Birchbox July 2015 review

 I absolutely love everything about this box design! I enjoyed using most of the products in this box for July. I found I got a great mix of fragrance, skincare, haircare, and makeup. First, I tried the Stila Liquid Lipstick in Venezia. This bright coral made me try something new for summer. I love the scent and I am getting used to the bright color. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time with the formula. While it is long lasting and smells like vanilla, the formula is patchy and drying on my lips. I am still experimenting since most people love this formula. Don't mind the full face of makeup. I was piling on makeup for my next post. Can you guess what it is?

The Bumble and Bumble cream is hydrating without weighing my hair down. I like using this to blow dry OR air dry my hair.

The Cartier sample is a beautiful fragrance for summer with notes of rose.

The Supergoop serum ties the Clarisea as my favorite sample. I love the lightweight feeling of the serum/moisturizer/sunscreen.

Last, the Clarisea Charcoal Exfoliant left my skin soft and smooth. I tried the powder with my First Aid Beauty cleanser and charcoal face soap. The product worked well with both cleansers.  I appreciate the large sample size since I got at least six uses out of the product.

Now I need your help. What Birchbox products should I try from the shop? Recommend your favorites please!

November's Birchbox

I am thrilled with my November Birchbox! I love all of the products except the Eslor cream. This month gets a grade A from me!
1. Folle de Joie smells dreamy. I typically don't like floral scents because they aggravate my allergies. I get a headache, stuffy nose, sneezing, etc. This parfum did not irritate me at all! Of course I'd love it; it's $98! I will be holding on to the sample until spring since it's so expensive.

2.   The Bain de Terre styling oil is great for my color-treated hair. My ends are so dry because my hair is so long. Those ends have been through multiple torture sessions AKA coloring sessions including bleaching. I have to use oils on the ends to make my hair look somewhat healthy. I like that this one is affordable with little scent to the actual product. The texture is thicker than other oils, which works well on my hair.

3. I began experimenting with highlighters this fall and love them. I was always hesitant to use them because my skin is oily. The first one I tried was Mary Lou-Manizer and loved her! I was so excited to try Cindy Lou-Manizer because I've heard great things about her too. Even though this sample is small, I get a ton of use out of it since it's pigmented.

4. Not Soap, Radio wash reminds me of a Lush shower gel. It provides an excellent lather, lemony scent, and cleanses my skin effectively. Although I love it, I wouldn't pay $16 for ANY shower gel. To me, it's just not worth it.

5. I was excited to get my first food item from Birchbox! The Dang Coconut Chips are delicious! I typically do NOT like anything coconut, but I will try anything once.  Boy I am glad I did! The chips were sweet without being overly sweet like candy. I brought them as a snack when I volunteered at the Rock N Roll Marathon registration area. The runners were dying to try my snack! I let hundreds of people take pictures of the chips, but I wouldn't share lol.

6. I'm sure the Eslor cream is amazing, but I was afraid to use it because it it extremely moisturizing. This would irritate my sensitive, acne-prone skin. I will avoid anything that may cause me to breakout.

This box was a total LOVE for me. Keep your eyes open for an upcoming post in regards to Birchbox's response to my concern about the Eslor cream. I cannot express how much Birchbox's customer service rocks! What did you get in your box?  Leave it in the comments below!

November trash and treasures

These are products I finished in November. Some of them I used for an extended period of time before finishing them. 

I will NOT repurchase the Aveeno lotion. It was not moisturizing whatsoever, definitely trash. Treasure- CeraVe is my go-to cream. My skin gets extremely dry from the Vegas weather conditions. This lotion does the trick and allows me to wear my perfumes since it's unscented. 

Treasure-The Coochy shave cream is another favorite. I got this from a former consultant for FREE! This is the only product that prevents razor burn and ingrown hairs for me. 

Treasure-The Living Proof Style Extender works well for my long hair to conditioner and prevent excess oil at my scalp. 

Trash-Carol's Daughter Marula hair mask didn't do anything for my hair. I am sticking to the Carol's Daughter Manoi mask.

Trash-The Beauty Protector in the red bottle smells amazing, but did nothing to treat my hair.

BBW's Sky had a beautiful, perfume scent, but it's discontinued.  

Treasure-The almond body wash was moisturizing without a heavy scent.

Treasure-I would/will buy Gucci Guilty, La Vie Est Belle, and Juicy Noir. These are very different from each other so I can build my perfume wardrobe.

