(Very Late) May Subscription Box Review! (Part One - Birchbox)

Hello Friends!

Once again, I have fallen off the face of the planet- this time to graduate! (I am now the possessor of an Associates degree!) ...And once again, I'm back, telling you that I'll be more posting more consistently. Maybe this time it will stick?

When I began this post back in May, I had planned on doing a simple 3 part unboxing post. The upside of me taking forever to post is that I've now had time to try many of the products, so I can give a true review. :)

This time around, I was a little disappointed when I opened my Birchbox. Maybe it was in comparison to the other boxes I got, but it seemed like it was a little sparse and unimpressive.

This month I received five samples, one of which was a duplicate to one I received a few months ago. Additionally, from what I've been hearing on the internet, a few of these are left overs from last month's Birchbox Man boxes. I'm not really sure how I feel about that- I don't have a problem with the samples, but part of what sets Birchbox apart is that they customize the box to your profile, and if they're just reusing left overs, that doesn't seem very customized to me. HOWEVER, like I mentioned, I don't have any problems with the samples themselves.

Okay, let's get to it.

Marvis Toothpaste in "Classic Strong Mint" ($10.50 full size)

First impressions: I love the packaging of this toothpaste. It's very vintage inspired, and looks great. It also smells very good, and seemed like a pretty good sized sample.

After using twice: While the packaging is neat, the toothpaste itself is pretty average.The ingredients are comparable to your basic drugstore toothpaste, including the nasty stuff, like sodium lauryl sulfates. It's very minty- like real mint, not fake, candy mint- but otherwise not memorable. Also, the package was about half-full of air.

Verdict: I probably won't buy this stuff, since I think $10.50 is a lot for a basic toothpaste, but I will probably finish the sample next time I go out of town.

Runa Guayusa Tea Sampler Pack ($7.00/16 tea bags)

What it is: Guayusa (pronounced gwy-yoo-sah) is an Amazonian traditional tea. It's selling points are that each bag has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, and more antioxidants than green tea. I think they're going to try and bring this in like the other designer teas. My sample came with four flavors: traditional, mint, ginger citrus, and cinnamon lemon grass.

After one cup: I tried the the ginger citrus tea yesterday morning. On first impressions, I didn't notice a lot of difference from any other herbal tea. It's tasty, especially with some honey added. As far as the caffeine, I'm not normally affected by it much, so I'm not the best to judge that.

Verdict: I think I would buy this again if I saw it in a store. I will definitely try the other flavors, as well.

amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask ($40/500ml)

First Impression: Mixed feelings. I really hair masks, but I've received this sample - from Birchbox- before. I have received duplicated products before, but it's always been multiple colors of of a nail polish, that sort of thing. I like the product, so I didn't complain to the company, but if it happens again, I think I will.

After using: As I mentioned, I've used this before, so I already knew my hair was in for a treat. I like this hair mask a lot. It's very strong, so a little goes a long way. I have very thick, butt-length hair, and I was able to get two uses out of this. My hair felt great afterwards, and the product smells wonderful!

Verdict: I'm not sure if I will purchase this product. The price is a little high for what I normally spend on hair, if you take in to account that I got two uses from 20ml, then it works out to about $0.80 a use, so that would be a negative factor for me. This might be something that I would spend my Birchbox points on.

Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner ($11) (in Raina and Black)

First impressions: I was pretty excited to see one of these when I opened my box (my mom gave me hers, since it didn't work for her). Since I have trouble getting eyeliner that lasts, I was excited by the long-lasting properties they're known for. The colors we got were Raina, the lovely navy (Left above, and bottom below), and Black (Right above, and top below). 

After several uses: As you can see above, the colors are true and vibrant. As far as color pay-off, I think they're on par with Urban Decay 24/7. They also have a similar texture to the 24/7 pencils, and go on really smoothly. Unfortunately, they just don't last on me. They look great on, but after a few hours, I find that they've traveled or are just smeared. I'd love to hear if someone with a less-oily eyelid had similar problems? The reviews on Birchbox all seemed really positive.

Verdict: I won't be buying these again, even though they are beautiful!


Alright- that was my May Birchbox. Stay tuned for my Glossybox and Green Grab Bag reviews, as well as a bit of a rant post - consider yourself warned! 

Always,

Nani xx

Subscription Box Reviews!

I'm BACK!

Hello, Friends!

Sorry I've been away so long! I've begun my externship, and I'm getting used to working full time. However, I'm going to be catching up with lots of posts coming in the next few weeks.

Also! I've been given an opportunity by a local business to do a review of a service they offer- I'm pretty excited! More details to come as I get them.

Okay- to the boxes.

As many of you know, I've been subscribed to Birchbox for a year. I was very pleased with the service for a long time, but lately I've been feeling like the samples aren't as good (or as generous) as they have been in the past. (And I'm not the only one- the girls at Eleventh Gorgeous made a similar statement in their Birchbox vs. Ipsy video, and my mom is getting frustrated, too.)

Since I'm not as enchanted as I was, I decided to look around at other subscriptions. I settled on trying two other boxes- Glossybox and Green Grab Bag. In this post I will address the services themselves, and in future posts I'll address the contents.

Glossybox (starting at $21/month)

I was a little apprehensive to try this box, since it's pretty expensive, but I thought I'd give it a three month trial. So far I've received one box from them.

Packaging:

Of the three boxes, the packaging of Glossybox is far superior. It comes shipped in a cardboard box, which opens to reveal a ballerina pink, hard sided box. (The picture doesn't do the color justice.) The box is really nice quality- It's definitely meant to be reused. Also, it has a really cute polka dot pattern inside.

The contents are padded with soft black paper... confetti, I guess? It's kind of like Easter grass, and wrapped in black tissue paper, sealed with a sticker and tied with a length of dusty rose ribbon.

