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FabFitFun Review: Is FabFitFun Worth It?

fabfitfun subscription box
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It never fails. Every few months, my Instagram feed becomes overrun with excited posts about the current seasonal FabFitFun box. It seemed interesting but almost too good to be true. How could it be possible to get so many goodies — they claim each box is worth more than $200 —  for only $40? (It’s technically $50, but if you can’t find one of the gazillion coupon codes for a $40 box floating around the internet, then you’re not looking very hard).

One of the best things about FabFitFun is that you can order one of the seasonal boxes for as long as they still have them in stock. I waited until after the first round of shipments went out so I could read the FabFitFun reviews before I ordered it. I like the fact that I can know what I am getting before I decide to place my order. Once I saw what was in the Winter 2015 box, I decided that I had to have it.

The Service

One thing I didn’t particularly like about my first experience with FabFitFun was how long it took my box to actually get to me — it took a full week after I ordered it to ship, and another week to be delivered. While this normally may not have bothered me, I also ordered an extra box for my friend, and this box shipped less than 24 hours later. I ordered both of the boxes on the same day, but my friend received her box in the mail before mine had even shipped — weird, right? I thought there might have been some confusion since I ordered more than one, so I contacted FabFitFun Support to make sure they still had my order on file. When they emailed back, they just attached a link to their FAQ page and told me information that I already knew instead of confirming that my box was indeed being processed.

I wasn’t too pleased with the confusion of this first transaction, but I did enjoy the box once it (finally) arrived, so this probably won’t affect whether I order again in the future — but this is the first subscription box whose customer service wasn’t top-notch, so I thought this was at least worth noting.

The Products

Image via FabFitFun

One of the best things about FabFitFun is that they send mostly (if not all) full-size products. Not only does this increase the value, but it also means that you can easily give any items you don’t want to keep as gifts to family or friends. The products in the Winter 2015 box were released about a month ago, but here’s a quick overview:

I was really looking forward to my box coming in, because I already knew what I was going to get. It kind of took a bit of the fun out of it compared to other subscription boxes, but I also appreciated knowing beforehand. There was no possibility of disappointment or wasted money (which is especially important considering the fact that FabFitFun costs significantly more than my other subscription boxes).

The Value

As you can see, that’s quite the box! And it should be, considering the total value for this particular box totals out to about $350. Sounds impressive, right? Well, here’s the thing: I’m not entirely convinced that each product is really “worth” what they say it is. It’s fairly easy to pad the prices and make you feel like you’re getting a better deal when the products are being made specifically for FabFitFun and there is nowhere to compare them with.

READ MORE: Love FabFitFun? You’ll Love These 7 Subscription Boxes

For example, the EJH diffuser is not offered on the EJH Brand website, but a quick Google Shopping search shows that the exact diffuser in various scents can be found for as low as $15 — which is pretty comparable with most other simple diffusers that I’ve seen, and much more realistic than $37. Additionally, almost the exact same wine charm set can be found at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for only $10 instead of $15. FabFitFun has the Dermalogica set listed at $45, but a similar set (that actually includes 4 products instead of 3) can be found on Dermalogica’s website for only $30. And while the FRENDS earbuds may be worth $80, this can’t be proven since they are not available for sale on FRENDS’ website — though there is a bundle set of headphones and similar earbuds on sale for only $100. Not to mention, I personally would never spend $80 on earbuds in general — unless they were made out of pure gold (which these are not).

The gift cards that came with this box are nice because it gives you a little more freedom to choose what you want rather than it being chosen for you (not to mention the value of the gift cards together are worth more than the cost of the box itself). I also really like both Sweet and Spark and Shoptiques. One tiny problem though: I personally couldn’t find a single thing on the Sweet and Spark website for under $40. In fact, most of the pieces averaged to be about $70 or more, meaning I will have to spend more money in order to use this gift card. Since Shoptiques has a much larger selection, I could probably find something for under $25 to use this gift card on, though it may not be something I necessarily want or like since much of their product selection is rather pricey as well. It will be nice to have $25 to go toward any future purchase though, especially since this gift card never expires.

So realistically, the total value of the Winter 2015 FabFitFun box would be about $200 as opposed to $350.

The Verdict: Is FabFitFun Worth It?

All in all, the realistic value of this particular FabFitFun is way less than the marketed (and perceived) value. But on the other hand, a $200 box for $40 is still pretty impressive. It really just comes down to whether or not you will actually be able to use most (or all) of the products they send you to determine if this box is “worth it” to you. Personally, I would say that this particular box was worth spending $40 on, because I got several things that I wanted and needed. However, I probably will continue to wait until each box’s contents are announced in the future to make sure I want it before I pay for it (and also to find a coupon code for a $40 box).

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Last modified on September 16th, 2020

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