Birchbox review – are the beauty products really worth the subscription?

IN a bid to help you navigate the gazillions of products out there and find your beauty, hair and skincare soul mates, Birchbox delivers five mini beauty products to your door every month.

By trying out the tasters, you can avoid splashing out on products that you don’t end up wanting, and you get acquainted with brands you’ve never even heard of. Well, that’s the basis of Birchbox – we decided to see if it’s worth the £12.95 monthly subscription.

• Buy a Birchbox subscription here

Pros

• Receive five quality beauty products each month for less than £13
• Fill in a beauty profile to personalise your box to suit your needs
• Detailed descriptions of the products teach you the benefits of what you’re trying
• Full size products are available on Birchbox with free delivery if you like them

Cons

• You can’t choose the exact products
• Each product is just a sample

Is Birchbox worth the money?

In the Janauary 2021 Birchbox, we received Dr Botanicals soap, a purifying mask by Marcelle, This Works hyaluronic serum, Lise Watier illuminating primer, and Amika’s scalp cleansing oil. If we had bought each of these to try at their full size and full price, as they’re found in stores, it would have come to £126.45, which means that we hypothetically saved over £100 with the £12.95 subscription.

We are not experts in the skincare realm (we rely on a few cult favourites in our routine) but we were really happy with the niche choice of products we received as we hadn’t actually heard of any of the best-selling brands other than This Works.

There was also a wide variety encompassing skincare, makeup (primer), cleansing and haircare, touching on so many needs in one box – all of which are suited to you, as you fill in a profile before subscribing.

From winding down in the bath with Marcelle’s purifying mask, to realising the power of exfoliating poppy seeds with Dr.Botanicals soap, we were impressed with the quality of every single product.

Amika’s scalp cleansing oil deserves an extra mention as despite never even considering a scalp cleanser, we are now obsessed as our hair feels so much cleaner and we’re looking forward to buying a full sized bottle when it runs out.

One of the downsides was that we already own a couple of hyaluronic serums which meant that we weren’t as excited to try This Work’s serum, although it will still come in handy.

You can’t expect to be completely blown away with every product because you might already swear by something similar, but it’s definitely a great way to find some new favourites without splashing out on the full sized versions.

Which monthly beauty box is best?

There are lots of monthly beauty boxes out there to choose from, but Birchbox was the first of its kind – if you’re looking to find new, mid-to-high-end products to try before you buy, for the cheapest price, then it’s the best one for you.

Glossybox is another monthly subscription beauty box which offers you five mini products for £13.25 a month, featuring both premium and niche brands too, and Latest In Beauty also offers mini monthly products, priced at £16.90.

Mini testers not your thing? There are beauty boxes full of full sized products like Look Incredible (£35 a month), The Pip Box (£19.99 a month), and the Natural Beauty Box (£23 a month), among others.

Is IPSY or Birchbox better?

Both the IPSY and Birchbox require surveys at the beginning before you subscribe, to get a feel for your beauty needs from skin to hair type, and they both offer samples of the products as testers.

Although it’s really popular in the U.S., Ipsy doesn’t currently deliver to the U.K., and some reviews online have said that it doesn’t offer as much variety each month as Birchbox does.

Also, every month at Birchbox, you get to choose an element of your box, whether that’s a product or the box design, and it’s always personalised to your Beauty Profile on site so that you aren’t sent products that don’t suit your beauty requirements.

Is it easy to cancel Birchbox?

Once you feel that you have been introduced to enough skincare, haircare and makeup gems, then you’re welcome to cancel your Birchbox subscription at any time before the following month comes around.

If you have a three, six or twelve month subscription, then you can opt out on the final month, easy peasy.

Whilst you’re here, why not have a look at our review of GHD’s Platinum Plus straighteners.

These are the best vegan hair products to look out for in 2021.

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