I went to Birchbox last week! As you may know, Birchbox has a retail storefront in Soho, and when I was in NYC last week I couldn’t resist a small outing (also, Uber Pool? Genius!).
Hello Birchbox!
I got all excited about the Product Matchmaker, but of course it’s online too!
I made sure to enter my info and spot some of the unfamiliar products while I was browsing.
But first, a trip to the BYOB station! You can build your own Birchbox for $15 (men’s boxes are $25).
The super lovely Adriana helped me in the store. However, for me it was more a matter of finding 5 products I’d never tried! I mentioned I was a blogger and got permission to post that pretty face!
The Men’s section was much smaller – and many of the items were extremely shopworn. I was less than impressed with it – and some of the items were really quite old.
This would be a fun place for a little pre-wedding primp (they have styling services) as well as a nice gift for the maids.
Deepti is on the wall! And the bins were stocked. See my BYOB below.
I browsed around and saw a few cult faves, like the Shea Terra African Black Soap!
Birchbox Soho has stations set up in the main area as a “Try Bar” so you can sample some of the products! You can see the shelves of products behind me in the mirror.
I noticed quite a few K-beauty products around the store. Here – Peripera Ah Much Real My Cushion Blusher ($16). Those cushion applicators are super hot still!
And a product I wouldn’t try in the store (um, ew much?) but I found intriguing – Aqua Reveal Smooth Talker Water Peel for Lips ($26).
And this amazing scent! Sage + Fasten Common Sense ($50).notes of orchid and lotus flower highlighted with fresh hints of sweet mango, crisp peach and juicy lychee. I wasn’t crazy and checked the Birchbox Shop on my phone and found a rollerball set for $29 that I’ll pick up with the next good coupon 🙂
There’s also a large Birchbox Man area downstairs, and it’s really nicely stocked!
After checking out with my Birchbox BYOB (see the full sample menu here) I got an email with info on most of the items in my box! That was unexpected. BTW, you can use points to check out!
Sienna Naturals Moisturizing Leave-in Conditioner ($2.38) Yay conditioner. This was a weird product to get, but I got it solely for the purpose of pairing with unpaired shampoo. It was loose in my bag so I’d thought it was a bonus item, but it just escaped!
CoTZ Sheer Matte Finish SPF 40 ($2.40) I love CoTZ. LOVE it. I used up all my samples and instead of buying a full size, I just went for another one!
Bumble and bumble. Thickening Hairspray ($3.63) The shop had lots of Bb products around and I tried some at the Try Bar and this was a great way to take one home!
Beauty Protector Beauty Cream Body Lotion ($2.27) Everyone loves the Beauty Protector scent and this lotion is a great way to get it on!
MAKE Lip Primer & Silk Cream Lipstick in Maraschino Cherry & Magnolia (samples). Love MAKE lip products!
Ok, so how did I do? TERRIBLE! My box had a value of $10.68 plus whatever the value of the lipstick samples would be – let’s round up to $13. This was obnoxiously bad! They did have Mirenesse Lip Bombs out and I should have picked up one of those, but I was run ragged and I wasn’t thinking straight. I did a fave product, thickening hair spray plus leave-in conditioner (I always have too much shampoo and not enough conditioner), and I thought I’d try that Beauty Cream but in terms of value, this was the pits. Fortunately I picked up some Dr. Jart Ceramidin Lipair and I was totally happy. Oh one more thing to mention – they’re semi-strict about having one item in each category, I guess so you don’t walk off with 5 $27 lipglosses.
My final verdict is go once, make a box, and then spend your points online stacked with a coupon 🙂 Really, truly, you will do better online. There wasn’t anything in the store that wasn’t available in the (much larger) online shop except for the beauty services. I’m not a try it in the store person unless it’s sanitary, so it was fun to go, but I think it was a one time thing for me!
Visit Birchbox if you want to see even more photos of the Birchbox Soho store!
The Description: Birchbox is a discovery box that will send you 5 samples or full-size products. Earn rewards points by subscribing and reviewing your products that you can spend on full-size items on their site.
The Price: $10 per month
Comments
I went to the Birchbox Roadtrip in Atlanta and my BYOB had a value of something like $34. Not too bad for a more limited selection of samples. Although they didn’t have CoTZ there or I would’ve picked it, which would’ve dropped my value quite a bit.
This is such nice and complimentary addition to your regular unboxing posts! I did not know you could build a box at Birchbox Soho. I went to the Gap on 34th street instead and built one for a dollar more. This was apparently a part of a summer promotion they were doing with Gap. I am not sure about my box value, but I definitely loved all of the products that I got. I hoped you enjoyed NYC!! You are so lucky that you missed the heat wave. Last week was gorgeous! Come again sometime!
Thank you Lesia! I was really more concerned with picking out what I wanted, though I hadn’t realized my box value would be so tiny! 🙂 Last week *was* absolutely gorgeous but I was also absolutely knackered at the end. I will probably take my daughter again in December the week after Cyber Monday. We had such a great time last year. I’m not sure my middle son will be quite old enough for the trip, but it’s really quite an easy bus ride there so I end up going a few times a year.
Great post!!! Now it’s like I was there but didn’t have to fly all away to the east coast to go! It’s cool about the values because just think of the value of the curator… Priceless.
Did it smell like sephora in there?
Yeah it was a fun one off trip for me! It didn’t smell like Sephora. It smelled less cosmetic-y and more skin care-y.
I thought about putting a box together for a giveaway but I’m glad I didn’t – it was kind of a sad value. But you’re right. Anything I touch is golden. bwahahahaah.
The value is getting what you felt like getting. Plus you were tired. I make terrible choices when I am tired. I also make terrible choices when I am hungry.
Birchbox should have you do a guest curation! I think the hardest part would be writing the little letter that goes into the box.
I love all the pictures! It would be fun to go once.
So jealous you got to go! Bad value of the box aside, it looks super fun.