Birchbox August 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: Lighten Up

This month Birchbox did something new and started adding fun adjectives to the shipping labels. Some girls have said they've gotten "The Dazzling" "The Awesome" "The Brilliant"... I like mine. I never would expect anyone to call me Vivacious, which makes it even better I think.

I love this box. I've been a little underwhelmed lately. Not angry or anything about my samples, I just saw some other samples that people got that I would've liked better, but this box is awesome! I'll tell you right now: the amika, the Cailyn and the Harvey Prince products all smell amazing!

amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo: ($21 for 5.3 oz) Whatever "Sea Buckthorn Berry" is... it smells so good! I have a couple bottles of dry shampoo that I need to get through, which has been tough because I just got the Klorane last month but this is definitely something I will consider buying.

Marcelle BB Cream Golden Glow: ($27 for 1.6 oz) The color seems a little dark, and I don't especially like to "glow": oily skin + glow = mess. But I really enjoyed my Marcelle Serum last month. I tried it over the weekend and I think it worked pretty well. It has a nice color and finish - I always put a powder over - and didn't seem to break me out. This also doesn't have any SPF like the other BB creams I have, so that's a pretty big 'con'. I won't be buying a full size, but I love having travel sizes of this stuff for when I do go away for the weekend.

Harvey Prince Ageless Body Cream: ($26 for 12 oz) I'm usually not a fan of pink grapefruit scents but somehow mixed with the vanilla, it smells really nice. This is the 3rd Harvey Prince product Birchbox has sent me and I love it! I haven't used it enough to attest to the moisturizing power, but really... it has shea butter. It can't not be good :)

Cailyn Cosmetics Dizzolv'It Makeup Melt Cleansing Balm: ($36 for 100ml) I have to tell you, this is the best smelling makeup remover I've ever had. It says it uses papaya enzymes so maybe that's the smell? Not sure but I love it! It looks like a lip balm in the container, but you're supposed to scoop out a quarter sized amount to rub on your face. Then it turns into an oil and all of your makeup is swept up in the oil to be washed away. What? Oil on your face?! Yes. I have oily skin and this didn't scare me, because you wash it off. It also claims to be moisturizing too. Maybe it is, but the first time I used it, I used a different cleanser after to make sure all the oil was gone so any moisture was gone too. I always moisturize after I wash my face anyway because it gets dry and tight. I will be buying the full size, but maybe not right this moment. I'm waiting for a good Birchbox promo to come along... but I'm officially a cleansing balm convert.

theBalm Cosmetics Stainiac in Beauty Queen: ($17 for 0.3 fl oz) This is the sample I got to choose this month. I've been wanting to try the Stainiac since I started getting my Birchbox, and almost bought it a couple times but never pulled the trigger. I'm so glad I got to try it now! The formula is more gel-like than other stains (you can see the little peak of product on the wand) so it all stays together. The top swatch is right after applying (in dim bedroom lighting. I was just so excited I had to try it right away) and the next picture is after I wiped it off maybe 5 minutes later. There is a definite stain. I really like it for my cheeks. It's very buildable and at first I didn't put enough on. I figured a few dots would be good enough but I wanted a little more color. I think I could probably wipe it on my cheeks in a line and blend out for the right amount. As for lips, it doesn't apply very evenly. I had to blend and add more to get the right color and "sameness" throughout. It did seem a little drying, so I put a lip gloss over it. After eating a granola bar and drinking some juice on my commute, I think it stayed put. It was later when I was about to eat something else that I was biting at my dry lips and wiping the gloss off that it all came off. There was a faint line of color still around the edges of my lips, but that was easily fixed with a bit of tinted moisturizer. I will try it on my lips again with just some lip balm on top. Overall, I love it because it is so easy to travel with and I just love stains!

thebalm "How 'Bout Them Apples?" Palette

In March, I received a sample of thebalm's "How 'Bout Them Apples?" cream for lips and cheeks. I had never used a cream blush before, but I found that I really liked it. I was hesitant to buy the full size because it's much larger than the sample and I didn't know if I had room for it. The more I used the sample, the more I really liked it. I had a bunch of Birchbox points to use so I finally decided to get the full palette. ($32)

"How 'Bout Them Apples?" is a multi-functioning lip and cheek cream palette. Each freshly picked color is formulated to have a smooth finish that won't streak or fade, so there are no bad apples in this bunch!

Here is my sample size on top of the full palette.

The name of the palette is in reference to putting the color on the 'apples of your cheeks' and each color is surrounded by a picture of an apple. The names are also references: the sample came in the color "Pie" (apple pie).

The palette also has these cowboys next to each color. Not sure why. It's definitely not a reason I got this product. A lot of people love these pictures... and sure they're attractive, but most of them are badly photoshopped and I could really do without them.

The top of the box has the colors Cider and Cobbler. Cider is a very pale pink that does not show up on my skin. It *may* work for darker skin tones, but I have no idea. Cobbler is a nice red color. Both are very creamy. (Excuse the fingernail mark in Cider. Didn't even notice until after I took these pictures)

The middle section has the colors Pie and Crisp. Pie was my sample color and it's a very nice coral pink color. It's a very natural flush on the cheeks but more on the coral side on the lips. Crisp is the only color that has a sparkle to it. This picture doesn't show very well, but it's a nice pink with gold flecks in it. It's really great on the lips and a nice highlighting color for the cheeks.

The bottom has the colors Candy and Caramel. Candy is a very bubblegum pink color but is very natural on cheeks. Caramel looks like a scary brown color but it's almost like a bronzer-type color. It looks like you've got a nice tan. Very neutral pink color and easy to wear.

Top to bottom on my arm the colors are: Caramel (the neutral, brownish color), Candy (bubblegum pink), Crisp (with the gold flecks - you can kind of tell in this photo), Pie (coral pink), Cobbler (red), and Cider (non-existent pink).

And here are the colors more blended. The Cider completely disappeared, even on my pale forearm. The colors are very pigmented so you don't need to use a lot on your cheeks but it's very buildable for lips. 

I personally love Cobbler (the red) for my lips. It's a very safe red. The formula seems to last a good amount of time on lips, but starts to get pretty dry. It's also very lasting on the cheeks, but I wouldn't call it a stain. 

Overall, I am so glad I bought this palette. It is very large and takes up a lot of room, but I love the color choices. I've been applying them with a brush, but for my sample I used my finger mostly. If you're a fan of cream blushes, or mutli-use products, you should definitely give thebalm's "How 'Bout Them Apples?" a try!