March 2014 Birchbox Review- Wanna breakup but FOMO Keeps me Hanging On

Underwhelmed by Birchbox lately? After 1.5 years of being a Birchbox subscriber, I want to break up with BB but the fear of missing out keeps me hanging on. I just need one more month so that I can alleviate myself from one more month of FOMO, but really, I'm ready to say adieu. 

First things first. FUCK THE CHOCOLATE. If I wanted one of these, my corner deli sells them for $.35 cents. My BB profile (photo below) clearly has the "savory snacks" and "sweet treats" box unchecked yet I still get them in my boxes. They consider these treats "beauty extras" but all they do is take away space and value from the main beauty related samples that I want to try out. I also don't like dark chocolate in general.

$10 a month, is a small enough investment at first glance, but you have to realize that Birchbox is really targeting you for a long-term relationship with them. For example, I have been in a relationship with BB for 1.5 years so that is approx $170 ($110 discounted annual fee plus additional 6 months) just on membership fees at $10 a month. The whole point of BB is that they want you to buy the full size products and shop on their website (the samples are just to draw you in). After adding the value of what I spent via Birchbox.com for full sized products and subscriptions in the past, the cost is not extremely exorbitant over the course of a year but, money is money and I could have done something else with that money and could have used it for something more tangible and longer lasting (Like a Chanel eye palette which would have lasted me forever). So I thought to myself...what do I actually still have/use via BirchBox?

To be honest, most full sized products (like this stupid brow thing that doesn't work for DARK brows) I purchased, and the various samples they sent have gone down the trash with the exception of concealers and BB creams that they send us quite frequently (they send me a BB cream almost every month). Most of the samples are too small to really get the sense of the product/brand quality, and most of the bigger samples I receive are from cheaper/budget beauty brands sold at your local drugstore. I don't know, I am always stalking other people's boxes online and I love everyone else's boxes but mine. Grass seems greener, or is the grass ACTUALLY greener on the other side?

Look at this pic below, March Birchbox from another blogger that I like better than my own.

They rarely send me lip stuff but this chick got TWO in one box. I love lip stuff and go through them so frequently but of course, I never really get them.

We all know that the samples that Birchbox sends us are really free of charge to them. I absolutely don't dismiss the fact that they curate products from various brands and package them in efforts to incorporate consumer education. Most beauty products that are new or innovative will easily be forgotten if people can't figure out how to use them, and Birchbox assists the brands in getting their message out to their customers. That's great and all but, I feel as though I have not been wowed by any samples they sent in most of last year. Can't think of one product I am totally obsessed with from BirchBox...Is it the bulk of the product samples I am unhappy with, or is it just the items curated via my personal beauty profile? But like I noted above, they must not pay too much attention to your beauty profile and there are definitely items on their March list that i would have been more interested in like the Stila Lip Glazes.

The only thing I like from this month's box was the eyeliner, and I wish it wasn't green :(

Both of these are too small to tell if it works. I understand these are sample sizes but beauty brands need to wake the fuck up and make their samples bigger if they want to compete with household name brands. I have used the same Clarins Face Wash for years and that was because they gave me TWO sample bottles of it at Sephora and each bottle was .17 oz each, so I received enough of it to use for over the course of almost two weeks. Once I could see/feel the product working, I was sold. Once you trust a beauty product, you seldom stray from it until you find something better. 

I like the texture. It's smooth and creamy. The color is a light green so it's not too shocking, but I tend to like very subtle colors or provocative "mac-like" colors. Go big or go home right? I just didn't like the color much. The dual usage of cap/sharpener is definitely cool though, I'll give them that. Sucks the cap doesn't fit on my other eyeliners haha.

This lotion is alright. Reminds me of hotel lotion...which I generally don't use when I stay in hotels (bring my own moisturizer).

This shampoo smells good but its nothing special. I have big, frizzy, curly hair at the moment and it's doing nothing for my mane. Need. More. Moisture.

So what happened homies? Did Birchbox always kind of suck or is it just that we have become complacent? A bit of both I'm sure but, most of my friends have been cancelling their membership due to their dissatisfaction and I think I will be joining them very soon.

XOXO