The first thing I saw when opening the box were two little pots, so of course I thought they had sent an extra by mistake. I think everyone received two though, so I felt less special when realizing that. The pots contain the Beauty Protector Protect & Treat Mask. It’s a pale pink hair mask that contains Argan oil to add strength and shine to the hair. And oh my goodness does it smell good! It smells kind of like a slightly sweet perfume to me. I feel like it could make me nauseous if I smelled it for very long though. Each pot contains 0.5oz, which really isn’t a whole lot, but I suppose with two it’s enough to try once or twice. However, the shape of the tall skinny pots makes it rather difficult to scoop the product out. Nice enough though, I suppose.
Moving on…. We have a product from Benefit, which I’ll never use because it’s not cruelty-free, plus I’ve heard that these are terrible. It is a Posiebalm Tinted Lip Balm. The packaging is really cute, but the ¼” worth of product gives pretty much no color. And there seriously is only about ¼” of it in the giant tube. The full size is $18 too, which is just way too much for something that offers virtually no color and doesn’t feel like anything special. Fail.
Next is another decent sized box. It is from Real Chemistry and it is their Luminous 3-Minute Peel. Sounds interesting I suppose, but I have a number of at-home peels that I already like so I’m not super excited. Apparently this is an acid-free peel, so it might be better for sensitive skin, but my skin seems to be pretty tough when it comes to peels! It aims to soften, brighten and smooth the skin. It’s a weird tube and I really don’t think there’s a whole lot of product actually in the package. Another one with deceptive packaging. Boo! It contains 0.17oz/5mL and the back says that it’s “Never tested on animals.” I never buy that claim on a package, but it does make me feel a bit better about trying it. This is kind of an interesting sounding peel, but I can’t say that I’m terribly excite about it. Meh.
Can the little pouch save things? Well, there is a semi-decent sized tube of Harvey Prince Hello Body Crème. (Hello is the scent.) It is scented with Sicilian lemon and Spanish mandarin botanicals. Sounds like something I would like, but I’m pretty sure I’ve received a sample of the perfume in a BirchBox before and I wasn’t too happy. The Body Crème smells ok – kind of perfumed-citrus, but it’s not as hydrating as I would like. Definitely don’t see myself paying the $22 for a full-size! I want to say that I have heard Harvey Prince is cruelty-free, but I’m not certain about that one either.
Then there is a baby nail polish from Ruffian! It’s from their Rapture Collection and I chose the shade “Rosary” which is a rosy metallic (this month they sent out emails giving you the option for the color you would receive, which was nice). It’s really pretty, though I’m not sure it’s all that unique. It’s also only 0.17oz/15mL, which seems kind of tiny to me. I have so many nail polishes that I’m sure running out will still never be an issue, so that’s ok, it just seems smaller than polishes in previous BirchBoxes. It claims to cover in only one coat, so that would be fantastic and impressive if true! J
Finally, there’s an extra thrown in, also from Ruffian. It’s a single Acetone-Free Towelette for removing nail polish. I never seem to use these things. And I have trouble believing that just one towelette will remove all traces of a dark polish. I’ll throw it into my “things to try if I ever go somewhere” pile, but since I never go anywhere it’ll probably be a long while before I need it! J
Overall, this BirchBox was a little below ok. It’s certainly not the worst box I remember, but it’s nowhere near the best either. The nail polish and the hair mask seem worth trying, but everything else is just not very interesting to me. I’m sure some people would be thrilled by these samples, but I guess I’m just too picky! I still enjoy getting these stupid little boxes every month even though I bash the hell out of them. It’s just fun to get a box full of surprises, and once in a rare while there’s actually something fantastic in there. It’s getting increasing rare though! J I hope you enjoyed this peek into July’s BirchBox…and that you saved your $10 for something more exciting! J
