Birchbox: August 2014

*Referral Link Included

August's Birchbox has already arrived!  I just got to see my preview and the next day it showed up, yay!

I realized I don't usually show you much of the unboxing, so I thought it might be nice to include that, for anyone unfamiliar with the service.

Birchbox is a monthly subscription service, it's $10 a month and it auto renews.  You can subscribe month to month or prepay for a longer term, for which you can usually get a reduced price or some kind of bonus.

Each month you can expect 4-6 beauty and lifestyle samples.  For each one that you receive, you can go onto your profile and do a review.  Each review will earn you 10 Birchbox points, which equals $1 to spend in the Birchbox store.  It's very important to make time to give your feedback, as their reward system usually cuts the price of the monthly subscription in half.

Birchbox usually sends their goodies inside of a hot pink mailer, inside of that is the actual Birchbox.  The inside of this mailer was printed with information about their new app.  I like how the Birchbox is a very sturdy lidded kraft box, except for special promotions like last month when they partnered with Women's Health.  I love the boxes themselves, they are very handy for corralling things like my daughter's hair bands and for upcycling into cute gift boxes.  An information card is also inside and I like having a something to reference while looking at my new goodies and not having to go online to learn about what was sent.

The samples are wrapped in tissue paper and most months there is also a little pillow box that provides some extra cushioning for anything that might be prone to breaking or for smaller samples.  It's a nice extra barrier and I thought this one was particularly cute.  Inside of mine were both the ModelCo Bronzer and a single use face mask from nügg Beauty.

So happy to see this Perk Up Dry Shampoo from amika (full size $21) because the Klorane sample I got back in April is almost empty.  I don't use dry shampoo very often but it so so handy for in a pinch!  I think dry shampoo has earned a spot in my stash for emergencies from now on.  This was perfect timing, as now I can put off actually buying some for a little longer and I'm interested to see how it compares to the other one I've tried.

Korean beauty brands seem to be the hot thing and so I'm all about trying some, maybe they'll even work better for me as perhaps they are more knowledgeable about Asian skin.  The downside seems to be that in general, they are on the pricier side.

This Dr. Jart+ Dis-A-Pore Beauty Balm (full size $36) is the perfect color for me and it blended in seamlessly.   I don't know if I really noticed a difference in the size of my pores but my skin did look smoother.  It helps control oil, which normally I don't have a problem with, but since it's summer if there is a time of the year I would reach for this, it's now.  I'm glad to have it for the rest of August, a little goes a long way, but I don't see myself purchasing it.

This was the second month that Birchbox let subscribers pick one of their samples.  We had four choices and as I have already tried and love the Balm's Stainiac, don't need a black eyeliner, and wasn't sure about the shimmery eye shadow, I went with the ModelCo Shimmer Bronzer.

(FYI Stainiac is really a nice stain.  I got last October from Birchbox and didn't ask for it again, because I wanted to try something new.)

This is my first year using bronzer ever, having never thought it was worth the money to add them to my routine before, but now due to beauty subscriptions I've got two.  While the other one I got was full sized, this is a better shade for me and is still definitely a deluxe size.  Overall, I like it better so I'm glad I selected it.  I think it's very natural looking, giving a sun kissed look without going overboard but perhaps a bit too shimmery.  I think I may need to go purchase a non shimmery bronzer and mix the two for the perfect application.

I have always liked the Supergoop! samples I've gotten before but this Forever Young Hand Cream with Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 40 (full size $11-$29.50)  is tiny!  It's a hand cream but this is probably only enough for maybe two uses max.  From what I can tell it's basically sunscreen targeted for your hands but I am not sold that the extra nice ingredients are worth the increased charge versus normal sunscreen.

The description says it will help prevent dark spots and hyper pigmentation but I would think that the Neutrogena stuff I already use would do that too.   On the plus side the Supergoop! does smell much nicer than ordinary sunscreen

My extra sample this month is a nügg Beauty Soothing Face Mask (pack of 5, $14.99): I like the convenience of this single use pack, although it seems a little expensive for what amounts to a month of masks if used as directed.  I only used half of my container so I'm going to try and get two uses out of it, which makes it a little bit more reasonable per use.

The description says it will help with flakiness, so I'm hoping that will help me with my problem spots like around my nose.  I don't have too many flare ups but if using this will help prevent the few I do get, that would be great!  I do like masks and do one at least once a week and this definitely made my skin feel very nice afterward.

If you'd like to give Birchbox a try, I'd love it if you used my referral link to sign up!