Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me! Yep, it’s my birthday today – I’m 59 in Bunny Years (if you know what film that’s a reference to you’ll know my real age and I love you, we can be pals). So here’s a special post – my very first subscription box ever! I’m way behind in blogger terms but here’s my experience anyway.

I decided to sign up to Birchbox after stalking various people’s blogs about the different options out there. Birchbox seemed to consistently get the best reactions and when I discovered that the March box was a collaboration with Lulu Guinness I signed up on the 1st of March and eagerly awaited the postman. The website said that people would receive their box before the 15th so I diligently avoided spoilers for what seemed like ages until my box arrived on the 14th.

Firstly I must say how impressed I was at the packaging. The Lulu inspired sleeve is very eye-catching and appropriate and the inner box and drawstring bag for the products feels very lux. I can definitely think of a few future uses for them both. Considering that the box only costs £10 I’m happy to see that they haven’t cheaped out on the packaging. First impressions count and all that.

In the box I received the following: English Laundry By Christopher Wicks perfume sample (2ml); Benefit Stay Don’t Stray eye primer in light/medium (2.5ml); Dr Brandt Pores No More Pore Refiner (7.5ml); Molten Brown Rhubarb & Rose Replenishing Hand Cream (7ml); Korres Citrus Body Milk (50ml); and the ‘lifestyle extra’ – a striped stick of rock with Lulu Loves Birchbox through the middle, random but cute.

With the exception of the Korres body lotion (which smells amazingly fresh and feels super light) all of the sizes are pretty small, but I was expecting this. I’ve never tried Stay Don’t Stray from Benefit before so I was happy to see something new and am keen to try it out. Despite the small size I think you’d get a pretty good idea how this works as you’d get a good few applications out of this bottle since you only need a couple of dabs. The Dr Brandt primer seems pretty similar in texture to Benefit’s The Porefessional so I’ll be keen to see how the compare (especially since the Dr Brandt is a whopping £39 for the full size product!). The hand cream just smells incredible, it has gone straight into the handbag and I’d expect it to last me a couple of weeks.

The perfume sample is a bit of a disappointment, it smells ok, not exactly my style but perfume samples just don’t really feel that special. I feel like I could probably get at a counter. Also, I thought that collaboration with Lulu Guinness meant that she’d be involved with picking all of the products in the box when in fact she only picked the Benefit product and the stick of rock.

That aside I was happy with my box. It cost £10 +£2.95 for postage which I think is reasonable. However, I think I’ll cancel the subscription for next month and try a few other services before I decide if I want to commit to one. But thumbs up for Birchbox, it’s winning so far! Next month I think I’m going to try out Goodie Goodness, not a beauty box but equally delightful.

What did you think of this months Birchbox? Do you sign up for any others? Please leave me opinions down below, I’d love to try out a variety of services over the next few months.