I loved the idea of these sunglasses. I was hovering over the “Buy” button on a pair of Ray Ban folding tortoise sunglasses when I saw these were going to be in my June shipment from Birchbox. So imagine my excitement that I was just about to save around $150!

Update: Birchbox contacted me and are fixing me up! More at the end of this post.

And then they came, in a neat green box and they looked every bit as good in real life as I’d expected. Bigger lenses than the Ray Bans, not my typical style, but considering the price difference it seemed like a worthy replacement.

I should say that these Birchbox sunglasses are also not polarized, have plastic, not glass, lenses and aren’t quite the quality of an Italian sunglass. But for $30 (their retail price), it’s hard to argue against affordable, stylish summer shades. Sadly it wasn’t long before I realized these shades were a bit too shady, and in the worst of ways.

I popped these guys on and headed out for the day. After about 30 minutes I got a splitting headache. Turns out the temple tips push into my skull like a vice grip. Now I understand we don’t want these falling off our heads but this is a bit much. The pain subsided moments after taking them off.

I figured I’d bring them to a Sunglass Hut and have them fitted. They’ll put them in a hot water bath and form them to fit. It’s something I learned a while ago that is pretty standard for any quality sunglasses, especially those with acetate frames.

Sadly I never got that far. The second time I tried to put them on, the entire right temple popped off. Apparently after just 30 minutes of wearing these Birchbox sunglasses, the all important temple  screw popped out. Not exactly the most reliable and high quality sunglasses.

In fact the $10 sunglasses I got from the shop around the corner have never done this to me. Now I’m sure the good people at Birchbox will take care of this for me and ship out a new pair soon but it sure doesn’t bode well for them.

I received an email from Birchbox yesterday letting me know that they’d be shipping me an entire new pair of sunglasses absolutely free! Not the screw required to fix the shades but an entire new set. You guys are awesome.

This is especially true considering Bespoke Post is sending me a $70 pair of Derek Cardigan Brown Tortoiseshell sunglasses later this month as part of my monthly subscription. It has the things I want in a pair of sunglasses (namely polarization) with presumably a much greater level of quality.