I went today at lunch. My review:
THE GOOD:
1. The selection of products is curated, in that it's limited to the "Birchbox World" of brands and items. In some ways, I appreciate that over the mass quantities at Sephora - it's less overwhelming. And for Birchbox subscribers like me, I like the fact that I can walk in and try everything that Birchbox touts on its site and hands out via samples. (For example, I'll no longer be begging to trade for that Balm How About Them Apples blush sampler, now that I was able to actually see the colors - yuck! But on the other hand, that Stila lip pencil is awesome.)
2. Well-lit; hallelujah! And they have everything you need to sample - tissues, makeup remover, big mirrors.
3. No sales people following you around and bugging you - the store was nearly empty when I was there, but after a friendly hello from the woman running the cash register, I was left alone.
4. I did not visit the salon downstairs, but I like the idea of that being an option.
THE BAD:
1. The Build-A-Box was very disappointing. You get 5 samples, *but* you have to choose 1 item in each of 5 categories (which I think were Makeup, Hair, Face, Fragrance, Nails). I thought I was going to be able to cancel my subscription and avoid getting all those face creams I don't want by tripling up on makeup instead; but no. Moreover, in each category, they do *not* have a full range of this month's items to choose from; for example, you could choose the ColorClub nail polish for your Nail category option, but you had no choice of color - the only option is a god-awful shocking pink. They need to fix this, stat.
THE VERDICT: Without a viable Build-A-Box option, it's hard to justify coming here often. I'll probably come every few months to see new stuff, but I was hoping that this would be some place I could come every 2-3 weeks and get new samples. I would absolutely pay $15 (or even $20-25) for a decent box that I can truly build myself.