Birchbox Upgraded Beta Box Review – March 2015

Has anyone else received Aprils upgraded box? I have looked and can’t find one anywhere. If so did anyone actually receive The full Lord and Berry black wardrobe trio? That’s what I expected by how it was shown but my box just now got to me today and I only received the mascara, I love mascara but I feel shorted like I only received half of a set. It says plainly about the set for $24.00 with the eyeliner, mascara and case. Also I could not believe how tiny the two sample choices were! Very pretty colors but super tiny!

Below is a little more detail about what will be in the April Beta Box:

Smith & Cult Nailed Lacquer – She Said Yeah:
Created by the beauty icon who launched Hard Candy (and sparked our polish obsession in the 90’s), Smith & Cult strikes that perfect balance between gorgeous and edgy (just look at their shade names to see what we mean). Each shade of this covetable polish is vibrant, chip-resistant, and 5-free.

POP Beauty POP Portfolio Eyeshadow Palette:
If you’re the kind of girl who wears purple eye shadow like it’s your job and isn’t afraid to turn heads with teal winged liner, this palette will have you thanking your lucky stars. (And for those days when you just want to blend in, it’s got you covered with a handful of pretty neutrals too.)

Lord & Berry Black Wardrobe Duo:
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And where there’s a showstopping smoky eye, you’re certain to find this duo from Lord & Berry. Featuring the brand’s smudgeproof eyeliner and black mascara, it’ll take your makeup artistry to new, sophisticated (and remarkably long-lasting) heights.

Paula’s Choice RESIST 25% Vitamin C Spot Treatment:
We’d rather not have years’ worth of our less-than-perfect choices (popping pimples, forgetting sunscreen) permanently stamped on our complexions. This concentrated treatment dramatically reduces signs of aging, thanks to its 25% vitamin C content. It fades dark spots, combats redness, and lessens the look of fine lines and wrinkles, leaving skin brighter and more even.

Jouer Tint: Petite enough to fit into your daintiest evening clutch, this two-in-one pigment gives both lips and cheeks a wash of creamy color. Each square compact comes with a built-in mirror, and the moisturizing formula is designed to be applied directly with your fingertips. We love how the sheer pigments blend in easily to give skin a healthy, dewy finish.

Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Moisturizing Shampoo:
You don’t have to go to extremes to repair dry, damaged hair. In fact, when it comes to reviving your strands, gentle is your best bet. This mild cleanser uses moisturizing avocado oil and aloe vera extracts to repair and rebuild hair, leaving it smoother, softer and shinier.

Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Repairing Conditioner:
Considering what we do to our hair on a daily basis, we’re surprised our strands haven’t staged a revolt. Keep the peace with this moisturizing conditioner. It deeply nourishes and strengthens dry, frizzy, or damaged hair, leaving it softer, smoother, and healthier looking.

Spoilers for April’s Box?

I just looked at my Birchbox account and April samples are already posted for review. It looks like this is what I can expect to receive in my April box:

Smith & Cult Nailed Lacquer – She Said Yeah

Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Repairing Conditioner

Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Moisturizing Shampoo

Paula’s Choice RESIST 25% Vitamin C Spot Treatment

Lord & Berry Black Wardrobe Duo

POP Beauty POP Portfolio Eyeshadow Palette

Jouer Tint

I feel your pain. Not only did we not have the option of choosing one of the Mad Men boxes, but I wasn’t able to select either of the add on options this month either, and I really wanted to get the Rifle Tote.

I have no idea why. I’m a Birchbox ACE and my husband also has a subscription. But because I upgraded my subscription, I had no options this month, and wasn’t able to selct any of the upgrades. I emailed Birchbox about this, but they didn’t have any real response other than, “Sorry, it’s not an option for you.”

I was hoping that maybe we couldn’t get the Mad Men boxes because our box was being completely redesigned, since we were paying three times more! This would make sense – my husband’s box this month was more like a pull out drawer that you could store pictures, cards, etc. in. But I saw Liz’s review this month and it doesn’t look like the box has been upgraded at all, which is really disappointing.

I’m on the fence. So far, I am completely unimpressed. Seriously, look at what you get from Birchbox in one of their Limited Edition Boxes and look at what we’re getting here? It just doesn’t add up. No exclusive products, no cool packaging, no points, no nothing except paying extra for something we all already have too much of.

However, Birchbox is definitely one of the best companies out there, and therefore, I’m not going to jump ship until I’ve given them a chance to make this right. They’ve definitely gotten off on the wrong foot with this subscription. For $10-20 more, we could just get a second PopSecret or FabFitFunbox, so they know we’re not going to pay $30 a month for lip gloss, nail polish, and a handful of samples. At least, I’m not. But this is Birchbox. I think they’ll listen to our feedback, upgrade the design of our boxes substantially (I personally hope they do the pull out drawer type like the guys – I will all boxes were like this); send at least one, if not two, exclusive and full size products each month; and make sure that the total value of the two products is at least $50, bringing the overall value of the box up to $80.

So I signed up for the upgrade to Birchbox Plus, but I already have a yearly subscription. April was my first box and I picked the Mad Men curated one and didn’t get the upgrade, so I emailed them and found out the upgrade is not available to people with yearly subscriptions, which seems like BS but whatever saves me $20. I was not happy that I was already charged for it, but they’ve issued a refund. Below is their response:

“Hi Sara,

Thanks for getting in touch. I’m happy to help!

After further looking into your account, I see that the Order #109173284 was placed for the Upgraded Subscription. However, at this time we do not offer this upgrade for our yearly subscribers. It looks like there was a glitch in our system where you were able to make this purchase and I’m so sorry for the confusion!

