December 2013 Birchbox

I'm still going back and reviewing my old Birchboxes so that people can decide on products they might want to buy that are still available. Next up, December of 2013! I have to admit this one was only so-so on reflection, but I still liked getting it. I'm actually one of the least picky Birchbox customers I think, because I don't sit and nitpick sample size or get upset about very much. It's a surprise box of goodies once a month and that's all that matters to me.

A photo posted by Elizabeth (@onegirlsreviews) on Dec 7, 2013 at 1:11pm PST

Nelson j Beverly Hills Argan Oil 7 Non-Foaming Shampoo: So there's no polite way to put this, but I hated this stuff. I get the idea behind non-foaming shampoo, but I don't know if it's the thickness of my hair or my water here at home but I couldn't actually get it to really go through my hair to feel like it was shampooing anything but the very top surface of my head, which honestly isn't enough. It wasn't slippery enough or something. The other weird thing that's not mentioned anywhere in the description and took me by surprise is that this actually had little beads mixed into it. I don't know what they were, they seemed like the same plastic microbeads that I dislike in other products (and that are currently being banned by different places because they're so bad for the environment) but I have no idea. What I do know is that more than once after thinking I had completely rinsed my hair I got out of the shower to find those stupid plastic beads still in my hair. They were super difficult to rinse out, partially because the shampoo wasn't really penetrating the thickness of my hair. I didn't even finish the sample.

ARCONA Magic White Ice: This was a really nice moisturizer, I did quite like it. It blended in easily without feeling too thick or sticky. It's probably one of my favorites that I've tried, but I just can't get over the price of it. The full size is just over one ounce and it's $40 and that's just too pricey, especially considering that there are plenty of facial products that are also really good but half or even a quarter of the price. This was just out of my league I think. But like I said, worked well, I liked it a lot.

Salt of the Earth Whipped Body Creme: I got this in the white ginger scent, and it smelled nice and I really liked it. It was a good texture and a very nice lotion. The packaging for the full size is really pretty too. The only reason I haven't considered buying a full size is because I already had so much lotion and I'm only JUST getting to the point where I might buy a full priced full size thing of body creme. This is on the short list of what I'm considering buying though.

Salt of the Earth Aroma Bath Salt: I also got these bath salts in the white ginger scent and I really, really liked them. The smell is fantastic, and I think maybe I'm aging out of the idea of bubble baths, because lately I'm enjoying a nice soak using salts or bath bombs much better. I liked these so much I bought the full size not long after, and hoarded them for bad days and when I wanted something really fabulous. The container is so pretty I've even kept that once I used it up and put it in my office to use in there because it's just so nice and has such a sleek, modern design. I'll probably buy more soon, I just have a few other bath products I need to use up first.

Chuao Chocolatier Chocolate Bars: I got the popcorn pop flavor for this one, which was unfortunate. Basically, Chuao chocolate is fantastic, and there's a lot of really fun flavors. I even would have liked the popcorn flavor except it has something in it that's basically Pop Rocks, and I hate Pop Rocks. That popping and cracking makes me think of getting dental work, I have no idea why they were so popular when I was growing up. But I guess if you like Pop Rocks then this flavor would be awesome? I have gotten the honeycomb flavor on another occasion and I really loved that, so like I said, it's a great brand, just not this flavor for me.

Color Club Cocktail Hour Collection nail polish: I got the shade "Top Shelf" in my box, and my sister got "Dark and Stormy" and she happened to visit after we got our boxes so I did my manicure combining the two shortly after, which you can see in the picture below. I was also trying to use up some liquid eyeliner, which I heard could work for nail art designs and honestly it was such junky liquid liner that I can't tell you if that's a good idea or not. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't really impressed with Color Club's polishes in general. You can probably see in the picture that the application wasn't really smooth and didn't look great. Obviously I'm no pro when it comes to polish but I haven't had the same issues with getting good, even coverage when I use OPI polishes or other brands, so I think it was the Color Club formula. Maybe it was because they were metallics? Those are always a bit hard to get right, they're frequently very streaky. But whatever the reason, I generally wasn't impressed and probably won't be purchasing any of this brand any time soon. I ended up giving away this bottle of polish in the end.

A photo posted by Elizabeth (@onegirlsreviews) on Dec 28, 2013 at 7:15pm PST

So, like I said, the results were only so-so if you look at each product in the box, but still it gave me a chance to try several brands I wouldn't have picked up otherwise, and even though I ended up not liking the nail polish it meant I got an informed opinion on the brand without having to buy the polish specifically. As a bonus, on the left of the top picture you can see that this box came with a cute little Birchbox branded screen cleaner for your phone, and I loved that thing until it stopped sticking to my phone and fell off never to be seen again. And not to go on and on about the points system too much, but I had six products in this box, and got 10 points for each review, so that meant I got $6 worth of points back. Just the piece of chocolate is practically worth $4 on it's own, so it's absolutely worth it even when there's a dud or two in the box.

As usual, if you think Birchbox sounds like your kind of thing (and I do highly recommend it) then please use my referral link!

Birchbox Catch Up! - October 2013

I've decided that I'm going to be a bit weird and go back and review all my old Birchboxes that I didn't get around to reviewing the first time around because things got so hectic last year with the release of my movie and everything.

I figure most of these products are still available and it's still good info for people to have when making shopping decisions.

First up: October of 2013! I told you they were old. But the bonus is I have lot more experience with some of these products to review them.

