Category: birchbox

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, haircare, make up, reviews, skincare

Birchbox x Rifle Paper Co.

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This month subscribers could pick their preference for the box design – a collaboration with stationary firm Rifle Paper Co.

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There is a Benefit product in every box, one guess what I got? Yes, mascara, again. Very disappointing considering all the options out there.

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Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real! Mascara in Beyond Black – RRP £19.50.

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So Susan Lip Dome in Melon – RRP £10. This is a full size lipstick crayon in a pinky red, packed with hyaluronic acid and goji berries to nourish and protect.

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse facial oil – RRP £17. Six essential oils, plant oils and vitamin E to add hydration and a glow to skin.

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Parlor by Jeff Chastain Detangling Leave-in Conditioner – RRP £17. Spray evenly onto damp hair, comb through to give hair an extra layer of shine and heat protection.

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Kueshi Foot Care Cream – RRP £12. Sweet almond oil, royal jelly, tea tree oil, a luxurious mix for dry, tired feet.

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As annoying as getting another mascara is, this box has a nice mix of products, and a bonus discount from Rifle Paper Co.

If you want to sign up – click here and get £5 of points for the Birchbox shop.

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox

Birchbox Bonus – spending my points

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With every Birchbox there’s the opportunity to accrue points to use in their shop. 100 points = £10 to spend.

But they only last six months and mine were stacking up. Time to hit the (virtual) shop!

As you know I love balmi’s lip balm blocks so I snapped one up pronto – running a bit low on my supplies.

Cowshed is another brand I quite like, although a little out of my budget. But this cracker, featuring the famous Cow Pat hand cream and a Lippy Cow lip balm, was in the sale and I snapped it up.

Finally I popped the Birchbox x Benefit box “Good Things Come in Small Packages” into my virtual basket. Featuring sample sized Benefit goodies including the new Dew the Hoola, it’s a great way to trial more products without breaking the bank. 

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If you want to join Birchbox and score some great beauty treats – click this link, get £5 of points to start yourself off.

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beauty boxes, birchbox, glossybox, reviews

Box Battle – Birch vs. Glossy

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Glossybox – 5 products, two full size. This month; -417 Catharsis Vitamin Mineral Shampoo & Conditioner (travel sized), Olay Regenerist Luminous Skin Tone Perfecting Cream (sample size), Hey Honey Good Morning Silk Facial Serum (sample size), So Susan Light Diffuser Highlighter (full size), Luxie Rose Gold Large Angled Face Brush 504 (full size).

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Birchbox – 6 products, three full size. This month; Arrow Boost Colour Enhancing Lip Balm (full size), ModelCo More Brows gel (full size), Lanolips Antibacterial Hand Cream (full size), Crea-m Anti aging Serum (sample size), Amika Nourishing Mask (sample size), Doctor Duve Anti-aging & Firming Eye Cream (sample size).

Birchbox is themed and the box decorated with a beauty themed wordsearch.

Glossybox is in its usual pink and black.

To be honest, I’m a little bored with Glossybox, every other month seems to bring similar samples and it feels a little lacklustre.

Birchbox has been powering along, this month brings the launch of their second in-house brand, vegan, paraben free Arrow, with a lip balm in every box.

What are your thoughts? Are you a Glossy or Birchbox subscriber?

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

Birchbox – Shine Bright Like a Diamond

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February’s Birchbox is here, and refreshingly, it’s not Valentine’s themed.

Instead, following on from January’s Best Year Ever, comes the encouragement to “Shine Like a Diamond”.

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Ins
ide the box are six items, two full size, designed to help you do just that.

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Spectrum Collections Tapered Powder Brush – full size. Prettiest brush I own, with it’s mermaid blue and purple, super soft bristles and baby pink handle. 

Birchbox are creating their own in-house beauty brand Love of Colour (LOC) and subscribers could choose between a silvery Champagne Problems or copper Perfect Cents, in their One and Done Shadow Stick. I often wear bronze tones so opted to try something different and went for the silver.

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Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Collagen Booster – a vitamin C complex designed to soothe fine lines. Not sure about the name though!

Cochine Water Hyacinth & Lime Blossom Hand & Body Lotion – a floral scented lotion.

theBalm cosmetics Frat Boy Blush/Shadow – a rosy pink blusher that also doubles as eye shadow, should you want pink eyelids!

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Derm Eyes Make-Up Remover Wipes – this is a bonus item, but seriously, one wipe, that’s a bit rubbish.

