Sammi the Beauty Buff: Birchbox: September 2015 Review

Hey, friends! Today I want to talk to you about my Birchbox this month. I got it surprisingly early (the 9th, before I could even view my box on the website), so this review will be going up a week earlier than usual.

A quick word about the photos in today's post -- I had gotten my eyes dilated at the eye doctor's right before I took these, so I basically took these blind (even with sunglasses). I guess I could have waited, but I wanted to hurry up and play the products! Just a fun fact. (The beauty blogger struggle is real).

Birchbox? What's that?

Birchbox is a monthly beauty and lifestyle subscription service. It sends 4-5 deluxe samples that are curated to your beauty profile. It is $10 a month, and has a wonderful rewards program, in which you can earn points for reviewing products and making purchases in the Birchbox Shop. You can then redeem those points for full-sized products! It's probably the best rewards program out there, in my opinion, which was one of the big draws in me signing up. They're always adding new products to the shop. In the past, they have sampled products from Amika, Juice Beauty, Shiseido, as well as pages of others! Some products are even exclusive to Birchbox, like Cynthia Rowley's new makeup line and the cult-favorite Beauty Protector brand. If you're interested in subscribing to Birchbox, I would love it if you used my referral link! Thank you!

What a pretty box! I always save them, just because they're too cute to throw away. What do I do with them? Nothing, they're just in a stack taking up space. But it's a pretty stack. A pretty waste of room.

This month marks Birchbox's five year anniversary, so this box included a 20% off promo code for all subscribers!

The info card! I'm not sure how I feel about them being portrait orientation instead of landscape (they're vertical instead of horizontal). It's just weird!

But enough about that. Let's get to the good stuff~

100% PURE Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.3oz]: $7.58) (Full-size cost [1oz]: $25)

I was all excited to use this eye cream in the morning since it promised to depuff and brighten. I drink coffee every morning, so I figured my eyes could use an added dose of caffeine too. Well, so far, I'm not seeing any results. It;s just a regular ol' eye cream to me. I'll give it another week, and if I don't see a difference, I'll go back to using my regular daytime moisturizer as my eye cream, because at least that gives me SPF (and not promises of eye caffeine).

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS | Perfect Brow Pencil in Medium Brown
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.013oz]: $2.88) (Full-size cost [.1oz]: $23)

This was my sample choice for the month, and I'm so glad I picked it! I normally use her powder to fill in my eye brows, since they're relatively full (just a few sparse spots), but I've really been liking this! The sharp tip offers you a lot of control to just draw in a few tiny hairs, and it's harder and not creamy like an eyeliiner pencil, so you won't go overboard. It gives a really natural, yet defined brow, and I think I might want to get the full size!

RAW SPIRIT FRAGRANCES | Wild Fire Eau de Parfum
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.025oz]: $2.25) (Full-size cost [1oz]: $90)

A lot of reviews say that this perfume smells mature and sexy and whatever, but to me it just smells gross. In the spray bottle it smells bad, but on me it smells even worse. I don't know what it is. The notes are amber, sandalwood, ylang yland, and jasmine. Normally, I like 3 of those 4 things (ylang ylang smells like grandmas, sad but true), but all of these together just ain't workin' for me.

SALON GIOJE | Keratin Protein Mask
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [1oz]: $6) (Full-size cost [8oz]: $48)

This is quite a generous size for a sample! I probably won't get to using this anytime soon, since my hair is relatively short and doesn't need a ton of added help, but it's going in the stash for a rainy day. I'm still going sulfate-free, so perhaps when I change up my hair care products, I'll pull this out.

TRESTIQUE Correct & Cover Concealer Crayon in Bisque
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.02oz]: $20.80) (Full-size cost [.025oz]: $26)

This concealer crayon is really deceiving. The cap is in the shape of a crayon! I thought I was missing the cap at first!

I'm actually really liking this concealer so far. The consistency is creamy and easy to blend. The color match works for me now while my face is a little tan, but it might be too dark once we get into the colder months. But I would recommend checking this out if you're in the market for a new concealer!

TRESTIQUE Correct & Cover Concealer Crayon in Bisque swatch

Left: Trestique Concealer Crayon | Right: Anastasia Brow Pencil

The Stats:

100% Pure Eye Cream: $7.58
Anastasia Brow Pencil: $2.88
Wild Fire Perfume: $2.25
Keratin Protein Mask: $6
Trestique Concealer: $20.80
TOTAL: $39.51

The Best:
The Anastasia Brow Pencil was a great discovery this month!

The Worst:
The perfume smells like adult B.O. on me. And the eye cream doesn't do what it says.

The Verdict:
Well, I'm surprised how many of the products I don't like in this month's box. It's worth almost 4x what I paid, thanks mostly to the Trestique concealer. I think I'll get most use out of the concealer crayon (until I lose my tan) and the Anastasia pencil, for sure. The hair mask I might pull out eventually, and the perfume is going to a friend. I'll keep using the 100% Pure Eye Cream and update you on my thoughts on it at the end of the month.

Was this the best box for me? No. Am I staying subscribed? Yes. Because I like trying new products, and I placed an order for $70 worth of stuff and only paid 6 cents, thanks to Birchbox points. So I'm basically never unsubscribing.

Did you get this month's Birchbox? What did you think?