June 2014 Birchbox

A photo posted by Elizabeth (@onegirlsreviews) on Jun 15, 2014 at 7:11pm PDT

Time for another flashback Birchbox review! This time we're going to the way back, June 2014. Like May of 2014, it was mostly not that phenomenal but one really great item that makes up for it.

Perlier Intensive Nurturing Body Balm Shea Almond: This body balm worked well, but there was something about the Shea Almond scent that I just didn't like. I ended up giving this away because it just didn't work on me, and I had so much lotion at this point there was no reason to keep something I didn't love. But a lot of people loved the smell, so maybe it was just me.

Harvey Prince Hello: This is the gold star for this box. I'd heard a lot of good things about this perfume from other blogs, and so I was really excited to get to try it. It smells so fantastic! I really love it, and it works great on me. This also started my Harvey Prince addiction, I had no idea that they had so many fantastic fragrances. But this is definitely a favorite, and a great find.

Caudalie Polyphenol C15 Anti-Wrinkle Defense Serum: This serum and I didn't really get along. It was a bit more liquid than I'm used to serums being, but the big thing for me was that it made my face a bit too far onto the oily side. It was generally okay, on another type of skin it's probably fantastic, but for me it was just alright.

Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo: I remember liking the scent of this shampoo, but honestly I don't remember much else about it. It was nice, my hair was nice after I used it, but it wasn't significantly better than my grocery store purchased shampoo. I do really like the packaging though, there's something about the sort of simplified bottle and label that's fun.

Davines Love Soothing Conditioner: When this sample went out I kept seeing people saying that the size of the foil packet was too small, and Birchbox has actually stopped really doing these kind of packets all that much in their boxes. Which part of me thinks is just silly, I mean it's a sample/discovery box. But I do also dislike these packets because it's actually way too much for me to use at one time and so I have to figure out how to make sure the open one doesn't fall over and spill and waste a bunch of product. Anyway, the conditioner was much like the shampoo, nice but not revolutionary or anything.

Davines OI All in One Milk: This leave in product was nice, smelled good, but was a little more product than I like leaving on my hair. Maybe I used too much, but I decided to stick with my No. 4 Comb and Protect that has done me so well so far.

Cynthia Rowley Beauty Creamy Lip Stain in Sugar: I do really like this lip stain quite a bit, I actually just used it yesterday. It's a good long lasting lip color, though it's a bit liquid-y, I guess that's what you get with a stain. The color is nice, kind of bright, but fun in general. I'm a fan, I might buy some more shades one day when I'm not drowning in lipsticks.

I did love the getaway theme for this Birchbox, and in general it was another fun one, even if only one of the products was a hit. If you think Birchbox sounds great, then please remember to try my referral link!

March 2014 Birchbox

A photo posted by Elizabeth (@onegirlsreviews) on Mar 18, 2014 at 6:08pm PDT

Going back to talking about my old Birchboxes again! I've fallen more than a year behind once more, I'll try to get better about this soon.

Looking back to March of 2014, it wasn't the best box but there was at least one gold star.

Vasanti Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator: Honestly, I remember almost nothing about this product. It wasn't bad, or I would remember that. So it did the job, it worked okay, the price isn't bad for this kind of product (which is to say I think it's expensive but most people probably wouldn't). But I don't remember it being a miracle worker either.

Ghirardelli Intense Dark Cherry Tango: I really love when Birchbox includes something delicious and sweet. Though in this case, I'm not actually a fan of fruit filled chocolate stuff. As I've gotten older I've definitely become a bigger fan of dark chocolate (isn't that the way it usually goes? I'm sure it's something with changing/dying tastebuds as you grow) but I did like this. Not enough to go out and buy it, but enough to actually at least recommend it to people who like these particular flavors.

Might Leaf Tea Samples: Confession time, I don't like tea. At all. You can't even convince me to give tea a try in the interest of giving a good review. I don't get upset when I get tea bags in my Birchbox like some people, but I give the tea away immediately. I think this particular set went to a coworker. There's no shortage of people I know who will take the tea off my hands, but I won't ever be able to give you a tea review. Sorry!

COOLA Face SPF 30 Unscented Matte Tint: I don't dislike the COOLA brand products, but I do think they're rather overpriced for what they are. I've never really had them perform significantly better than any other sunscreen I've had, and in the case of the matte tint, it really felt odd on my face and I wasn't entirely a fan of the texture. That said, my best friend loves the texture, so your mileage may vary. This was the first COOLA sunscreen that I got and I wasn't overly thrilled with it. It wasn't bad, but for the price I expected more.

