My (Uninspiring) Birchbox | May 2015 (+rant)

Anybody else been feeling uninspired by recent Birchboxes?  I had such high hopes, thinking it would be just like the American box, but its the same few brands on repeat, the same drab colours, and the same general products.  I swear I will cancel once I get redeem all of my points for something great (like The Balm).

I really don't have much to say about this box.  The bubble bath/shower gel smells like cheap candy lemons in a sort of lemon-gum-drop sort of way.  Not exactly thrilled about getting another body wash.  The hair spray has a weird spritz nozzle that just leaves parts of my hair damp and sticky.  Also-- I have gotten something from this line in every single one of my boxes.  The nail polish is *bleh*.  I actually had a conversation at the CBB meet up about how awful it was.  No joke, one girl brought this entire Birchbox to trade.  Guess she felt the same as me?  I don't care for the mascara-- it isn't long lasting at all on me, and it flakes.  The lippie is the most redeeming thing in the box and even then its tiny.  It lasts a while, it looks pretty on me, but the applicator is a little larger than needed for this product.

Swatches

Sorry that I didn't have more to say about this box-- I just don't really have much to say about it.  I am pretty disappointed by the whole Birchbox in Canada experiment-- our American friends get the most amazing products while it feels like Canada constantly gets items pulled out of the bottom of the reject bin.  And Sephora's recent shipping policy that results in Canadians missing out on being able to order all sorts of amazing products doesn't help.  I think lately I am just disappointed by how cheap shipping is in the states (ipsy, Color Pop), how big their selection is (Sephora) and how exciting their subscription boxes are (Birchbox).  I love being Canadian, but I wish these companies would understand that Canadian consumers want what American consumers have.  We have access to the same media, their blogs, their social media-- we know its there.  Don't pretend otherwise.  We don't want the second rate version, we want the full on awesome product and shipping and perks.  Why do Canadians have to spend $35/$50 to get the cool Sephora perks while Americans both pay less for the products and only pay $25/$35 for the same perks?  You know, the little deluxe samples.  Anyways thats my little rant.  I just want Canadian consumers to have access to the same amazing things our friends in the states do (and hey Ulta is you want to open up a shop in Toronto, be my guest!).  I know much of it has to do with French language packaging, and drug approvals for things like SPF, but sheesh LMVH and other major beauty companies need to hire some better Government Relations people and get things sorted out.  If Coca Cola can figure out how to operate in basically every country of the world, I'm sure Clinique, Bobbi Brown, and Bite can figure out how to ship to Canada through Sephora and that Birchbox cna figure out how to send Canadians some actually desirable items.  //end rant.