub from a major corporation it looks like a sub being operated out of someone’s garage based on all of the negative feedback. I hate when a sub I’ve enjoyed starts slipping like this. I was just about to resub but I’m having definite second thoughts.

When I first joined BeautyDNA after seeing all your reviews of awesome products like Drunk Elephant Night Serum, Rose Arctica lightweight cream, Coola SPF 30 liplux and Coola Classic sunscreen SPF45, Juara mask and cleanser I was hopeful for this subscription. In my first (4) months of the membership I received 3 serums for my face one for night and two for anytime and I did receive one Phyto hair mask which smelled great but left my hair with a waxy residue if I used more than a quarter size amount and I had to use it only on my ends. I had the same rep you have on your cards Jennifer Chandler and I had to reach out to her more than once about receiving so many serums back to back when I remember the reason I signed up was because they were to rotate products between body, hair and face. Jennifer Chandler tried to explain how their matrix works and IT IS NOT based on rotating products but based on what your profile says you need the most. After going back and forth with Jennifer I told her I had marked on my profile that my skin and hair are very dry and I didn’t understand why I wasn’t receiving anything for that. Next item I received was a AHAVA dry oil body mist which I loved. The following month received the exact same item. Reach out to Jennifer again and of course she apologized and went to search for another item for me and it was an AHAVA eye cream which I was pleased with (AT least it wasn’t another serum). I told her I don’t understand why they send me so many serums as I can’t use this many and as to why they aren’t rotating facial products and again Jennifer Chandler said it is because of my profile. I changed my profile so many times and was not receiving a mix of items and I received duplicates twice with this subscription. I got fed up with never receiving hair items and basically having to tell my beauty consultant what items I wanted next. I also selected on my profile organic, natural formulations (which they do say is very limited) but I was hopeful from seeing the items Liz Cadman received ie: drunk elephant and Kiehls and Juara products. I NEVER received any of the more natural products like what Liz received and Jennifer Chandler just ignored my question about that. When I went to cancel my subscription I was looking around on the site trying to find where I read items would be rotated and low and behold it was on the site.
“Will I ever get the same product twice?
BeautyDNA is designed so that you never get the same product twice. Additionally, we never deliver products from any of our core categories (Skin, Hair, Body) in consecutive months. Taking it one step further, the system is built so that subscribers do not receive a product type (i.e. shampoo, conditioner) more than once over the course of a year.”

I was beyond pissed about how I was lied to by Jennifer Chandler and reached out to their main email for correspondence and this is what my email said:
Good afternoon, I’m emailing about the following description of your subscription box. I was very much looking forward to receiving items in each of your categories every 3 months. I have been subscribed for over 5 months now and it appears I keep receiving 95% skincare products instead of what your site promotes “BeautyDNA is designed so that you never get the same product twice. Additionally, we never deliver products from any of our core categories (Skin, Hair, Body) in consecutive months. Taking it one step further, the system is built so that subscribers do not receive a product type (i.e. shampoo, conditioner) more than once over the course of a year.” I have not only received skincare items consecutively but I have received duplicates twice. I have expressed concern over this to my contact [email protected] and of course she does her best to send out replacements but she also told me that your program does not follow the policy of -> “we never deliver products from any of our core categories (Skin, Hair, Body) in consecutive months” instead she did her best to explain that your program follows what it determines will be the most important for you based on the users profile. I told her I signed up because I wanted items from each category and the item being full size. Even if that was true my profile says my hair is in drastic need of moisture and has very bad split ends from heat styling and highlights but I have only received one hair product in 6 months and the only reason I received a body care item was because I requested it after being sent another facial serum two months in a row. That body care item is the only one I have receive in that category also. I religiously follow MySubscription Addiction and I notice that she receives many brands (Drunk Elephant, Skynn Iceland, etc) that are great organic/natural brands which I have selected on my profile but I keep receiving products that have tons of harsh chemicals and fall far from the organic or natural category (I did notice on the profile it says organic/natural items are limited but I’m sure if you look up organic skincare you will find thousands of companies opening to this trend every month). Does your company send out superior products to those reviewing them as to normal consumers? And why does your company not honor the policy of no core categories in consecutive months. There are many subscription services that send out skin care but I signed up for your company to have a rotation of products. I would appreciate a follow up from someone who is an integral part of this company.

and of course my email was forwarded straight to Jennifer Chandler. Who said I’m sorry you are unhappy with your selections and I will forward this email to the appropriate person. I was so irritated I told her to cancel my subscription and she did without even trying to keep a loyal customer. I never heard back from anyone higher up within this company. The customer service and professionalism with this company is a joke.

I’ve had incredible luck with this subscription. I usually receive the high value item. I’ve only had one box that was not a match, in the summer months they sent sunscreen with an spf 30, which is way too low for me. But usually I’m getting great skincare items.

I received my first product last week. I’m pretty thrilled. I received the Epicuren Bio Peptide Complex Serum. It’s listed at $114 on the card, but I’ve found it for $98 online, and Amazon has it for $82. It matched my profile spot on. I had initially planned to only subscribe for one month, but, based on this month, I may stick around for a few months.

I’ve have some issues here and there with shipping but have LOVED about 90% of the products! This month I received a super moisturizing face lotion that retails for $110. While high retail values are great, it is null and void if I dont like the item and i LOVE this lotion. It may be a bad thing because it’s too expensive for me to purchase regularly!

my value this month wasn’t too great either ($35) but it seems some people got super high value items. perhaps they take turns with the value or something.

I’ve had fantastic luck with Beauty DNA. Although I cancelled by sub (too many products to work through), they really wowed me with a $130 serum for my January box. The one time got a lower priced match, I was given a bonus item. I definitely would have assumed a match like this would have received one, as well.

Conditioner…but no shampoo? That’s just crummy. They kinda go together!

I had the same thing happen one month too I realized I never got a box but when I checked my cc I wasn’t charged either. I ended up canceling because I kept getting lower value items (like $35). If I’m getting that value I’d rather spend $35 in the store getting something I know I want.

After this being one of my favorite subscriptions the last couple months have been misses for me also. I did receive a body wash and a shampoo this month but really felt I could have gotten the same deal myself. Last month I got a toothbrush with toothpaste and a whitening additive. It all had fluoride a chemical I try to avoid. I am going to give it one more month and cancel if they don’t get back on track.

This seems like a silly subscription….pay $25 for them to figure out what you like and send you something for the same price? Why not just go and spend $25 on yourself?

I LOVE this subscription but I’ve been having issues with them. First, I never got a November box. When I contacted them, they took a long time to reply (at least 48 hours for the first one) letting me know they had some matching issue and they would have their IT team look into it. I contacted them again 5 days later because I had heard nothing and they said they manually matched me and I would be getting a November box. Well, lo and behold, I got a December box but no November box. Now, I wasn’t charged for November, so I just chalked it up to a missed month. No big deal but now it’s the 27th of January… no charge and no box. I really hate this because this is one of my fave subscription boxes that I’ve tried because I’ve received some really good items at a really good price and even ended up spending $80 on full size products once my product from this box ran out! I found my HG shampoo and conditioner from this box. Totally sad they don’t have good CS and don’t have control of their own system (I heard this happened to someone else too on the MUT forums).

I received the exact same item as Liz the Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Conditioner and last month I received the matching shampoo. I had been getting high value boxes but the last two month the product was worth less then I paid for the box. Maybe time to cancel.

That’s really disappointing! I got a Phyto hair mask worth $39, which I would never spend myself, but glad I got to try it for $25.

If I were you, I’d email the address on the card and ask what’s up. It’s not cool that they claimed a value higher than it was.