12 Benefits Instant Healthy Hair Treatment: I did like this product, and the smell was quite nice. But it wasn't anything really amazing and I didn't end up wanting to buy a full size of it because I still love the awesome Number 4 Super Comb and Protect from my first Birchbox.

theBalm cosmetics Stainiac: I only just finished up using this sample recently because a little goes a long way. I only generally used it as a lip stain, because I don't need that much color added to my cheeks most days since my face is already rather pink in general. This was a really great stain, and it added a fantastic subtle bit of color to my lips. You couldn't exactly tell I was wearing anything unless I put it on unevenly or something. Which I liked, I think it looked great without looking too much like a "product." Now, it did take getting used to, it takes quite a while to feel dry, and that could be a turn off for some people. That's because of how it works as a stain, you need to be able to blend it for a bit after putting it on. So I was fine with that, but I could see how other people might want a more traditional product.

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser and Muslin Cloth: I really love this cleanser, it's probably the best one I've gotten in the last year between Birchbox and trying samples from Origins and other brands. The muslin cloth is awesome (though a bit overpriced, I admit, I'd only go for it in the package deal). My sister got me a full size version of this for my birthday last year, because she loves it too and I even picked another travel size for my sample choice a few months ago because I wanted one that was easier to travel with and was a TSA approved size. Definitely a good find.

Chapstick Hydration Lock: As far as I can tell this product has been discontinued by Chapstick for their new Dual-Ended versions. Which is fine as long as at least one of those ends is the same as this original formula. I thought it was so silly when I got this sample, I admit it. I buy cheap chapstick because I lose them so much or end up putting them through the washer because I left them in my pockets. I have a ton of chapstick, I use it a lot, but I just don't see the point in more expensive ones. Or at least I didn't, until this product ended up in my Birchbox. Seriously when this stuff says it lasts for eight hours, it means it. It's worth the price because it'll last longer since you don't have to reapply so often. It feels nice, it works, and it is seriously the best chapstick type product I've ever used. It's also a fantastic base for lipstick because then you don't end up with dry, icky feeling lips later in the day that you can't do much about without messing up your makeup. Huge win on this one.

So that was my fantastic October of 2013 box. I actually did review November of 2013, so next up will be December!

And I've had my Birchbox subscription for a year and a half now, and I can absolutely say it's worth every penny. The boxes are great, I love the surprise every month. They've added their monthly sample choice and Birchbox Plus program recently and those are both fantastic, then on top of their already best in the business loyalty points system, they've started up Birchbox Aces which is an even better perk. I've only dealt with their customer service very rarely, but when I have they've been absolutely stellar. It is absolutely worth the price, and I recommend them highly. If you want to give them a try, please consider using my referral link! Thanks!

First Impressions: The Flash

So it's ridiculous how much good television is out right now. How could any normal human being possibly have the time to watch it all? It is completely impossible to keep up. The problem is that while some tv stations have figured this out and make sure that the entire current season of their shows are available through On Demand or Hulu or something legal, CW is not one of them. Which basically is why I will never try to keep up with Supernatural's actual airing schedule (plus being four seasons behind) and last year we totally gave up on trying to keep up with Arrow because the show is good, but we couldn't watch it for a few weeks and then we couldn't catch up legally and we gave up. Seriously CW, stop it. Just stop. Unfortunately The Flash just looked too darn good to give up without trying to watch it.

So basically we ended up doing a couple days marathon watching Arrow in order to catch up just in case there were some cross-over stuff. Really, we only needed to have watched the two episodes with Barry Allen guest starring, but I wasn't sure. So I'll review the second season of Arrow later.

But for now, I'm all about The Flash instead because wow, do I like this show. And it's almost 100% because of Barry Allen/actor Grant Gustin. When we watched his guest star spot on Arrow, I told my husband, "Barry is my new favorite." His reply was, "well, I've got good news for you."

I'm actually excited to watch it every week, because Barry is the kind of character I love to see, and that I feel like we're running low on guys like him. Oliver Queen is great and all, but he's still tortured (literally), troubled, and all Broody McBroodface most of the time. You know, like half the heroes on television aimed at the younger crowd. Stuff aimed at adults these days are almost entirely stocked with anti-heroes and what I simply call "terrible people being terrible." And I'm tired of it. I want optimism, I want good people trying to be good.

And that's what Barry is. At his very core, he's a good person. He's super smart, and mostly unapologetic about it. The only reason he ever regrets being smart is if it leaves somebody out. He's funny, sarcastic, charming, and definitely very nice to look at. He is, in short, one of my ideals when it comes to male characters. Sure, you want to watch Oliver Queen training but you'd want to actually get lunch with Barry.

It doesn't hurt that his mentor and adopted father Joe is amazing. I like pretty much every moment Joe is on screen, and the two of them play off each other perfectly, the actors were paired perfectly for this set of roles. And Dr. Wells is such a perfect mix of motivations that you can't get a read on him, which I think is exactly what they're aiming for.

The rest of the cast is good, though some of them need to find their feet a little more than others. But I suspect that will come with time. The villains are okay, but honestly I don't care if they never got any better, because I'm just in this for Barry and Joe (and I'm sure the rest of the cast will win me over, I'm not worried).

I also love that The Flash and Arrow fit so perfectly together as two sides of the same coin, they're very clearly the same universe but from different perspectives and that's something that I think might be missing a bit in the way that comics are transitioning to other media. One critique of the Marvel movies is that they all look and feel the same, and that's pretty true. But the world doesn't all look the same, and people see it differently.

So in short, The Flash gets an enthusiastic recommendation from me, and as annoyed as I am with CW's system for on demand, I'm too anxious to see the next one to notice it might expire.

I wouldn't mind being able to go back and rewatch later though. So CW, if by some slim chance you see this, I still think you should keep the entire current season up on some free streaming service like xfinity or Hulu because I would be watching episodes again and again and you could put whatever ads you want on it, I don't even care.