What Happened to BoxyCharm? The Rise, Fall, and Current State of the Beauty Subscription Box

BoxyCharm was once the most talked-about beauty subscription box on the planet. For years, it delivered full-size, high-end makeup and skincare products to hundreds of thousands of women every month. It wasn’t just a box - it was a ritual. Unboxing a BoxyCharm felt like opening a gift from a friend who knew exactly what you needed. But by late 2024, something changed. The boxes stopped arriving. The website went quiet. Social media posts dried up. And then, quietly, without fanfare, BoxyCharm vanished.

How BoxyCharm Took Over the Beauty World

Launched in 2014 by founder Laura Schaefer, BoxyCharm wasn’t the first beauty subscription box, but it was the first to get it right. While others sent samples or low-value items, BoxyCharm promised and delivered full-size products - often worth $100 or more - for just $21 a month. That’s not a typo. For under $25, you got three to five full-size items from brands like Fenty Beauty, Rare Beauty, Drunk Elephant, and Tatcha.

The model was simple: customers took a quick quiz about their skin tone, type, and makeup preferences. Then, BoxyCharm’s team hand-picked products based on real data, not algorithms. They even included a personalized note from the curator. That human touch made all the difference. By 2019, BoxyCharm had over 400,000 subscribers. It was profitable. It was growing. And then, the cracks started showing.

The Turning Point: 2020 to 2023

The pandemic changed everything. As people stayed home, makeup sales dropped. But BoxyCharm didn’t slow down - it doubled down. They added more skincare, more luxury brands, and raised prices. By 2021, the monthly fee jumped to $29. Then $34. Then $39. The value wasn’t matching the cost anymore. Subscribers started noticing: the same brands kept appearing. The same shades of lipstick. The same serums with barely noticeable results.

Meanwhile, direct-to-consumer brands like Glossier and Rare Beauty started selling their own products online, often cheaper than what BoxyCharm charged. Why pay $39 a month for one product you might not like, when you could buy exactly what you wanted for $18 on Amazon or Sephora’s website?

Then came the supply chain mess. In 2022, BoxyCharm started missing shipments. Some customers got two boxes in one month. Others waited six weeks. No explanations. No apologies. Customer service emails went unanswered. Reviews on Trustpilot and Reddit started flooding in: ‘I canceled months ago and still got charged.’ ‘My last box had three expired products.’

The Silence: What Really Happened in 2024

By early 2024, BoxyCharm’s Instagram account posted only once every two weeks. Their website homepage showed a single banner: ‘We’re updating our service. Stay tuned.’ That was it. No new box announcements. No subscriber updates. No CEO statement. No press release.

By June 2024, the subscription portal stopped working. The ‘Manage Subscription’ button led to a 404 error. The live chat disappeared. The email address for support bounced back. By August, the company’s LinkedIn page was inactive. Employees vanished from the platform. A few former team members quietly posted on LinkedIn: ‘Moved on to new challenges.’ No mention of BoxyCharm.

In November 2024, the domain boxycharm.com redirected to a placeholder page with a single line: ‘BoxyCharm is no longer accepting new subscriptions.’ No date. No reason. No contact info. Just silence.

Why Did BoxyCharm Fail?

It wasn’t one thing. It was a chain reaction.

• Loss of value perception: The $21 monthly price was the magic number. Once they raised it to $39, the perceived value dropped below the cost. Customers felt ripped off.
• Product fatigue: Repeating the same brands - even if they were luxury - made the box feel stale. Subscribers wanted surprise, not repetition.
• Broken trust: Missed boxes, auto-renewals, and ignored customer service destroyed loyalty. People don’t forgive being treated like a number.
• Market saturation: By 2023, there were over 200 beauty subscription boxes. Many offered better curation, lower prices, or more transparency.
• Lack of innovation: They never updated their tech. No AI personalization. No customer feedback loops. No new features. They relied on their early reputation instead of evolving.

BoxyCharm didn’t die because of competition. It died because it stopped listening to its customers.

What Happened to the Subscribers?

Thousands of people were still being charged after the service stopped. Many didn’t realize it until their bank statements showed $39 deductions every month. Reddit threads filled up with stories: ‘I canceled in January. Still getting charged in November.’

Some managed to get refunds through their credit card companies by filing chargebacks. Others never got their money back. No official refund policy was ever published. No class-action lawsuit was filed. The company simply disappeared.

One subscriber, Maria from Chicago, told a local news outlet: ‘I paid for 18 months straight. I never got a single box after June. I called them 12 times. They said, ‘We’re working on it.’ Then they stopped answering.’

What Are the Best Alternatives Today?

If you loved BoxyCharm, you’re not alone. And there are better options now.

• BoxyCharm’s direct replacement: Ipsy Glam Bag Plus - $18/month, full-size products, customizable preferences, active customer service. It’s the closest thing to BoxyCharm’s old model.
• BeautyFIX by Dermstore - $12/month, skincare-focused, includes samples and full-size items. Great if you care more about serums than lipstick.
• Stitch Fix Beauty - $20/month, personalized by a human stylist, includes makeup and skincare. You can skip months or cancel anytime.
• Love With Food (for the adventurous) - Not beauty, but if you liked the surprise element, this snack box is wildly popular and transparent about sourcing.

None of these are perfect. But they all respond to emails. They all update their websites. And they all let you pause or cancel without a fight.

Lessons from BoxyCharm’s Collapse

BoxyCharm’s story is a warning to every subscription business. It’s not enough to have a great idea. You have to keep earning trust.

Customers don’t stay for the brand name. They stay because you deliver value, communicate honestly, and respect their time and money. BoxyCharm forgot that. And in the age of instant feedback and social media, forgetting matters.

Today, if a subscription box stops sending updates, stops answering messages, or starts charging without delivering - people notice. And they tell everyone.

BoxyCharm didn’t just shut down. It lost its soul.

Is BoxyCharm Coming Back?

As of December 2025, there’s no sign of a comeback. No new investors. No job postings for curation teams. No domain renewal notices. The trademark is still active, but it’s been dormant for over a year.

Some rumors say the company was bought by a larger beauty conglomerate, but no official announcement has been made. The original founder, Laura Schaefer, hasn’t spoken publicly about BoxyCharm since 2023. She now runs a small wellness brand in Portland.

If BoxyCharm returns, it’ll need to do something no one expects: apologize. Offer refunds. Explain what went wrong. And rebuild from scratch.

Until then, it’s a ghost in the beauty subscription world.

What to Do If You’re Still Being Charged

If you’re still seeing charges from BoxyCharm after November 2024:

1. Check your bank statement for the exact merchant name. It might be listed as ‘BoxyCharm LLC’ or ‘BCHM’.
2. Cancel any recurring payments in your PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay account.
3. File a chargeback with your credit card issuer. Mention ‘service not provided’ and include screenshots of the website’s inactive status.
4. Report the company to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Even if you don’t get your money back, your report helps others.

Don’t wait. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to recover funds.