Oprah Circle of Friends Subscription Try & Keep Review #2
The Oprah Magazine Circle of Friends Premier subscription comes with perks including a luxury beauty box, a surprise gift, and the opportunity to try and keep products, so I had to sign up!
Here’s a breakdown of the subscription perk options:
The first perk I’ve received was the Luxury Beauty Box, the second was the O-list surprise item, the third was my first of two test and keep items, a bonus item, and the most recent shipment was a Test & Keep GlossyBox. I thought that was it for my subscription, but I received another Test & Keep package today.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The test and keep item comes with a card asking you to enter your feedback on the Circle of Friends site.
Here is my test and keep product:
Vaseline Intensive Care Healing Serum – Value $8
Vaseline Lip Therapy in Rosy Lips – Value $2
This intensive care healing serum is designed to be a very moisturizing lotion. It is way too fragrant for me though – I just tried out a little bit on my hand, and the rose/amber scent is overwhelming me!
The lip therapy is also rose scented – the scent is not nearly as strong as the lotion though. It gives a good hint of color and shine.
Verdict: I’m at a point where I don’t know what to make of the Oprah Circle of Friends subscription. At this point they’ve sent me more packages than I was expecting, but the brands and items included haven’t been up to par with what I’ve come to expect from Oprah magazine and how this subscription was advertised. I still don’t recommend signing up for this one.
What do you think of the Oprah Circle of Friends subscription?
Written by Liz Cadman
Thank you for providing this forum!! I’m a longtime Oprah fan and I almost bought these for my sisters. Thought I’d do a quick search first….
I canceled this subscription box last April and received verification in writing, so I thought I was all set. This month, my credit card was charged $199.00 and when I contacted O’s Circle of Friends, I was told it would take “several weeks” to remove the charge. Be sure to check your debit/credit card statements if you think you have canceled this box.
Joined O’s Circle of Friends in May 2017. Received a welcome e-mail and started getting the O’s Circle of Friends newsletters. Never received a box.
So decided to check this month November 2017. Turns out after they took my check , the membership had been cancelled even though I never received noticed and still received newsletter. Of course, found this out after e-mails to Customer service and talking with Customer service. Speaking with the representative, found out they had no answers nor do they seem to care. I have to prove that I paid with my cancelled check. That’s where I stand. I plan on cancelling. I wish I would have readed the reviews before I joined. Who do you have to complain to , Oprah?
I literally just LOLed when I saw the photo. With the Burt’s Bees one, I thought, “well, I’d actually use this,” but was still baffled why they’d include something I can get at the drug store. But this has to be a joke. Maybe write a letter to the editor of the magazine? They seem to actually read those. THANK YOU for saving me $199!!
I got an email asking me to complete a survey regarding my experience with Circle of Friends and I was definitely honest about my displeasure. I guess they finally got enough negativity that they needed to address it somehow.
Thanks for the info. I found this site when considering signing up for O Circle of Friends – $199 Premier Membership. It was tempting but after reading all the posts I will definitely abstain. Oprah needs a better grip on her maintaining her brand. It appears she blew it.
For those who are counting the magazines as something of value…the O magazine can be purchased for $2-$5 for a yearly subscription. It used to be a free subscription with surveys as the magazine did not have a lot of readers which greatly affects the value with the advertisers. So not did Oprah get people to pay literally over 100x the value of a magazine that no one wants to read, but she also managed to squeeze in her book to pad the sales and a couple drugstore goods that you can buy at Grocery Outlet (a Ross for food). And yes, I guarantee she knows all that’s going in with her sub. She’s rolling on her fans’ dollar bills while laughing.
this is the most sad pathetic box ever!!!!!
3 boxes of twinnings tea.
i hope they read this…the whole thing has sucked and been so disappointing such a waste of money!!!!
I just received 3 boxes of Liptons tea for me to test and keep. So far the items that I’ve received don’t even come up to $150. I’ve been conned big time!
Wow. I didn’t think it could get much worse than the Vaseline, but I think you win.
So, doing a little bit of math off of the chart in the review…
Plus (Subscriptions and newsletter) is valued at $387.
Prime gets you the luxury beauty box and a second gift subscription. Those two items are valued at $104 together.
Premier gets you a birthday card from Oprah, a surprise gift from the O List, and Test (and Keep) products. Those three things together are valued at $106.
The issue seems to be the $387 value of the things in the Plus membership, and the extra subscription, being very inflated.
Maybe the birthday card will be diamond encrusted or come with a pair of diamond earrings…. Keys to your brand new scooter?