To confirm, I have gone ahead and refunded you the $20.00 for the purchase. Please allow 3-5 business days for this to reflect in your account, depending on your bank.

We hope to soon have the upgrade available for all our subscribers and appreciate your patience as this happens!”

I got my Mad Men box today, but had signed up for the upgrades last month and was already charged. Does anyone know if you can’t get the upgrades with a curated box? I don’t like that I was charged and didn’t get them.

This looks ok for value… only I got the same full-sized eyeliner in one of my boxes months ago. Maybe it was slightly different, but still I think that is kind of odd.

Liz, you should not wear the derma e to bed it had spf in it which can clog your pores best to use it as a day creme.

That looks like a great upgrade! Does anyone know if their based on your style profile or not? Make-up wise, I’m pretty open, but I don’t want to be sent hair and skin products for dryness problems when I have the complete opposite problem.

Is BB doing April’s Fools Day by offering a Saved By the Box? It’s based off Saved By the Bell. Don’t mess with me like that. Memories.

I have to say that I am super glad that I spent my extra $20 on the bonus buys this month instead of the upgrade box. I opted for the water bottle and the notebooks and luckily got them before they were sold out. I also wanted the Rifle box so I picked one of the sample picks instead of a Mad Men Box. (LOVING everything Rifle) My box last month was AMAZING and I opted for the It’s a 10 Miracle spray. I also received the Roloxin lifting treatments, Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish set, Jelly Pong Pong Highlighter and Elite Therapeutics Rosemary Cream. Birchbox is a definite win for me. Looking forward to this month’s box also.

I did not sign up and probably won’t. For $21 my boxycharm gets me 4 full size items, and the brands they send had been getting better.

I am glad I have two months left on my yearly before deciding if I am going to upgrade to this.

I can’t help but compare this to Birchbox men, which is less expensive yet really stands out. They get life style items like boxers, socks, hats, ties and home wares. But for $10.00 more than BB Men you got an eye liner and lip gloss.

I was hoping for something more like that. They have such beautiful accessories, pouches, etc for women that I would love to get for that additional $20.00.

Liz- I’ve read that if you wipe the tip of the eyeliner after application it won’t dry out as quickly.

I’m a little slow and I JUST NOW figured out why you all are already getting upgraded boxes: it’s because you opened new accounts and were goven the option to upgrade, which meant your first box would be March and you were given the upgrade with it. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure it out. I’m usually quicker than that 🙁

I got this box today and was very pleased with it. I signed up for a second account just to get the upgraded version and am very glad I did. I have been wanting to try the liquid liner from Cynthia Rowley so this was a win for me. Looking forward to next month and am curious to see if there will be variation from one subscriber to another.

I’m so glad I saw this review tonight before I got billed $30 for my beta box tomorrow. I immediately cancelled my subscription and will deal with re-subscribing later. I loved my regular subscription until I found out that by upgrading to beta I had lost the Mad Men choices for April. I should have downgraded from beta then, then but I kept the faith until I saw this review. It’s not that the beta products are bad or not worth the $20 – they’re actually very nice – it’s just that they aren’t worth that to ME.

Well I did get my box today but it was sadly missing one of the full size products – the Cynthia Rowley liquid liner. Birchbox has always provided me great customer service so I’m sure that it’ll get resolved but it’s still a bummer of a first experience with this box type. Very excited about everything else I received, though!

Can you review the upgrade items for points as well? Looks like a pretty good box, just not for me. The very last thing I need is more eyeliner and lipgloss in my subs lol. If they would let you pick out at least one of the products for beta, I would totally consider it.

I guess I’m in the minority here! I think the eyeliner and lipgloss are great. I wear both every day, so I will use both. I’m not really sure what everyone was expecting To get…?

I think it looks like a pretty good box! The eyeliner looks awesome. The lip gloss is ok, but it seems like a fairly generic item. I always like pink lip products though, so I’d be ok with it.

The Watt’s Up! and hair masque samples look great, and I always like getting dry shampoos. While I wouldn’t be particularly interested in the skin cream, the Roloxin lift seems very intriguing.

I’ll be watching for more reviews of these upgraded boxes from Birchbox. My current Birchbox subscription was a one-year gift, so I wasn’t eligible for the upgrade, but I might get it in the future if the reviews continue to look good. 🙂

So far I’ve seen 3 reviews on the upgraded box and they all had the same 2 full size items. I am so disappointed in this “upgrade”, it doesn’t feel like anything worth spending an extra $20 on. I think I will wait and see what I get with my upgraded box and if its the same I will cancel, likely the whole sub because I’m still tweaked over not be able to choose a curated box! Really bummed because I liked my boxes until this fiasco.

I upgraded weeks ago but didn’t get a March one, I thought it didn’t start till April? I would of loved this box so much!

I’m supposed to receive my upgraded box today (I created a new account just to try this) and according to the site I’m getting the exact same box that you got. I haven’t tried many of these products so I’m very excited, particularly if I get the full-size items you got (I assume I will since those items are in my box).

Since this is the only review I’ve seen of the beta program so far, I wonder if everyone gets the same beta box or if it’s really customized via the survey.

This box looks AMAZING!!! Already it’s way better than my birchboxes, I often get small samples, nothing ever really big or memorable. I signed up for the upgraded box, but picked the curated box in April, so curious to see what it will be. I agree with everyone else my birchboxes are never as amazing as Liz’s unless I get the curated box. For the upgraded items, I don’t use eyeliner, so that’d be swapped, but I’d still be happy with the items.