Birchbox: March & Favorites to Date

Birchbox, you've done well this month. Very well.

• Miss Jessie's Original - Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo
• Miss Jessie's Original - Creme de la Creme Conditions
• Sumita - Color Intense Pencil
• Whish - Shave Crave Shaving Cream
• Vasanti - Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Rejuvinator
• Madewell for Birchbox - Emery Board

Way back in August, I received Miss Jessie's Quick Curls from Birchbox and I absolutely love it. It gives my hair soft, relaxed curls. So I am really excited to test out their shampoo and conditioner. The color pencil sure is intense...it's blue. I can't say I've had the opportunity to test out a blue eyeliner on my brown eyes yet....really Birchbox?

Moving on, the Brighten Up! face cleanser is awesome. I originally thought it would work really well with my Clarasonic Mia, but do not do that! The cleanser has micro crystals in it to gently exfoliate the skin, and let me tell you, I love it. It's definitely grittier than most gentle exfoliants so I can see how it might brighten up my dull winter skin. Lastly, the shave cream is super soothing. Not a huge fan of the blueberry scent, but the shea butter, green tea, coconut oil, and jojoba seed oil it contains is awesome. I'm planning to save some for our upcoming trip to the beach.

Birchbox reminded me that I've been a customer for 9-months, and clearly wants me to spend a little cash as they've offered me 20% off this month. Sweet! So I thought I'd share with you my Birchbox favorites to date. 

Birchbox Favorites by talkative-tlc 

Want to check out my past reviews?  

February, January, December, November, September/October, July/August

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!

Birchbox: February

My most recent birchbox was a hit! I thought I had already found the perfect curly hair cream, but this month's birchbox proved me wrong.

What did I get?

• Curly Hair Solutions - Tweek
• FusionBeauty - LashFusion XL
• Juicy Couture - Couture La La
• My - Multi-Purpose Mattifying Moisturizer
• Ghiradelli milk chocolate with caramel - delicious!

Let's see, the Tweek hair cream is awesome. My hair seems to be a little curlier with it, but still so soft. It's alcohol and silicone-free which definitely helps keep my hair healthy and frizz free.

When I first opened up this birchbox, I have to admit, I wasn't all that thrilled to see mascara. I'm in love with the Clinique masacaras (these two) and doubt I'll find anything I like better (I've tried). But, I decided I'd give the LashFushion a try when we headed out to a few open houses this past Sunday. Gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised! It won't be replacing Clinique for me, but I've been using it during the week, saving the lash lengthening mascara I have for nights out.

The Juicy Couture perfume is nice! Do I plan to buy the full size? Probably not. But, I like it enough to put the trial size in my travel bag for future uses.

And lastly, the mattifying moisurizer is awesome. It really works! I was telling my sister about it one afternoon and she asked me if it worked. I ran walked quickly to the office bathroom and checked out my skin. No shine! I checked again once home from work, still no shine. W-o-w. The only downfall to this moisturizer? No SPF! Really?! I am definitely not the safest girl on the beach when it comes to SPF, but I do try to wear it daily on my face. So this past week I've used a thin layer of the mattifying moisturizer, a thin layer of my regular Olay moisturizer, and then a thin layer of the Olay CC cream I picked up (and loooove). Thank goodness the weather has been cold and dry, otherwise I think this triple-layer of moisturizer would cause me to have some serious breakouts.

Thank you for another month of great products Birchbox!

Want to check out my past reviews? January, December, November, September/October, July/August

Birchbox: January

We have reached another weekend! Woop woop!

Shall we look at what I received in January's Birchbox?

This month I received:

• amika - Color pHerfection Shampoo
• Clark's Botanicals - Smoothing Marine Cream
• Harvey Prince - Skinny Chic (perfume)
• theBalm - Put a Lid on It Eyelid Primer
• 100% Pure - Nourishing Body Cream

The shampoo and body cream are perfect travel sizes so they were put right into my travel toiletries bag for a future use. The Skinny Chic perfume is too crisp for me. It reminds me of Clinique Happy which I wore in high school. Great fresh scent, but I don't think it suits me anymore.

What I have been using, the face cream and eyelid primer. Loving the Marine Cream! I've been wearing it every night to bed. It has glycolic acid in it to exfoliate dull skin. What I don't like about it? The steep price tag if I decide to purchase it once the trial is gone - $115....yikes! I've also been trying to use the eyelid primer all week to give it a try. I've never used a primer before so I wasn't sure what to expect. It looks like my eyeshadow is staying in place better though! No more caking in the eyelid wrinkle, if that even makes sense? ha.