Treasures- I love my Proactiv Plus skincare. This is the only line gentle enough to treat my skin. I never liked the original Proactiv, but this one is amazing. Another treasure is the Algenist eye cream; I just can't bring myself to spend $50 on an eye cream. Glamglow is my holy grail mask. Partnered with my Proactiv, my skin is pretty clear most of the time. Clinique's Take the Day Off Balm is my holy grail makeup remover. It is gentle, but extremely effective.
Trash- The Clarins moisturizer worked well on my dry areas like my cheeks. I don't think I'd spend the money for a moisturizer I can't use on my whole face. I was so let down by the Dr. Brandt Vacuum Pore treatment. This did absolutely nothing for my pores. While I liked the Epice exfoliator, my Proactiv Plus does the same thing. The Clarisonic Radiance AM cleanser and serum samples broke me out. I loved the PM cleanser because it removed dead skin and makeup without being harsh.

Treasures-Garnier BB cream is my go-to light foundation. I wish it didn't have so many unnatural ingredients, but the coverage is great. The Laura Mercier radiance primer added a glow to my skin without making me look more oily. I LOVE the Becca Ultimate for full coverage. This covers as well as Dermablend! I liked layering the Pur and Benefit mascaras. Unfortunately, I got a horrible eye infection shortly after starting these mascaras. I'm not sure if it was from these products or something else.

Trash-the Cover FX BB cream didn't provide enough coverage for me. I couldn't get the Stila bronze cream to ever look good on me. I tried it under foundation, over foundation, as a bb cream, and as a bronzer.    The Starlooks lip liner was a horrible pink color that never looked right on me. While I enjoyed both Benefit primers, I wouldn't pay the price for the full sized ones since they both contain Dimethecone-a serious skin irritant for me. Last, I like the Nyx powder, but I'm not overjoyed about it. The coverage is awesome and it never looks chalky. Again, I'm trying to get into more all-natural products to prevent skin irritations for me

Thanks for reading! What did you use up in November?

How I get free samples

This week was an awesome week for me in terms of samples/free products. I had numerous posts via social media requesting an explanation of how I scored everything for free. I'm always excited to share my free findings and want to help others as well. First, I got free cleaning supplies thanks to Zep and Crowdtap. Crowdtap is a free website where you complete surveys and tasks in hopes of getting free products. This was my first campaign with Crowdtap, but soon after I got accepted into two other campaigns. 

Now on to the fun part! I attended a free class at Sephora on Saturday. Bumble and Bumble reps taught participants how to do a messy ponytail, fishtail braid, and a casual twist. I LOVE the free classes at Sephora because I always learn new information. I went in set on NOT buying anything, but that never happens.
I ended up getting this multipurpose BB Dryspun product. I can use this to add volume and "grit" to my updo styles to make them stay in place. The Clinique Take the Day Off Balm is my HG makeup removing product! It is a solid, but turns into an oil to take everything off gently. Next, I became a Bite Beauty lip crayon and lipstick lover. These are hands-down my favorite lip products. I can't wait to show you swatches in an upcoming post! I spent $.50 thanks to a return.

Of course I had to stop in Victoria's Secret for a free pair of panties, so I picked up four lip balms (I ended up returning them, details in a minute) to get a 2nd pair of panties for free. After Victoria's Secret, I went to Kohl's for their beauty event. I turned in two makeup items for a $10 gift card. My strategy is to take a non-makeup lover (spouse, friend, etc) to get an additional gift card. The first purchase was the Oscar Blandi set is an amazing deal for $10.50 because I love the dry shampoo and texturizing spray. The hair tool isn't as difficult to use as I thought thanks to the handy pamphlet. The Macadamia shampoo was $4! I love the hair mask, so I was excited to try the shampoo for the great price. I think I'm the only one on the planet that hasn't tried EOS. Since I got the EOS kit, I decided to take the VS lip balms back. I picked up this set at the bargain price of $6.99. In total, I spent about $1 on tax and the Kohl's employees gave me all of the other products for FREE! Sign up for Kohl's emails because that's how I ALWAYS find out about the beauty events.

The picture below shows off my free VS and Sephora goods. From Sephora the BB reps gave us shampoo, conditioner, and repair samples. I had a Sephora cast member/employee make samples of three concealers and Bite's Agave lip masks. I LOVE Sephora because the employees are extremely helpful and willing to make samples of anything.

Last, I WON a giveaway for a Cynthia Rowley bag, eye shadow palette, and eye liner. I'm going to do a review on these products in the near future.