Cooking, sewing, doggies, and beauty — there are a million samples boxes out there, and our mailbox (and trash can) is starting to get a little full.

Sure, the boxes were fun at first — wondering what would be inside, only to find small and not really useable stuff. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Here are some reasons why we’re so over sample subscription boxes.

1. Too-Small Products
We once got lip gloss from a big name beauty brand in a sample box, and that was really exciting. Too bad it was the size of our pinky fingernail. We used it once, and that was it. We’re not exactly feeling the “deal” part of this beauty box. We like products we can love and use more than once — not a one-time throwaway we could get by going to a beauty store and trying on a sample.

2. Stuff We Can’t Use
It doesn’t matter how many “personalized” surveys we fill out, we still manage to get more stuff we can’t use over stuff we can use. Sometimes it feels like the boxes were an afterthought, like someone had 1,000 leftover dark blue lipsticks, and they got stuffed in our box. Sigh.

3. Not Enough Value
When you shell out your hard earned moolah, you expect to get some value. But with some boxes, we kind of feel like they should be paying us for trying out their sample products in the hopes we would order full-sized ones. While we don’t expect to love everything, we do want to feel like we got our money’s worth — especially in a sample box.

4. The Same Brands and Products Over and Over 
Look, we were happy the first time we got a certain mascara, but when we received the same exact black mascara in three different boxes were were kinda over said mascara. We love the idea of finding new brands and products in every sample box. It’s part of the unique experience. So when you start getting the same stuff over and over — the experience falls a little flat.

So what do we want from a subscription box? Full-sized, high-quality, unique products that make us feel like we got what we paid for, and then some.

In fact it’s the exact reason we started FabFitFun VIP, our big seasonal box stuffed with the latest and greatest full-sized products in beauty, fashion, fitness, and health. And yep, we’re giving ourselves a little pat on the back right now!