Korean Beauty Boxes – 11 Best K-Beauty Subscription Boxes
There’s no denying that Korean beauty products have taken the world by storm. In the past few years, Korea has risen to become one of the biggest powerhouses in the world when it comes to cosmetics, and in 2020, Korea was the second-largest beauty product exporter in the world.
Not only is Korea famous for luxury cosmetics from the likes of Amore Pacific, Sulwhasoo, Hera and SU:M37, but it’s also become famous for affordable beauty products from Nature Republic, Innisfree and Etude House can now be found worldwide.
In recent years, subscription and gift box services have also risen dramatically in popularity. From Korean snack boxes that are delivered to your door monthly to Korean souvenir boxes such as Daebak Box, the gift box phenomenon has grown exponentially in recent years.
What do you do when you have two massively popular trends? Combine them of course! It’s now possible to find hundreds of Korean beauty boxes online. Each box differs greatly in contents, but K-beauty boxes all have one thing in common – they want to deliver a fantastic range of Korean cosmetics to your doorstep.
So, whether you are looking to try Korean beauty products for the first time, or are already very familiar with the best brands, Korean beauty boxes are a great way to explore new products.
However, with the vast range of Korean beauty boxes that are available today, it can be hard to tell which boxes are worth checking out and which should be skipped. With that in mind, in today’s post, I wanted to discuss the best Korean beauty boxes that are currently available.
Although I’ve done my best to include all of the best K-beauty boxes on this list, there is a chance that I’ve missed some. If you feel like I’ve missed a box that deserves to be on this list, please let me know! I am more than happy to update this article as I discover new boxes worth including. With that being said, let’s dive into the article!
This article contains affiliate links. Affiliate links provide me with a percentage of purchases made from links on this page. This comes at no extra cost to you – for more information, please refer to my affiliate disclaimer.
Who Are Korean Beauty Boxes For?
To answer this concisely – everyone who loves cosmetics, skincare, or makeup. However, to dive in a bit deeper, I believe that anyone who likes Korean beauty products will enjoy these boxes.
Even if you’ve already tried a wide range of products, these boxes are sure to contain new products that you haven’t yet had the chance to try or that you didn’t even know existed! I ran a Korean cosmetics website for years, and every Korean beauty box I’ve tried had products that my girlfriend and I hadn’t used before.
On the other hand, if you are just dipping your toes into Korean beauty products for the first time, K-beauty boxes are ideal. They are the best way to explore a range of products to discover what you like.
One of the ways that I often recommend using Korean beauty boxes is for people to try out a few boxes over a couple of months to discover what products they like. Once you’ve found the best products for your skin, you can then proceed to buy these individually in the future.
If you know someone who loves cosmetics, then K-beauty boxes also make fantastic gifts. In fact, this is a strength of all subscription boxes – they make for excellent, topical gifts if you know someone interested in the theme.
At the end of the day, I think it’s easier to answer the question ‘who aren’t Korean beauty boxes for?’ and the answer is relatively easy – anyone who doesn’t like beauty products. Alternatively, if you like cosmetic products and want to try some from Korea, K-beauty boxes are the best way to get involved – even better if you already love and have tried many Korean cosmetics!
Why Should I Buy a Korean Beauty Box?
NMNL Beauty Box
If you’re not already convinced about trying a K-beauty box, let’s take a look at what makes these boxes so unique. I want to be frank – when I first came across subscription boxes, I thought they were a rip-off. They seemed like a way for companies to charge more for products you could purchase individually at lower prices.
However, as you can probably tell by my tone in this article, I am now far more supportive of Korean beauty boxes. The first K-beauty box I tried was a combination of Japanese and Korean beauty products, and the box was named NoMakeNoLife, or NMNL. After researching online, I discovered that purchasing the box was cheaper than buying each item outright.
This is because these boxes are sold in bulk, and the companies and people behind them can purchase the items within for wholesale prices. Since they may be buying 1000, or even 10,000 items, they are able to negotiate far better prices than if you or I were to buy the same product.
Now, these price savings are not always passed to the customer. Some brands will sell their Korean beauty boxes for higher prices to increase profit, so I always recommend you do your research first. However, there are very well-priced boxes out there – many of which are included on this list.
