Birchbox: Treat Yourself Without Busting Your Budget

by
We hope you like the products we recommend. Just so you are aware, Freshome may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.
Who doesn’t love a little retail therapy? After a stressful week at work or, heck, even a stressful meeting, treating yourself to something nice is a fun and easy way to banish those blues. The only problem? It can get pricey. And that’s doubly true if you love beauty products. That trip to Sephora adds up fast — and there’s no guarantee you’re going to like all the products you buy. That’s where Birchbox comes in.
birchbox 1

Birchbox sends you curated beauty or grooming samples for $10 a month. Image courtesy of Birchbox.

What is Birchbox?

Birchbox is a monthly subscription box that sends a curated selection of beauty or grooming product samples. Each box is stocked with five samples, some from iconic brands and some from new and exciting ones. Oh, and the best part? Birchbox is just $10 a month.

If you’re into beauty or grooming products, Birchbox is a dream. It’s a fun and easy way to try out a handful of new products each month, saving you from a medicine cabinet spilling over with partially used products you bought, tried and didn’t love. And, speaking of savings, it’s a whole lot more affordable to try products this way, too. Plus, they have a pretty impressive list of brands, so you can rest easy knowing your box is going to come with some quality stuff.

Birchbox customizes your box to you. When you sign up, they’ll have you fill out a Beauty Profile. You tell them what kind of products you’re into and give them some info about your hair and skin. Then, each month, they use your beauty profile to curate your box. (And I think it’s pretty effective. My boxes were spot on for me.) Plus, you have the chance to pick one of your samples each month from a set list of options, which I think is a fun add-on. They email you when it’s time to pick for each box so you never have to worry about missing your window.

Sounds pretty cool, right? But, as with all subscription boxes, it all comes down to actually testing it out. So I signed up for Birchbox to get an inside look.

birchbox 2

My February and March boxes. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

My Birchboxes

Good news, savvy reader. As of this writing, I’ve received not one — but two — Birchboxes, so we’ve got some good hard evidence to go off, here.

birchbox 3

The body creme was my favorite from this month’s box. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

February Birchbox

In February, my box included:

First things first, that body creme is incredible. I’m something of a lotion aficionado. You’ll never, ever catch me without a quality lotion in my purse, in my glove compartment, at my desk, by my couch — you get the picture. And JUARA’s product is worth talking about. It smells great, feels luxurious upon application and keeps your skin feeling hydrated without leaving you greasy.

And, bonus, my liquid eyeliner was on its last legs, so the Eyeko came at an ideal time. And it, too, is great. Plus, I don’t know if the sample size is just big or if I got a full-size liner in my box, but it seems like it’s gonna last me a while. And since the liner retails for $22 on Birchbox’s site and I only paid $10 for my entire box, this subscription was already feeling like a steal.

Would March be equally impressive? I tracked my box obsessively once it shipped to find out.

birchbox 4

The perfect prep-for-summer box. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

March Birchbox

In March, I got:

Okay, the people at Birchbox must be mind readers. This box was pretty much everything I had been thinking about getting for summer. No joke. I’m always looking for a good sunscreen that doesn’t feel gross to put on. And, as I’m coming up on 30 fast, I’ve noticed these beautiful crow’s feet developing by my eyes. Anticipating spending some time in the summer sun at the beach, I was thinking I should probably grow up and buy an eye cream.

And, speaking of quality beach time, what’s a more perfect look than a rosy lip balm and some highlighter on your cheeks? It was also pretty clutch that they gave me another leave-in conditioner since that’s the literal only hair maintenance I’m willing to do (so sorry, hair). So, yeah, I give them an A++ for this box.

The highlighting cream, in particular, is awesome. It’s super shimmery so you only need a tiny bit. And it smells like summer! That little tube is going to last me forever so, again, I feel like Birchbox is a steal.

Check out Birchbox for yourself

I’ve been trying quite a few subscription services lately (others I’ve loved include Home Chef and BarkBox). A lot of them are great, but Birchbox is one that I really don’t know why you wouldn’t try. I mean, it’s $10 a month. And I’m not big into makeup, but I love to treat myself. I got some seriously luxurious products (hello, collagen eye pads!) that felt truly tailored to me. As the product description card included in my March box reminded me, “There’s no time like now to take a moment for yourself.”

Ready to get your own personal moment shipped to your door? For a limited time, click this link and use coupon code FIRST10 to get your first box for only $10. (Regularly $15 a month.) Treat yourself.

The post Birchbox: Treat Yourself Without Busting Your Budget appeared first on Freshome.com.