April 2014 Birchbox Review

Felicia (F.M.) already reviewed her mom's Birchbox, but luckily mine is almost completely different! So I can still share with you a review of my box this month!  Birchbox is $10 a month, and features a variety of beauty items.

I debated about whether or not to get a box, and I think that's why it ended up being so late in the month that I got mine. The last two have appeared a lot sooner!

Every box came with "bright ideas for a rainy day," and of course mine was to create a playlist! Totally, Birchbox, it's like you know me.

You know the drill. Breakfast.

The next thing I got was this Cynthia Rowley eyeliner, and it is niiiiice. My eyeliner that I've had for a few years is Rimmel, and although it's dark enough, it wears off pretty quickly (my eyes water for no reason). So I drew a line of this on my hand and not only is it dark, but it didn't wash off completely in the bath. Maybe that says something about my bathing standards, but I'm gonna hope it says more about the product.

The other thing that was in the little envelope was this cc cream by Supergoup! I'm really not an expert in face-type stuffs, but it seems to normalize my skin tone and add a faint color. Also, and my favorite part is, it's very lightweight and you can't really tell you're wearing it. The way foundation feels sticky and gross is what's been driving me away from foundations all my life. Well, that and the fact that I have relatively even skin and don't want to ruin it with cloggers (of pores, not the dancers).

This stuff was great. I was running bath water when I got my box because my hair looked too greasy, and after spraying this stuff on, I really could have pretended to be clean already. Baths are a good idea too though. I guess.

Haven't tried this yet. It's supposed to conquer blackheads and redness, but I'm not feeling poorly enough about myself to say which part of my face deserves this treatment.

I really liked this month's box! It's pretty much all stuff that will work for me in one way or the other. I really feel like this box was custom-tailored to me! So far, Birchbox is 2 for 3, and I've signed up for another month, so I'm curious to see how the score continues.

How did you like this month's Birchbox? Did you get anything cool in yours?

-E.S.

April 2014 "Free for All" Special Edition Birchbox Review

                          

Emma (E.S.) is gonna have some fun catching up with my reviews after I get all these loaded up!! This is the special edition Birchbox! After shipping this box was around $50. The regular Birchbox subscription is $10 a month with free shipping. This special box theme was Free For All, which means all products are ingredient conscious! 

Here's the box, it's different from their usual brown box.

                                         

Here's the first look when you open the box up. 

                                         

Here's the card explaining that this box has products that are all naturally and free from parabens, GMO's and everything bad for you! 

                                        

The first product is Shave With Benifits in mint and eucalyptus which is shaving cream (of course!) This cream helps with razor burn and red bumps and is perfect for people with sensitive skin! For a 5 ounce bottle this is around $19. 

                                     

Next is Karma Naturals nail polish remover, this stuff smells so good!! I hate the way nail polish remover smells, it's so harsh and makes everything smell!! For a 4 ounce bottle this is $12. 

                                     

This is such a cute little box! It's eyeliner by W3ll People, it's an actuall pencil rather than a gel, (which is what I prefer). 

                                    

I love the back of the box, as well as saying their product is free from certain chemicals, they call them nasties, which I don't really know why but I think it's cute!!! This is about $19 a pencil. 

Tea is something that I think I get in 95% of my subscription boxes and I'm totally ok with that! This tea is Lov Organic tea, you get 4 different tea bags in this box, Lov is Beautiful, Lov is Zen, Lov is Pure and Lov is Good. Lov is beautiful is a blend of green tea, white tea and rooibos with mango, apricot and pineapple (yummy!) Lov is Zen is rooibos, lemon, apple pieces, blackberry leaves, and orange and caramel flavors, Lov is Good is aniseed, fennel, liquorice, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, pepper and cloves, Lov is Pure is green tea, apples, green mate, and natural citrus flavors. Lov is Good is the only flavor that I wouldn't think I'd enjoy drinking. This tea comes in a 4 ounce metal tin for about $17.  

                                        

This is radiance serum by Jurlique. This serum does all kinds of great stuff for your skin! It helps reduce redness and dark spots, and makes your skin firm. For a 1 ounce bottle of Jurlique it is $58. 

                                        

This is Alima Pure lip tint. My mom really likes this, she said it's very soft. The color is rhubarb and it is $12 a bottle. 

