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Birchbox Subscription Box Review + Coupon – April 2017

Haley Faye
ByHaley FayeApr 18, 2017 | 18 comments

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Birchbox
3.7 overall rating
657 Ratings | 188 Reviews

Every month, Birchbox lets subscribers pick between a curated box (all samples revealed) or a single sample choice and be surprised by the rest of the items.

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My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

This review is of the Sample Choice, $10 a month, box.

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The Subscription Box: Birchbox

The Cost: $10 a month (get one month free and $10 to spend in the shop with an annual subscription!)

LIMITED TIME DEAL: While supplies last, use coupon code LIFESTYLE to get a FREE mystery lifestyle gift with your first month!

OR

Use code STRETCH to receive a bonus full-size Smashbox Cosmetics Indecent Exposure Mascara in your first box ($23 value)

COUPON: Get $5 (50 points) to spend in the Birchbox shop when you subscribe with coupon code SUBSCRIBENOW50 OR Try any of these free gift with purchase coupons on orders of $35 or more!) And don’t forget your free mystery sample pack on orders of $35 or more!

OR

Check out the 30% off sale for everyone, too!

The Products: Beauty and lifestyle samples selected by the Birchbox team.

Ships to: U.S., FranceSpain and the U.K. and Canada

Check out all of our Birchbox reviews and the Beauty Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

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Each box comes with an info card. This month’s talks about how pretty packaging is great but most important are the ingredients and “what’s on the inside.” 

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To drive the point home, this month’s box print was on the inside instead of the outside!

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The flipside of the info card lists information about each item they sent in my box.

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Amika Nourishing Mask, 0.7 fl oz. - Value $2.32

I haven’t loved the couple other Amika products I’ve tried from Birchbox, but I really like this mask. It smells great and it made my hair feel hydrated, soft, and healthy!

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No. 4 Smoothing Balm, 1 fl oz. - Value $5.88

I always use some kind of leave-in product after showering and I like No. 4 products so I was excited to try this. You can use it before air or blow drying to help dry, frizz-prone, or coarse hair, and help against humidity. I liked the performance of this! I used it pre blow-dry and I found it did make my hair soft. The scent leans slightly unisex, too.

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Shamanuti Seaweed Toner, 10 ml - Value $2.37

Seaweed is a very nutrient-rich ingredient, and this toner helps balance pH levels, nourish skin, and help minimize the appearance of pores. It’s also supposed to be effective at removing residual makeup and mascara after cleansing. I like this toner pretty well – it feels very gentle and absorbs well. My biggest complaint, though, is the rollerball packaging for the sample. I found it really inconvenient and hard to use. I didn’t feel like I could get an even application on my skin and how is it supposed to help remove any residual product if there’s no pads or anything to help wipe it away? It’s a shame because this could be a really nice product and the full-size has a spray, but the packaging here really just makes me want to chuck it instead of trying to go through the hassle of using a toner like this.

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This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray, 0.17 fl oz. - Value $1.97

This pillow spray is made with 100% essential oils (like lavender and chamomile) and is meant to help you fall asleep faster and get a better night’s sleep. I love aromatherapy, and I like how this spray smells, but I just can’t speak to its effectiveness because I have a toddler going through a sleep regression and I’m just not getting much sleep in general.

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The Beauty Crop GRLPWR Liquid Lipstick, Imma Bawse, 0.07 fl oz. - Value $12.42

This is a new brand to me. Something about the packaging and the spelling of the name didn’t strike me as high quality, but the performance is pretty strong. The fluid is a little too runny to apply as well as it could (it’s easy to get messy), but the pigment is opaque and the staying power lasts a really long time. In fact, it’s really hard to get off and stains some once it is. In fact, after I swatched it for photos, I had a stain on my arm for the rest of the day and next morning.

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Here’s the lipstick swatched.

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And here’s how the lipstick looks on me.

