Brandless Product Review

     A few months ago I heard about this company called Brandless. It piqued my interest initially because everything they sell is only $3!!!!! If you know anything about me, you know that I am the hugest bargain shopper on the planet and spending a lot of money literally makes me cringe, so this company seemed definitely up my alley! Then I did a bit more research about the company and discovered that the reason why their products are so cheap is because they don't charge a "brand tax". If you don't know, brand taxes are the taxes built into the price of name brand products-- basically brand name products know they can charge consumers more because of their name, so they sell their products for more than it actually cost to produce them simply because of their name recognition. Brandless doesn't do this, so that's awesome. They also basically only sell the essentials in the most inexpensive packaging available, which helps keep their prices low too. Lastly, their products are all natural, which is honestly surprising because I feel like a lot of the time when you go to the grocery store, it's the all natural "healthy aisle" stuff that actually costs more for whatever reason.
     So anyway, I thought this company seemed pretty cool, but at the time that I discovered them, there wasn't anything on the website that I actually needed, (like I said, they basically only sell the bare essentials) so I held off on making a purchase at that time. Today I somehow got to thinking about them again, and it felt like perfect timing because I am quickly running out of shampoo and conditioner, so I ordered one of each of those products, as well as a 4ct set of glass spice jars partially because I want them for storage, and also because I thought they were really cute. Since I'm a first time buyer, my shipping was only $1, but unfortunately that's not always the case unless you become a full time member, which I doubt I'll do anytime soon because I don't need to buy essential products as often as say, a parent who actually runs a household. Anyway, once my products arrive (which according to the site should be in 2-4 days) I will take pictures and review the items!
     Oh! One other thing that I thought was super cool when I was checking out with my items was that after I checked out, the site said that my purchase helped donate a meal to a family in need! That's what I'm talkin' about!

     About a week later: 

     So I misread the website, and it actually said that my items would SHIP in 2-4 days, and ARRIVE within a week, which was true, because my order arrived in about a week, which is still pretty good, especially considering that I'm pretty sure they're based in California? Although I could be wrong about that...Anyway, I had enough foresight to actually take pictures while I was opening my package, so you can see those below, and I will write more along with the pictures.

     So the box was pretty much exactly what I would describe as "medium" sized, which was what I was expecting. It had their cute little logo on the side and the tape that's keeping the box shut also says "Brandless". 

When I opened up the top, I was greeted with this envelope that says "Woo hoo! You've gone Brandless. Open me up." I've watched a few Brandless Review videos, so I was expecting to see this, and it was still a cute little touch. 

Inside the envelope was a little card with some info about the company, my order summary, and a Mad Libs-esque postcard that you can fill out if you're sending the products you ordered to a friend as a gift or whatever. Cute! Honestly, packaging and marketing appeal to me greatly when I buy things, especially after taking some design classes in college, because I know that honestly, good marketing is pretty easy if you just know some basic tips. So I was impressed with their logo and color choices and all that, and I think my Design professor would be proud! 

 I removed the top layer of packing paper (which I of course kept and folded up to reuse later because it's cute parchment type paper that I can totally use to wrap packages in the future, or for other crafting projects), and this is what everything looked like underneath. 

Before use: To be honest, my first impressions of both the shampoo and conditioner was that they were way bigger than I was expecting!! I was fairly certain that they'd be about half that size, because I know all that natural hippie type shampoo is usually expensive and you don't get a lot, so for it to be so cheap and you get a decent amount? Well, I was just surprised! For reference, the shampoo I currently use is in a 12 ounce bottle, while these are 8 ounce bottles, and they're almost as big as my other shampoo bottle! I like that the bottles have round, flat bottoms and tapered tops, because then they actually stay standing in my shower caddy. Sometimes shampoo bottles just fall over in my shower caddy and that's annoying. 

After use: Okay, so I haven't completely emptied my previous shampoo and conditioner bottles yet, so I fully plan to do that, but I just had to try these out for a few days for the purpose of this blog post, and because I was just too excited to wait!! So I've only used them twice, so my opinion isn't fully formed just yet, but so far, here's my thoughts: the shampoo lathers pretty nicely and you don't have to use very much to get a nice lather! As for the conditioner, it's definitely not as smooth and slippery as my current conditioner, but that's because my current conditioner is formulated specifically for curly hair, so it's like heavy duty. Despite not being so slippery, it does a pretty good job of ridding my hair of tangles. Both products are green tea scented, and they definitely smell like green tea! Which smells good, and isn't overpowering at all. So far I'm quite pleased!!

The glass spice jars (4ct) came in their own separate little box that even says what's inside! It's so cute and little!

Here's what each of the little jars looks like! They're so adorable, and good quality. I don't have a specific use for them just yet, but I plan to take them home and use them for craft glitter and flocking powder, which is currently stored loosy-goosy in plastic bags...so this will be a cute little improvement! 

Overall, I am quite pleased, and would definitely consider ordering more things from Brandless in the future. I was definitely pleasantly surprised at how big the shampoo bottles are! And of course the prices are very reasonable for every single thing that they sell, plus it all shipped in a reasonable amount of time. 

The only downside I can see so far is that if I order something again, I'll have to pay a lot more for shipping, since the $1 shipping was a first-time-user perk. I think the average shipping cost after that is around $9, which is kinda steep. If you're a frequent shopper though, they do have a good deal: you can pay a one-time $36 membership fee and then get free shipping all year long. Honestly, if you're going to be using them a lot, that is a great deal! I don't see myself doing that anytime soon, but maybe when I'm a Real Grown Up and want to use them for a large portion of my grocery list, then I definitely think that would be a great option. 

So yeah! I'd give the whole experience an 8/10! You should definitely give Brandless a go! 

-VaughnDL