Birchbox is a beauty sampling subscription service that sends 5 new items each month so you can try before you buy. Birchbox is $10 a month and you can choose a monthly sample during selection time, let Birchbox decide, or pick a pre-curated box. This is a review of a regular, non-curated box without sample choice. How well did it match the profile that I created when I signed up? Read on to find out!
DEAL: For a limited time use coupon code FREEGLOW to get a FREE mini Benefit High Beam Liquid Highlighter with your first month of a Birchbox subscription!
Looking good!
I received a card that said it’s Birchbox’s 8th Birthday and listed a few stats.
The back of the card gives brief details on each item as well as the price if you were to buy the full size.
You can visit Birchbox.com/MyBox to easily see the details of your box, which I recommend because sometimes they have videos on the item product pages which I find useful.
Everything in my September box!
Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Botanical Cleansing Oil ($7.59) Birchbox sent a generous sample of this cleanser that helps remove makeup. I always do a double cleanse and while I usually prefer a natural oil this one rinsed quickly with water so my skin didn’t feel greasy afterward. It said to use a few drops and massage it in, then rinse. It turned milky and rinsed easily. I then followed with a more traditional cleanser.
Number 4 High Performance Haircare Soothing Balm ($5.88) When the description says perfect for “dry, frizz-prone, or coarse” hair, then I know that Birchbox didn’t take my profile seriously. I have thin, straight hair so this type of product gets passed along to others. Now, if you have frizzy hair then this might work for you but keep in mind that it is highly fragranced.
[comfort zone] Hydramemory Cream Gel ($8.07) Aye yai yai, another product that seems more like a perfumed body lotion than a product meant for the face. Perfume is wonderful but it’s not skincare! It also doesn’t match my profile, which lists dry skin. However, if you have oily or combination skin then you might like this gel-based lotion. It does have hyaluronic acid to draw water to the skin, but it is lower on the list of ingredients and based on the placement of perfume in the ingredients list it has more perfume than hyaluronic acid.
Mellow Cosmetics Liquid Lip Paint In Ibiza ($8) is half of the full-sized product (which is listed incorrectly on the Birchbox site – it is 0.10 oz, not 0.01 oz).
I received the shade “Ibiza,” which is described as a “cool-toned nude.”
I thought the shade would look sort of brownish on my lips, but it came out as an opaque nude that doesn’t look good on my lips.
Here it is swatched on my arm but again, this isn’t what it looked like on my lips. I ended up adding a couple of dots of a red lipstick to my bottom lip, added some of this product, and then smeared it all around with a lip brush until blended. It is one of those products that dries matte and hangs around for a while and I ended up liking my custom color.
Proenza Schouler Arizona Eau De Parfum ($2.40) is the only perfume offering from the fashion brand Proenza Schouler. It was released this year and is a floral woody musk.
I love trying new perfumes and this one has notes of citrus, cactus blossom, “solar notes”, and musk. I think it smells feminine, floral, sweet without smelling like candy or fruit, and peppy. I really like it and I think people who like La Vie Est Belle or YSL Mon Paris might like this scent. I’m not sure it reminds me of Arizona though. I can’t really say what a cactus blossom smells like either.
There were some hits and misses in my September Birchbox but then that’s how it usually goes down. I discovered products I really like and I found stuff that I can’t use at all. My biggest problem with this subscription is that it sometimes goes against my beauty profile. I’m all for discovering new products but I still have fine hair and dry skin and therefore it seems counterproductive to send products that I can’t use. Then again, it’s $10 a month and I can pass those other items along to my daughters. My box had a value of around $31.94 and since there are 3 products that I can use then I feel like I got my money’s worth.
What do you think of the September Birchbox? What was your favorite item from your box?
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