2012 March Birchbox Review

Decided to try Birchbox subscriptions out and I got my first box in the mail a week or so ago.  Birchbox is a monthly subscription service where you pay $10 per month to receive a surprise box of beauty product samples in the mail.  Products are a range of nail, makeup, hair, and skincare products.  I'm the type of person that likes surprises and the anticipation of getting things in the mail, so thought this would be something fun to look forward to every month.  Plus, I don't tend to take many risks when it comes to purchasing beauty products and generally like to know whether or not something really works well with me before putting down the money.  Anyhow, here's a picture from the website of the birchbox I received in the mail:



In the box I received the following:

Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint: Felt nice and light on the skin.  Had light coverage, but it did have a nice matte finish.  I would buy this if it wasn't so expensive.  The sample had enough for one application.  Nice, but I wouldn't buy the full size because it is overpriced in my opinion.

Orofluido Elixir:  After showering, I rubbed this serum through my hair.  I have very damaged hair because I am growing out a perm, so was excited to use this.  I can't say that it really did a 360 on my hair, but it did feel and smell very nice - had a nice vanilla fragrance to it, and I love vanilla scents.

One Love Organics® Skin Savior Waterless Beauty Balm:  This product is meant to moisturize your face, but I am usually reluctant to try anything on my face unless I am sure it works well with my skin.  Tried it on my hands, and while the initial application looked and felt greasy, the more you rubbed it in, the more my hands looked healthy and well moisturized.  I also like the size of the sample they gave to me because I think I will be able to use it for awhile, which is great considering that the actual product costs quite a bit.

Tea Forté® skin-smart™ Teas:  I am a HUGE tea drinker.  I love tea and drink it every day so I was excited to see these in my birchbox.  Unfortunately, I was not about the flavors of these samples.  I tried the Cherry Marzipan and the Honey Yuzu which did not suit my tastes.  The cherry marzipan reminded me of cherry medicine and the honey yuzu didn't really taste like honey or green tea - it tasted very processed.  I don't like mint, so I didn't even try the cucumber mint at all.

Color Club Neon Nail Polish:  This was actually my favorite item in the box. I absolutely loved this nail polish.  It came in the aqua color, very pretty and matches w/ a lot of my wardrobe.  A great spring color too.  Also, I think this was the first nail polish that I've ever bought that's lasted on my nails this long!  Usually within the first two days, there will be chips or it will start to come off.  This nail polish has lasted on my nails for a week already and still has not chipped.  It's amazing because I didn't even need to put a top coat - two coats was just fine to give it a nice professionally finished look.  Loved this product and would totally buy the full size in other colors as well.

Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrien:  Gonna be honest, i was not really a fan of the scent of this perfume.  Not much to comment, it just had such a strong scent that I was not too fond of.

My overall opinion of the box is pretty favorable!  I wouldn't buy full size of any of the products, since they're all pretty expensive, but it's nice to have a usable sample size of the nail polish (I may actually purchase the full size of this nail polish when I see it at drug stores... it's a great brand!), the body balm, and hair serum -- enough product to get a good use of it.  And although the tinted moisturizer was so small, it was still nice to try it out.

If you are interested in subscribing, make sure to do it through me!  I get Birchpoints for every friend I refer :)  Click here