Building a Better Birchbox: Can it Be Done?

(reprint from late last  year as I gear up for the next similar article.)
While I experience some highs and lows with my Birchboxes, just like anyone else, I've noticed a major positive trend in recent months. This positive change happened in early 2013, shortly after I did some profile adjustments, so I really think they helped. I believe that February was the first month after I tweaked my profile, and I was thrilled with it! That trend has continued fortunately, and (fingers crossed!) with any luck I'll keep seeing these awesome Birchboxes.

One of the questions my BirchBox subscribing friends and some blog readers have asked before is "How is your profile set up to get that box?" I decided to outline the changes that I've made and highlight a few of the boxes from the last several months to show why I found the changes helpful.

February: This BB was great thanks to the full size Dermablend concealer and the very nice size Vasanti sample. Before this box I never had received a full size makeup item, and it was extremely rare for me to get the desirable samples like the Vasanti. I'd even been wishing for one of the Twistbands, and this was the month I finally got one.

March: Some great sized samples and nice brands with the Whish Blueberry shave cream, Evologie, and Marcelle BB cream. Once again, I had what I considered two very desirable items (the Marcelle BB cream and the Whish) -- actually three as I love Evologie. I don't mind foil packs so much when they give you three different sample scents/types, as they did here.

April: The Youngblood anti-shine mattifier was the standout in this box for me, but loved the body gel and was pleased to get the chance to try Strivectin. In this box I was again amazed to get one of the awesome new samples that everyone wanted (Youngblood). I still use it nearly daily, it's amazing and lives up to the hype. I also loved getting the other samples as they were all great sizes. The lotion packs didn't bother me too much, as they did give me three!

May: The Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel and Cargo blush tied for favorites in this box! Even if I never use the perfume or the tea, this box was outstanding in my opinion. Again, with my old profile I NEVER used to get awesome stuff like the Juice peel or the Cargo blush.

June: Was super happy to get the Origins Charcoal mask and the lip crayon (sadly it was too bright for my taste but it was still a super hot item for this month!)With the old profile, I'd almost never get any of my wished-for things or any items from the videos but now I see them turn up regularly.

July: The Benefit It's Potent is a fantastic size, love it -- and getting TheBalm cheek stain as well? The box was already a win. When you add the bobby pins and the hair product, the box was outstanding in July. The DDF acne product is the only item I just didn't like. Once again, a box that I doubt would have been possible with the old profile.

So, that's a quick recap of my recent boxes since I made the change to my profile. I've noticed I tend to get higher value samples now, I get less perfume, less single-foil samples, and I really get nicer (sometimes even full size) makeup items when I do get them.  If you feel that the boxes shown here are something you'd like to get, here is the info on how the profile is set up if you want to play around with changing yours, too. (I didn't list the highly specific to me stuff like straight hair, combination skin, etc since that has never been changed in my profile):

-Level of Beauty Knowledge: Dedicated Enthusiast

-I can Never Have too Many: Skincare Products

-Fragrance Samples: No more than 6X per year  (recent tweak!)

-Extras I'd love to See in BB: Organic and natural products

-Signed up for BB Because: It is hard to buy high-end beauty in stores near me

-My beauty Style is: Trendy: I keep up with the latest shades and looks and love wearing them in real life
 
-Most concerned about: Acne, Aging

-Household Income: $135K and up

-NOTE: My age is not specified, it's just blank now and waiting for the birthdate to be entered. I noticed this when I went to get the info for this article. It was specified prior to the site upgrade. The last time I entered my age I entered 29, this was in January or so. I've heard that moving your age up or down can impact your samples, but I've yet to play with that much. Even though my age isn't specified at all now thanks to the site upgrades they did, I don't plan to go in there and make ANY changes. I'm loving my BirchBoxes so much lately and I'm afraid to mess with it.


I asked one of the incredibly helpful members of the BirchBox customer service team about getting higher end samples once, and she did mention two key things to me: Listing skin cream as the "can't get enough" item and having a higher end income listed. I did those two things, along with the other tweaks you see above, and it has certainly netted me some awesome Birchboxes. So, I'd say her advice worked well, at least for me.

Have you been loving your Birchboxes this year? If you've made changes, what tweaks have YOU made? If you want to sign up for your very first Birchbox... Try it here: Birchbox!