Birchbox offers to send a box of 5 handpicked deluxe beauty product samples monthly to help subscribers develop an effortless, simple beauty routine.

Hayley Barna

Katia Beauchamp

Birchbox subscription service offers a unique way to discover new products, but has suffered some issues. Positive aspects include the fun of receiving monthly packages, discovering new products, and it being a good gift for younger audiences. However, customers have had issues with small sample sizes, lack of product personalisation, unauthorised charges, and wasteful packaging.

Birchbox

Beauty

Personal Care

Makeup

Bath & Body

I was a Birchbox Men subscriber for a few years. I found a few good products through it and it was the source of most of my travel toiletries. But then my partner pointed out that (a) it's a lot of wasted packaging for stuff I don't really need and (b) I'm not traveling anymore. So I canceled my subscription and don't feel sed. 

Not worth it. You can get nicer samples for free with other purchases. 

I tried Birchbox when it first started. I didn't keep up with the subscription though as I found the samples to be mostly products I didn't find useful and I had had to keep recycling all of the boxes. I found myself bringing the items to work and sharing them with co-workers but that wasn't a good use of my money so I cancelled. 

I never felt like they listened to the surveys. I’d always get products I said I never use and also there are better brands of this that send cute bags instead of wasteful boxes 

Really cool idea, and fun to receive recurring packages, but the actual items were unremarkable and never anything I was too excited about.

I used to LOVE Birchbox, loyal customer even gifted boxes to my nieces over the years. When they stopped sending boxes without any notification it was impossible to speak with anyone and I came to find out that they went out of business. During that time I signed up for IPSY and out of the blue I get an email saying my Birchbox would be shipping. Well, this has been months, like so many I lost track. I communicated by email to their customer service and I tried to cxl my account (again they stopped sending with zero communication) and they tell me I can’t because I signed up for an annual box! Yes, I did but Birchbox should have allowed their customers out of their contracts given what transpired. I was pretty annoyed and logged into my acct to make sure it doesn’t automatically renew. Honestly, their quality of their boxes is down too. I feel like I get minimal products from what I recall I got for years. Birchbox you did your customers dirty and I’d never recommend anyone to use you. I can’t wait till I stop getting the crap from them. 

Birchbox is a pretty neat prescription. I enjoyed everything that was in the box and when I wanted to cancel, it was easy to cancel my subscription.  I highly recommend if you are a person who enjoys getting subscription boxes. 

I was subscribed to Birchbox as a gift and I think it was a really good gift! I just think I am the kind of person who would never reach for a sample product. I am not super experimental in my beauty routine and I like to do research on my products before I buy them to make sure they are right for me. However I have tested some pretty amazing products through this service and ended up buying the full sized version. This was a great gift, and it was fun getting something new every month! 

When I first tried it, I received lots of great items. I’ve subscribed a few more times and very disappointed, because there are too many repeat items, poor quality items and tiny samples.

Opportunities to further curate your own box.

Liked having an opportunity to test new products, but didn't like having a lot of the products i didn't like or need laying around my house.

If you let your members state preferences, please actually listen. And better samples of cutting edge things would be great.

Birchbox was one of the first, main stream subscription boxes and at first it was very exciting to open. The boxes are often beautiful and I've kept many of them for organization, but the contents were often boring and not something I was interested in. There was often one sample I really loved and the rest were passed along or tossed.

There was an option to let them know things you didn't want, I requested no fragrances because I don't wear perfume, but in every single box I got a perfume sample. 



The brand needs to think about sustainability and the planet going forward. Not sure what that will look like for them though, as their business thrives on the subscription kits.

At one point I would have considered myself to be a "makeup person," especially when I was subscribed to Birchbox. It was fun to receive a package every month with a handful of new brands and sample products to try. However, I rarely found myself actually using these products. Perfume/scent is a very personal preference (I also selected that I didn't want these, but continued to receive). How many highlighters does one need? My friends have similar experiences - you accumulate so many of these smaller sample sizes and never really use them. Often they end up in the trash.

Don't love the excessive packaging, wish there was an option for only cruelty-free products

I use to be really into trying new products. in 2020, I really simplified my skincare routine and wear minimal products now. However, I first started this to learn about new brands. What I struggled with is using all the samples in the box that lead to waste. Also, if I was given a lipstick or makeup that I don’t use - I felt cheated out of a sample. 

Maybe good for those still trying to figure out what they like. 

Ultimately, Birchbox was not for me. The mini/small size of the products was underwhelming and uncompelling. The product assortment was not that original and most of the items I had owned, tried, or had various versions already. I think it's fair to share that I also likely consume and use more beauty and make-up products than the average person. I think Birchbox would be best suited to a tween, teenager, or young adult to start introducing them to products without the commitment. 

I was gifted a three-month Birchbox subscription from a friend for my birthday and was so pleasantly surprised and excited about it! The activation was easy to do online from the info that was provided. I'm unsure of my level of membership, but was expecting 5 products and had realistic expectations that they wouldn't be full-size. When the box arrived it was compact and super cute; the box (while branded with logo) is definitely reusable for various purposes, which is nice.

This box is cute!  I like being able to get an assortment and the boxes were always cute.

I feel like the amount and quality of the items is not worth the price. I does not seem customized and unwanted samples were building up for me. It was initially fun to receive the box, but after a few years it was no longer an enjoyable experience.

I enjoy the novelty of subscription boxes. I think they make great gifts, and this one is especially good for girls and young women who are just dipping their toes into the makeup game. People who have more advanced or mature style I think won’t appreciate this one as much: I had this for a little over a year, and the colors/finishes/perfumes they pick are very neutral crowd pleasers, even in the curated boxes, so they get repetitive after a while. Although beauty samples are fun, they are annoying to store and pretty awful for the environment. I was also irritated whenever Birchbox included one of their in-house products as a sample, which was almost every box. Only one of those ever proved to be memorably useful. I did like the boxes themselves though: they were pretty, good for storage, and sturdier than you’d think. But like the samples inside them, they stacked up after a while.

I just wasn’t into it I don’t feel like it was a good deal and I don’t enjoy the travel sizes.

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