So, other than price, what makes K-beauty boxes worth purchasing? Well, luckily, there are a few different reasons. I will dive into each reason in detail, but here is a short summary:
- Korean beauty boxes are often cheaper than purchasing the individual items
- Each box contains a random variety of products, making them a great way to discover new products
- You can choose to deliver Korean beauty boxes once, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly
- Opening K-beauty boxes is always surprising as you never know what to expect
- Many boxes curate items based on your preferences
Of course, the biggest reason to purchase Korean beauty boxes for many people is for the surprise. I’ve never been overly fond of surprises, but even for me, it’s fun to discover what is contained inside your beauty box. If you do like surprises, you’ll probably love this aspect!
Since the items are always hand-picked and a surprise (for us!), Korean beauty boxes are a great way to discover new products. If you find a product that works well for you, you can easily purchase more in the future.
As many K-beauty boxes are subscription-based, you can also choose the frequency at which you receive boxes. If you regularly use all of the items in your box quickly, you might want to subscribe to a monthly K-beauty box. On the other hand, if you generally take longer to try all of the products, you can subscribe bi-monthly or even quarterly. Finally, if you just want to experience a Korean beauty box once, you can purchase most boxes one-off.
Finally, and perhaps one of the biggest reasons to get K-beauty boxes is that they can be tailored to your needs. This doesn’t apply to all boxes, but some on this list will allow you to detail your skin type and desires.
While this might seem like a way to remove the element of surprise, that’s far from the case. For example, many brands will allow you to request skincare products if you are trying to remedy dry skin. You don’t know what skincare products you will receive, but you can rest assured knowing that someone is working behind the scenes to pick a range of products for your particular condition.
Overall, while many people consider the surprise the best aspect of Korean beauty boxes (and for you, it may well be!), there are quite a few reasons to try out these products for yourself.
Best Korean Beauty Boxes
Perhaps you aren’t looking for Korean snacks, or perhaps you just want to try finding some new cosmetic or skincare products. If this sounds like you, then these K-Beauty boxes include cosmetics from some of Korea’s most famous makeup and skincare brands.
Korea is very famous for many things, and beauty products are one of them. Along with Korean fashion, Korean cosmetics have swept the globe and you can now find them all over the world. Further, many people have come to love them!
Korean cosmetic boxes are a great way to experiment with new products. There are thousands of products out there, and all of these boxes provide a curated selection of beauty products for you to try. If you find something that you like, you can add it to your beauty routine!
1. Inspire Me Korea
Price range: $30
Items per box: 4 items
Regularity: Once per month.
Inspire Me Korea offers perhaps the most famous Korean cosmetic subscription box service. It’s been around for a long time, and they now offer not only beauty boxes but also a range of other Korea-related boxes.
The Inspire Me Korea beauty box offers 4 products in every box. While the exact products are a surprise, you will receive one face-related item (such as cleanser, face cream, eye shadow, etc), one body-related item (such as hand cream, temporary tattoos, etc) and two mask items (face masks, spot patches, hand masks, etc).
These items often come from well-known Korean brands such as Nature Republic. These brands are popular within Korea and you can expect to see them all over if you visit Seoul!
2. NMNL
Price range: $31.50 to $35 per month depending on the length of the subscription
Items per box: 8 items
Regularity: Once per month.
Nomakenolife (NMNL for short) is a beauty box that offers products from both South Korea and Japan. These products are generally split about 50/50, meaning that each box will have around 4 Korean beauty products and 4 Japanese beauty products.
I recently did a review on the NMNL beauty box and found that the box provided a lot more value than what the box costs. There was a wide range of different items, and every box also includes one beauty-related tool (such as the hair drying glove in the image above).
The boxes can include almost anything related to Korean and Japanese beauty and I had a good time experimenting with the included products. If you find a product that you like, NMNL also has a store that allows you to purchase more.
3. Facetory
Price range: $49.95 ($19.90 for face-mask box)
Items per box: Around 11 items
Regularity: Seasonal (once every three months).
Factory is a brand that is instantly eye-catching due to its cute product designs. Even more interesting is that since they are a skincare brand themselves, their boxes often include products from Facetory itself among other famous skincare Korean brands.
The main subscription box from Facetory offers a range of skincare and beauty products as well as some sheet masks to try. This box will include 5-6 skincare products along with 5-6 sheet masks. Facetory also offers a cheaper box that includes only sheet masks.
