This is the first of four guest posts my friend @eimski will be contributing to Just One Chick. The ideas for these posts came up when she visited me in Brooklyn to celebrate our October birthdays.

The Monthly Surprise in my Box

My MAIL box, people, jeez.

For a long time I have been intrigued by the monthly ‘sample’ boxes my friends had been subscribing to. BirchBox promised to introduce me to new beauty and lifestyle products for a reasonable price and without the pain of being left with unused products if I hated it. $10 a month seemed like a good investment and my friends had raved about it, so I made my way to the website and signed up and eagerly waited for my monthly supply of beauty goodies.

The first month arrived and I was underwhelmed. The best part of the box was being introduced to Twistbands. Those suckers really do work and don’t leave a ridge in your hair. Otherwise, however, I could not have cared less about the box.

Still, I decided to persevere.

Month two arrived with a small sample of Kate Spade’s ‘Twirl’ fragrance and a razor. I was incensed. I could have gotten the sample at my local department store fragrance counter for free, and thanks to my Costco membership I have an abundance of BIC razors.

I was THISCLOSE to cancelling my subscription when BirchBox announced a GOOP collaboration. GOOP, as you may know, is a weekly newsletter collated by Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle company. It focuses on things to Do, See, Make, Get, etc. and shows you how to have Gwyneth’s lifestyle.*

*Unfortunately you do not get her bank balance.

I am a self-confessed GOOP apologist so I was all in for this collaboration. My BirchBox arrived, all goopified and I opened it with bated breath.

Well, my face immediately fell, the first thing I found was a small Chantecaille ‘Guava’ lip-gloss sample, admittedly it was a decent color but I was unimpressed.

I ploughed on to the other spoils and found, well pretty much nothing else beyond an inedible Lemon LÄRABAR (disgusting in my opinion). I was so disappointed and immediately cancelled my BirchBox monthly subscription. I thought this was the end of my Birchbox experience.

Cue several months later and BirchBox start promoting their limited edition BirchBox Home kit. It contained various arts and crafts projects, some Dean & Deluca spices and some highly recommended utensils. I was intrigued and thought the price ($58) was good for the content, so I ordered it on a whim figuring that if I disliked it I could regift the products because they were of a high enough quality.

Ten days later my BirchBox Home box arrived and I was super impressed. Finally!

My particular favorite items were the Sabatino and Co truffle salt (retailing for nearly $21 on it’s own; great sprinkled on plain potato chips or crispy French bread with real butter), the Antica Farmacista diffuser in Prosecco, Jonathan Adler playing cards, and napkin craft kit were also very nice.

My amateurish attempts at the napkins are below.

BirchBox redeemed themselves somewhat with their Home box but I am still to be convinced by the monthly service.

QUICK REVIEW:

COST: $10 per month for the beauty subscription service, $58 for the limited edition home box.

WOULD I PURCHASE AGAIN? No to the beauty service, yes to the home box.

WHY? The quality and utility of the monthly beauty service is questionable however I was impressed by the quality and content of the Limited Edition Home box.

If you would like to read more of my musings feel free to stop by my blog.

*BirchBox did not sponsor this post by @eimski. She is just an avid shopper and all opinions are her own.

Related posts:

• I went to Austin and saw Bon Iver with @eimski.