beauty ho

Beauty Sample Showdown

My May Birchbox has arrived!  And so has my May Ipsy Glam Bag!  What the what?  What’s an Ipsy Glam Bag you ask?  Well, I recently found out about a service very similar to Birchbox called Ipsy.  They also send out monthly fun mail full of beauty samples. So I thought I’d get both and compare and decide which one I’d like to stick with.

First let’s look at my Birchbox.  photo 2This month’s box included:

  • amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask for hair.
  • COOLA Classic Face SPF 30 Cucumber Moisturizer for Face
  • Isaac Mizrahi FABULOUS Isaac Mizrahi Eau de Parfum
  • Marvis Classic Mint Toothpaste
  • Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner (in black)
  • Purple Pilot Acroball Gel Ink Pen

A great box for sure!   Now let’s look at this month’s Ipsy Glam Bag.

photo 3

 

This month’s bag included:

  • Chevron striped cosmetic bag (each month you get a little cosmetic bag)
  • Zoya Nail Polish in Neely -a pale mint  (full size)
  • yaby Concealer Refill in buff
  • Nume Finishing Serum (for hair)
  • Pacifica Bronzing Body Butter in Coconut Crushed Pearl/ Sun kissed
  • Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink (full size)

By the way, I do know how to use my shift key but some of these beauty brands are non capitalized.

So…the details.  Each subscription is $10 a month.  Birchboxes come in a little brown cardboard box with hot pink tissue.  They get a point because I can recycle the box when I’m finished with it.  But Ipsy sends you a little cosmetic bag each month.  I’m pretty full up on bags, this is true, but I can always find a use for a little bag.  Mostly I give them away as little gift bags.  In the 7 months or so that I’ve been receiving Birchboxes I’ve only gotten one or two full size products.  My Ipsy bag had 2 full sized products right off the bat!  Now, who knows, they may be trying to butter me up with my first bag.  One other cool thing about Ipsy is that once the Glam Bags have been sent out you can go online to Ipsy.com and check out what everyone got in their bags, plus all past bags.  Another cool thing is that you take a beauty quiz on Ipsy and they choose colors for you based on your skin tone, coloring etc.

The verdict…Sorry Birchbox, we’ve had a great run, and I may come back to you at some point.  But for right now Ipsy has won me over!

beauty ho

February’s Birchbox

February got away from me before I could tell you about February’s Birchbox!  photo

This month I received:

-Perfume sample by Juicy Couture– Couture La La

-Ghirardelli chocolate square

BB cream

Hair protectant & leave in conditioner spray

-Nail polish in a jade green color.

I’m pleased with this Birchbox.   I’ve already tried all the items.  I love little sample sizes because they are perfect for travel.  I’m not too sure about the green nail polish. I know that Pantone has declared Emerald Green as the color of the year but it’s just SO GREEN.  It’s really pretty in the bottle though and maybe it would look better on someone with a different skin tone.  I’ve been wanting to try BB creams for a while now but I didn’t want to buy it and hate it you know?   I’m going to give it another couple tries before I declare my verdict.

Can’t wait for next month’s!

fun

January Birchbox!

January Birchbox!

What’s included this month:
-alessandro Cream Rich- anti aging hand cream. LOVE this stuff.
-Harvey Prince Ageless- perfume sample. One with a pump which I like. Perfect for the cruise!
-Kérastase Masque Chroma Riche. A hair mask I’ll be using just before the cruise to protect my highlights.
-Now, the card says I got mascara but there was no mascara in my box 😦
-My Multi Purpose Mattifying Moisturizer. Love a good travel size moisturizer and mattifying is just a bonus!

beauty ho, bloggy stuff

Day 13 of 30 Days of Giving- Being a girly girl and November’s Birchbox

I’m thankful to be a girly girl.  I think you’re predisposed to being girly or not.  I’m so thankful to be frilly and prissy!  I could have been a non-lip gloss loving girl and I just can’t imagine that!  Make up and hair products and bath and body products are just so much fun! Speaking of being a girly girl…my November Birchbox came today!   This month’s Birchbox includes:

  • Color Club nail polish in Put A Pin In It.  It’s a sparkly rose gold.  So pretty!
  • A SOYJOY Cranberry Snack bar
  • Lulu Organics Lavender + Clary Sage Hair Powder
  • ModelCo Fibre Lashxtend Lengthening Mascara
  • Stella Cadente Miss Me Eau de Parfum

Love it all!

beauty ho, fun

Birchbox #1

My friend Christina talked me into signing up for Birchbox.  I had never heard of Birchbox before she told me, but it’s great for a beauty product junkie like me!  I went to the website and signed up on the waiting list.  A couple weeks later I received an email saying I could sign up for my first Birchbox!  Birchbox is a service that sends you hand-picked beauty and lifestyle samples, delivered to your door for $10/month.  You can get things like lip balm, hair ties, nail polish, eye shadow, etc!  My first Birchbox has arrived!  Love the packaging.   That black mark is from me opening the package with an ink pen.  Whoopsie!

Here’s what I received!   Viva La Juicy perfume sample,  Kerastase Chroma Sensitive cleansing balm,  Mox Botanicals Pomegranate and Fig Lip Butter, theBalm cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer (highlighter, shadow & all over shimmer), twistband hair tie, and a tili plastic zip loc bag.  Not bad considering the eye shadow alone would cost $24 on its own!  I have tried the lip balm and love it.  Love the shadow too.  I have too short hair to use the hair tie, but I have a sister who would love it.  Overall I’m very pleased with my first Birchbox and can’t wait for box #2 next month!  I already love getting pretty mail so to get fun mail like this is very exciting!