Starting with the most recent box first, we’ll begin with February, which had BirchBox collaborating with US Weekly for awards season. Not sure how that actually affects anything, but that’s their story for the month. Getting on to the products….
The first item is a cute little glass bottle that, quite honestly, I’m amazed didn’t break in transit! It is from Beauty Protector and it is the Protect & Oil. According to the card, this is an exclusive launch, so that’s kind of exciting. It’s a hair oil that, when applied to damp hair, is supposed to defend against UV rays, heat and breakage. Sounds pretty nice, although I would think it needs to be used all over the hair and I can’t imagine using it that way without turning my hair into a grease ball. It’s a nice sized sample if you really only need 1-3 drops per use and it smells incredible! J It’s very sweet and sugary with some definite vanilla in there. Yum! J
Next is another product from Whish. They’ve included a few things from this brand before and they’re usually ok, but kinda overpriced in my opinion. Anyway, this month BirchBox included the Three Whishes Body Butter in Pomegranate. It smells fresh with maybe a touch of floral and a hint of tart fruit to me. It’s supposed to have antioxidants that firm (yeah, right!), soften and soothe. It feels nice and doesn’t seem to be greasy, but it’s not really a scent that I absolutely love. It’s also $24 for the full size so I probably won’t be buying this, but it’s a nice sample tube.
I’ll do the Lifestyle Extra next before getting into the little pouch. This month they have chosen to include a Dry Deodorant Swipes for Clothes from Reviver. This is actually a deodorant for your clothes. Really? If my clothes smell bad then either I forgot deodorant and/or I just plain need to do laundry! J It’s kind of an interesting idea, but I really don’t see needing this unless I spill onions on my shirt. I kind of hope I don’t need this! J Still, it could come in handy - you never know! J
So, moving on to the little pouch, we have a mini eyeshadow quad from Coastal Scents. It is from the Revealed Eye Shadow Palette. It’s ok. Two of the shadows look quite similar in the pan, and the silver shade is not something that usually works well on me. Looks like the fourth shade is a matte black, which is nice, but I see no need for another one. Not very exciting, but I don’t expect much from these little shadow samplers. I’d rather just receive one full size eyeshadow.
Finally, there is another item from Paula’s Choice! I hear so much about Paula’s Choice, especially in the cruelty-free world, but I’ve never purchased anything from them…yet! J This is the RESIST Ultra-Light Super Antioxidant Concentrate Serum. It is a water-based anti-aging serum for balancing the skin and tightening pores. I could definitely use all of those things, so well done in picking my samples BirchBox! J Definitely looking forward to trying this one!
And that does it for February’s box. Not too shabby, actually! J And did you notice – no foil packets!!! On that rare note, let’s see what arrived in January’s, shall we? J
I’m going to start with the Lifestyle Extra because, well, why not? There are three bags of tea from Ahmed Tea London. There is one in Mint Mystique, English Breakfast and Apricot Sunrise. I’m not a huge tea drinker, so these will probably be tucked away for later and forgotten.
Sticking with things in foil packaging, there are some wonderful foil packets again! And annoyingly, it’s for a product I love, although I am not a fan of this particular scent. It is the French Lavender Hand Buttercream from 100% Pure. I have this hand cream in the Honey Almond scent and it has actually been my favorite hand cream for the past couple of months! So, love the product, hate the foil packets. And I could do without the Lavender scent too! Definitely give this hand cream a try though because it is incredible!
I’ll go with the full-size item next. It is a nail polish (whoo hoo!) from Nail Rock with annoying caviar pearls. The shade I received is “Neptune,” which is a nice, bright green. Exactly my kind of color! J The caviar pearls are unusual because they are fuchsia and a teal blue-green, so that’s a nice surprise at least! J It looks like it would be quite pretty, but I’m not likely to use the pearls. Fine by me since I love the polish shade all by itself! J
Sticking with bigger samples, there is a Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk from Klorane. This is a pretty large sample…for BirchBox anyway! I’m always looking for a good dry shampoo, so I’m glad to have another one to try. I can’t seem to get an answer about their animal testing policy though. Their parent company is a pharmaceutical company, so obviously the parent company tests, but not necessarily Klorane itself. It’s a nice travel-size sample, so points on that BirchBox!
Finally, there is another Paula’s Choice product! This one is the RESIST C15 Super Booster. It contains 15% Vitamin C, as well as Vitamin E & Ferulic Acid. It is supposed to brighten and firm skin while reducing brown spots and is great for acne-prone skin! I know all those ingredients are amazing for skin, so it sounds lovely. The sample size looks promising. Then you open the box and it’s a little baby dropper bottle that’s only about half full. To be fair, you are only supposed to use 2-3 drops twice a day, so it will probably still last a little while. Like I said with the other Paula’s Choice sample, I’m just excited to try it! J
So that’s it for both January and February’s boxes! I haven’t really tried anything yet because I actually just plain forgot about January’s box, and February’s hasn’t been here long. I must say, given what I’m used to receiving from BirchBox, I’m actually really happy with these two boxes. Hopefully BirchBox will continue upping their game…or completely go down the crapper so I can convince myself to cancel. J As always, I’m sure Ill continue subscribing for a while though. I’m telling you, they’re laced with crack! J Let me know if there are any other subscription services I should know about, or that you’d just like to see the contents of. I already have plenty, but I could easy be swayed to switch one for another. J Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again next time! J