My January Birchbox

My January Birchbox is here!

And, once again, I cheated. I'm a cheater. I looked up my box, again. *sigh*

One day, I'm not going to cheat so I can be surprised. One day. LOL.

Anywho, 

I think I got Box #3, and I really wanted Box #4.

I wanted the polish and eyeliner, dangit! :0)

This month's theme was Clarity.

I was SUPER excited for this. 

Stila-Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Peacock.

Full size 

$20

This is a gorgeous color.

Borghese-CuraForte Moisture Intensifier

You put this on before your moisturizer....hmmm, I don't know how I feel about adding more steps to my face routine. It's supposed to make your moisturizer work harder...? We will see, I guess.

A full size costs $67.50

Jouer- Body Butter

This has shea butter, olive and avocado oils in it.

It smells like flowers. It reminds me of being at my grandma's house playing outside next to her flowers. It has Gardenia, Jasmine, and Honeysuckle in it.

A full size is $32

I really like the consistency of this, it's not greasy at all. 

I wish it didn't smell like flowers. I do like the memory I have tied with the scent, but I can't do flowers on me.  This is a migraine trigger scent for me. I love everything else about it though. :0(

Juicy Couture- Viva La Juicy-full size $69-$89

Okay, I didn't like getting this as a sample, let me tell you why...

I have THREE bottles of this! LOL...big ones...and I did NOT pay full price. 

You can get this, and the other Juicy scents, at TJ Maxx for a fraction of the cost. 

With that being said, I love this perfume, obviously...I just don't need another sample of it. ;0)

Larabar-Coconut (I forget the real name, but it was coconut something...lol)

This was the Extra.

I got a Larabar free from influenster last month. I love that it's all natural with no fillers and only has a few ingredients in them. 

Oh, and I got a magnet. 

You can never have too many magnets...

All my goods.

A naked Larabar.

Overall, this box was a great deal with the Stila eyeliner alone. 

This box was a pretty good box. 

I can't wait to see what next month holds.

Have you signed up for Birchbox yet? What box did you get? Love it or Hate it?

Are you a member for a different sampling program? Let me know your thoughts.

December Birchbox-Love it, or hate it?

I got my Birchbox in the mail today!

I almost made it without cheating, but, as the old saying goes, "Once a cheater, always a cheater..." Haha. 

I just can't help it. I NEED to know what to look forward to. 

:0)

Look how cute the packaging is!

They used white glittery paper and the card that tells you what you got was made into a Christmas card. 

How cute!

And here is all my goods.

I got Harvey Prince-Yogini-8.8ml is$26 or 50ml for $55

This sample is HUGE! This is what I want out of a perfume sample. 

It's about the size of two samples put together.

I normally try to dip, dodge, and dive away from perfume samples from BB.

I can get perfume samples for FREE...but if I'm going to get one from BB, I want it to be like this.

The only thing is, I HATE this perfume. :0( Waah. 

It has sandalwood, Egyptian myrrh, and grapefruit. I'm smelling the myrrh, good for Christmas, not good for my headaches. Ugh. 

This was a fail. 

Befine-Gentle Cleanser-3.4fl oz is $25

This is a 1oz travel size.

This is what I expect when I pay money for samples.

I love travel size products because it gives you the opportunity to try it for a while. 

This is made with sugar, rice, and oat extracts.

It smells minty, and I looked at the ingredients...it has peppermint extract in it.

My picture flipped! Lol.

JOUER-lipgloss in Birchbox Pink-full size is $20

This is the smallest lipgloss I've ever seen...but it is a sample, after all.

It goes on pretty sheer, but it is buildable. I put a couple of coats on this swatch.

L'Oreal Professionnel

Mythic Oil

4.2 oz for $30

I don't know if it's because last month I got an Oscar Blandi hair mist in a 2oz travel size or what, but I thought I'd get something bigger....Hmmmph. lol.

This is smaller than the perfume sample. Meh.

It is oil though, and oil goes a long way...

Nicely packaged goody bag.

