Birchbox 2014 January

January's theme is Go Time! BB is not taking the resolution route, and is instead saying you can have more (or all!) and they have included some cards with motivational quotes to give you a kick when needed.

(Excuse the photos- Cloudy days+Phone camera= Not so great pics!)

You can see I DID get the tea everyone has been complaining about. I'm not mad, as I am a tea drinker (although I would have rather tried some cool chocolates!), but I do take my tea with sugar and milk, which just doesn't "go" with fancy tea flavors.... 

I have already tested the Klorane dry shampoo and was so happy to get this as I have been recommended to wash my hair every other day, and I am in love!! This is the BEST dry shampoo I have ever used hands down. It actually makes my hair look cleaner without using a ton of product and there is no visible white spray squirting out into my hair. I'm not crazy about the smell, but I can get over that and will definitely be purchasing this in full size. 

The 100% Pure packets say Restorative Cream on them and the best I can figure are for the body. However, when I logged into my BB account, I was actually supposed to have received the 100% Pure Eye Cream, so their customer service has already sent those samples out to me, although I have yet to receive them.

Close up of the Benetint. This is an open bottle that I received from a different beauty sub service. It is rather small, but I've been using this size for several months, so for a free sample, it ends up being pretty generous. Benetint is a cheek and lip stain. I like it better for my cheeks since I don't find it terribly long lasting on the lips when eating/drinking. Also, it tends to dry my lips out a tad... But, stellar product nonetheless!

The Nail Rock is a new concept on me. Polish is included to paint your nails and then you dip your wet nails into the provided texture pot (mine is velvet) and have to let them dry for 20 minutes! Oh man! 20 minutes with kids?! Not sure if this is gonna be possible ;) but, there are different finishes available on the BB website if you like the look/have that luxury of free time (lucky you).

What do you think? Would you like to try these? Or have you already?

Be sure to check out Birchbox. They frequently have contests/giveaways, send out promotional emails, and post fun tutorials. 

Beauty + Chocolate!

I wanted to show you guys an example of how fun/great it is to be a member of Birchbox. 

There were a few beauty items I had been eyeballing for awhile and really wanted to get. I was able to get a better deal by purchasing them through Birchbox and also was able to add some really unique & tasty chocolates to my order. 

(Not the greatest pic, but I just went ahead and used the one I had sent to my sister)

* Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner $20.00

* It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye $24.00

* Chuao Chocolatier Assorted Chocopod $9.95

* Tocca Creama da Mano in Cleopatra $8.00

The total of these products was $61.95. Shipping was free.

Birchbox did send me a 30% off promo code ($18.59). Also, I had accumulated some Birchbox reward points and was able to apply those toward my order (FYI 100 points= $10). 

$61.95

-18.59 (promo)

+2.30 (tax)

-20.00 (200 BB points)

_______

$25.66

So, basically, I only paid a little more than the cost of the concealer for all of these products!! I think that's a great deal!

 Sign up to be a member of Birchbox! It's only $10 per month and every 100 points accumulated (seriously, they rack up quick!) gets you $10 to spend in the Birchbox shop. Sweet!

January 2014 Ipsy

January's Ipsy theme is 19 reasons. There are 19 different items featured this month that you could have gotten a combination of in your bag.

Here are all this month's brands listed, and on the back, instructions on how to enter to win a 1 year subscription to Ipsy! Who wouldn't want that?!?

 

 The bag is very different than what we have seen before as it has pictures of beauty products on it. I think it is super cute and would be great to carry skin care products in for travel. The only complaint I have of the bag is the smell of the material. I'm hoping it will air out!

This is also the first time (I think!) all of my Ipsy products have fit into the cosmetic bag.

* Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask
* Epice Purifying Exfoliant
* Yaby Liquid Foundation in Buff
* MicaBeauty Tinted Lip Balm in Natural
* ProActiv Mark Fading Pads

MicaBeauty Tinted Lip Balm

The only thing I wasn't that excited about was the Proactiv pads. They have salicylic acid and alcohol in them and since I already use prescription strength creams for my skin, I'm worried that might be a little too harsh and drying.... Other than that, I can't wait to try everything else!

Ipsy is a beauty subscription service for only $10 per month and includes shipping. Ipsy also sends a cosmetic bag every month. If you would like to try Ipsy, sign up here.

Ipsy December

Celebration is the December theme (woohoo for holidays, parties, and gatherings in general). On the other side of the card you can see the different brands offered this month and also a very easy way to be entered to win a whole years worth of ipsy bags! 

Not a great shot of the bag, but mine was stretched a bit from the contents and I wanted to show that the inside is a nice dark red shade.

This card came in the little box with the English Laundry fragrances. If you have one of the top five photos tagged on Instagram or Facebook, you can win a free gift set from English Laundry! Also, on the back of the card there is a promo code so that if you make a purchase you can receive a free bag by using IPSYFREE. 

