February 2012 Birchbox

My very first Birchbox arrived yesterday. I've been following my tracking number like a stalker in anticipation of seeing what I'd get.

It was packaged beautifully. I enjoy how pretty these subscription companies make their boxes. It makes it fun to open.

So here's a look at what I got. I have to admit I was a little disappointed at the size of my samples. Yes, they are SAMPLES, but holy cow these were tiny. The box came with a music download, but I'm not really into that so I won't be reviewing it since I didn't download the songs.

My first item was a Blemish Clearing Serum by Juice Beauty. This is serum to put on your face to help make your acne clear up. It's made up of organic ingredients which I appreciate. There are a lot of harmful ingredients in skin care & make-up these days. I like going back to the basics. The smell of this guy wasn't bad. It didn't really smell like much of anything so I guess that's better than something that stinks right? I don't have a problem with acne so in the long run I probably wouldn't buy this, but it might be great for those that do have acne issues. The sample sent to me was 0.17 oz.

Seriously, a DELUXE sized sample? Not in my book.

However, after using it, I can see that a little bit of this stuff does go a long way so I could probably get a week's worth of use out of it applying it once or twice a day. This sells for $29.00 for a 2 oz. bottle making my sample worth $2.46.

Next I pulled out a sample of Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy Perfume. This is your basic perfume sample that you literally can pick up at any department store or as a freebie online. You can get these for FREE off coupon websites. So the fact that this was an actual SAMPLE in my box was kind of disappointing. HOWEVER, I've never used Juicy perfume before & I LOVED THIS SMELL. It actually has me considering buying a full size. It wasn't overpowering & my hubby liked it; plus it made me feel feminine & pretty. I liked that. This guy sells for $89.00 retail for a 3.4 oz perfume bottle. My sample was 0.05 oz. (again, NOT DELUXE SIZE) which is worth a grand total of $1.30. (& again, you can get samples of nice perfumes like this for free on couponing websites all the time.)

I also received a Benta Berry G-1 Moisturizing Face Cream in a microscopic sized sample. (ha ha ha) I used this last night & I didn't care for it at all. The smell was horrible & it was SO HARD to put on. It didn't go on smoothly at all & it made my face feel greasy all over. I'm sure it's a great product for a lot of people out there, but for my particular skin, it was a no-go. This cream sells for $22.00 for 30 ml which really isn't a terrible price compared with some of the other high end things I've seen on Birchbox, so if it works for you, it's nice to know it's not overly-expensive. My 0.1 oz sample was worth $2.20. This sample only had 2 uses in it. I used it once last night & once this morning (just to give it another shot) & it was gone. NOT DELUXE SIZED at all. I'm not complaining too much because I didn't like it, but I would be REALLY upset if I really liked it & only got a one day supply in my box.

The sample was WAY TOO SMALL in my opinion. Look at it compared to a quarter. It is almost the exact same size as my perfume sample. 2 uses is NOT DELUXE.

My largest sample in this box was the Eye Rock Designer Liner. I'm still laughing at this. Do people really wear this? They are giant stickers for your eyes that look like really bad eyeliner. From the videos posted on YouTube, they look like they don't stick very well & they are a little over the top for a 30 year old mom with 5 kids. But I don't know. . . . I didn't throw them away, but I also did not go try them right away either. Maybe for Halloween? Watch . . . I'll put them on as a joke one day & will wind up loving them. ha ha ha. This package had 4 different liners in them from simple cat eyes to over the top claws. These sell for $13.00 retail making this sample my highest value at $6.50. Too bad it's not something I'd wear every day.

My last sample was a piece of Chuao ChocoPod chocolate. Amazingly enough, this one piece of chocolate was bigger than my other three samples combined. Seriously! The chocolate in my box was Spicy Maya which had cinnamon & chili's in it. It tastes like dark chocolate & then has a spicy aftertaste at the end. It's nothing new. . . they've been selling chili chocolate all over Europe for years, but it's a fun twist on chocolate. I don't care for it much, but my 2 year old LOVED IT. These retail for $9.95 for 12 making my one sample $0.83.

I just wanted to show you all how very small my samples this month were. My husband saw me opening it & when he saw what was inside he said, "Wow, FREE SAMPLES just get smaller & smaller these days. Can you even get anything out of that?" If my HUSBAND thinks they're FREE sample size, then we're really in trouble. I'm not usually a complainer, but I do think Birchbox needs to stick to what it advertises. . . DELUXE SIZED SAMPLES. There is nothing deluxe about these. The eyeliner stickers, maybe. . . but the rest, no. Three of these samples fit in the palm of my hand with PLENTY of room to spare. I know it's only $10 a month, but come on. . . you have to at least make it worthwhile. I want to add that my

TOTAL WORTH for this box was $13.29.

I paid $10 for it. So I saved what? $3.29? What's worse is that several other subscribers got Beauty Blenders ($13+ value EACH) & the Dermalogica Microfoliant sample worth over $10 in their boxes. If you're going to send $25-$30 boxes to some subscribers, PLEASE DON'T SEND $13.00 boxes to others. It's just not good business. Equal it out. I really don't expect much for $10, but I expect SOMETHING. This was my first Birchbox, & I do enjoy getting a pampering box for myself each month, so I'm hanging in there, but we'll see. . .

If you want to learn more about Birchbox, click here for more information.