Birchbox: November 2015 Review

Hello, friends! It's time for my monthly Birchbox unboxing! My box came surprisingly early this month--I received it on the 9th, and it usually ships on the 10th! Talk about prompt!

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. Right now you can get 50 points just for signing up with the code SUBSCRIBENOW50. If you're interested in subscribing to Birchbox, I would love it if you used my referral link! Thank you!

It comes in Birchbox's distinct pink cardboard box. It's a box. That's all I have to say about that.

This month, Birchbox collaborated with Tati Westbrook from popular YouTube beauty channel "GlamLifeGuru" to create the curated box. Prior to this, they went on tour across America, debuting Birchbox's first-ever makeup line: LOC (Love of Color). Tati, the first person to create a collection for LOC, introduced a small assortment of cream eyeshadow sticks and lip pencils. Everyone this month either got a choice of three lip pencil shades, or the curated box. 

As always, this box includes an info card, so you know what products you're getting and what they do! Honestly, I don't know why every subscription service doesn't include these. It makes life so much easier. 

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

AVENE Hydrance Optimale Hydrating Serum
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.1oz]: $6) (Full-size cost [1.01oz]: $36) 

Avene's Thermal Spring Water is supposedly a cult favorite (which I don't understand, since isn't it just water? Enlighten me!), so I'm excited to finally be trying a product from the brand. This is a hydrating serum for dry skin that is both cruelty-free and paraben-free. For those of you who will not use products that are tested on animals, this one is safe for you to use. Since it is paraben-free, it does not have as long of a shelf life (since parabens are a preservative), so once it's opened, you better start using it. The words "hydrating" and "serum" in the same sentence make me so happy, especially with winter steadily approaching. My skin can't get enough hydration once it gets cold out!

LIVING PROOF Perfect Hair Day (PhD) Dry Shampoo
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [1.8oz]: $10.22) (Full-size cost [4oz]: $22) 

This dry shampoo won the Allure Best of Beauty Awards for this year, so I have high hopes. My first and only attempt at using it didn't wow me--it just seems like an average dry shampoo to me, and didn't make my hair look as clean as Batiste's. But it's possible that I didn't use enough, or maybe something else went wrong. I've only tried it once so far, so I have to give it some more time before I make a verdict on it. 

LOC (LOVE OF COLOR) One & Done Shadow Stick in Day Trip
(FULL-SIZE cost [.05oz]: $10) 

This cream eyeshadow stick is in the running for favorite formula for sure! The color is pigmented, it goes on smoothly without bumping. And it does. Not. Budge. The arm swatch below would not even slightly fade or move around when I was trying to rub it off. And I was doing it pretty ferociously, too (as "ferociously" as one can try to rub off a makeup swatch, anyway). But it comes off really easily with eye makeup remover--and that was without using primer or setting it with powder. I'm super impressed. Those of you with oily eyelids should definitely check these out. LOC has really threw me for a loop--I wasn't expecting to be all that impressed, but now I can't wait to see what else they come out with! And I also want one of these in every color.

The shade I received, Day Trip, is a beautiful color. It's kind of like if gold and copper had a baby (if colors could have babies, or were tangible things). As someone with blue eyes, this makes them pop! I'm so pumped. The only downside is that they only have five shades to start out with. If only they made an Urban Decay-style vault with every color ever. 

JOUER Lip Enhancer
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.15oz]: $7.38) (Full-size cost [.33oz]: $16) 

This product is well-known in the beauty community, and now I know why! This is a lip balm that isn't a solid wax formula, but rather uses something reminiscent of thinner Aquaphor or lanolin. It uses a bunch of moisturizing ingredients, from castor oil to shea butter. When it said it claims to plump lips, I was readying myself for a painful, cinnamon-induced pulsing, but it never came! Apparently this is supposed to reduce the appearance of fine lines and plump lips, but I didn't see evidence of either (though then again, as a 20-something I don't have many lip wrinkles, and my lips aren't that thin to begin with). This is just a comfortable, hydrating lip balm to wear over lipstick or alone. At first, it goes on like a clear lipg loss, but the shine does wear off a little as time goes on. Still, if you're looking for something very moisturizing, and not just run-of-the-mill Chapstick, I recommend this for daytime or nighttime. Score! 

SHISEIDO Ultimune Eye Power Infusing Eye Concentrate
(SAMPLE-SIZE value [.17oz]: $21) (Full-size cost [.5oz]: $65) 

Holy cow, what a pricey serum! At $65 for half an ounce, I don't know if I'll be repurchasing this anytime soon, so I hope this tube lasts me a long time! It's about a third of the size, which is pretty generous. Definitely enough product to allow me to see if I like it or not. Shiseido is a well-regarded Asian brand, so they're relatively pricey. It's my first time trying one of their products, so here's to seeing if the hype is well-deserved!

The Stats:

• Avene Serum: $6
• Living Proof Dry Shampoo: $10.22
• LOC Shadow Stick: $10
• Jouer Lip Enhancer: $7.38
• Shiseido Eye Cream: $21
• TOTAL: $54.60 (that's over 5 times what I paid!)

The Best: 
I'm kind of obsessed with the LOC Shadow Stick (in case you couldn't tell).

The Worst: 
There's no real flops in this box, but then again, I haven't tried the two skincare products so it's really anybody's guess. Maybe the worst thing is that I'm so behind in my skincare product testing. 

The Verdict: 
Overall, I think this box was a huge success! I generally have great luck with the curated boxes, but the only downfall is that I don't get to be surprised. Birchbox's December Sneak Peek came out today, and I'm leaning towards the curated box (yes, again). I can't help it! I'm a a planner; I like knowing exactly what I'm going to get!

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

Want to see more Birchbox reviews?  

Like what you see? Sign up for Birchbox!

Let's be friends! 

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin' | Google + | Email Newsletter

Disclaimer: Not sponsored. I paid ten whole dollars for this.