Spotlight Thursdays

BIRCHBOX-- Ever wandered Sephora aimlessly for a good hour before ending up with 10 different brands of mascara? Or worse, just that little mini perfume from beside the counter? How about that foundation you bought online that made you look like a warrior princess? The answer to these dilemmas seems to have arrived in the compact yet adorable shape of BirchBox. We stumbled upon this “fruit of the month”- esque makeup company at the MyNines event at the Buckingham Hotel last week and were immediately drawn to its perky pink packaging and the fun girls enthusiastically singing its praises. When we found out those girls were Harvard Business School alums and fellow new transplants to New York City like us—we were sold! 

The co-founders Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp, classmates at Harvard Business School, were first inspired to create BirchBox when their friend Mollie Chen, a former beauty editor at Condé Nast Traveler, would bring them home samples that she hand-picked to fit their skin, coloring and personality. Hayley and Katia were determined that everyone deserved their own Mollie to get them the best beauty products—and figure out the ones that didn’t work—without a huge investment upfront. Mollie is now the Director of Content for BirchBox, so technically once you sign up you do have your own Mollie!

With 3 to 4 deluxe samples each month from brands like Cargo, Nars, Benefit and Kiehls, just to name a few, custom picked to match your “beauty profile,” you are sure to find the colors and brands that work best for you—while trying out some pretty amazing products along the way.  Hayley gave me a sample of The Face Shop Collagen Mask Sheet, a featured item in the September box. While I greatly resembled Hannibel Lector while watching Boardwalk Empire on Sunday, I could not believe how amazing this mask was—my skin was glowing and looked relaxed—it really was like a facial right from the comfort of my couch. So if you love one sample, like my Hannibal mask, you can go online and purchase it right from BirchBox’s site—no hassling the woman at Bloomingdales to locate the exact shade or size you want.  All this for $10 a month or $110 a year—I’d definitely skip my Starbucks soy latte two Mondays for that! 
xo,
MSS


www.birchbox.com