Why I Canceled Birchbox

In other news I have recently decided to cancel my Birchbox subscription after only 5 months.

1. The whole reason I joined Birchbox in the first place was to try makeup. At first I got at least one if not a few makeup items each box with some skin and hair care products mixed in. I believe this was mostly to get me to stay because by the end of the 5 months I was no longer receiving any makeup items.
   
   
   
2. The items I was receiving were not relevant to me. The profile customization seems to actually not play any part in what you receive after all. They ask you to specify your hair color (brown) and type (oily) and ask the same for your skin type (combination, acne). I, however, on multiple occasions received products for aging skin or dry skin most of which were unusable on my part and a few of the ones I did try ended up breaking me out. The same went for hair care. I received shampoo and conditioner for blonde hair and curly hair even though I have neither. I did try changing my preferences and it made no difference.
   
3. I received repeat products on multiple occasions. Now I do understand that this can occasionally happen with any subscription service but the amount of times it happened within such a short time span were excessive.
4. I had problems with the service from the start. Right off the bat I had to email Birchbox because one of my items arrived broken. I was then promised a replacement item which never arrived and was instead given points to make up for it. This would have been fine and dandy if they had told me that's what happened, which they did not. I had to email them a 2nd time after my item never showed. Over the course of my subscription I had to email them for one reason or another for over half of my boxes. Twice for broken products, once for a wrong item, and another time because I was not given the early choice I was supposed to get.
5. Foil packs have since become a pet peeve of mine. When you fill out your profile one of the questions asks if you would mind receiving foil pack in addition to your five items. I chose yes, however, I never received more than my intended 5 items and many many times at least one of them was a foil pack.
   

Overall I do not regret trying Birchbox and may even try it again someday. I do love their point system and think that if you can use all of the products it is cheap option. I personally think their curated and limited edition boxes are a better option as you actually know what you are getting but for me, for now, Birchbox and I have broken up.

You can read all of my individual monthly Birchbox reviews here.

How do you feel about Birchbox? Do you prefer it or another subscription service? Let me know in the comments!