Birchbox October 2014

This review is for the Birchbox from October 2014. Birchbox is a very popular subscription box. It is $10/month for 4-5 beauty and lifestyle samples, which are personalized based on a quiz you take. They seem to stick to the quiz fairly well, though they do state that even if you "dislike" a particular product, you may still get it once a year or so. The great thing about Birchbox is its reward system. You get 10 points for every item you review from your box, as well as a point for every dollar you spend in the Birchbox shop (which includes the purchase of your actual box). You can also get points for referring friends. Every 100 points you accumulate is $10 toward a purchase from the shop, which contains full-sized items, some of which are exclusive to Birchbox. So, it's a pretty inexpensive way to try out products and then use your rewards towards buying the ones you ended up liking or something else entirely.

Here are the samples that I received this month:

The first item is the BeeKind Body lotion, which they list as $15 for a full 8 oz site, which is the price I found it for on multiple sites, making this 1 oz sample worth $1.88. It smells very nice and seems like it would be very moisturizing. I'm excited to try it out.

Next up is the dr. brandt pores no more vacuum cleaner, which sells for $45 for 1 oz of product, making this sample worth $11.25. What a pricey product! It has very good reviews. It has both salicyclic acid (a BHA exfoliator) and glycolic acid (an AHA exfoliator), though I am not sure it is at an effective pH for exfoliation. It must be doing something for such rave reviews, so I look forward to trying it out eventually.

I also got a small sample of Harvey Prince "Petaly Noir perfume". This sells for $55 for 1.7 oz. I am not sure how big the sample is, but it's definitely enough for a few uses. I don't think I like this scent as much as the "Hello" or "Ageless" scents that I have tried from Harvey Prince so far, but I think it would be nice for a fancier night out.

The next product is a mini Lord & Berry Paillettes Glitter Eye Pencil, which Birchbox sells for $18 but I found on Amazon for $15. The miniliner is 1/4 of the full-size, so it's worth $3.75. I never wear eyeliner, so I will be looking to trade or give this away. It does seem to go on smoothly and has some staying power, at least on my arm.

The final product is the one that I was able to choose for this box: the ModelCo Party Proof Lipstick in the color "Kitty". The full-sized product is worth $24 according to Birchbox, but I found it on the ModelCo website for $16.95. Birchbox also sells a trio of 3 ModelCo Party Proof Lipsticks in the size I received for $24 total. In any case, this lipstick seems like a good deal, being nearly the price of the whole box. It's a nice neutral pink color and seems to be a moisturizing formula, so I look forward to trying it on my lips.

Here are swatches of the eyeliner and the lipstick on my arm:

If you are interested in getting Birchbox yourself, there are always deals for yearly subscriptions and rewards for subscribing or buying things in the store. Plus, there are easy ways to swap products that you get that you don't like for other people's products online. I like 4 out of 5 products from this box, which seems to be pretty usual. I have been getting Birchbox for a few months now, so if you have any questions, just let me know!