November Birchbox Review

A few months ago, I joined Birchbox.com. It seemed like a good idea at the time. For a mere $10, you're supposed to get a little box full of deluxe samples of various products to try. It certainly sounded like a great idea...but now I'm rethinking that opinion.

At the beginning, my Birchboxes were great, packed with 5-6 really nice deluxe samples, large enough to use several times so I could determine if the product really worked for me. However, in the last two months I've had some serious issues with my boxes. First, there was obviously some sort of mistake with my September box, as I opened it to find TWO samples. Yes, TWO. And they weren't even deluxe! I don't even remember what they were now...I know there was a tiny little spray bottle sample of some perfume and a packet of face cream, but neither was anything I wanted to try. I emailed Birchbox to find out if they meant to do that to me, but I got no reply.

So this month, I was really looking forward to my box, figuring it had to be better, and that the samples would actually be DELUXE rather than dinky little pieces of poo like September's box.

Here's what I got:

Now, even I have to admit the packaging is cute, all pink and tied in bows and whatnot. However, the actual products were another disappointment. I got a tiny spray bottle of Shalimar Parfum Initial (Shalimar? Really?),

a 1.5-oz bottle of Thymes Eucalyptus Body Lotion (by far the best item in the box), and two paper coasters. Yes, you read that right, two paper coasters. Again, really?

In the cute little pink package were the following:

A 5 ml sample of Kerastase Elixir Ultime (I think this will last me maybe two applications, but as there are no directions (other than not to get it in your eyes), I'm not sure how much to use on my hair. I also got a 1 ml Hydrafull Lip Gloss from Anastasia and a little packet of Thymes Kimono Rose body lotion that might cover one leg.

Yep, that's it. For $10, I don't really expect that much, but the deal with Birchbox is that it's supposed to be this great value with deluxe samples. These were not deluxe (with the exception of the Eucalyptus body lotion). As a matter of fact, several of them weren't even good products.

Just so you can see where I'm coming from, here's a picture of my first Birchbox back in July:

As you can see, it's pretty awesome. I don't have the actual sizes anymore, but as you can see they're very generous. That box included Redken Shine Flash 02, a mini Zoya nail polish, a deluxe (I believe it was 1 or 2 oz) Purity Made Simple cleanser, a  2 oz Korres Shower Gel, and a granola bar. Now THAT'S worth $10! 

Now that I've had two fails in a row, I intend to cancel my subscription. I could easily get better samples by going to my favorite cosmetic counters or Sephora at the mall, and I wouldn't have to shell out a dime. I'm really disappointed that Birchbox has chosen to gradually get skimpier and skimpier with their program. It's no longer worth the time or the money.