Skin & Tonics : Skincare Guides & Product Reviews

What’s that? Do I want surprise beauty products in my mailbox every month? Pfft!  Does a bear shit in the woods?  Heck yeah, I want that. I want it so much that when I first heard about the whole concept of beauty subscription boxes, I went apeshit and searched for every beauty subscription service I could possibly subscribe to.  Turns out there’s a ton of them. I wish I could try them all, but my millions are still eluding me so I, like most mortals, can only try a few.

Eager to justify my multiple subscriptions, I’ve written up a nice little summary of a few of them in the hopes that those dollars you’ve toiled so hard for are going to bring you big bags of bang. As in bang for your buck. Or the other bang, if that’s your thing.

So, without further delay, I bring you the first contender in The Battle of the Boxes.

Birchbox

Birchbox was the first service of this kind I heard about, and is undoubtedly the most popular. I found out about it early in the year, but didn’t actually subscribe to it until over the summer.  Birchbox promises “Hand-picked beauty and lifestyle samples, delivered to your door for $10/month.”  You have to get an invite to subscribe, which is not as exclusive as it sounds. Just sign up on their website and that invite appears in your inbox two to three weeks later.

When I received my first box, I thought it was a’ight. There was a generous sample of DDF Brightening Cleanser inside, a sample vial of Viva La Fleur EDT by Juicy Couture, a tiny packet of Shu Uemera illuminating shampoo, a very small Stila foundation sample, and a Schick Hydro Silk razor.  This was my first subscription box of any kind, and when I saw what I was getting I thought, “Sure, yeah, I guess that’s worth $10.”

This is 3 months worth of Birchbox, minus a DDF cleanser I actually really liked, a hair tie, and a granola bar.

Unfortunately for Birchbox, I also ordered a Glam Bag subscription from Ipsy (also $10 a month, review coming soon) around the same time, and when that arrived in my mailbox and blew my mind, the Birchbox didn’t seem so exciting anymore. In fact, after a couple more months of receiving both subscriptions, the Birchbox just sort of bummed me out.

Over the course of 3 months,  Birchbox gave me a bunch of hair product packets meant for someone else’s hair type, some snoozeworthy perfume samples, and a few filler products. One month the filler product was a granola bar. There are very few circumstances under which I’d be excited about a granola bar. For example, if I’ve taken my vitamins on an empty stomach and am consequently overcome by a wave a nausea that can only be combatted with food, but I’m in a hotel room so all I have to eat is a granola bar (true story), then I might be sort of happy about it.  But inside a box of beauty products? No.

Granola bar in a beauty box?

There are worse things you can spend your money on than Birchbox. The boxes always arrived on time and if you are super into hair products  it’s probably a pretty good bet. You also get points for purchasing full-sized items in the Birchbox store that you can use toward future purchases. Ultimately, that wasn’t enough for me, so I cancelled my subscription and I haven’t missed it.

This is my August Birchbox, which was also my last.

Birchbox definitely wasn’t for me, but ladies with a hair product obsession would probably get a lot out of it. If you think Birchbox is for you, you can sign up for it here. >>

Skin & Tonics Rating: C

Next up, a review of Ipsy’s Glam Bag!

Follow me on Instagram:

This post contains affiliate links. Shopping through these links help support this site!