If copying is the sincerest form of flattery, then the inventor of the beauty subscription box should be very, very flattered. Every day it seems like a new beauty subscription box appears on the market, promising to hand-curate products specific to your hair, skin, and beauty profile. While we certainly understand the need for a service to help make sense of the saturated beauty market, the proliferation of beauty subscription boxes makes it hard to see how one box differs from the other.

So with that in mind, we tested our favorite beauty boxes, interviewed their executives, learned about the “haul” you can expect each month, and the “success stories” that beauty companies have had after participating in these services. (It’s a little-known fact that in providing samples, beauty subscription boxes assist beauty companies with some of their most difficult tasks: Acquiring new customers, convincing them to try new products, and converting them to full-size paying customers.)

Just in time for the holidays–because a lot of these are at price points that make the perfect gifts–click through to discover the tiny-sized world of beauty subscription boxes.