I am in a unique position where I live in UK, but still have access to some US stuff that I can buy in store and online. One of those things is BirchBox, which is US equivalent of GlossyBox. I decided to subscribe to BirchBox after I got my June's GlossyBox when I was so mad and disappointed I was very close to cancelling the whole service. So here is the comparison between the two July boxes.
As you can see, the first major difference is the size. I gotta say, GlossyBox packing is so much nicer and even bigger. I'll keep both boxes, but GlossyBox will last a lot longer. Another difference is the timing, GlossyBox is sent out at the end of the month and BirchBox at the beginning. Actually this month I got my GlossyBox over a week late because it wasn't sent out at all. So after talking to 3 other people on twitter (they had the same thing happened to them), we all emailed to GlossyBox and got told that Royal Mail didn't mail our boxes and they will sent the replacements out right away. They did, and I was very impressed with the customer service. Of course I wasn't very impressed with the wait, and then it got delivered on Saturday but I was sleeping so I had to wait till Monday to pick it up.
It is hard to compare these boxes objectively, but I figured because both of them were pretty special I could try. July BirchBox was a collaboration with Cynthia Rowley (please don't shoot me but I have no idea who she is, other than she must be a big shot. Ok, I google her, she is a big shot) and GlossyBox really outdid itself. So this is what I got in BirchBox:
KIND Almond & Apricot bar - YUMMY! Didn't expect that in the box, but supposedly Cynthia Rowley always had one of those in her bag. If I had access to it, I would buy it again in a heartbeat!
Redken Shine Flash - I'm not really sure what that is lol. Guess I'll just need to spray it on my hair and see. (the bottle doesn't have any instruction, and the description says that it gives hair a brilliant finish)
AHAVA Mineral Hand Cream - I actually used this before and I love it. I would buy it if I had access to the brand and I'm not feeling like ordering it online at the moment.
philosophy Purity One-step Facial Cleanser - I always wanted to try philosophy, so guess now I can. :)
Zoya Touch Collection Nail Polish in Shay - I wasn't very impressed with the shade until I applied it. It looked much better than I thought it would!
And this is what I got in July's GlossyBox:
Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body Oil - I never used body oils before but I love this stuff! It smells wonderful and I am pretty sure it will make my skin nice and hydrated if only I use it regularly like I'm supposed.
Blink+Go Ultimate Effect strip Lashes Tempress - I would have probably picked those for myself.
Ciate Nail Enamel in Kitten Heels - how did they know that I would love the shade and the name? I am not very impressed with the application, but that could just be me. I'm terrible with applying nail polishes but I"m learning.
Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Conquer - my first Illamasqua product and I don't know if I want to use it. I already have pretty of other pigments and I don't want to open this one up only to have it sit around not used. I probably save it for a giveaway.
Etat Libre d'Orange Eau de Parfum in Archieves 69 (not imressed with the scent) and Like This (now I like the smell of that!)
As you can see it is hard to compare when GlossyBox had 4 full size products this month, but overall I am more excited about BirchBox because they promised to deliver me luxury samples and they did without going hit and miss like GlossyBox did last month. There were less samples (I don't count the snack bar, although that was nice), but they do promise to give you 4-5 samples each month. And they also don't promise to increase the price only 3 month after launching. I will be cancelling my GlossyBox in September, but I think I will stick with the BirchBox.
What do you think? Would you subscribe to either of those boxes if you could?
~ Lyuba
