My Review of the July Birchbox

Up until just a few weeks ago I was subscribed to Ipsy, another sample service similar to Birchbox. I loved Ipsy, however I wanted to try a few other services to see how they compared and contrasted to Ipsy and right now I’m subscribed to Birchbox.

Subscribing

 I signed up mid-July and expected to be billed on the 1^st of the following month, like Ipsy does, however I was billed the next day and I was sent the July box instead of the August box. I’m not complaining, but I did like Ipsy’s system better.

Rating: 7/10; somewhat pleased

Shipping and Tracking

I got the email saying that my box had been shipped on July 29^th and I got my box on August 4^th, shipping in less than a week! They also offer a tracking service which works very accurately and tells you exactly what time, what day, and where your box was delivered.

Rating: 10/10; very pleased

Products

I had been extremely anxious to get my box, so when it arrived I was very happy!

I opened it up and was instantly taken by the design of the box. So beautiful!

After lifting the lid and unfolding the tissue paper, the products are revealed!

The products are (from left to right):

·         Amika Un.Done texture spray

·         Vasanti Cosmetics BrightenUp! Face Rejuvenator

·         Marcella BB Cream Golden Glow

·         Supergoop! Anti-Aging City Sunscreen Serum SPF 30

·         stila stay all day liquid lipstick in the shade beso

Now let’s break ‘em down!

Amika Un.Done Texture Spray

At first glance, I thought this was a dry shampoo and I was super excited! However when I opened it up and sprayed it I found out it was hairspray. I was not disappointed, I would have accepted either. The texture spray aspect of the name was a bit misleading. But that’s the only bad thing about this product! It smells great, it holds great, and the container is super cute!

Rating: 10/10; very pleased

Vasanti Cosmetics BrightenUp! Face Rejuvenator

I’d recently been thinking of getting a face exfoliator so this product came at just the right time! It smells great and has lots of little micro-crystals that scrub all of the dead skin and impurities away and gets into all of the nooks and crannies of your face.

The cream is very thick and even the smallest drop has a thousand micro-crystals in it so you don’t need a lot to cover your whole face. However, because of the micro-crystals and the exfoliating affects, I would not recommend this for daily use. The one criticism I have is that it
hurts going on and hurts coming off. I have very sensitive skin and it’s not so much the ingredients that bother my skin but the micro-crystals are a little tough. That might be a personal thing; it may not apply to everyone.

Rating: 9/10; very pleased, would not recommend to people with sensitive skin

Marcelle BB Cream Golden Glow

Out of all the products I got in my box, this one was the most disappointing. I love BB creams especially in the summer time because it’s light and it’s great when you want to have some coverage at the beach or poolside and you don’t want a heavy makeup. But out of all of the BB creams I’ve tried, this one is the worst. First, this color was just too dark, it didn’t match my skin tone and blended horribly, but that may have been my fault as I should have put one skin tone color lighter on the quiz. Second, it clung to every dry spot on my face; all of the imperfections on my face were enhanced when I wanted them diminished. It made my skin look blotchy and uneven and the color made it even worse.

 If you have great skin and you pick the correct tone, this product will be perfect for you however this one just didn’t work out for me.

Rating: 5/10; unpleased, would not recommend

Supergoop! City Sunscreen Serum SPF 30
A great facial sunscreen goes a long way and this one works great! I put this on right before I went out to the pool and when I came back my face had a nice, natural glow and I was far from burnt!

The formula is a little watery so you have to be careful when squeezing it out of the container because you could easily squeeze too much. Otherwise, this product is great!

Overall: 10/10, very pleased

stila look at me lipstick in the shade beso

I have always been in love with stila products so when I heard that I was getting a lipstick in my box this month I was super excited!

The formula is smooth and it goes on easily. It tastes great and gives you a soft matte look but it is very VERY very pigmented which is a good thing and also a bad thing. This stuff goes everywhere. It was all over my face and hands, it was very messy! The brush is hard to control because it bends and while that’s good to get around the easy places, the difficult places tend to get messy. The red is also out of season right now but once it starts to get closer to the red lip season, it is guaranteed I will wear this all the time!

Rating: 9/10; very pleased

Overall Rating

I rate this month’s box 8.6 out of 10 and I would recommend investing in Birchbox.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing day!

My Review of the Yes To™ Coconut Face Wipes

Makeup is great– until it comes time to take it all off. I’ve tried everything out there, all of the wipes, all of the removers, all of the face washes. Some of them worked really well some of them worked not as well. Overall, Yes To™ has failed to disappoint, I’ve only ever used the wipes but I’ve tried the cucumber and the blueberry and both worked wonders! So I was perusing through my local Publix when I saw that the coconut wipes were on sale so I decided to pick some up! Here are my thoughts:

Pros:

Removes eye makeup. It is hard to find good makeup wipes that remove all of your eye makeup, especially waterproof makeup. This makeup wipe removes stubborn eye makeup (for the most part).

Leaves your face feeling refreshed. Some makeup wipes leave your face feeling dry and sometimes even oily! These wipes are made without oil and they’re extremely hydrating so your face feels refreshed and makeup free.

Smells great! Nuff said. I absolutely abhor coconut too so the fact that it smells good to me says a lot.

Cons:

Smudges makeup. When you go to remove your makeup (especially your eye make) instead of picking up all of the makeup it picks up some and smudges the rest. After you rub the wipe across the smudged spots you pick it all up but it takes a lot.

Weak pick up. Often, the wipe doesn’t pick up all of the makeup and some of it just sits on the surface and as you wipe your face the makeup you previously took off will streak across your face and smudge.  Frankly it’s annoying especially when you go to wipe those streaks up and more streaks appear.

Small surface area. This is most important if you’re a person who wears a lot of makeup.  The wipes are decent sized but the makeup takes up a lot of space on the wipes so if you have a lot of makeup on you might need two wipes.

Overall Rating:

3.5; would recommend.

I hope this review helped you out!

Message me or comment with any questions or any products you’d like me to review

Thank you and have a great day!