Birchbox August 2019 Review of Swap For Full Size Plus Subscription Box Offers

My August 2019 Birchbox review is ready. Birchbox subscriptions get customized to your beauty profile. All boxes are a mixture of haircare, makeup, and skincare. There are times when body care items pop up, and you can select an option to receive no more than 6 fragrance vials a year in your profile. You could get a box with 2 haircare items, 2 makeup items, and 1 skincare item or any similar variety, but you will rarely see more than 2 items from any category unless the third is a foil. If you are looking for a box that is mostly makeup or mostly skincare, this is not it. Those looking for a well-rounded sample box may enjoy this subscription.

Annual Birchbox Review

This is my August 2019 Birchbox review, but you can see a synopsis of a year of Sephora Play Box reviews vs a year of Birchbox reviews. Every year, I review my $10 boxes (for me at least) against each other, so I can declare the annual winner. This is also helpful for those who would like to see a year of reviews for either box in one place. Birchbox did raise its prices for select members, but it is still $10 for me. For those who are not ACES on the $10 plan, I will consider that when I do the annual comparison for 2019.

About the Birchbox Subscription

The $10-$15 charge processes immediately for new subscribers and on the 1st in succeeding months. Boxes usually ship from the 8th through the 12th. At the end of every month (actual date varies), Birchbox will email an option to select a sample (from a choice of 3-5 items), or the featured box where you know all samples up front. Those who respond to that email can also opt out of one type of sample. If you want a sample choice and the featured box, I suggest making a choice and purchasing the featured box separately. Subscribers can review 5 samples for 10 points each once during the lifetime of the account. Those who pay full-price for their subscriptions up front get points to use toward shop purchases. People who use a discount code on up front subscriptions will not get points. No one on a month-to-month plan gets points for the subscription either. The amount spent for the subscription goes toward the $300 annual minimum to achieve Aces status.

August 2019 Birchbox Theme

Birchbox makes a custom box design for each month. I would pick the full size product shipped in an outer box on the month they are doing throwbacks. Members can get a box design from any month in the past. The Rifle Paper ones are my favorite. It would have been nice to have a shot at another.

The first thing you normally see when you open a Birchbox is a product card. This was the first time it was a piece of paper. It wants us to turn it into a fortune teller paper, so I am guessing the cardboard will return next month.

The back of the card goes over the theme, Old-School Summertime. This might have been fun in the July Box. Since my kids started school this week, I do not want to dream about summer vacations. It’s hard to believe there is still more than a month of summer left. Someone forgot to tell the school.

Contents are loose inside the box with a single piece of black foam at the bottom and a single sheet of tissue paper encircling the items. The tissue does seem to help the items from moving around a lot.

There was also a subscriber’s only coupon offer inside the box. If you arrive after the expiration date and need a code, check this article.

August 2019 Birchbox Sample Choices

The three items to choose from were: amika Bushwick Beach No-Salt Wave Spray, Pūrlisse Watermelon Energizing Sheet Mask, or ModelCo LIP PLUMPER Hydra Lip Therapy. There were three options for the curated boxes.

Curated Box 1- Test the Water, includes: R+Co HIGH DIVE Moisture + Shine Crème, IBY Beauty Blush, Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Primer Water, Dr. Lipp Original Nipple Balm for Lips, and too cool for school Coconut Oil Serum Eye Patch.

Curated Box 2- Back to Business, includes: Vasanti® BrightenUp!® Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator, ARROW BOOST Color Enhancing Lip Balm Berry Busy, MAC Cosmetics In Extreme Dimension 3D Black Lash Mascara, air repair Complexion-Boosting Moisturizer, and Oribe Grandiose Hair Plumping Mousse.

Curated Box 3- Summer Hits, includes: Lipstick Queen Dating Game Lipstick, COOLA® Dawn Patrol™ Classic Primer SPF 30, Lise Watier Intense Waterproof Eyeliner, Juliette Has a Gun Vanilla Vibes, Illamasqua Gel Sculpt Silhouette, and Living proof.® Perfect hair Day™ (PhD) 5-in-1 Styling Treatment.

My choice was the swap for full-size option.

My August 2019 Birchbox Subscription Review

My box was 65871096. Because I swapped for a full-size product, my box only has one item. Prior to my July 2019 Birchbox, every box I’ve received since the April relaunch had at least one full-size product in it. That means forfeiting the other five items was a risk. The main reason I decided to go for it is that I already know and love the full-size product. With tangle prone hair, I need a lot of leave-in conditioner.

The 8oz Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle retails for $23.50. I love the way this smells, but most importantly, it really helps detangle my hair. It also makes it a little softer and less frizzy than usual.

Was my August 2019 Birchbox worth it?

The August 2019 Birchbox has a $23.50 value. That brings the value for the average box in 2019 to $42.24. Had I selected a box I am almost certain this would have a higher starting value driving up the average box value for the year. I am happy with my selection and have no regrets. This particular full-size product is 8x the sample size Sephora sent me in the past. It will last me a long time. Paying $10 for a $23.50 product is over 50% off. With an amazing deal like that, I just hope Birchbox can sustain it. Let’s see which full size products it offers in place of the box next. If they are good ones, I will be all over that deal.

My personal value is $23.50, because I am keeping this. If I have any samples left, I might be willing to part with those. Thus is all mine though.

Subscription Start-Up Offers

See my list of Birchbox subscription offers. Want to subscribe? Click that link to see the current start-up offers. If you’re reading this around the time I’ve posted it, the one I posted below will work.

Get a free ColourPop Highlighter Palette with a sub.

What are your thoughts on my August 2019 Birchbox review? Do you think it is better than past boxes so far? Let me know below. If your purchase is over $25 (longer subscriptions or purchasing something from the shop with the subscription), you can pick a free item from the bonus shop if you do not use a subscription start-up offer or discount code, which I cover on my Birchbox Deals Page. Some discount codes on that page will not work on subscriptions, but I will post any that work on my Birchbox Subscription Deals Page. You can always add a free two piece sample pack when spending $35, because it combines with any promo code. Tips For Getting the Best Deal lays out all the ways I know to save money at Birchbox. Product reviews do not always make it into the haul article, but you can always type the product into the search bar to see if I’ve mentioned it or reviewed it elsewhere. Subscribe to the blog to get updates on all posts. View my main page for the guide map to the site and deeper deal exploration.

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