In the sheet mask box, you can expect to find a variety of Korean beauty masks. This box includes 7 masks and can also include 1 or 2 other beauty items. The price of this box makes it very attractive for anyone looking to find their favourite masks!
4. Bomi Box
Price range: $39
Items per box: 8 items
Regularity: Once per month.
Bomi Box is a subscription box that is jam-packed with Korean beauty products. Even better, these boxes include skincare products from a range of popular Korean beauty brands such as Innisfree, Tony Moly, Skinfood, and more!
The box advertises a value of over $80, meaning that you are getting around double the value that you spend. While I am unsure of this box specifically as I haven’t tried it, I could definitely see this as being true after experiencing other Korean subscription beauty boxes.
From Bomi Boxes you can expect to find a variety of sheet masks, skin cleansers, moisturisers and more. There’s a very large variety of products that can come in each box and this adds to the surprise.
5. The K-Beauty Box
Price range: $34.95
Items per box: Around 7 items
Regularity: Once per month.
The K-beauty Box is one of the larger Korean beauty boxes with a large variety of products inside. Each box could include anything from serums, cleansers, and mists to sheet masks and anti-ageing creams. As you may be able to tell, The K-Beauty Box has one of the most diverse beauty selections on this list!
You can choose to subscribe monthly, for three months, six months, or annually. Further, each of these subscriptions will give you a slight discount meaning that you can save further. The products included are often cheaper and buying the box will save you money compared to getting the items outright.
One of the biggest benefits is that The K-beauty Box offers free shipping. When factoring in this additional cost, this subscription box ends up coming in cheaper than many of the other beauty boxes on this list.
6. Kiyomi Beauty Box
Price range: $39.99 (starting at $9.99 for the mask only box)
Items per box: Around 5-6 items
Regularity: Bi-monthly.
The Kiyomi Beauty Box is another popular Korean beauty box and one that has been around for a few years. There are two boxes – the beauty box, and the mask box. The beauty box often includes masks, but it can also contain a variety of other cosmetic and skincare products.
The mask box, on the other hand, provides customers with an assortment of different masks every second month. This box is much more affordable and is a great choice for anyone that is still experimenting with Korean face masks to find their favourites.
Kiyomi Beauty Box is one of the only boxes on this list that is bi-monthly and this is important to keep in mind. Rather than receiving a box at your doorstep every month, you can expect to find one every second month.
7. PinkSeoul
Price range: $39.95, $49.95 (Plus Box)
Items per box: Around 7 items (4 full-sized items, 2 masks, one accessory)
Regularity: Bi-monthly.
PinkSeoul offers one of the most compelling Korean beauty boxes on this list. When ordering the box, you will have a few boxes to complete – don’t worry, this takes only five seconds! Within the boxes, you can let PinkSeoul know of your skin type and focus. Do you want to prevent ageing? Are you just looking to have fun? You can let PinkSeoul know and they will tailor the box to you.
This Korean beauty box brand offers two tiers – the normal box at $39.95 and the Plus box at $49.95. Both boxes contain the same number of items, but the value of the items in the Plus box will be $100 as opposed to the $80 in the normal box. Either way, these boxes are of great value and they are tailored to fit your needs.
Perhaps the biggest appeal of PinkSeoul’s K-beauty box, however, is that they consciously try to keep their bi-monthly customers stocked up. Korean skincare has many different phases, and it’s no good to run out of one step while having an oversupply of another step. As such, PinkSeoul actively tries to ensure that their subscribers have every step on hand when needed.
I appreciate this extra step because it shows that this company cares. Some of the Korean beauty boxes that I’ve used in the past tend to offer too many items of the same type – for example, toners – while not supplying other products to keep up.
8. Sooni Pouch
Price range: $11.99 (face mask box), $22.99 (mini-box), $38.99 (full box)
Items per box: 6-8 Items
Regularity: Monthly
Sooni Pouch is another popular Korean beauty box that specialises in skincare. They offer a range of different boxes, depending on how much you are wanting to spend each month. Their facemask box begins at only $12 per month, and this will give you six face masks every month. If you’re looking for something a bit more complete, make sure to check out their mini pouch and full pouch!
