Birchbox vs Ipsy – July 2014

I’ve dumped Ipsy a long long time ago. They’ve been sending the same brands for so long. I don’t want anymore Be A Bombshell, Purlisse, BigSexyHair, etc.

Buy I think that if Sample Society keeps going with their new revamp, they will end up on top.

I liked Birchbox better this month – the magazine subscription paid for the box. I sent it in for a rebate, so basically I got BB for free. Plus I got the Ruffian nailpolish which was the cost of the box, plus other samples which I will use. I only got one item I was excited about for Ipsy and I usually LOVE my Ipsy sub.

Birchbox is always the loser to me cause all I have seen from them is tiny samples and I could care less about their points program, Ipsy is the clear winner every month.

I thought Birchbox was the winner this month for me too. My ipsy bag had one product I won’t use at all and another I probably won’t get much use from too. For Birchbox, the Naobay lotion just seemed so good!

I’m yet to see a deluxe size let alone full size item from BB. So I’m officially done for good with them, points or not. They’re only useful/good if you want to shop in their store and while I used to do just that I’ve found since that their pricing is significantly inflated and the products are often widely available elsewhere for less. I guess spending money on the sub to get tiny samples where I earn points redeemable only for rather overpriced merchandise doesn’t seem like a wise financial move in general. But if you really like the store and shop there, the points are a definite high point to the sub.

My boxes were both different than Liz’s. I would have to go with Ipsy, because my BB samples were the tiniest I’ve ever received in nearly 2 years with BB.

I’ve gone back and forth over time but went back to BB solely because I have discovered the best products from that box and I have always loved their point system! Twice since I have rejoined I’ve accumulated $20 in points that I combined with 25/35% off coupons! I an now also an “ace” so always free shipping! This past purchase I got the full sized Liz Earle cleanser (awesome!) and a full sized shower gel, added on a mystery sample pack (normally $10) for free and got 25% off. So with my $20 in points I received $48 worth of items for $8!

This was my first month without Ipsy for awhile and I finally canceled Birchbox (for good this time). Not really missing either one. (Both were great when I hadn’t been subscribing to boxes for very long. But now that I’ve seen some of what’s out there, I’m not inclined to go back. I have a drawer full of Ipsy and Birchbox samples — going back 6 months — that I haven’t even opened yet and I didn’t see a reason to accumulate more.)