Birchbox September 2014

Birchbox is a monthly subscription box service. For $10 a month, they will send you 4-5 'Beauty and Lifestyle' samples. 

They also have a points system, which is the best I've seen. 100 points = $10 to spend in the Birchbox shop. Earn 1 point for every dollar you spend (monthly boxes don't count, except for the first one) and they offer a lot of promo codes to get extra points. You can also earn 10 points for each review of your monthly samples. That's like getting $4-5 back each month! You also get 50 points for each person who signs up through your referral. If you would like to try Birchbox, please consider using my link: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/pdwbx

This month's theme: Fresh Paint

This month Birchbox had 3 different colorful boxes that went out, instead of the usual brown box.

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser Starter Kit: ($24.50 for 3.3oz) I decided to take the description straight from the website: "This creamy cleanser contains moisturizing cocoa butter, and two of nature’s best astringents: eucalyptus essential oil and rosemary. These plant oils lift dirt off the skin’s surface without disrupting the natural barrier function. The 100 percent cotton muslin cloth gently exfoliates without irritation, even for the most sensitive complexions." The instructions say to apply onto a dry face, which doesn't make much sense to me as a facial cleanser but I did it anyway. I didn't like it. I think it works much better when I use it in the shower with a wet face and hands to lather up, then scrub away everything with the cloth. I do really like this stuff. Not enough to buy the full size (yet anyway) but I really like the muslin cloth. It is very gentle and doesn't feel like I'm exfoliating at all, yet my face is very smooth after.

Perlier Body Cream in Lavender: ($28.45 for 6.7oz) I'm not sure what all I can say about another lotion. It seems to be hydrating enough for the "intensive" label and the lavender scent isn't overwhelming, but instead soothing. Nice sample to have, but not much to say about it.

Cynthia Rowley Beauty Eyeliner in Silver: ($16) I don't understand why Birchbox sends silver eyeliners. Wouldn't a black, brown, or dark blue be better to see if you like the brand? I just don't use silver eyeliners much... and I have 2 of them already from beauty subscriptions! I've been using it to line my bottom water line and I tried it once on top of (as a separate line, not over top) my black eyeliner and I guess that was a nice effect... just more work than I usually want in the morning. It's smooth and bright so the brand itself is good, but I would rather see how it performs with a darker color.

Catherine Malandrino Style de Paris: ($110 for 3.4oz) I don't like getting perfume samples because I just really don't wear perfumes that much. But this is a nice scent. It's fruity and floral. It's a light scent but lasted a while. I'm not sure what else I can say about it...

Dr. Jart+ Pore Minimalist Mask: ($35 for 5 masks) I wasn't overly impressed with this mask. It's essentially a piece of fabric coated in a serum. There are holes for your eyes, nose and mouth but it's a fairly large mask for being "one size fits all" and bunched up a lot around my cheeks and chin. You are supposed to place it on your face and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. I felt like it had way too much product on it and was worried it would drip while I was waiting. I guess it felt a tiny bit tingly, in a good way and I could feel my skin tightening up a little bit. You're not supposed to wash off the rest of the serum when you take the mask off, but massage it into your skin. I feel like that defeats the purpose of a mask. Isn't it supposed to be cleaning my skin? Why would I massage all the gunk back in? My opinion: Not worth it. Find something else.

Sephora Double Points Haul

Sephora had a promotion a couple weeks ago where Beauty Insiders could get double points, VIBs triple points and VIBRouge quadruple points for anything bought/ordered. I couldn't pass this up so I just bought a few things, including the Becca Beach Tint I've been eyeing forever!

People were saying the color wasn't listed anywhere. They must have changed the packaging.

The tube is VERY tiny, but trust me when I say you don't need a lot.

Seriously, this is enough for both cheeks! Super pigmented!

Becca Beach Tint is a lip and cheek product. I guess they call it a stain, and it is supposed to be waterproof, but I don't think it lasts as long as I'd hoped. I think Dragonfruit is their most popular color, so I figured I would go with that. It's a great shade. The texture of the product feels more like a primer than a cream blush, sort of silky. If you looked at all the pictures, you can see that you really only need to use the tiniest dot of product for a lot of color. I usually spread it out over my cheeks with a stipple brush just because I have a problem spreading cream blush out evenly with my fingers. I really like it on my lips too. It's a soft color and texture but doesn't really wear like a stain. I am glad I finally bought it and am excited to actually try it at the beach!


