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. Continue reading →