Annual Birchbox Subscription

I treated myself to one year Birchbox Subscription.  I received a 20% of discount so it comes out to $7.33 per box.  Less then the price of two lattes a month.

My first box that came was the November 2015 box (they must of had old boxes laying around) since it was January 4th when I received this box.  The packaging is a little bit of a waste but the boxes are much nicer then other subscription boxes.  That little bit of tissue paper makes a big difference.

Sorry the video is a little shaky since I no longer have my camerawoman on staff.  My favorite item in this box was actually the Juliette Has a Gun Not a Perfume. I normally dislike perfume samples (or Not a perfume) but this one smelled wonderful.  The scent is Cetalox, which I never heard of before but is in a lot of perfumes.  This will be a great way to cover up after stinky runs!!!  At a $100 for 50 ml it's a small luxury.

April 2014 Birchbox: still not bad

I'd like to be able to unsubscribe from Birchbox because I don't need it - the only reason I signed up was to be a brat because everyone on the internet hates it so much, but then it turns out I really genuinely don't hate Birchbox, and it's not even out of spite. It's a perfectly fine box. It's only ten bucks, and you get something to eat!

This month's Birchbox theme was Rainy Days. They included a little card with a random tip for surviving a rainy day. My tip was to go buy an umbrella. Thanks, Birchbox!

Here's what I got this month:

Harvey Prince Yogini perfume. This is a little sample of perfume but with a spray top! A spray top on a tiny little tube! The card says this is the "scent of liberation." Exclusively at harveyprince.com. They say to use the code "beautifulyou" for extra magic. Magic! You can buy magic on the internet at harveyprince.com! I hope those don't automagically turn into hyperlinks for you. You'll have to copy and paste that if you want to go there. I refuse to add hyperlinks, sorry.

Sumita Color Intense Pencil in Suman (black). I'm not much of a makeup person, so all I can say about this is that it's eyeliner. Eyeliner is eyeliner. This seems very eyeliney, so it seems fine to me. No French at all on the pencil. :(

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle Leave-In Conditioner. This is a little bottle of stuff to put in your hair. It smells nice. I've used it once and it was quite nice. The bottle is rubber. The sprayer on the bottle doesn't work.

Color Club Gala's Gems Collection Breakfast at... This is a little bottle of pearly shimmery light green fingernail polish. It's cute, although the name is complicated. I'm getting a similar green color in my next Julep box - it will be interesting to compare.

KIND Healthy Grains Maple Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt. Food!

So AGAIN I won't be canceling Birchbox. Someday I will but I just can't find a reason to right now.

Fingernail plan for the weekend: Dark shimmery purple (Elle). I'm not sure how this will work out for a 5K - it seems more appropriate for something longer - but we'll see. The last three weekends for my races (all 5Ks) I wore: bright sparkly green (Tatum), sparkly mermaid teal (Marion), sparkly orange (Tatiana). As you may have guessed, the bright green and the orange worked out well, but the teal wasn't as fast as I would have liked.

Important note: If you're going to be wearing flashy fingernail polish, use a base coat. Crazy fingernail polish will stain your fingernails.

Very exciting updates on things

Oh man, Julep was on top of it this month - my April box got here on March 31! It was very exciting, even though I didn't particularly care for either of the colors I got: bluey-purpley iridescent and bright sparklish green. And peach blush. And they sent candy again!

Unfortunately, the bluey-purpley polish leaked into its lid a little. Not much, not a huge mess, but enough to make me feel sad and persecuted. But not enough to make me want to notify Julep about it.

I didn't think I would, but I actually like the bluey-purpley color. I refuse to post pictures, so you'll just have to imagine. The first coat is very light and if you can make it go on without being all streaky and dumb, one coat is really nice, a subtle barely-there iridescent pale blue. Two coats looks like poo, don't do that. For the finest results, you have to do three coats and a topcoat. (Someone on the internet was putting a white coat on the bottom and that looked nice. Who would have thought? Should I buy some opaque white polish in order to do that? Would Wite-Out work?)

I've decided to wear the bright green polish on race days because I think it will make me faster. I can't imagine wearing bright green fingernail polish at any other time. I will never, ever use this bottle up.

The blush is packaged very fancily, as are all Julep products. I'm sure it's nice but I haven't tried it and won't try it for another 50 years, not until I've used up all the other blushes I have.

The candy was delicious and is all gone.

OTHER EXCITING NEWS

The April Blush Mystery Beauty Box is on its way to me! I'm very excited about it, as usual, because Blush was the first beauty box I subscribed to and I am fiercely, doggedly loyal, even when my loyalty is undeserved, which it is not in the case of the Blush Mystery Beauty Box. Best mystery beauty box!

I decided to keep my Birchbox subscription for another month because I didn't dislike it soooo much last month. It was soooo okay. I don't know why everyone on the internet hates Birchbox so much. I believe I'll be getting something in this Birchbox that I got in the Blush box last month, but my face seems to like it so that's good. Blush wins! And Birchbox is fine.

Last week the internet was abuzz with talk of the ModCloth Stylish Surprise - ten bucks, a surprise. You could choose from shoes, clothing, or apartment fodder. Everyone was posting pictures of their clothing surprises, and I didn't like anything that anyone got, but I was overcome by it all and ordered one myself. I will probably get either a tenty shirt designed for an 18th century peasant or a short short dress that's so short I wouldn't even have worn it when I was 13. But who cares! It will be a stylish surprise!