I am a little bummed about the fragrances because mine have leaked out and mingled together. I've emailed Ipsycare and I'm really hoping they might send me replacements since I've heard great things about this brand. 

** I did contact Ipsy Care about this and they were kind enough to send out replacement fragrances safely packaged in a bubble wrapper inside if the traditional pink mailer, however, that second set leaked as well, so it seems as this is a problem with the fragrance sampler bottles and not the shipping process or Ipsy at all.... Bummer. 

* English Laundry Pour Homme and Pour Femme Signature fragrances (you see the little cardboard box they came in? It's wrinkled from where it got wet with the fragrances!)
* Be A Bombshell The One Stick in Flustered
* Nikka K New York Nail Color in Ripe Apple
* NYX Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in Sky Pink
* Pop Beauty Bright Up Your Life eyeshadow Trio in Smokin Hot

Here's what The One Stick looks like. This product is suggested to be used on lips or cheeks. I was slightly annoyed about receiving another red lip product at first, but after trying this one, I really like it and have used it lots on my lips. 

Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service for $10/ month. Sign up here.

December Birchbox

Happy Holidays from Birchbox!

For the holiday, BB has changed up their usual pink package box to a cheery golden one with a cute bow and tag combo. I love it! Imagine getting this as a gift in your mailbox from someone- how happy would that make you?! I had planned to get my sister one of the 3 month gift subscriptions as one of her Christmas presents, but she liked my boxes so much, she went ahead and signed herself up in October! 

To continue with the holiday theme is the actual box that the Birchbox goodies are hiding in. 

Holiday 2013 is the theme for Decembers box (excuse the lip gloss, my 3 year snuck into my box and sampled a few things herself!). 

Inside we find an introduction card to Cynthia Rowley beauty exclusively at Birchbox. There is a launch collection that can save you quite a bit of money if you are a fan of Cynthia Rowley or if you are just in the market for some new eyeshadow/liner. I have to admit, the collection does look enticing and it was a little hard to keep myself from wanting to buy it. But, I refrained!

Next, there is a strange BB mobile promotion thingie that you peel and stick to your phone. I'm not sure I get the gist of it and it really only makes sense to me if I were actually an employee of Birchbox. 

However, once you sign up for BB mobile, you will be emailed a promo code for 20% off any full size purchase of $50 or more, so that is something to think about doing if you have a smart phone. 

The goodies! I was pretty excited since these were all things I wanted to try. 

 

Contents card ... again, swiped with the lip gloss!

Secret Agent Beauty Foreign Intelligent Flirt. The back of the card that houses the gloss shows the other products that Secret Gent Beauty makes. 

The Eslor skin care has little sample packets of each of the products they offer to hydrate, protect, and treat. I hadn't heard of this company before, but the products sound like something nice to try, especially since I have been more into skincare lately.

And that's it! What did you think? Do you subscribe to Birchbox? If so, did you get the same products or something completely different?

If you don't already subscribe, you can do so by clicking here. Subscription fees are $10 per month and that does include shipping! You can also choose to subscribe yearly.

Birchbox November

Yay! It's Birchbox time again and this month's theme is "More Good", which has to do with giving thanks and bringing more good into your life. The info card also states that a portion of proceeds from the BB Shop will go to the No Kid Hungry organization. 

Also included in the box is a Holiday booklet that has lots of great products that would be good to give or get this season. The booklet is super cute- I was going to take photos of the inside, but there's over 30 pages and that's just too many to include on here.

* Aloxxi Volumizing & Strengthening Shampoo

* Aloxxi Volumizing & Strengthening Conditioner

* Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil

* Color Club Nail Polish in Baldwin Blues

* Fatty Sundays Chocolate Covered Pretzels in Toffee Crunch

Try out Birchbox for yourself and see what goodies come in your own box by clicking here. Remember, it's only $10 per month-- The highlighter pencil in this month's box was full size and retails for $18! Well worth it!

New! mark Juice Gems

mark has just revamped their popular lip gloss line, Juice Gems... it claims to give a smooth, glassy appearance on lips and to leave lips feeling moist and conditioned. Juice Gems retail for $11 and they are 0.54 oz. Take a look!

The new Juice Gem comes in a longer, sleeker tube. It has a screw off tube and a plastic, angled applicator. The color shown here is Cherry Bomb. 

Cherry Bomb, a happy pink shade!

I am happy to report that this gloss is not at all sticky on the lips. Unfortunately, this shade really doesn't show up on my lips, it just gives them a nice shine. 

After I washed my hand from the picture above, that spot did feel as if I had applied lotion to it. Definitely moisturized! Maybe those claims aren't too far off. 

The new Juice Gems comes in four of their previous best selling flavors and four new flavors. 

These can be purchased from an AVON representative or online from www.avon.com