Saturday, June 13, 2015

October 2014 Birchbox

Still playing catch-up with my Birchbox reviews! Now we're up to October of last year. Maybe one day I'll be posting current reviews again. This month they included a card to talk about some of your favorite things, and my card wanted to know a book. I picked Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith because I actually had recently stayed up too late re-reading it. It's one of my favorites.

This box was a little light on the samples, but I've had so many months with tons of samples that I was okay with that.



Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream: Maybe one day when I'm old and wrinkled I will regret not using excessive amounts of creams and potions and lotions but right now, the only thing I get out of using regular eye creams is more milia around my eyes, so I skip it and just use some puffiness reducing products when my eyes are feeling swollen and unhappy (or when I know they will like going to bed late). So this cream was a good eye cream, I just don't use eye cream because milia are a much bigger problem for me than wrinkles.

Dr. Lipp Original Nipple Balm for Lips: Okay, so this is basically where I'm going to diverge from the popular opinion. This is a highly reviewed, well loved item for Birchbox customers apparently. But I hated it. I didn't try to use it on my lips because it was this thick, goopy, sticky mess. There was no way that was going to look even remotely natural on my lips and I didn't want to accidentally smear it on my sheets or pillowcases by wearing it at night either. So I just used it on my ultra-dry skin. And I do have some pretty bad dry patches, regular lotion doesn't even make a dent half the time. This stuff was awful, maybe it sealed in some moisture or something but it didn't do any better than a tub of vaseline would have managed to do, and as I mentioned it was a gross sticky mess. It was so gross, and it was impossible to use because I didn't want to get it all over everything so I couldn't use it and get on with my life either, I had to walk around not touching stuff if I used it on my cuticles, or hold my arms away from everything if I put it on my elbows. Ugh.

Essentiel Elements Wake Up Rosemary Shower Gel: This was my sample choice for this month, because I loved the Essentiel Elements Wake Up Rosemary Lotion so much previously. I think it's a fabulous scent, and I really love the style of both the sample bottles and the full size ones. I did really like this lotion, it's on my list of ones to buy when I run out of what I have (though that list is now getting pretty long!)

Harvey Prince Petaly Noir: Perfume can be pretty polarizing, and a lot of reviews said this scent was "old" or too "flowery." I didn't think it was either, I really love how it smells on me. But it is a strong scent that just feels very "evening" to me, not like something to wear to work but something to wear out on a date or to a party. So that's what I use it for now, I do really love it, and this just cemented my love for Harvey Prince products.

Lord & Berry Paillettes Eye Pencil: You can't really see this one in the picture, it's kind of hiding behind the balm and the lotion. A lot of people complained kind of a ridiculous amount about the size of this sample, because it is a pretty small pencil. But I was THRILLED because I already have two full size eyeliner pencils I've gotten in other boxes, plus I had bought a set of colored eye liner not long before this so I didn't need another huge pencil I would never use up. Especially because this particular liner is black with silver glitter, which I'm going to use once in a great while when I'm doing really fun makeup and not trying to look professional. So anyway, it's the perfect size for me, and I do really like the pencil itself. It's very fun, and if I did this kind of look often I would totally be up for the full size.

So this is where we finally talked about the sample I've gotten that I liked the least out of all of them, (the Dr. Lipp balm) and a few new favorites too. Overall, it was a pretty good box.