Birchbox
I joined Birchbox this month after a four week wait; they
are so popular right now that they have a crazy waiting list. Four weeks, and
apparently that is one of the shorter waits. The box costs ten dollars a month which also
includes shipping. They boast that they send out deluxe and full size samples.
Each box should have four or five samples per month. They are one of the original
sample box subscription services, allegedly the one that started it all. With
such hype, I was sure that I would be blown away by this subscription, since it
was something that everyone wanted to get in on. I’m not kidding, there was so much hype. Surely,
I wouldn't be disappointed in it.
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| The FAMOUS Birchbox has arrived...... |
My February Birchbox was a Red Carpet theme (real original).
My box included the following five products:
Juicy Perfume Sample-
I don’t even care about the value, because I hated this scent. It reminded me
of something a tween would wear, and felt it was a rip off to be in the box. It
certainly wasn't a deluxe sample size of a perfume. I could have gotten this
for FREE from pretty much any beauty place.
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| perfume |
Color Club
Professional Nail Lacquer Mini in Wild Cactus - .25 oz Value $4- This is a
really cute color that’s more of an emerald shade. Very fun.
 |
| So adorable! I just wish it was bigger...... |
Beauty Protector
Protect and Detangle - estimated 1.25 oz. - The value of this sample was $4.12.
I really liked this product, and have been using it on my hair, the scent makes
me feel like I just came from the salon. It reminds me of coconut.
 |
| Perfume for the hair |
Ghiradelli Caramel
Chocolate Square- Um, Seriously???? No. Sure I love chocolate as much as
the next person, but I don’t want chocolate in my sample box, this is not a
sample, this is just a random piece of chocolate and a brand I could find
anywhere. Just No. (okay so my snark could be coming from the
fact that I can’t have chocolate right now and had to relinquish this to my
husband). But even so- no.
Dr. Jart+ Black Label
Detox Beauty Balm-0.1 oz -The value of this is around $2.00. Well, I would imagine it was the value if it
actually had much of anything in it. Mostly air in this one, and the little
that I got out didn’t work on my skin tone. I was excited to get this at first because of all the hype about BB creams.
 |
| Mostly air |
Value: The total
value of this box is maybe $12 or $13. Not impressed. Not impressed at all.
PROS
I will be nice and say that one pro that I have heard about
Birchbox is that they send out a variety of boxes each month. I think it’s
almost forty (or maybe even more) different varieties, which I think is pretty
cool. It makes it a bit of a surprise. My box was not overwhelming by any means, but
some of the boxes that I saw other people received looked really great. The big thing was that Lancôme had finally
signed on with them as a brand this month, so everything on their site was all
about the arrival of Lancôme. That’s wonderful-if I had ACTUALLY received a
Lancôme product in my bag.
CONS
Birchbox was a big letdown for me- I had a hard time even
coming up with a single pro since I was just so disappointed with this box. Everyone claims that this is THE sample box to
have, and I wanted to cancel my subscription as soon as it arrived. They claim
that they send out deluxe and full size samples, but their version of deluxe is
no different than the tiny samples that you can get at any Sephora or cosmetics
counter. I’d rather just go to those places and possibly pick out what I want,
and not get these tiny RANDOM things in
my box. I feel it’s ridiculous to pay ten dollars a month to get samples that
come FREE with any purchase elsewhere. The
value just wasn't there for me. I paid
ten dollars to get $10.00 worth of products, no thanks. This was not a bargain, not when you compare
them to the value of the other boxes.
Second, I've heard some horrible things about delivering.
This was the last of my sample boxes to arrive, all of which are supposed to
mail out around the same time. I will mark this up to Nemo being a huge issue
that week, BUT I have read that other people have had many incidences where
their box didn't arrive until the last day of the month.
Next, Birchbox offers a variety in boxes, this I think is
great- however don’t bother sending out varieties if you aren't going to take
into consideration the beauty profile. Many people complained that they
received products that were the opposite of what they had for hair type or skin
color. Variety is wonderful, but not if
it’s a useless variety to the person.
Also, the amount of samples was a letdown. They claim they
send four or five samples. Mine had four
with the chocolate. Okay so it is four
samples BUT you’re not fooling anyone with that chocolate and honestly- what
does that even have to do with red carpet? Everyone knows you don’t eat for
weeks before going on the red carpet.
Lastly, Birchbox like Sample Society loves to repeat items.
Many people complained that they received hair bands in this month’s box, last
month’s box, and in DECEMBER’s box. Ugh. No.
Do NOT send the same thing three months in a row. Birchbox also has a fondness for sending out
their Birchbox pillow boxes in their bags and love putting Juicy perfume
samples in them as well. I’m not a fan
of juicy perfume, and have no use for those little boxes. This doesn’t just apply to the women’s boxes-
one of my friends did the male box for almost a year, and cancelled because he
felt there were only so many shaving cream samples you could get. He thought they lacked in variety of product.
If you can’t guess by now, this is not a subscription that I
will be continuing.
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