And of course the most important thing is the makeup bag!! It is a burlap make up bag with FEED on it, I really like that they donated 10 school meals with the purchase of this special box!!

This is such a cool box! It's nice to try out products that you wouldn't go out and buy, I love samples! 

How did you guys like this special Birchbox? Let us know! 

-F.M.

April 2014 Birchbox Review

                                

I hope I'm not overwhelming you guys with posts! I've fallen behind again on my reviews! Here's the April Birchbox my mom received today. 

                               

Here's the first look. 

                               

These boxes are all over the place in my house and my moms! They are the perfect size to reuse them, I use them for pictures for my scrapbook. 

                                

Here's the card that tells you about your products. 

                                

This was an adorable little card that was sitting right on top when we opened the box. Going with the April theme it is a "52 bright ideas for a rainy day" we got tip number 5, so let's see what it is. 

                               

"Schedule a Skype date with a cross-county friend" My mom said she'll have to Skype with my brother now, it was a sign!

                                

Here's another look at the box

                                

First thing I grabbed was this Kind Healthy Grains bar, the flavor is maple pumpkin seeds with sea salt. My mom said she'd give it a try, and if I'm around her while she does I'll probably steal some to try! I've seen a lot of these Kind bars, they are made with all natural ingredients and stand by the ingredients you can see and pronounce slogan! 

                                

The next thing I picked up was Number 4 Lumiere d'hiver Clarifying Shampoo sample. This smells very good, it's white freesia, amber, and musk, which I really loved! This shampoo is vegan friendly and free from sulfate. For a 8.5 ounce bottle it costs $32.00. 

                               

This was a bonus! It is the Number 4 Lumiere d'hiver Reconstructing Masque, for a 5.1 ounce bottle it is $58.00. This puts moisture and protein back in your hair, which is really what we all need after this awful winter! 

                             

This is a postcard that came with a small bottle of perfume attached to it, the card is very cute but I doubt my mom will actually mail it to anyone. 

                              

Wow this is some expensive cologne, for a 200ml bottle it's a whopping $170! It smells really good though, if I had the money to buy $170 cologne this is what I would buy. 

                              

Next is Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner. I love soft eyeliner, it goes on more smooth and stays on longer! This is Jamun, which is a deep purple. This eyeliner is $11 for a pencil. 

                              

Last but not least is Gilchrist and Soames Spa Therapy Sea Wrack body wash. This company is committed to cruelty-free testing so they would never test their products on animal, which means something to me! I loved the way this smelled! I immediately used some and washed my hands, this isn't crazy expensive either, for an 8 ounce bottle it is $15. 

What did you guys get in your Birchbox? Let us know what you got and what you think of my box!

-F.M.

March 2014 Birchbox Review

This is my second Birchbox, and I'm a little disappointed. Birchbox is $10 a month, and features a variety of beauty items.

First looks

Having heard good and bad things about the Birchbox, I subscribed and LOVED my first box. This one fell a little short of the marker though.

I'm getting overloaded with moisturizers, and this one is a glycerin one. I'm trying to not use new glycerin moisturizers from animal sources, so I'm passing on this. It doesn't smell great anyway. Not bad, just eh.

Looks like a schnazzy product, but glycerin again. And two moisturizers in one box? This is the "Birchbox find" item, so it doesn't technically count as one of the items, but still.

And a third moisturizing product! This one has no glycerin though, so I'm in. It has an odd, medicinal smell, and the consistency of Vaseline (but luckily, it's renewable!). It feels too lip-balmy on the hand, so I'm not sure how much I'll use it.

I got a hair oil from this company in last month's box. Much like the oil, this stuff smells great and seems to work pretty well. Since I have short, straight hair, I'm probably not the target audience, but maybe it will help on bad hair days.

Such a cute package and product! There's a shirtless cowboy on the inside, just as a spoiler. I got the "Pie" color, and it's perfect for me (at least I think)! Also the consistency of this stuff is great. It's not waxy at all, it's dry and yet smooth. Not good on chapped lips (which I always have), but some balm over top will solve that.

I'm hoping this month was just an off month, because I loved last month, but this time I felt like I got $5-6 worth of stuff, and only $2-3 of stuff that I like. I'll give them at least one more chance before I give up, so hopefully they redeem themselves.

What did you think of this month's box? Was it better or worse than February's? I'd love to hear other people's views.

-E.S.