It's so dumb, I told myself I wouldn't get sucked into this crap, but I ordered a Secret Surprise from Julep. I am a sucker for the words "mystery" and "surprise", it would seem. This needs to stop, guys. If you haven't yet gotten sucked into the world of beauty boxes, please try to resist. It does bring immeasurable joy, glamour, and fame, yes - but at what price? At what price???

Birchbox isn't so bad

One day I was at work and feeling particularly sorry for myself, so I decided to make myself feel better by signing up for Birchbox. Everyone on the internet hates Birchbox, so I was super excited about how much I was not going to hate it, just to be ornery. I was looking forward to this so much.

But then, my Birchbox box took forever and ever to get here. Birchbox has this cute little tracking thing that tells you when your box is born and cute stuff like that. My box was born in Tennessee and spent an unnecessary two weeks flitting around the midwest, stopping in places like Indiana and Missouri and Kansas. It took its sweet, sweet time getting here, clearly worrying about things other than getting to me. Sightseeing, going to the St. Louis Arch, stupid shit a beauty box really shouldn't be doing.

It finally got here today and I was so mad, I was planning to hate it so much. But then I opened it! It's not bad! There's nice little things in there! Here's what I got:

Gilchrist & Soames Body Lotion. In case you start thinking this hotel brand stuff isn't all that fancy, please note that there's French on it. It's not just body lotion, it's lotion pour le corps. And Gilchrist & Soames was EST. LONDON ENGLAND, so it's pretty posh, don't worry. I'll take this to work to use on mon corps or perhaps mes mains.

Supergoop! City Sunscreen Serum. This is an anti-aging UV damage repair complex that you put on your face. It will protect you while you are out in the city. No French on the tube but it's made in Australia and I find the lack of pomp refreshing, as I'm sure you do.

theBalm How 'Bout Them Apples? Cheek & Lip Cream. This is a tiny dot of pink stuff in a tiny magnetic book. I like this packaging quite a lot. When you open it up, there's a shirtless man in a cowboy hat to remind you why you're putting on this pink stuff. The color I got is called Pie.

Tea. One of the reasons everyone hates Birchbox is because of tea. Everyone on the internet hates tea. This month they sent three pouches of Mightly Leaf: Organic Earl Grey, Green Tea Tropical, and Chamomile Citrus. I'm okay with all of this.

The last item was in a fancy pouch. I opened it up and oh my god guess what came out (in addition to the thing that was supposed to be inside)?!!?? A little chocolate bar!!! I was surprised! I'm going to eat that chocolate bar so much tomorrow, oh man.

The thing in the pouch was a little pouch of Agave Healing Oil Oil Treatment, a.k.a. traitement a l'huile. They also talk to us in Spanish here. Now I can't be entirely sure but I kind of think I got this stuff in my last Blush Mystery Beauty Box. Did I? I don't actually know, but I think so, and I'm not going to get up and go into the bathroom to check. Please come back for my next entry when I update you on this.

January BirchBox II - My first Unboxing Video

I received my first BirchBox.  After being spoiled by the Blush Mystery Beauty Box with it's full size products, I was not as impressed with the Birchbox which everyone was raving about.  The Box itself is very nice and would make a great box to put a gift in.  The Mascara and Lip Balm samples are both .10 ounces.

A couple of comments about the video and the products.
 

100% Pure - Turns out this is the name brand of the Mascara company.  On the bottle it says Black Tea Ultra Lengthening.  Al the makeup gets it coloring from fruit dye and in the case of this Mascara from Tea.
 

Dr. Lipp Nipple Balm - Yes, it is Nipple Balm and yes you can put it on your nipples.  This would be great if you had chapped Nipples from Nursing a Wee One or in my case Eczema on my elbows.  This balm tastes very medicated and a little like Carmex lip balm.

Serge Normant Dry Conditioner - I've been wanting to try Dry Shampoo but have not heard of Dry Conditioner.  The directions say to apply the Dry Conditioner after you use the Dry Shampoo.  This seems kind of stupid to just continue to put products on your hair in the hopes that your hair looks and smells fresh.  Warning in the video I can't get the cap off so I say S$#t.
 

Ruby Wing Nail Polish - I'm going to feel like Diana Ross with gold nail polish on.  Seriously this is something 14 year old me would have loved but 34 year old me not so much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January Birch Box

While my first Birchbox is somewhere in Eastern Montana right now my friend received her first Birchbox tonight and she shared these photos with me.  Will I get the same January box once mine arrives?  We're pretty excited about the Birchbox Find, Burt's Bee Lotion and the Mascara.  Shampoo from London sounds fancy too!!  Definitely worth $10!

 

Anticipation...waiting for that first box.

I'm a newbie to the subscription box world and have learned fascinating things like "unboxing" is the correct lingo for unveiling my box (future videos to come) and you can get a Pop Sugar Neiman Marcus box for $250.  Yes, $250 and you have no idea what is in the box.  The big appeal to me is your getting a higher "retail value" then what you paid and the surprise.  I've seen many facebook ads for Birch Box and Nature Box and I'm ready to jump in.  

I'm anxiously waiting for my first:

Birch Box $10 per month

Graze Box $5 per box ($1 for the first box with a discount code)

Blush Mystery Beauty Box $24.95 per month with subscription ($5 off with TRYBLUSH promotion code)

If you are interested use my subscription links above.  My Subscription Addiction has a great guide on subscription boxes. Why is this so appealing to me?  I love getting things in the mail (I'm sure amazon is losing money on my prime subscription), I'm a secret product whore (I'll go to M.A.C.   and Bare Mineral stores and buy loads of stuff because I like the packaging or the colors but never actually wear any of it or tell anyone about all the makeup I have)and I like surprises!