Birchbox: Boxing clever

A new service delivers the best undiscovered beauty products, says Harriet Walker

A new beauty product is born every minute, or so it often feels. So how are we snake-oil obsessives supposed to keep tabs on fresh unguents arriving on the market?

Add to that the vast archive of "cult classics" recommended by the experts, and you're faced with a veritable Indiana Jones crusade before you can establish a beauty routine that suits you and your skin. It's a full-time job, I tell you.

Thankfully, someone else agreed and made it their career to bring to you the best in new beauty launches and bathroom cabinet best-sellers. Birchbox is the boundary-busting beauty brand that has already gone down a treat in the States and which launched over here earlier this month.

Sign up and for £10 per month start receiving curated boxes of bits and pieces that founders Katia Beauchamp and Haylie Barna believe will fit into your make-up bag, make the most of your cleanse, tone and moisturise regime, and encourage you to enjoy the best and newest beauty brands on the market.

"We have more than 400 partners and we're always adding brands to the mix," says Beauchamp. "It's fun for customers to experience products from brands they recognise and explore a brand that they would never have known prior to Birchbox."

Barna adds: "We were committed to creating a service that helped women discover new products that they might not have tried otherwise, We provide them with a customised set of samples, great info and an easy way to buy the full-size products."

Each box contains four or five products from a selection of six in miniature, the larger versions of which are available to buy through the company's website at a discount. You'll also find features and tips on there too, and if you choose to write reviews of the things you've tried out, you can earn points to offset against future investments. It's the perfect internet haven for those who are bananas about beauty, like having your own personal Avon lady.

"Expect surprise and delight," says Katia Beauchamp, "not only in the monthly boxes, but from the community we're creating and the events that we are hosting." Birchbox.co.uk