My First Birchbox - A Beauty Box Subscription Comparison

So after my first beauty box subscription post "My First Beauty Subscription Box - A Look inside my loveMeBeauty Box", I figured it would only be polite to try out some other boxes and compare the services. So I picked up this month's Birchbox and while I'll admit I haven't tried most of the products and so can't offer much of a review on them as of yet (watch this space - reviews will be coming!) I'm just going o be reviewing the actual service.

So as far as ordering Birchbox, the process seems easier than LoveMeBeauty, you just signup with your email, password and fill in your "Beauty Profile" (which asks about your product preferences, skin tone, condition of your hair, etc). Whereas with LoveMeBeauty you have to fill in a profile every month and actually pick your products. Birchbox is more expensive monthly than LoveMeBeauty however the average price of the products you receive seems to be higher so it balances out there, and the element of surprise is quite nice with Birchbox as they just send products they think you'd like based on how you fill out your Beauty Profile.

I think it's relevant to mention the products I received from Birchbox to show the value. in the March box I received 1 product I requested Benefit RollerLash Mascara, Birchbox seem to offer you a choice of 3 products from one brand each month (last month was a choice of 3 benefit mascaras, this month it seems to be a choice of 3 Laura Mercier products). I also received a Lord & Berry Bronzer in the shade "Sienna" which looks quite orange on the swatch despite me filling in the Beauty Profile as having a "porcelain" skin tone. Other than the bronzer I seem to have received all products I'm a least interested in: The Serenity Skincare Dead Sea Bath Salt which is supposed to be good for stress and muscle pains (hell yes, give me all the relief from muscle pains), the well-hyped Philip Kingsley Elasticizer and the Catherine Malandrino Eau De Parfum which, although I definitely don't need anymore perfumes, I may have to pick up a full bottle of. It smells, divine.

As far s the delivery goes, Birchbox deliver your box at pretty much the same time each month where LoveMeBeauty will debit your account and then wait for you to pick your products. So, again, Birchbox win with the element of surprise. The boxes they send are smaller and so the products inside are generally smaller too. I find than with LoveMeBeauty you get more full sized and deluxe sample sizes whereas Birchbox will send mainly regular sample sizes with the odd deluxe sample.

While I like that Birchbox's surprise element makes it feel nicer to receive, I think for the money, LoveMeBeauty is better value, as you pick the products yourself and generally get products you like and you get more product for you money. That being said, if what you want out of a beauty subscription box is to trail lots of little samples of higher-end products and you like a lot of different types of products, Birchbox may be more suited to what you want.