Then I bought a 'travel size' of Tarte's BB Tinted Primer. I looked at this while I was out buying my Benefit Big Easy BB Cream and decided if I was buying the one, I didn't need to also buy the other. I'm a little sad I waited because this stuff is awesome!

I really like the idea of a tinted primer, instead of just another BB cream, though they still had to put the "BB" in front of this. Sometimes I want to have a primer if I know the weather will be gross, but my skin is uneven, and my powder just doesn't always fix that. This feels like other primers, in that it's sort of silky, but has a nice light coverage to even out skin. I bought the color "Light" but I almost think I could've mixed the light and the medium for my summer skin. This primer works really well on my oily skin and seems to last all day.

Also, a 1oz tube of this stuff is $35, but this 0.5oz travel size was $10. You can do the math on that one...


I cashed in 100 points to get this sample-sized Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Stain. It came in the color Red Essence, which I would not have picked for myself but I'm glad I got it.

The shape of the tube is very unique and easy to find in a bag. It comes with a doe-foot applicator and as you can see, it's very pigmented! I don't often wear a red lip, but it's nice to have such a deep stain when I want to! I wore this out one night to a comedy club and it lasted through a beer, some fries, laughing and chatting, and a margarita after. And I'm pretty sure there was still some color on my lips when I woke up the next morning. I had to go out and buy a more "everyday" color. Review on that here.


I was also able to get a promotional item, so I chose a sample of Sephora's Color Reveal Lip Balm.

This is just like those "mood" lipsticks from back in the day... yes I had them too. It contains a dye that reacts to moisture and turns pink. It's supposed to turn into a perfect shade for each person, and I don't know if that's true, but I loved the color it turned on me. Just a nice soft pink. The texture of the balm is really nice and moisturizing, and the smell is amazing! Some people may not like it but I love it. It's supposed to be a honey flavor but I get a bit of vanilla too. I will probably buy the full size when I'm all done with my sample :)


And of course I got 3 samples with my online order:

Peter Thomas Roth CC Cream

Amazing Cosmetics Concealer

They didn't have one of the samples I wanted so I got sent this one instead: Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black and Nirvana White fragrances.

Benefit Sale Haul

Benefit had a big sale on their website a couple weeks ago (I'm a little behind on posting) where some things were 50% off and I had to take advantage! I ended up finding 3 things I really wanted, plus I tried to limit myself since I just started working again. Here's what I got!

Posiepal: Benefit took their Posietint and put it with their California Kissin' lip gloss for a nice travel duo. I've been wanting to try another one of their tints for a while, so this seemed perfect. The website also says that it's a limited edition product. I don't remember how much it was originally ($24 maybe?) but I got it for $16.

Immediately after application. You can see the blue in the lipgloss.

After wiping off the Posietint. Nice stain!

The Posietint has a nice pink finish, more than I thought I would like, but it has definitely grown on me. I don't feel like it shows up very well on my cheeks and that I need to put a few layers on to get the color I want. I do, however, really like it on my lips. I haven't worn a pink like this before. It does seem to wear away oddly in the middle of my mouth, like it gets whiter? It's hard to describe.
The California Kissin' is a slightly blue tinted lip gloss that is supposed to make your teeth look whiter. I think the blue is just in little shimmery specks and is definitely clear when you put it on. I think it also enhances the color of the Posietint a lot too. Very happy with this purchase :)


Next I got two creaseless cream shadows. I got a sample size of a brownish color and I love it and have been wanting to buy more. They retail for $20 but I got these half off! They were selling the old packaging so the colors were limited. I wish I would've had the money to buy all 5 or 6 they had but I just couldn't do it, so I went with the basic colors: gunmetal gray and white gold.

"Strut" is the gunmetal gray color I chose. You can see the old packaging was darker but had a cute card with a picture and a saying on the back. This is a nice darker color with lots of shimmer, which I love. The formula doesn't seem to be any different than the sample I got, meaning it still wears all day with no creasing!

Then I got "Tattle Tale" which is a nice bright white gold. I have a color like this from a different company but that product is definitely not creaseless. I love the color but was always frustrated with it. Benefit's color leans more white than gold, but does have that warmth to it. I've been wearing a lot of plain sparkly whites and golds lately so I couldn't pass this up! It's also a perfect base for any other color you want to wear.


With any order from benefitcosmetics.com, you get 2 free samples. They only have a selection of a few different ones to choose from that change all the time. The two I chose were the Total Moisture Facial Cream because I had never tried it, and the Agent Zero Shine finishing powder because I love it so much!