Want to see what I've received in that past? December, November, September/October, July/August

Interested in joining Birchbox? Here's an invite! (full disclosure - if you use my invite,  yes I will earn points. But I've really enjoyed my experience with Birchbox and learning about new products. I wouldn't invite you if I didn't think it was worth the monthly expense.)

Have a great weekend! We are off to a few open houses (yay!) and I have a wine tasting event Saturday night. Cannot.wait! And enjoy the Superbowl if you'll be watching!

In honor of my brother-in-law - Go 49ers!!

Birchbox: December

In true Tracey fashion, this post is super late. But, not only did I take pictures of what I got the day I received it, I've been using some of the products daily too.

How pretty is this box?! 

Ok, here are the goods:

• Juice Beauty - Stem Cellular Repair CC Cream
• Keratase - Resistance Ciment Thermique - Protect
• Nicole Richie Fragrance - Nicole by Nicole
• theBalm cosmetics - Mary-Lou Manizer
• Emily's Chocolates - Dark Chocolate Peppermint Holiday Fortune Cookie
• $50 gift card to Rent the Runway (the catch - had to spend $125, and had to use by 2/28...)

I've never been comfortable wearing foundation or tinted moisturizer daily, until now. I am loving the Juice Beauty CC cream. I know BB cream (blemish balm cream) is all the rage right now and I haven't tried it, but CC cream (control cream)....well CC cream is taking over. The only thing about the Juice Beauty cream that you may consider the downside, it smells like grass/dirt. Very strange for a beauty product. But the upside, it uses only natural and organic ingredients. 

Also getting used daily, the Mary-Lou Manizer. I use it as a nice light, bright eye-shadow but its an illuminator so throw a tiny bit of shimmer on those cheek bones if you want. My sister and I both got the Nicole Richie perfume and both agree, that we kinda, sorta, actually really like it. It's a much warmer scent than I normally wear so great for winter. 

I'm really excited to try the Keratase product, just haven't gotten around to it yet. If you received it too, how it it??

Lastly, the chocolate was eaten within a day or two of receiving this Birchbox. Dark chocolate & peppermint? Delicious!

Thank you Birchbox for introducing me to some great new products. Job well done.

If you'd like to see my past Birchbox reviews, they can be found here: July/August, September/October, November

Interested in joining Birchbox? Here's an invite! (full disclosure - if you use my invite, yes I will earn points. But I've loved learning about new products and wouldn't invite you if I didn't think it was worth the $10/month)

Birchbox: November

What a surprise, I owe you a Birchbox review!

My November birchbox actually came early. I was so surprised by this. And then I didn't allow myself to enjoy it until I captured photos of it soo....ya those photos just happened. Sorry!

One of the things I love about this Birchbox is the give box. If you can't read it, it says "Instructions: Choose someone special. Empty pouch. Load it back up with something that will make that special someone smile." How sweet!

So, what did I get?

• Lulu Organics Lavendar + Clary Sage Hair Powder
• ModelCo Fibre Lashxtend Lengthening Mascara
• Mox Botanicals Pomegranate & Fig Lip Butter
• One Love Organics Aroma Body Serum
• John Varvatos Artisan cologne. The postcard actually says to Give this sample to a lucky guy. 

I haven't actually used anything yet...but the cologne smells great! J will be trying that one out. I'm personally excited about the hair powder. I've been keeping to a routine of washing my hair everything other day and rely on dry shampoo for the in between days. At least this one should smell great!

The body serum smells a bit too baby powder-y for me but I'll certainly give it a chance. And lastly, I'm excited about the lip butter! I can always use a good lip protectant come winter in Boston.

If you receive Birchbox, did you get something different?

I currently have a 6-month membership that will be up after December. That went quick! I think I may have to keep this going.

Anyone have today off? Or are getting out early? If you do, enjoy! I'll be in the office all day and then catching the train to J's parents to avoid traffic. Blah. But hey, I'm looking forward to getting 45 minutes of me time to catch up on a book. It's been way too long!

Birchbox: September & October

Of course I'm behind on this review....


Let's start with September:

• Color Club Birchbox custom nail polish
• Jouer Matte Moisture Tint
• Kate Spade Twirl Perfume
• Skin, An Apothecary Soy Body Whip
• twistband lace hair tie
• Hollywood fashion tap

So let's see, I've used the Jouer moisture tint, the kate spade perfume, and the soy body whip. The moisture tint was nice and blended in great but I hardly ever use skin makeup so I don't see myself investing in this one.

