Since the days of Sugar and Mizz, I have always wanted a monthly subscription. Rifling through the stack of teenage pop magazines at the end of my bed, I lusted for the allowance to subscribe to monthly celebrity scandal and posters of puppy dogs. The subscription gifts were always so glorious, a glittery rollerball strawberry flavoured lip-gloss from some expensive 2000's brand or maybe a years supply of leopard print hair scrunches and glittery butterfly grips. A bit disappointing to say that the only thing I ever subscribed too was monthly donation adopt a tiger, which never wrote to me or anything. So, now you have an idea of my teenage spangly depraved fashion sense and lack of monthly post, you can imagine my excitement when I found out that monthly beauty box subscriptions were even a thing! I signed up to that s***t faster than Usain Bolt and eagerly awaited my BIRCH BOX.
Lola Barcelona Nail Polish ( birch box exclusive ) | £7.50
Everything in the image above is everything I received in my Birch Box, I really loved this months box. Birch Box dedicated their April box to the unborn royal, William and Kate's second child. Depending on the colour of the box you receive and the gender of the child, you could be entered into a competition to win £500. If you received a blue box and the second royal child turned out to be another boy, then your name will be put into the draw for the monetary prize. The same applies for the pink box if the child is a girl. I loved this idea, I thought it was a fun little something extra and got us all talking on twitter about the colour of their boxes and contents!
Liz Earl Cleanse and polish
Liz Earl Cleanse and Polish is a hero in the beauty blogging world, a cult product that almost every beauty blogger swears by. I read and early review of an April birch box before I received mine and was chuffed to bits at having 1/6 chance of receiving the sample , I've been really dying to try this stuff and see if it really is worth the hero status. The muslin cloth was also a lovely touch to this box, really gives you a chance to try the product as it is sold. I hate when you get a sample and there's an extra you get when you buy but don't get when you try. I mean , how are we supposed to decide if we like the product enough to buy it full if we haven't tried the full version? Many products have been let down by their samples, so I really liked this little touch to the box.
I have been in touch with the Liz Earl team on their twitter and have been informed that this is suitable for all skin types, including oily. This multi award winning product is supposed to remove all dirt, makeup, sebum, everything our faces get caked in on a daily basis, leaving the skin fresh, clean and clear. I have yet to try this product but I have plans for a review post so keep your eyes polished!
Lola Barcelona Nail Polish | Shade ' BORN '
I have never heard of this brand before but the excitement of receiving a nail polish was still there, I have been a nail biter straight from the womb but this past two months I have managed to grow them the longest they have ever been. Reluctant to purposefully spend any amount of money on a could be useless if I bite my nails, nail varnish, I was excited to have this and finally pretty up my phalanges! A really nice nail varnish, beautiful nude, mauve colour with a pearlescent shin, little bit of fine glitter. Two coats and this beauty is completely opaque, a perfect formula that doesn't show brush strokes and isn't too thick or gloopy. Perfectly glides on the nail and adds a lovely shine. I love this and I'm so glad to have it, I looked up Lola Barcelona online to try and purchase some more colours but I couldn't seem to find the site. If you know anywhere that stocks these, please link me in the comments!
Inner Me Energise Me
This was the only product in this months Birch Box that I was disappointed with. I love the packaging and the graphics are super cute but as a person recovering from an eating disorder, I didn't really want energy pills which I used to abuse, happily sitting in my beauty box. I don't understand how energy pills is a beauty product or sample? Isn't it a health sample? It angers me that many people believe that weight equates to beauty, I too sometimes struggle with that concept but in reality, weight and beauty are separate things.
Anyway, these caffeine pills are designed to give you an energy boost and have been created from a unique blend of vitamins and minerals to enhance your health. The packet comes with a 4 week course, 28 capsules and they are rather large. These capsules are suitable for vegetarians and according to the box they make your pee yellow. Nice! I have yet to try these because of reasons above but I think I'm going to do my best to give you guys a thorough review in another post because I want too.
Korres citrus shower gel
Korres is apparently another cult beauty brand known for their natural ingredients, until I received this in my Birch Box I had never heard of them. I would like to try their other stuff just because they're a natural brand and I love that, maybe other fragrances I would prefer. I thought this citrus scent was more of a masculine scent to me, it reminded me of my brothers lynx aftershave wafting through the landing every morning before school. Smells like any free hotel shower gel that I have smuggled into my suitcase, I don't really see anything special with this scent and it certainly wasn't a citrus I expected. When I think of citrus shower gels, limes, oranges and lemons spring to mind, checking the ingredients on this Korres shower gel and the only citrus ingredient I could find is citric acid! To be fair, it is a nice shower gel and it lathers nicely too, leaves skin feeling thoroughly clean, hydrated and I really can't fault the product when it comes to doing its job!
Number 4 Lumiere d'Hiver Super Comb Prep & Protect
This little bottle of mystery had me wondering its purpose for a while, having no instructions for use on the bottle I had to rifle through the many birch box promotion leaflets to find out what the heck this actually is! Number 4 is a strengthening and detangling spray, applied by spraying onto towel dried hair and styling as usual. As you can probably guess, being a tangerine head can be a bit harsh on my hair with constant bleaching and touching up. My ends are more frazzled than bacon fries and I have more fly always than actual hair, so I jumped at the chance of trying something offering my locks a little TLC. I love this product, leaves my ends feeling nourished and manageable and I noticed less breakage when straightening. My flyway's have had their wings clipped and finding it hard to fly after this bad boy, my new hairdryer and this product work wonders together and my hair feels like it's a product of Mr Magorium. Really really like this stuff and I will try to purchase a bigger bottle, just depends on shipping costs as I'm not too sure if it's available in the UK.
Laura Mercier Eye Pencil
This months Birch Box came with a Laura Mercier sample, this was the reason I decided to try Birch Box as I have been looking at Laura Mercier cosmetics for a while. Unfortunately my bank balance isn't healthy enough to consider these kinds of purchases, so I figured a lovely little sample would be a good way to introduce myself. I was disappointed when I received this, I had opted to receive the Laura Mercier mascara but probably due to demand, I received an eyeliner in its place. When I opened my box the eyeliner lid wasn't on, it was rolling about in the bottom of the bag leaving the cream eyeliner to dry up completely. No product transferred onto skin when swatching, it just crumbled and snapped into crumbs where the product should have drawn.
Loved this post; yours [as always] are so well written :}
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit sad about your citrus Korres and the Laura Mercier eyeliner situation you had :{ my Korres showergel smells really nice.
FYI - http://www.lola-barcelona.com/en/ :} that's the full range of Lola Barcelona shizzle. However, it is based in Spain so I don't know what shipping's like
x
Thank you very much! I'm so happy you like my writing :) I too was a bit sad about the shower gel, I didn't know they offered other scents and if I could have chose I would have got a different one haha Thanks for the nail varnish link, deffo be maxing out me overdraft buying all shades haha!
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