One lucky subscriber will also receive a £200 diamond necklace, which seems a little strange considering how many people buy the boxes, and surely not that random as they’re tailored to the buyer, especially when you choose a product.

Apart from those little quibbles, this is quite a nice box selection.   

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

Birchbox x Pinterest

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Captioned “Best. Year. Ever” Birchbox kicks off 2016 with a collaboration with online scrapbook site Pinterest.

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Pinning has become a huge trend, with people compiling their dream weddings, cars, cakes, shoes and other things onto Pinterest’s digital mood boards. I do it too. Much handier than covering my walls in magazine cuttings like we did pre-internet. (Yes, there was such a time).

So how does a collab between a beauty box and a website work exactly? Well, inside the beauty booklet are suggestions for boards to create on Pinterest for the upcoming year. There are also five cute cards designed by illustrator Viktorija Semjonova in keeping with the theme. The Birchbox blog will have more throughout the year.

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Onto the beauty samples.

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There are five products in the box, and annoyingly some of them have been here before.

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Left to Right.

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle – I’ve had this little chap several times in the past. While it does work quite well as a dentangler, so does my conditioner.

Absolution L’Eau Soir et Martin – basically a micellar water, 2015’s big product. Containing aloe vera and hazelnut oil, a no rinse required make up remover.

Benefit They’re Real! Tinted Primer – apparently this coats and seperates lashes before your mascara. Or on its own.

Birchbox pocket mirror.

Jelly Pong Pong Lighten Up Brightener + Waterliner – I definitely have one of these, I used it the other day. Suppose it saves me buying a new one. It’s a great highlighter pencil, scribble it on!

Whish Three Whishes Almond Body Butter – I am all about almonds, I eat them, drink them (almond milk hot chocolate anyone?) and smother them on my skin and hair so this’ll be a little treat for my skin.

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Are you a Birchbox subscriber? What did you think about this box? Let me know below.

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baking, birchbox, lifestyle, lifestyle boxes, reviews

Birchbox Home – Limited Edition Box

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The postman brought me a lovely treat this week. The limited edition Birchbox Home box.

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This would make an amazing gift for Christmas if you’re stuck for ideas.

Inside is a range of lovely home accessories and foodie treats to add a touch of colour in these dark days. I mean, sunset before 4pm, what’s that all about!?!

Coming B Birdie Recipe Holder – this sweet resin bird holds your recipe cards so they don’t end up covered in sticky fingerprints.

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La Cocette Paris Chic Chick Oven Glove in Ochre – really cute oven mitt, but the Mr says the print on it is something a little cheeky. 🍈🍈

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Jamini 2 Table Placemats in Blue Wave – these are lovely and machine washable (which is very important when you live with a messy eater!)

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Birchbox Home Tea Time Mug – this has already been swiped and filled with a brew.

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To accompany the mug –

Mini Labo x Birchbox Home Tea Time Ball Infuser and Kusmi Tea Tsarevna (a Russian inspired blend of black tea with spices and oranges)

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Continuing with the tea time theme are a recipe card and jar of lemon curd from Kitchen Trotter

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There’s also an English Scone Mix from Marlette – all you need to add is butter, milk and eggs, everything else has been measured and mixed for you.

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Garden Trading 4 Measuring Spoons – ceramic measuring spoons to help you get your measurements perfect.

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Mini Labo x Birchbox Home Tea Tray (see above) – this is a lovely way to make your afternoon cuppa seem like a luxury, put your mug and biscuits on this pretty patterned tray to serve.

Finally there’s a lovely scented soap bar to scrub up after all the baking. Scented with rose, white musk, jasmine and iris, with poppy oil.

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I can’t wait to pop the kettle on and make great use of these goodies.

Cheers ☕

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, nail polish, reviews, skincare

Birchbag – All That Glimmers

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For their December edition Birchbox has set out a jazzy festive clutch bag full of products designed to help you through the party season.

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Benefit Puff Off! & They’re Real Push Up Liner Duo – exclusive to Birchbox, this liner and eye cream work together – the liner to complete your look and the cream to de-puff those under eye bags.

Model Co Ultra Long Lasting Lipstick in Kitty – this is a full size lipstick in a pretty pink shade, which sadly isn’t mine.

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Ciate London Mini Paint Pot – I received the shade Iced Frappé – which I wouldn’t  say is particularly festive but colours vary.