I did LOVE the perfume though. And J did too which is a score really. I've been using the same perfume since freshman year of college so I've been debating trying something new. This is definitely the frontrunner.

And the soy body whip - the scent is poppy which is strong. But it is nice. I keep it on my nightstand to moisturize before bed. No complaints!

I've heard great things about the hair ties - in that they do not leave an elastic line in your hair. But why such a bright elastic? I can't see myself ever wearing this to work really and I tend to keep a black elastic on my wrist or in my wallet. We'll see. Maybe I'll give it a try one weekend.


And for October:

• Jouer lip enhancer
• Kiehl's Rose Artica Eye cream
• Illume Red Cedar Candle
• Supergoop City Sunscreen serum
• Luna bar in Lemonzest

So this month I opted for the GOOP box put together by Gwyneth Paltrow. To be honest, when I first opened this box, I wasn't that impressed. This is what I saw -

The candle scent is not my style, and I really could care less about the Luna bar. Sorry Gwyneth...

But, I've since started using the Kiehl's eye cream and Jouer lip enhancer every night and am loving them both. The eyecream is thick so I've been sticking to my normal eye cream during the day and putting on this treat overnight. And the lip enhancer has me waking up with super soft lips.

I already use a daily moisturizer with SPF so I don't see myself using the city sunscreen anytime soon. I'll be placing those into my travel toiletry bag for future use.

Birchbox: August

Well, I totally forgot to tell you about the Birchbox I received in July. So sorry. Haven't heard of it? Honetley, I hadn't either until my very generous sister got it for me! And she was absolutely shocked that I didn't know about this site/service. 

Birchbox is a monthly subscription that sends you sample size beauty and lifestyle products (their words, not mine). Need an invite? Here you go! (Invite)

This is such a great gift idea. It is so reasonable. And so far, I have loved the products I've received (started in July). The boxes are totally customized to how you answer their survey so neither me, my sister, or my sister-in-law receive the exact same products.

Here's a glimpse of the July birchbox. In it I received the following:

• Arquiste Flor y Canto perfume
• Borghese cleansing bar for face & body
• Melvita Floral Water
• theBalm Staniac hint of tint
• Cynthia Rowley Bandaids

Love the perfume and floral water! Since everything is sample size, it's been great to bring when traveling versus my typical perfume or face toner. The floral water comes out in a mist. Such a great, mild skin toner. I love using it in the morning to freshen up. I've decided the cleansing bar will be perfect to bring on our trip to Morocco so I'll let you know what I think next month.

The stain is very red so I haven't broken it out yet. I'm currently on a berry stain kick that I wore in family pictures (here) and at my sisters wedding (here). Coral stain was my stain of choice this past winter in NYC (here). So red is next! If you haven't tried out a lip stain before, you really should. One application and you're good to go for the night. My idea of great.

Now, on to August! Here's a glimpse of the box it was shipped in. I love how each month has been different so far.

What could it be???

A glimpse at the goods. Such fun wrapping.

In my beauty school Birchbox I received the following:

• Beauty Fixation makeup remover
• Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy La Fleur perfume
• Miss Jessie's Original Quick Curls
• Pixi Beauty Lid Last Shadow pen in Gilded Mink
• Schick Quattro Silk razor

Total success again! I feel like I need to say, wow Birchbox knows me so well. But they REALLY do since I filled out a questionnaire describing my skin type, hair type, my typical beauty routine, and what I'm interested in for samples.

To date I've used the quick curl cream, perfume, and shadow pen. And, I have absolutely no complaints. I am LOVING the curl cream. I'm hoping to save some of it for our trip to Morocco. The travel size is so ideal. The perfume is a little sweeter than what I typically wear but still light. Its definitely going in my travel toiletry bag for future trips. Lastly, the shadow pen is awesome. Picture an extremely think eye liner pencil, but in the perfect shade of neutral gold. Totally taking a few seconds off my normal morning makeup routine. Swipe each lid and done.

Want to know what else I love about Birchbox? If I review the products I receive, I earn points to spend on their site. And, you can buy any of the products you've sampled, and then some! My sister-in-law Meg said she has found herself a new perfume already. So fun!

I am in no way connected to Birchbox other than the fact that I'm really enjoying the products so far. I'm planning to feature what I get monthly with a review in case it can be at all helpful to you. For example, the quick curl cream I am totally going to purchase.  I saw it at Target today on an endcap display actually! And I can't say I would have ever given it a chance had it not showed up on my doorstep.

Who would have thought a beauty products review could be so long?! Whoops. I'll work on that.

Happy Monday folks!