Today I received a full size tube of Mary Kay Lash Love mascara. I still have not received anything near the $199 I spent, let alone the promised value. I am now very careful about boxes I choose to subscribe to and canceled about 70% of my subscriptions. I just can’t justify paying to be disappointed, but Popsugar, Little Lace Box, Candy Club, A Beautiful Mess, and Birchbox/Ipsy still give me a thrill.
Little Lace Box closed hun. 😬 Sorry if you didn’t know.
Tracy’s comment was written nearly 2 years ago when Little Lace Box was a popular subscription.
What a lack of imagination! You can find lower cost items that are novel, fanciful, TRENDY (Vaseline???) You are O magazine for God’s sake…you know how many up and coming designers or companies would LOVE to be in this box. It is fun to see how bad it is getting…but I do feel for those who spent all their money on this.
So glad I contacted them and cancelled my box, not worth the money.
At this point it’s almost amusing to see if it can truly get any worse, but that is only because I didn’t purchase this sub.
as an aside has anyone seen the picture of her on the inside cover of the new edition of O??? Talk about photo shop—-she looks a size 8
Whoa-I just saw the sub had a promised value of almost $600! Anyone else catch that? Are you able to tell us what the estimated valueis in products that you’ve received so far, Liz? Seems like it would be pretty far away in terms of value!
That’s like only $225-$230 worth of products (plus the magazines)!
Unless Oprah is valuing the birthday card from herself as $300…
I think this is so deceptive. As a subscriber to the magazine, I can say that I can never remember then feauturing drugstore brands in the magazine. In fact, aside from Adam’s fashion under 100 dollars page, they mostly feature things that are waay out of my price range. This is just not representative of O Magazine, nor is it representative of the pictures on their facebook/webpage or the pictures of the subscription. I feel the pain of people who spent their hard-earned money on this.
When they first released this subscription, I thought long and hard about whether or not to purchase it. I was also under the assumption that it would include items with a larger price tag, or at least the test & keep items would be. For the premier level, they promised a $597 value, but this has fallen short. Each time I see a review of one of the items Liz has received, I feel more & more relieved that I didn’t sign up (Sorry Liz!).
The birthday card better be good!
omg this is crazy! I wonder if Oprah even knows about this. I just don’t get it.
I think you should had gotten your money back when others posted they did. I remember seeing Vaseline Lip Therapy in sub box reviews last year.
Yep, it was in a box last year…but I can’t remember which. Maybe a Target beauty box or Walmart box??
It was their CEW or CFW or something like that box. I bought it too and got it in there. Seems like you should get more for what you spend on the Oprah’s friends box.
I got it in one of the Birchbox “Specials” Boxes– I forget the name but they offered a pink-lidded box and a blue-lidded box at the same time and I got both– the little Vaseline container IS cute…
Has anyone else that has this subscription received these other items or are they just trying to send more to Liz because of MSA?
This one is near the top of the Sub Box Hall of Shame list, if not at the top, based on both price and celebrity affiliation. Seriously, I’m shocked they haven’t been used yet for false representation/misleading advertising. Who knowingly pays that much for samples of drugstore products that aren’t even new releases? The key word there is knowingly.
Seriously. Do we have any class action attorneys on here that could comment?
Although I don’t remember the exact details, other subscription services have been sued for less I think. JustFab, Kiwi Crate come to mind immediately.
They were both sued under California law for not providing a checkbox to agree to auto renewal. Nothing to do with contents. Not a lawyer, just read about the lawsuits.
I’m actually a litigation attorney but don’t practice in this specific area/ consumer law. It’s definitely rope for the lawsuit picking in my opinion.
Ripe
EXACTLY what I was thinking! This appears to have class action lawsuit written all over it! Seems to me it would be an easy win!!!
Has the value of all the things you’ve received even met the price of the subscription? Such a disappointing sub box from the woman that gives away free cars.
Vaseline? OMG! They should have stopped while they were behind.
Hilarious!
Hahaha agreed. So glad I avoided this subscription!!
I feel bad for people who actually paid for this but these reviews for what is being sent are hilarious!! Almost like you expect it to be a joke.
I was thinking the exact same thing…it makes me think of a spoof commercial SNL would do for a subscription box! lol
I feel like the Vaseline is there to help heal the wounds this subscription service is giving you. The others are right- it’s so cringe worthy it’s starting to be comedic.
Even though they say “New” on the package, I had the rosy lips from a limited edition Birchbox ages ago. You’d think “test and keep” would be something actually new to the market, especially if it’s going to be inexpensive.
I agree, I’ve seen the Vaseline lip therapy stuff on sale for ages!
A quick Google search will show you reviews of Rosy Lips dating back to at least March 2013. (I only looked at the first couple of results; it could easily have come out before then.)
On the other hand, maybe Vaseline/O Mag is still testing this product? 😉