July Birchbox Review

My poor July Birchbox went through quite the ordeal to get to me.  It made it all the way to Flagstaff (a town about an hour away from me) before it was inexplicably sent to Massachusetts.  My box went from about 70 miles from me to 2500 miles from me.  SO STRANGE.  It took a bit, but customer service was super nice, and a replacement box was mailed out.  I’ve had my replacement for about a week now, so I’ve had a chance to try out everything, though not as much as I would have liked.

July Birchbox

  1. amika un.Done texture Spray (Full Size:  $24):  Last month I got the amika dry shampoo.  I like this brand because it’s meant for curly hair.  I’ve tried this spray about three times now.  It isn’t great for me on its own, but it works well at helping produce defined curls when I use it as part of a series of products in my hair.  It’s an aerosol, which I’m not a huge fan of because that usually means product gets everywhere.  Which it did.  In my mouth.  It doesn’t taste very good, and it was hard to get the taste out of my mouth.  Bottom line:  it’s a decent product, but not the right addition for me.
  2. stila look at me liquid lipstick trio (Set of 3, $20):  This product was my sample choice.  Basically we had 3 color options (bright pink, classic red, bright coral), and I went for the red because I’ve been dying to find a really red lip color.  This stain went on super smooth with lots of saturated color.  The finish is matte, and I was all about the bold red lips it gave me.  I did have a bit of color transfer onto glasses, but I think that’s more on me not using the product completely right than anything else.  I would totally buy this, but I’m just not sure about the other two colors.  I guess I’ll see if I like them if I follow through on the purchase.
  3. COOLA Face SPF 30 Unscented Matte Tint (Full size:  $36):  SPF is very important to me because I have very fair skin that burns easily.  I don’t usually wear an SPF with a tint, but I’m not opposed to them either.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the tinted SPF for me.  It felt gritty when I put it on, and the tint didn’t seem to do anything for me.  (It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good either.)  I can certainly see how this works for some people, but I am not those people.  This was a miss for me.
  4. Vasanti Cosmetics BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator (Full Size:  $34):  This face scrub was surprisingly deceptive.  It went on gritty and almost felt like a fine sandpaper on my skin, and I really needed to be aggressive with my rinsing to get it all off my face.  After my first use, I was positive I hated it.  However, I always try the products multiple times (unless I have an allergic reaction), and I found that each time I used this, I liked it more and more.  My face really did look glowing and smooth after every use.  I was all out of my Suki scrub, so I went ahead and ordered this along with the foaming face cleanser so I can alternate using them.  Would I buy this product?  Obviously.  I already did.
  5. Marcelle BB Cream Golden Glow (Full size:  $27):  After my experience with my last BB cream (where I turned bright red), I was wary about giving this one a try.  However, I didn’t need to be so concerned because this one didn’t cause an allergic reaction.  It went on smoothly and did a decent job evening out my skin tone.  I tend to have some blotchy redness on my face, and this helped with that.  When combined with the BrightenUp!, I felt like my skin look picture ready.  Would I buy this?  Maybe.  I actually don’t care too much about the red splotches I sometimes have, but it’s nice to know I have options (besides foundation) to deal with that.

Overall, I’d say this month’s box was a HUGE success.  I haven’t been able to try everything as much as I’d normally have before writing my review, but the trajectory of my box was out of my control.  I found one product I bought, a lip stain I loved, and a BB cream I’m considering.  Wins all around!

Want to get your own monthly set of samples for just $10 a month?  Check out Birchbox with my referral link.

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