Air Repair Rescue Balm All-Purpose Skin Salve and Lip Balm: I actually got this Birchbox the day after I got back to the U.S. from a trip abroad, so I was very eager to try the Air Repair Rescue Balm because I definitely had dried out on the plane. I did like it, it worked well, and it did the job it said it was going to do. It was slightly better than just using straight up Vaseline (my go to when lotion isn't getting the job done) but I don't know price wise if it was far and away worth the price jump over Vaseline. Still, I wasn't upset when I got another tube as one of my two free samples with a later order.

Curl Keeper Original Curl Keeper: This is the gold star product in this box. I expected not to like it, for one because my hair is more wavy than corkscrew curly, so I just didn't think it really was going to do anything for me. I've tried so many different types of products to try to keep the wave and curl in my hair, and they either don't work or they leave a layer of crunch and/or residue that is just not worth it. So I was very reluctant to try it.

I loved it so much I bought a bottle before my sample ran out, and I keep a bottle in reserve now too. This stuff did exactly what I wanted it to, it started to really accent and preserve the natural wave my hair gets from air drying, it gives it a bit of body and shape, and it does not leave my hair feeling crunchy or like any product is in it at all. I did notice some of the reviews say that it leaves their hair feeling stiff and I can tell you that if it is, you're using too much of it. This isn't like other products where you have to slather it to see results, less is more for sure. I guess it might take some trial and error or something, but because I was hesitant to use it I think I used less than normal anyway and discovered the right balance fairly quickly. I am so much happier with my hair now because of this product. Seriously, I love it so much. This is why I subscribe to Birchbox, because I find things like this that totally change everything for me.

So this wasn't really a thrill of a box, but the discovery of Curl Keeper made it all worth it. The point is to find amazing new things, and it definitely fulfilled that promise.

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February 2014 Birchbox

Back into the swing to catch up on all of my old Birchboxes! We're exactly a year behind now, so let's look at last February:

A photo posted by Elizabeth (@onegirlsreviews) on Feb 10, 2014 at 1:08pm PST

Previse HydroMilk: This is the one problem with doing these reviews so far behind, there's some products I just have no memory of. I usually remember if things are bad, so I'm sure it was pretty good, but in the end it's very expensive, which got to be kind of a theme for my box for a while (I think I changed my profile to stop that, but I can't remember now).

Joan Vass L’eau de Améthyste: This was around the time I barely started dipping my toe into trying perfumes and wearing scents more regularly. I did use this sample until I'd used it up (and I got another scent by the same brand as a mystery bonus sample with an order, it was also nice but I liked Amethyst better). It was a bit stronger and a more traditional "perfume" scent than I tend to gravitate towards, so I probably won't be getting it any time soon.

Bain de Terre passion flower shampoo and conditioner: I'm a cheapskate when it comes to shampoo and conditioner. I keep flirting with the idea of actually spending a bit of cash on a higher end product, but I've yet to really try a more expensive brand that really felt worth the upgrade in price from the Herbal Essences that's working for me. Which is my long way of saying that while I liked both the shampoo and conditioner (and the size of the sample was pretty great) at the same time it still wasn't that miracle worker that's going to convince me to since $12 instead of $4 into my shampoo. It did smell quite nice though. I hadn't colored my hair recently when I got it so I can't speak to that factor.

Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish: The color I got was called "Ride 'em Cowgirl" and it goes from gold to red as you go from inside to outside. The color change is supposed to be UV activated, and I was really skeptical at first, and the change probably is pretty slow but I did definitely notice a very distinct color change at least a couple times. It is a fun glitter, with very large pieces of glitter. In the picture below I put it as a top coat over a Wet 'n' Wild color called Red Black Red, which was a great companion color for it. The only thing I would grump about with it is like all large glitter top coats, it's pretty hard to remove. But you know, I'll put up with that for something so fun. $10 is a bit much for this polish I think, but if you've got points or a discount code, then it might be worth checking out if they restock it.

A photo posted by Elizabeth (@onegirlsreviews) on Feb 14, 2014 at 12:01pm PST

So this box had fewer samples than usual, or at least it felt that way, but they were still pretty nice. I really did enjoy the nail polish, because I love glitter and fun stuff like that, so that alone was worth it for me, even if the other products weren't things I'll end up buying full sizes of. You never know if you like something until you try it! Speaking of, if you want to try Birchbox, please give my referral link a click!