August Birchbox | Beauty

The Beauty Junkie Box, I must admit there wasn't a massive amount of hype surrounding this months Birchbox which is a good thing sometimes because then it makes it more of a surprise when it does arrive. That being said, I am pretty disappointed with this month's box. 

Don't get me wrong we have some great brands in this box, but I was just a little underwhelmed, I think we've been spoiled with the recent great boxes. So shall we have a deeper look at what I actually receieved?

Firstly, I noticed that this month we got tiny little emoji stickers, which are pretty cute but honestly I'm never, ever, going to use them. I'm sure there will be a lot of people who like these stickers but my personal style isn't the cute pastel shades thing so these are probably going to go to my little goddaughter. Another item I'm not that thrilled about is the Huygens facial scrub, it has rice particles so it's a little gentler than other face scrubs but it just isn't something I've going to use. I can't use anything too abrasive on my face and this scrub definitely looks a little too gritty for my liking. 

Speaking of scrubs I also received Rituals Fortune Scrub which is to be used on your body, this I can work with a little more, it smells really nice it has orange and cedar wood in it so I'm looking forward to trying this one out. In the gym bag it goes. A Birchbox brand favourite is Beauty Protector which is a hair care brand and I have tried out a lot of difference products because of Birchbox. This month I received the Protect and Oil hair oil, I actually received two little bottles which is quite generous because you only need 1-3 drops applied to your hair. The thing that annoys me about the brand, is that there is little information on how to use the product but maybe this is just on the samples? The thing I looooooove about this brand is all their products smell amazing!

Moving onto make up items, I have received the Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume Supreme Mascara which I am incredibly excited to try out as I haven't used any Laura Mercier make up products before, lets see what it does for my lashes. Next is the Lord & Berry blusher in Lotus, another one I'm actually pretty excited to give a go. I really like the shade of this blush it isn't too pink, just kinda add a bit of warmth to the cheeks as well as a nice flush of colour. It's a little hard to store because it's just one little disk but it'll be fine.

Lastly we have an item which is probably going to get the most use from me which is the L. Erickson hair band which is metal free so less damaging and it's quite chunky. My hair goes up when I go to the gym so I pretty much always have a hair band on my wrist but I kinda like that it looks a bit different from other hair brands, almost a little stylish. 

So there we have August's Birchbox, it's nice but I'm not blown away by it. 

What did you get in your Birchbox?

November Birchbox | Review

I haven't written a Birchbox review for a little while, because though they have been good I just didn't feel they were amazing enough to write an entire review and I know that some people must get bored of reading Birchbox reviews every month. But then my November Birchbox arrived and I knew I had to share how fab this one is. 

November's theme was "Cosy at Home" loads of lovely little goodies to help us through the winter months and there are some real gems in here. 

Dr.Jart+ V7 Relief Vita Drop

Now I have never heard of this brand before and I just have to tell you how yummy this smells, like unbelievably delicious, it reminds me of lemon sorbet which is like my all time favourite thing. It's just so nice. 

One thing I will say is that from looking at the bottle you can't really tell where it is for but it's a massive size at 100ml so I just assumed it was a body moisturiser. It is not. It is in fact for your face, do not make the mistake of smothering it over your legs as it's not meant for that. Nothing negative happened but I just felt a bit silly, always read the label. 

It is a shame that its for the face, you all know how fussy I am about facial products I have my favourite items and use nothing else. But I may be tempted to try it out, it just smells so nice. 

Drinkwel Capsules

I was a little confused when I first saw these Drinkwel Capsules because I didn't know whether they were just vitamins or what? But actually these little things are supposed to be taken when you drink alcohol. The capsules contain b-vitamins, amino acids, fruit and botanical extracts and are "designed specifically for healthy people who like to responsibly consume alcohol" 

I really love the idea of these, something I've never heard of before but I'm definitely looking forward to trying these out. Also they are vegetarian capsules which is always a fab thing, not that I am a vegetarian but I like things that don't unnecessarily use animal by products. 

Beauty Protector Hair Mask

I have tried Beauty Protector before with Birchbox but it was the shampoo and conditioner. I love the smell of this product, again another sherbert-y sweet smell. We can all tell that I have a sweet tooth because I liken all scents to sweets. 

I recieved two little samples of this hair mask, I will probably have to use them both at once as my hair is kinda long. One thing I will say, I dislike the lack of information on these samples. No ingredients, nor any instructions, no idea how long to leave it on for, I could look online but that's an extra added step before using the product. 

Lord & Berry Bronzer

I have used the Lord & Berry eyeliner pencil sample before with Birchbox but never used anything else by the brand. To be honest this just isn't a brand I see very often or at least isn't one that I notice. That being said, I've heard really great things about this brand and this bronzer. 

It's a cute little sample size about the size of an eyeshadow disc, but I kinda have nowhere to put it so I'll just have to keep it in it's box for now. 

