Thursday, March 12, 2015

Review of March 2015 Birchbox

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Birchbox is a $10/month subscription box. You get around 5 samples or deluxe-size samples of beauty (makeup, skin care, hair care) products. Similar to ipsy, you take a quiz to customize your box and I wanted to try out Birchbox since it is a similar price as well. Like ipsy and Boxycharm, you get points for reviewing products in your box and for referrals that you can use to “buy” products on the Birchbox website.

With Birchbox, you get the option (if you choose fast enough) to pick either the curated box, one of your samples or to just let Birchbox pick all of your samples. This month I picked the “Beauty Solutions” curated box. Each sample is supposed to tackle a specific beauty problem.

Birchbox comes packaged in a box within a box. The box is actually quite cute—the bottom is a composition notebook print and the top is a seafoam green diamond print. I will use it to organize my makeup. Score for not having to buy makeup organizers! The box also contains a card detailing the items and the (full-size) value of each item.


Product #1: Dear Clark Volumizing Hair Tonic (1 oz.)
            The overall theme of Birchbox this month was hair, so I knew I would end up with a hair product (well, I knew everything I would receive since I picked the curated box). This spray is free of parabens, sulfates, etc. and contains organic ingredients. It’s a good size to see if you’ll like the product. Its downfall is the smell. It’s horrible! It’s like part Robitussin, part rubber. There’s a very (bad) medicinal smell to it. So bad that I don’t want to put it in my hair…        
Value: $4.33

Product #2: derma e Evenly Radiant Brightening Day Crème SPF15 (0.5 oz.)
            This is a decent size sample. I was concerned at first because it was not safety sealed, but it looks like no one’s was safety sealed. It absorbs quickly and has a faint lotion scent to it, nothing offensive (probably because of the SPF). I will put this in my “moisturizers to use” line. This is parabens and cruelty-free.
Value: $7

Product #3: Laura Geller Beauty Baked Blush-n-Brighten in Pink Grapefruit (0.06 oz.)
            This blush is the sole reason I picked this box. I have always been interested in Laura Geller’s makeup, but have never purchased anything. Her Pink Grapefruit blush is one of her iconic items. I’ve seen it on QVC many times and have always wanted to try it. It is so, so beautiful. The Laura Geller website describes it as a mix of “beige, mauve and shimmering pink.” On me it looks peach, with a hint of pink—like a toned down grapefruit. I absolutely love it. It is highly pigmented—a little goes a long way—seriously, use a very light hand. This wears well too, the color did not fade throughout the day.
Value: $7

Product #4: Supergoop! Advanced SPF 37 Anti-Aging Eye Cream
There was a Supergoop! product in last month’s box (CC cream) and it was not for me (wrong color, sample too small to really try).  This sample is pretty small too, but for an eye cream that’s okay because you only need a tiny bit. However, the tube doesn’t even feel halfway full so I’ll probably only get to try this one a few times. I like that this eye cream has SPF, a lot of eye creams don’t. It has a slight sunscreen smell, but nothing noticeable. It absorbs well, but leaves a bit of the expected white cast on the skin because of the high SPF.
Value: $5 (?)

Product #5: Whish Three Whishes Body Butter - Almond
            I was excited for this product too, I love body butters. The smell of this body butter is not for me though (and scent is a big thing for me). It has an overly sweet, fake almond smell to it. It absorbs well and feels nice on the skin, but I really don’t like the smell so I will be passing this along. It is paraben, sulfate, petrochemical, etc. free with organic ingredients so that is a plus.
Value: $3.60

Overall Value: $27

This month wasn’t too exciting for me as there were two total misses and only one product I’m really excited about (Laura Geller blush). I will use the day crème and eye cream though. I will probably give Birchbox one more shot before canceling.

What are your thoughts on Birchbox? If you’d like to sign-up for Birchbox, feel free to use my referral link.

Disclaimer: This bag was purchased with my own money and all opinions are 100% honest and my own. I do not provide positive reviews for payment. I do receive points if you sign-up for a subscription using my referral link; however, I am not affiliated with Birchbox.

Referral Links:
Ibotta:
                    at checkout enter the following code: M3d2Q1dTT21MR1RTNWJ0KzhRWUo0Z0lWWWtoRnVrZmk0NGNOVWY0MVBHRT0=

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