Shipping:

Glossybox takes a while to ship, 5-10 business days, I believe, and it doesn't ship until halfway through the month. The box that I'm going to show in my upcoming post is actually the April box, but I won't receive the next box until almost June.

Price vs. Value:

I used the prices of the full size products to estimate the worth of the samples in each of the boxes. I payed $20 for this box, and, if my calculations are accurate, the samples are actually worth almost $50. A good chunk of that is a very small sample of a face cream that retails at $225 for the full size, which leads me to my next point. While some of the samples are reasonably priced, it feels funny trying a product that I know I will never buy. I'll see what comes in the next box. Additionally, there were two full sized products within, so that makes me feel a little better about it.

Green Grab Bag ($15/month)

I heard about Green Grab Bag on YouTube. They're a fairly new company, and only serve the USA currently. Their mission is to bring eco-friendly, non-toxic beauty products, and to support smaller businesses. I've got to say, I was really very impressed with this box. I've received two boxes from them so far, and they are really stuffed full of great products.

Packaging:

As a company that promotes an eco-friendly lifestyle, they eschew the Birchbox/Glossybox trend of having an inner and an outer box, instead shipping in a strong box made out of 100% recycled content. Inside, similar to Glossybox, you find the products nestled in that springy paper confetti (green, of course) and wrapped in tissue paper (also green).

Shipping:

Green Grab Bags are sent priority mail (at no extra charge!) so they arrive 1-3 days after shipping. Since they ship out on the eighth, I believe, they normally come around the tenth.

Price vs. Value:

Again, I've been very impressed with the amount of high quality product I receive from them. Using that same method, I estimated that the product in this box was worth about $30 dollars (with two full sized products included). One thing I really appreciate about this box is that all of the products are fairly reasonably priced. So far, the most expensive thing they've shipped to me was $34 full sized. Additionally, instead of having the points system, they just post coupon/discount codes on their website for each of the products shipped out.

Special Note:

When I subscribed, something happened, and I was signed up twice (without my knowledge). The next day I got an email from one of the founders of the company explaining the situation, and wanting to know whether she should cancel one of them. I was very impressed.

On the other hand, their website really leaves something to be desired. There is no "Account manager" type page. Once you've subscribed, the only way to manage your account is through a small cancellation button on the "join now" page.

All in all, I was pretty impressed this month. Once my three months with Glossybox are up, I will have to consider whether I want to re-up, as it is so expensive, but I think I'll probably keep Green Grab Bag for a while.

Always,

Nani xx

(Look out for the "first impression" reviews of the products in each box later this week!

Birchbox Subscription Review

Hello Friends!

Last time I blogged I promised you a February Birchbox review, but unfortunately, as a college/university student, my life has been too crazy to try out all the products in it, so instead, here's a review of my experience with the Birchbox subscription experience as a whole.


For those of you that are unfamiliar with Birchbox, it is a monthly beauty sample box- kind of like a fruit of the month club. For $10usd a month, I receive an average of 4-6 sample sized products, and often one full sized product. When you sign up, you fill in a questionnaire detailing what types of beauty products you are most interested in, and what beauty concerns you have (oily or dry skin, for example), so that they can customize your box for you.

Each month, the products revolve (more or less) around a central theme- February's was Red Carpet, since here in America we've had a lot of award shows and "big-ticket events."
In my February box, I got:

• Beauty Protector: Protect & Detangle spray (Full size $21)
• Juicy Couture: Couture La La perfume (in the gold envelope) (Full size $90)
• Dr. Jart+ Black Label Detox: BB Beauty Balm (in envelope) (Full size $36)
• Color Club: Fiesta Collection Nail polish in "Wild Cactus" (Full size $8)
• Ghiradelli Squares: Milk and Carmel ($4.25 for a package)

I felt like the box kind of fell flat this month. While I love the nail polish color, I kind of feel like the boxes with food samples are kind of a cop-out (and that's been five out of the ten boxes I've received).

The second part of the subscription is access to the Birchbox store. The store is stocked with all the products they send out, and you can spend money or points. For every $1 you spend, you earn a point (including your subscription fee), and every 100 points counts as $10 in their store. While that sounds kind of ridiculous, you can also earn points for reviewing the products they send you- 10 points per review, and with 4 or more products every month, that can add up quick. You also get free shipping on the full-sized versions of the products that shipped in your box that month.

Now, do I think it's worth it?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I would like to say yes, but I've never bought a full size product from them. At the same time, I look forward to my box showing up every month. I think what Birchbox does for me is showing me products I might not have tried on my own, like a beautyblender, and products from other countries that are not widely advertised here in the US, like the Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrè moisturizer from France. I also love all the perfume samples! (I'm pretty sure I will never have to buy perfume again!)

So I guess, all in all, I'm not sure if it's worth the price... but I'm pretty sure that when May comes around, I'm going to re-up my subscription :)

I know that a lot of you ladies are from over seas (about half, which is pretty exciting!), so Birchbox might not be available in your area, since it's only in the US, the UK, France, and Spain right now, but there probably is a similar service in your area.

Ok, so a side note:

Like I mentioned above, I'm a student right now (until June, when I'll be alllllll done with college/university!), so I am not able to blog as much as I would like to, however, I am going to go ahead and commit to posting every Tuesday, and maybe a bonus "mini" post later in the week if I can. I sat down and brainstormed some ideas, so be looking forward to some cool topics coming up! (interestingly, my boyfriend and his brother had some great ideas... who knew?)

If you have any requests or suggestions, feel free to send me a message or comment!

Always,

Nani <3

P.S. I'm thinking about starting a Twitter- how many of you guys are on there?