These were my "extras." Prep-Show Stoppers-Designer fashion tape

24 for $9.99

Recharge-eboost

Orange Natural energy booster

20 packets for $28

My final thoughts: 

I really liked the packaging of this month's box. It was super cute and festive. 

I thought the contents of this month's box was meh. I think out of all my past boxes, this was the one I liked the least. I wasn't impressed with any of the products. I didn't hate it, but if I could have, I would have skipped this month and saved my $10 for a rainy day. 

What did you get in your box? Love it? Hate it? Have you tried any of these products before? 

What are your thoughts?

XO

Happy Birthday, Birchbox!

I got my September Birchbox in the mail today, finally!

The September box shipped out later than August's box so we got them about a week later than "normal." I say "normal" because I've only had the Aug. box to compare it to. lol.

I have been super excited for this Birchbox since it's the 1 year anniversary of the company starting.

Enough of me rambling, let's get started.

The little brown Birchbox

This is what it looked like when I opened it.

My first item was these Incoco nail strips in blue glitter. 

These retail anywhere from $7.99-$10.99 

Now, my opinion on these: I went ahead a watched youtube videos and knew what to expect with the different designs birchbox had to offer and these were the ones I did NOT want. Hmmmph. Blue glitter!? I can just paint my nails blue and add blue glitter, not a real big deal. I really really wanted a design. They had cheetah and rainbow glitter and zebra glitter and I get the plain blue ones? What the heck!? My profile says I'm adventurous...but, I have really wanted to try this since Sally Hansen's nail strips came out and haven't bought them and now I get to try them so I'm okay with the blue glitter....just okay. 

My second item was this Pangea Organics facial cream in Nigerian ginger with lavender & thyme.

This is a 1oz travel size sample and I am happy with the size, this is what I expect to get for a sample that I have to pay for. I was pretty excited for this since I am slightly obsessed with face products, but I know Birchbox sends out Pangea Organics products in their boxes all the time so if I had been a member for a while now, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been too happy about this.

I don't have my card with me at the moment, but I think this retails in full for about $40? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Next is this Jouer lip treatment in an extremely small sample size that says "not for retail" on the back, which means it is a FREE sample size! Ugh, come on Birchbox, I thought this was a DELUXE sampling program? I like to consider myself resourceful enough to find a free sample of this on my own and wouldn't have had to pay the $10 a month member fee....I have wanted to try Jouer and I'm glad I get to now, but I could have found this on my own, and it would have been free....just saying..

This would be $14 in full size.

This was what I was least looking forward to, LIV GRN perfume sample. First of all, I am very particular in my perfume and getting a sample is kind of hit or miss so I don't like getting random perfume samples, second of all, perfume samples are FREE! I just got a Burberry sample for FREE in the mail and I can get them anytime I please at the mall and I can grab 10 if I like. You only get one in this box. So, two out of four products I was sent was absolutely FREE for Birchbox to send me....Ugh!

On a positive note: I actually do really like this perfume, so the only thing Birchbox got accomplished is I am now aware of this perfume, but it is $60 and that alone deters me from making a purchase.

The "Extra" for this months box is a friendship bracelet in the shape of the Birchbox logo. 

This is kinda cute and I am wearing it right now. I appreciate the thought behind this, Thank You, Birchbox.

Everything that was in my box.

My final thoughts: Overall, I am kinda disappointed in this month's box especially because this was the 1 year anniversary. Two out of the four items should have been free so I only got two that actually counteracted the $10 I pay a month and the nail strips were not the "coolest" design so I could have just took my $10 and bought Sally Hansen's in a design I liked and skipped this box. I really wanted to love this box, I don't hate it, if this were any other month I would have actually liked it, but it was very underwhelming for a birthday box. 

I am also very disappointed because I've watched videos of boxes in the past and it seems the quality of products have went way down. Birchbox has sent out free full sized items before, like a $30 blush and a full size $18 eyeshadow. I don't expect a full size product in every box or even at all, I just expect to get deluxe samples, not super tiny FREE samples. I really like the idea of Birchbox, but they have alot to work on. I am going to keep my membership and hope the quality gets better, I have faith this can be a good company.