Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Winona chapter.

I always wondered how people start reviewing products for free. As a beauty lover and an avid beauty shopper, it has always been a dream of mine to try out products.

 

Last summer, I stumbled across an app called Influenster (which is basically a play on words with the word influencer).

 

 

What is the app?

On this app you set up an account, and you are able to review any type of product you can imagine. Anything from dog toys to home goods to alcohol to beauty products. The more you review of a certain type of product, the more likely you are to have that type of “Vox Box” sent to you.

 

You are also able to add friends and follow people on the app. The more combined followers that you have from all of your social media accounts and on the app, the more likely you are to receive a “Vox Box.”

 

What is a “Vox Box”?

A “Vox Box” is the box of free products that Influenster sends out to its users to try out and review. They send them out frequently, and they show which kinds of boxes they are sending out on their Instagram account ahead of time.

 

How do I get a “Vox Box”?

This part I am not exactly sure of. I started reviewing tons of beauty products last summer, and when they didn’t send me a box I got bored. Out of the blue, I got an email that I could take a survey, and if they chose me, I would receive one of the boxes. I re-downloaded the app and went back to reviewing products while I waited to see if I would receive one.

 

About a week later, I got a notification that a box was shipping to my house! I got the box in the mail in a few days, and it turned out to be a new kind of Dove deodorant.

 

 

That is what the box looked like when it arrived.

 

Now that a box has arrived, what happens next?

As soon as your box arrives, the app instructs you to “start your campaign.”

 

 

As you can see, I have already started mine, which is why it says “finish campaign.”

 

Then when you click on that, it shows you the “badges” that you can earn for a particular campaign. You earn “badges” in the app after giving reviews or completing campaigns on the app.

 

 

The first badge is a lot easier to get than the bonus badge.

 

 

To receive the first badge, all I had to do was review the deodorant on the app, post about it on Instagram with specific hashtags, and follow Dove on social media. Although I didn’t want to post about deodorant on my Instagram, I do want to keep receiving boxes of products, so I did it anyway.

 

 

I was lucky to have some loyal friends that gave my deodorant post a like anyway.

 

I am not sure if it looks good to only do some of the parts of the bonus badge, but that is what I did.

 

 

The only two things I was unable to do was to blog and vlog about my experience with the deodorant. I do not have a personal blog or vlog account. These seem like very involved activities, which is why I think they are in the bonus badge area.

 

The cool thing was that when I tweeted about the deodorant, the official Dove Twitter account actually responded to me!

 

 

This made me feel a little better about posting about it on social media.

 

What is the overall experience?

Overall, I think this app is actually really cool. I was able to try out a new product that isn’t on the market yet and review it. The deodorant actually worked really well, too, which made me feel a lot better about posting about it everywhere. I have been searching for a deodorant without aluminum in it for awhile and have not been able to find one. Being sent one that is cost effective (and for free) was really nice.

 

I have used a lot of different beauty products, which makes this app easier to use!

(Pro tip: if you sign up for any makeup/beauty monthly subscription, you can review all of the sample-sized products you receive)

 

If I receive another box, I will definitely write another article to update on how everything is going with the app and what I get in my second box! I have heard from a classmate that once you get one, if you do all of the things they tell you to do, they just keep sending them!

 

Check the app out if you also love reviewing products and getting free stuff!

Lauren Lott

Winona '19

Meet Lauren Lott, she is a writer for Winona State Her Campus. Lauren is an English Literature major with a minor in Public Relations. In her free time, she enjoys reading, working out, hanging out with friends, watching an excessive amount of youtube videos, and drinking coffee.
Hailey Seipel

Winona '20

| 2018-20 Club President/Campus Correspondent | Hailey Seipel is a senior at Winona State University who is studying Applied & Professional Writing and Journalism. She has been passionate about writing ever since she was little, and a dream of hers is to author poetry, sci-fi and romance novels. Until then, she is interested in working as a creative/blog writer, technical editor or project coordinator after graduating. In her free time, Hailey enjoys listening to music and reading leisurely.