Verdict: This was an okay month of Birchbox for me. I don’t think anything wowed me this month, but I still like trying new products. I mostly feel like the sleep spray was wasted on me at this point in time, and I’m disappointed in the lack of usability of the toner’s packaging, but I enjoyed trying the hair samples and lipstick still. The value of my box adds up to $24.96, which is on the low end of what I’ve come to expect from Birchbox but still isn’t bad for a $10 sample discovery box. Overall, this was a weaker box for me.

What do you think about Birchbox? What did you get this month?

Starting at $17.00
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Birchbox ($15 per month) was one of the very first beauty subscription boxes—we’ve been reviewing it since 2012! Each month, subscribers get a new mix of 5 beauty samples, such as makeup, skincare, haircare, and fragrance items. Birchbox lets you choose whether you’d like a box of items picked ju... read more.

Haley Faye
Haley Faye
Haley Faye first discovered the wonderful world of subscription boxes in 2012 and began writing for MSA in 2014. Over the years, she has found many subscriptions to love. Now a mom of three, her favorite boxes are ones that dress her kids, help her get organized, feed her family, send her snacks, and offer educational fun for her children.

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18 comments

Bonnie

Did you try putting the sleep spray on your toddler’s pillow? That might improve your sleep.

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Carrie

This was actually the first birchbox I’ve been excited about and loved every single product in since.. sometime last year! But I’ve been emailing them every month letting them know how displeased I’ve been. They always match me with hair stuff for smoothing when I have it clearly marked as needs volume! I don’t understand that.

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Lorilei

Deciding whether to continue with Birchbox or not…I am glad to see reviews to help me know i am not just being too picky.

I am new to Birchbox. My 1st box was March, and I enjoyed so many items to try and the helpful information card

Then I got the April box…I lopened the box and saw 4 little items…Not even enough time to fill 1/4 of the box. I too looked on the site wondering where other items were.

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Judy

I’m just not liking this box or the last several. I do an annual subscription that will be up soon. Thinking of canceling this box. I’m tired of getting weird stuff that I don’t use or even want to try.

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LR

Yea, i finally cancelled after 3 years! Same brands over and over.

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Sharon

I was your box twin this month! I’m not thrilled either. My previews showed I was getting 7 samples which I thought was odd but then when my box came it was only 5. I emailed them and they said they are only seeing 5 on my preview page and low and behold when i went back the other two magically disappeared. I let them know the screen had since changed and they said, “sorry.. nothing we can do”. I was thinking of cancelling and now I just may do it. sigh.

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Kiki

Always print screen!

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Sharon

too late now 🙁 I ended up cancelling.

Missy

OMG that lipstick is BOLD! Also not really missing my sub to BB AT ALL!!

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J

I thought birchbox no longer ships to Canada?

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j

Hi. Just a suggestion. i get products that are difficult to use so i end up tampering with them a little. you could rub the roller ball on a cotton pad and then use the cotton pad to wipe your face. or if you’re able to, remove the ball and tip the bottle over a cotton pad to get out the product.

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Allison

It was pretty easy to remove the entire roller ball piece. That’s what I did!

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Ragan

They are driving me nuts with that chemical structure. It is:

(Z)-1,3-dimethyl-5-(3-p-tolylbut-2-en-2-yl)benzene

But I can’t figure out if anyone ever synthesized it or what is is used for, or, more probably, they just picked something random and went with it.

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Jay

Inside the box lid? I noticed and wondered if it was indeed a real structure. Thanks for the translation, as it were.

I bet it’s something picked at random, something they didn’t expect people to look too closely at. In a culture where people fear parabens and “chemicals,” science exists for decorative purposes only.

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Ragan

Well I will give them points for at least incorporating a chemical structure for a molecule that, if it were to exist, would not violate the laws of physics. Unlike some of the grad students whose exams I used to grade…

Linn

Rollerball skincare 🤔 yuck… (especially the eye ones) but you can probably pull off rollerball insert with tweezers, then use cotton ☺

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Krista

I’ve used a pair of dull scissors to grasp the rollerball part (pliers would probably be better but ours are MIA!) and “rocked” them back and forth until the whole thing came out. I do this a lot for rollerball perfumes from Sephora and transfer them to atomizers… I’m not sure what the best would be for the BB sample above but it IS super easy to get rollerballs out!

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