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Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream – this moisturiser features Mediterranean algae to fight aging. Apparently it reduces wrinkles, firm skin and boost radiance in 15 days, but I don’t think there’s enough in this sample sized tube to test that theory.

Skin & Co Sicilian Body Gel – with Sicilian orange and olive extracts, this little bottle packs a sweet smelling punch. Perfect for waking you up in the morning after the night before.

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Bonus – Roloxin Lift Instant Skin Smoothing Masque – a 10 minute face mask to smooth wrinkles and hide party fatigue. Saving this for New Year’s Day recovery!

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The bag itself is very festive, in dark green velvet like the dresses I wore at Christmas as a child, with lots of gold sparkles. It’s a good size for all your bits and bobs too.

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, haircare, make up, reviews, skincare

Birchbox x Skinny Dip London

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This month Birchbox has joined forces with accessories brand Skinny Dip London. Confusingly there are no items from Skinny Dip in the box, you could however add a phone cover from their range for an extra £4. The boxes feature a shell print design from Skinny Dip.

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Inside there’s six beauty products from a variety of brands. Let’s take a look inside.

Ren Wake Wonderful Night-Time Facial – this works while you sleep, leaving you with plumped up, radiant skin in the morning. I’ll be giving this a go to relieve tired winter skin.

Lord & Berry Silhouette Neutral Lip Liner – I’m not really a lip liner kinda girl, I don’t really wear lipstick, but this doesn’t need matching to your lipstick of choice as it’s translucent.

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Cowshed Cow Pat Hand Cream – I loved the Cowshed body lotions that I’ve tried and winter means hand cream becomes more essential than ever. This one contains grapefruit and coriander essential oils, and smells quite pleasant.

Number 4 Lumiere d’Hiver Super Comb Prep & Protect – like a hair oil, you spritz this on towel dried hair, comb through and style. Strengthen and repair tired hair while detangling and taming flyaways. Not sure it’ll come between me and my argan oil though.

Delarom Crème Acquaconfort – with almond and apricot oils, vitamin E this facial cream nourishes and soothes dehydrated skin and perks it up.

L.Erickson Grab & Go Ponytail Holder – metal free hair tie, designed to avoid getting tangled in your hair.

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, reviews, skincare

Birchbox – Stylist edit

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This month you can choose between two different boxes – the one curated by Stylist’s Beauty Editor or a Back to Basics box.

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I chose the Stylist box – I like reading the free magazine handed out at tube stations and I wanted to see what their beauty editor would come up with.

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Inside the box are six items, 3 exclusive to Birchbox and one that’s full size.

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100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Lip Glaze – with avocado and cocoa butters, this is a matte finish lip glaze and it’s 100% vegan too.

Bioderma Sensibio H20 – teeny little bottle of micellar water.

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Parlor by Jeff Chastain Smoothing Blowout Spray – frizz reducing, protecting against heat damage, this little bottle packs a punch.

Rituals Yogi Flow Foaming Shower Gel – rose scented gel that becomes foam in hot water.

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When Travelmate Sheet Mask – these are really big in Korea and Japan and have been making their way over to the UK this year.

English Laundry No. 7 Signature For Her – rose geranium, white flowers and musk perfume. It reminds me of the famous Body Shop White Musk scent of my teens.

If you would like to subscribe to Birchbox and would like £5 of Birchbox points to spend, click here to start your subscription.

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

Birthday splurge

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Yesterday I had a meeting in town and as I was in Central London I thought I’d pop into Selfridges and spend some birthday money (the rest is reserved for shoes).

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I get serious shopping envy in Selfridges, there’s so many gorgeous things but my budget doesn’t stretch as far as I’d like.

I decided to hit up the Beauty Hall. So many gorgeous things. I made a beeline for the Clinique counter, I fancied a new chubby stick for eyes.  After scribbling a few testers on my hand, I picked shade 04 Ample Amber, a soft golden colour, perfect for all over eyelid glow or a hit of gold on my lash line.

While I was there I also picked up the face wash that goes with my sonic cleanser – a great way to get my pores scrubbed out. I also got two freebies – a chubby stick for lips in Super Strawberry and a sample of their superprimer.

Then I decided to check out the Birchbox build your own birthday pop-up. As you do.

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I couldn’t resist building a box – picking 6 samples and getting two bonus items exclusive to subscribers. I picked what I think is a good mix of goodies.

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I wandered about eyeing up the Tom Ford counter (gorgeous packaging) and trying out some new perfume ideas. If I had the cash, there would have been such a splurge!

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