Yeah yeah yeah, I know. I'm like a thousand years late to the Birchbox party. My friend Kellyn finally talked me into signing up for a subscription earlier this summer while we were in Peru, as her excitement over getting home to her box was fairly contagious. Now, I have to say I'm pretty hooked. I love the idea of subscription boxes, as I love love love getting mail [seriously, one of the greatest pleasures in my dull life]; Birchbox is a fun one because you get a decent assortment of products - makeup, hair, skin, lifestyle - for a manageable price. Even I, the perpetually broke medical student, can afford $10/month for a little treat; it just means I buy a few fewer apples at the grocery store.
Anyway, for fun, here's the items I've received in my Birchboxes over the past three months. Admittedly, I haven't tried everything out yet, as I have a mental block in my head over not wanting to "ruin" their beautiful newness [yes, I am ridiculous], but I can say that the things that I've tried I have really loved.
This Oribe texturizing spray is one of my very favorite hair products that I've ever tried...too bad the full size bottle retails for like $42. I keep going back and forth on whether I'd be willing to splurge that much at some point in time, just because I love how well it works on my hair. It has some dry shampoo-type properties [it does really well on my bangs in particular!] in addition to adding a bit more grip to my hair for when I want to do something like a braid without having little pieces falling all over the place. I also love the Vasanti exfoliator I got in this box; I've been using it once or twice a week, and in combination with the Egyptian Magic skin cream my face has been feeling so. soft. Seriously great products.
The amika texturizing spray works in a similar manner to the Oribe spray from June - it does a great job adding texture to hair and smells quite lovely. I also really love this liquid lipstick from stila; bright pink wouldn't be my first choice under normal conditions, but it's a fun alternative to my classic red. The lipstick itself goes on so smooth and stays on pretty well, although it is a matte lipstick so you get a bit of that traditional dryness associated with matte lip products.
This Harvey Prince perfume smells absolutely delightful - it's very light and feminine and a good scent for summer. I haven't worn the lip pencil much yet, but the color is quite pretty - it's a nice neutral-ish shade.
Okay, this box was a fun surprise! We happened to stumble across the Birchbox Road Trip while in Atlanta a couple weekends ago, as it was set up in a shopping center next to our hotel in Buckhead. Being a recent Birchbox convert, I got super excited about the whole thing, so of course I had to go check out the happenings - and wound up with one of these beautiful Rifle Paper Co. boxes [leftover from their collaboration] filled with five items that I got to handpick from the available selection. I haven't played around with too many of the products yet, but I was really excited to add this little Oribe spray to my growing selection as I love the previous sample I received. This facial peel apparently is super popular, according to the Birchbox employees, and this mascara is really lightweight and easily buildable.
And those are my thoughts on Birchbox so far. Suffice it to say, I'm a little bit hooked.