walmart | Palettes and Palates

The Packers vs Seahawks game is on (GO PACK GO!) but I have to take a quick moment to post a follow-up to the post I made about the Walmart Beauty Box this morning.

Concerns have been expressed that the beauty box sign-up page is not noticeably encrypted/the URL is not an “https” URL. This can raise a red flag when you’re asked to give away something like your credit card info, as you do for payment for this. Nouveau Cheap has put out this great post regarding her phone correspondence and the email correspondence of one of her readers with the Walmart BrandShare* Sample Box Team.

*BrandShare is the third party company that is handling the distribution and fulfillment of Walmart’s beauty boxes, as well as their baby boxes.

I went a little further and Googled BrandShare for myself and discovered their website. I grabbed this bit from their Company page:

BrandShare™ is an integrated solution for national brands seeking to share their brand sample, premium, digital content, offer, literature or invitation to try with a very precise target consumer in order to reach mass-scale trial, drive immediate purchase conversion and create authentic word of mouth conversations online and offline.

Led by CPG, direct marketing, and internet industry veterans, BrandShare™ offers the most efficient and highest ROI campaigns for your brands — an industry leading cost-per-sample-tried by target consumers.

Founded in 1984, BrandShare™ is headquartered in New York, NYC and has offices in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.

They also list their clients on the website, which includes many major brand names.

Based on this quick search, I am personally going to proceed with my Walmart beauty box subscription. I’ve also checked my bank statement and only see the $5 charge, which comes from BrandShare. However, I will be sure to keep a closer eye on it in the next few days to see if I experience any fraudulent charges, and will be sure to follow-up with another update if that is the case. From what I can tell, though, this is a reputable, trusted third-party company and we should have nothing to fear.

Any other questions or concerns should be directed to Walmart either by phone or email.

Now if you excuse me, I’ve taken a long enough break from football. Until next time, stay well, stay beautiful! xx

Source: beautybox.walmart.com

Thanks to MUA, I was tipped off on another beauty box to hit the market. Walmart isn’t the first superstore to release its own beauty box. Target releases boxes a couple times of year, and it’s not a subscription; sales are first come, first serve, and once it’s sold out, it’s gone.

Source: beautybox.walmart.com

While the boxes will be similar in that they both contain products that can be found at the respective stores, Walmart will work on a subscription basis.

Source: beautybox.walmart.com

Every three months, or every “season” (living in the Midwest, we have endless winter, 5 minutes of spring, construction season aka. summer, and then 30 seconds of fall before we’re plunged back into winter), you will be charged $5 for a box that contains products suited for the appropriate season. Based on the picture above, these samples will be of cosmetics, skincare, hair care and personal care (there’s deodorant, and also looks like there might be a fragrance?). The box itself is free and the $5 fee covers the shipping and handling, much like the Target beauty box that costs $5 + tax and ships free. You won’t be charged the $5 until your box ships. I know in the Target beauty box I received, they included coupons either for the specific products found in the box or just a general $5 off of however much of a beauty purchase. I would expect Walmart will do the same, and I’ll be sure to let you know once I receive mine! My order is currently being processed, and I should receive it in a week or less once it ships out, so expect a review soon.

As a fan of Target’s beauty box and drugstore products in general, I’m excited for this. And $20 for the entire year? I could easily drop $20 or more in one shopping trip to a superstore!

The signup process is straight forward and simple, doesn’t take long at all. Like any subscription service, you set up an account, that way you can change any information such as address or payment info later if needed. If you’d like to signup, click here to be sent to the signup page. The Target beauty boxes always sell out quickly, and it’s yet unclear when Walmart will close their signup, so if you’re interested I suggest going to their site ASAP!

What do you think of stores like Target and Walmart creating their own beauty boxes? Do you like this? Will you signup for this? Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time, stay well, stay beautiful! xx