Sooni Pouch is definitely focused on skincare and you’ll want to keep that in mind. If you’re looking to experience a broader range of beauty products, you will be better off looking elsewhere. However, if you are purely looking to treat your skin, you won’t find many better options.
The mini pouch includes a few full-sized products along with a range of testers. Considering that the box is quite affordable, this is a great tradeoff as it allows users to try a range of products that wouldn’t otherwise be included. In the bigger pouch, you will find more full-sized items and Sooni Pouch promises that these will be worth over $100.
If you’re interested in purchasing some of the items included in the box, Sooni Pouch also has a store on their website. From this store, you can quickly and easily pick up your favourite products for future use. With that being said, there are cheaper Korean cosmetic websites out there.
Purchase Sooni Pouch Beauty Box
9. Baby Face Diary Mystery Fun
Price range: $11
Items per box: 4
Regularity: Monthly
Baby Face Diary sells a fun mask monthly mask box that offers subscribers an assortment of masks to choose from every month. In each box, you can expect to receive four masks from famous Korean brands. While four masks might not seem like much, the box is very affordable and four masks will last many individuals the month.
What makes Baby Face Diary stand out is that each box contains an information pamphlet that introduces each mask and key points about it. You’ll never be left wondering about the ingredients or brand of a mask with the detailed information provided.
If you’re only interested in sheet masks, the Mystery Box from Baby Face Diary is a fantastic choice of Korean Beauty Box. By subscribing to this box, you will be able to try a range of masks and discover what types and brands you like!
Purchase Baby Face Diary Beauty Box
10. Lengbox
Price range: $12 – $35
Items per box: 4+
Regularity: Monthly
If you’re looking for a premium Korean beauty box, then Lengbox is one that you’ll want to check out. Although Lengbox sells a range of different boxes, I want to focus on their monthly subscription box that goes for around $35 depending on the exchange rate. Besides this box, Lengbox also sells an arrangement of more affordable boxes such as sheet mask selections.
In the Lengbox monthly K-beauty box, you can expect to receive 5-7 items. While every box’s contents will differ greatly, most months there will be a theme. For example, in the box shown above, there was a clear natural theme with avocado and cucumber products being included.
Each Lengbox will contain a few full-sized products related to skincare and a few testers for other products. This gives customers a good balance between items they can continue to use and testers for potential future products.
With the assortment of items included within each Lengbox Korean beauty box, this is one of the best value boxes on the list – at least in regards to items included. I can’t speak for the value of the products, but the number of products is great.
11. FaceMaskTonight
Price range: $12
Items per box: 4
Regularity: Monthly
At first glance, FaceMaskTonight’s Korean beauty box isn’t that unique from other facemask boxes on this list. For $12, you’ll get four facemasks – an offer that was seen by the Mystery Fun box located just above this on my list. However, FaceMaskTonight has a unique aspect that allows it to stand out from other mask K-beauty boxes on this list.
When signing up for the subscription box, you’ll be presented with a few fields in which you can enter your skin type and concern. For skin type, you can choose options such as oily, dry, or sensitive. For concern, you can pick what you are looking to remedy – are you looking to improve your acne, or perhaps to smooth your skin?
Once FaceMaskTonight receives your request, they can go ahead and tailor your monthly Korean beauty boxes. You can then rest assured knowing that every month you’ll receive face masks that have been hand-picked for your specific skin condition and concerns.
Purchase FaceMaskTonight Beauty Box
Korean Beauty Box FAQ
What’s the Best Korean Beauty Box?
This is highly dependent upon what you are looking for. However, my personal favourite is Lengbox.
What’s the Best Korean Face Mask Box?
If you want Korean face masks, make sure to check out Lengbox, and the Korean sheet mask boxes on CrateJoy.
Where Can I Buy Korean Beauty Boxes?
The best place to find Korean beauty boxes is on CrateJoy.
What’s the Most Affordable Korean Beauty Box?
Baby Face Diary’s Mystery Fun box is an affordable box starting at just over $10.
What’s the Biggest Korean Beauty Box?
If you want the biggest Korean beauty box, Lengbox, BomiBox or Pink Seoul are your best bets.
WHATS THE BEST ONE FOR SOMEOME WANTING TO MAINLY FOCUS ON SKINCARE?