I received the shade Sunny which is ok for my skin, against my arm it looks very dark but that's probably the palest part of my body, I think it will look fine on my face. I will probably use this to contour as opposed to an over all bronzer. It's a matte shade with no hint of shimmer at all, which most people like. 

Weleda Smoothing Facial Oil

This is probably the only product I'm not that keen on, Weleda isn't a brand I've ever used before and unfortunately it is another facial product and it's an oil which is just never going to go on my face. 

I do think it's a great sample size and that you will probably be able to get a lot of use out of it but this one I'm just not going to use it, which is a shame. 

OPI in Coca-Cola Red

A full sized OPI, what a lucky girl I am and a beautiful shade of red. I was super excited to see this in the Birchbox this month. 

It's a bright red but it also has a kind of orange tone to it as well which is really nice if you want those bold statement nails. I'm actually going to write a review on this product so keep a look out for it next week.

Overall a really lovely box, I'm very happy with everything in it. I really like the Drinkwel capsules just because it's something I've never thought of before. I love the sample sizes in this box

What did you get in the November Birchbox?

Thinking inside the (birch)box...

I subscribed to Birchbox last month and to be honest the first box I received was a little lack luster. The products were cute but I wasn't wowed with the box when I opened it. This month however...love it! 

Loads of lovely little treats this month and where to start? Shall we begin with the orange shampoo... 

Tommyguns - Pomegranate & Organge Flower Shampoo. 
The scent is gorgeous but not over powering really delicate. I'm a fan of citrus scents for my hair anyway and being blonde you can find that the citrus tones actually lighten your hair just a little bit. I tried it out this morning and wow! I'll be honest it didn't lather up like most shampoos I use but how it left my hair after I dried it was amazing! My roots feel soft but not weighted down by it at all. There is no residue left by the shampoo, which is so important for me because I have fine hair anyway. It's gorgeously soft and smooth.I kinda wish that I was given a miniature shampoo and conditioner to get the full effect of this product as opposed to one large bottle of shampoo but it's great.

The Balm - Cheek & Lip Cream. 
Firstly I just want to say how much I love this packaging and not just the half naked cowboys. This product creates a personality and is different from the rest. The shade I received was Pie, I'm not sure if everyone recieved the same shade but I think it was the safest option. Now, personally I'm not one to add too much colour to my cheeks and this one would have to take a fair amount of blending to make it look normal so I tried it on my lips. Again, I prefer muted tones I think red lips can work well with blondes but you've got to be careful on the shade otherwise it could look a little too much shall we say. Overall, I like it but less is definitely more with this product perfect for adding just a touch of colour. 

One Love Organics - Skin Saviour Waterless Beauty Balm. 
This packaging is quite a stark contrast to The Balm, but this is a case where simplicity works. This beauty balm can be used on your face as a cleanser or as a moisturiser. I would never use this on my face, it has a very oily texture and I would be paranoid that it would cause me to break out. As you may or may not know, I rarely use any cleansing products on my face only Simple and that's only once or twice a week. When I twisted the lid off, the scent was amazng, think sherbet. It's a kind of fizzy sweet smell if you know what I mean, really lush! I tried this product on my hands as just a moisturiser, I rubbed it in but it doesn't really sink into my skin so I washed them with warm water (the way it tells you to do it if you were using it as a cleanser on your face) It almost created a barrier on my skin and the water just kind of stayed on there so I continued to rub my hands together spreading the product all over then dried them. My hands actually feel so soft and that yummy sherbet smell lingers subtly on my skin. I actually like this product more than I thought I would.

Color Club - Breakfast At... Nail Lacquer
I actually bought a very similar shade in the Barry M silk collection recently so it's a shame this colour came but i still think it's lovely nonetheless, it's a slightly more green shade than my Barry M one and this one is a Nail Lacquer so maybe it'll be a bit thicker too. Right now I can't try it out because I have shellac on but after I get this removed it's definitely on the (ever growing) list of nail polishes to try. 

Lord & Berry - Black Eyeliner
This is a fail safe product for me, I always wear eyeliner, every day! So I was very happy to get this pencil because my Rimmel one is almost at the end of it's life so this'll be a good swap. I tried it today, it lasts fairly well. Pretty standard eyeliner pencil - can't go wrong.

Propercorn - Fiery Worcester Sauce and Sun-Dried Tomato popcorn. 

I am a massive fan of Propercorn Popcorn. It's lush! It's so much more that just sweet or salty popcorn which I of course love but it's good to have different flavours. I tried this one last year some time and quickly became obsessed. I've noticed that in some other bloggers Birchboxes they have different flavours such as Coconut and Vanilla. I'm so happy I received this flavour - I hate coconut. 

So all in all, a bloody good box incredibly happy with this one. Let's hope next month is this good. 

What was in your Birchbox?