Tag: subscription boxes

Why I’m Switching to #Scentbox and I Cancelled My Scentbird Subscription…

Posted on by The Style Cake

As you can probably tell, I love trying products and am a wee bit of a beauty junkie. I try to temper what I buy to be more on the practical side instead of just frivolously buying a ton of things that I don’t need. Trust me, I’ve been there done that. All that comes of that is clutter and a waste of money because we can never use everything we buy if we buy EVERYTHING! That had been the case with my perfume collection I needed to pare down what I had and only buy what I would actually wear (and in smaller bottles) and no more.

So when I heard about Scentbird, I was truly excited because this was an answer to my problem right? Well, keep on reading…

First Things First!

I signed up for Scentbird in September of 2016. When I signed up, I loaded my queue up with fragrances that I had been eager to both try and get a hold of without maxing out my budget. For those of you wondering, this is how Scentbird works per the Scentbird website:

Visit www.scentbird.com (ladies) or www.scentbird.com/men (guys) and click on “get started” to create an account. Enter your shipping and billing details to sign up for a subscription, and start choosing the fragrances you want to receive by adding them to your queue!

To receive scent recommendations, click on the “Recommendations” tab at the top of our page, which will prompt our scent quiz.

When you register for Scentbird, you can pre-select scents to receive each month for the following months. You can also log onto your account to edit your queue, add new scents, or rearrange your scents in the order that you’d like to receive them.

Note that your monthly fragrance selection is locked in on the 5th of the month. Therefore, any edits to your queue done after the 5th, will only be effective for the following month. (For example, if you go into your queue on June 7th you will NOT be able to change your June scent, but you will be able to edit July onwards).

Each month you will receive an 8ml spray filled with the scent of your choice. It comes out to be 120 sprays, and this is enough fragrance to apply twice daily for 30 days. Included with your first shipment, you will get a sleek case, FREE!

This all sounds simple, fun and hassle-free huh?

My Scentbird Experience

So as I was saying earlier, I loaded up my queue with four months worth of fragrances. Since I’m mildly obsessed with the Clean Reserve fragrances, two of those four fragrances were from that line. One being Warm Cotton (first in my queue) and the Skin (initially third but moved during the month of October to the fourth month which was December).  My new line up was:

September (Clean Reserve Warm Cotton)

October (Polo Red Cologne)

November (I Am Juicy Couture)

December (Clean Reserve Skin)

Every last one of these fragrances came on time as they are shipped beteeen the 15th and the 19th every month. Mine were shipped on the 15th. Scentbird boasts that they only ship authentic fragrances to their customers and as far as I can tell from my own experience, that’s totally true. I was satisfied with my experience, that is until December.

Confusion 

Upon checking my account I noticed that I had a different perfume choice in my queue than what I selected. I frequently checked my account and the last I checked in November, everything was ready and set to go. Now I sat on the edge of my bed trying to figure out what I’m the world was going on.

Disappointment

Not being able to figure out what was going on, I looked to contact the company. Since there is no listed phone number (anywhere) for this company, I used the available contact information of email. I sent the email and it took about 48 hours (which is understandable this time of year) to get a response back. They forewarn you of this timetable before you send your email. I am disappointed that this is the only communication that I can have with email. Makes me feel like my concerns is not as important to the company as they are to me.

Frustration

When I finally receive a response back, my problem is not taken care of. In fact, twice I was made aware (which I didn’t need to be) of company policy that adjustments need to be made to the queue by the 5th of the month. The only problem is, the discontinued the fragrance without alerting me. I had set my queue up months in advance so checking my queue was not in my mindset. Boy do I wish I had double checked behind this company!

My Resolve:

So since this company refuses to help or fix their fault, I decided to cancel my subscription.

Terms and Conditions 

Let me be a “big sister” and alert you to something. When you sign up for this “subscription” service, you agree to the terms and conditions that protect this company regardless of if unethical or not. Trust me, you won’t benefit a bit. Sorry guys. Protect yourself and read the fine print. DO NOT just sign up because you watch a video or read a blog and are offered a coupon code. There is no customer service number to cancel once you sign up. That is an obvious clue to your future experience with this company. At least it should have been in my case anyway. Lesson learned.

Moving on…

In the words of the singer Mya, “I’m moving on”. I truly loved the idea of trying my favorite fragrances for a portion of the price every month. I hated to cancel but just could not accept the less than satisfactory experience with customer service. It was time to do research. So I found this company that allows you to try samples of fragrances (a wider array I might add) for $13.95/month! Guys, they even have Victor & Rolf fragrance samples. They are 100% real fragrances! Just to compare value, Scentbird charges $14.99 across the board for all 0.27 oz sample fragrances. Any savings is a great one, right? The best part? You are not locked into a subscription! Cancel anytime and truly be a free bird ready to fly away whenever you want to! Pun intended lol.

The Bottom Line:

I would recommend the company below if you’re looking to try fragrance without being trapped, for inexpensive price points and for the ability to actually talk to someone in the customer service department. I will do a detailed review on my experience in a couple of months. The only downside? None so far. The good thing is, this company has a customer service number!

www.scentbox.com

(Non-sponsored)

Scentbox also has a free exchange policy where you can exchange one shipment free per month. To sign up for one month free click HERE! 

 

[True Upload] Essence Beauty Box: Fab or Fail? (Review)

Posted on by The Style Cake

Like many of the monthly boxes of marketing’s past, I was interested in a new box that hit the scene that promised to give subscribers a taste of hot and poppin items currently and to-come on the market. That being said, when I heard that Essence would be releasing a monthly subscription for those interested in testing out products seemingly catered to ethnic groups of color and curlier hair. That piqued my interest. I signed up for the service. Here I sit 2 months later (well three really) as a canceled subscriber. Why, you may ask? Short and sweet, three reasons:

  1. (Non-unique items) In all of the two boxes that I received, most of what was in those boxes had nothing that was unique or beyond what I had already seen on the market for years. I wasn’t even remotely interested in some of the things that were sent to me. In fact, most of the things that I received I’ve tried to avoid buying for years. Honestly, I felt like I had spent my money to buy things that I promised myself I would’t spend dime on anyway. (Side eye). I guess thats the way the world works huh? One of the only thing out of both boxes that I actually liked was the sample of Smashbox Full Exposure mascara…which brings me to my next point.
  2. (Tiny Sample Sizes) I realize the box was only $15 but you CAN get this very sample (Smashbox) for free right on the website with purchase. That is a temporary offer, however, some have gotten it free with a Sephora purchase as well. See how this point ties into the first? Well, the items are so non-unique that you can literally get them anywhere…and not pay a dime for it. I guess you are getting a deal if you would really buy the travel size at Macy’s for $9. (Insert wide eyed emoji). I mean, even the Black Radiance Lipstick was not full sized and that’s normally not more than 4 bucks! Anyhoo…
  3. (There are “Better” Boxes) So I am not here to bash Essence at all. I don’t want to be fussed at via the internet because I am not supporting a “black owned business” because it is not black owned anyway. (Which is also beside the point). I am not supporting because I feel that there are other boxes that offer much more for a better price. My advice, try it. Everyone is different. One person’s glass may be another person’s diamond, I don’t know. I personally like the Target box better. It was half the price and I got two full sized products that retailed for more than the $15 that I paid for the Essence Beauty Box. The only problem with the Target Beauty Box is that you have to chase the releases every month. It isn’t a subscription. No problem to me because I don’t like to be tied down anyway.

 

Let me know if you’ve tried the box and if you have, what did you think of it? What other boxes have you tried? 

(Pictures to follow…)