How to Trade In the Birchbox Items You Don’t Want

Have you ever been so excited for your monthly Birchbox arrival, only to find that the products within it are completely irrelevant to your life? That St. Tropez Gradual Tan is a total dud if you’re already a bronzed goddess; so is that Juicy perfume you knew was so not your style after one sniff. Do we just lament the wasted product space and wonder what could have been? Not anymore, thanks to Mirror & Mantel Salon‘s most simple, genius solution of all time: a Birchbox swap basket.

Much like other stores’ “give a penny, take a penny” jars, Mirror & Mantel has a basket full of sample-size beauty products that other Birchbox subscribers didn’t completely love. But as they say, one one chick’s (too expensive and pretty to actually throw away) trash is another girl’s treasure, and here you are free to decide your Birchbox fate.

This product exchange program was started by salon owner Katie Cooke, who didn’t know what to do with the Birchbox products she didn’t care for (and then discovered that her clients faced a similar dilemma). For the last year and a half, clients have been switching out unloved products for others they can’t wait to try — and we think that’s pretty rad. It’s only a matter of time (we hope) before these swap baskets start popping up everywhere, so hats off to the OG Birchbox trade visionary.

The Details: Mirror & Mantel, 117 South 22nd Street, Center City, 215-988-9088.