Very Late May Birch Box Review

Wow, look at me being super behind. My life is always pretty hectic and now that summer is here things get kicked into an especially high gear. I was looking at my calendar the other day and I have two free weekends between now and the middle of September. BANANAS.

I am expecting now that my hiking blog is caught up again, that I'll be able to focus a bit more on my makeup blog. I've got something that I'm particularly excited for coming up. In particular I just ordered my first air brush system so that's exciting! And there's the July MUG competition so fun stuff!

Anyway onto the very late review (I'll get June's up by the end of this week).

Amika Nourishing Mask $40/500mL
Very creamy and my hair definitely liked it. Nice scent. Overall a very good product. It's really hard for me to judge these because I haven't had a hair cut in so long, any good product just sort of masks damage at this point. I really need to get that taken care of.

Coola Moisturizer $32
I took this moisturizer with me backpacking recently and loved it. It has a really fresh, cool, cucumber scent. It is also really light weight, non greasy and seemed to last on my skin, despite my activity level, really well. The size of the sample bottle and the SPF 30 also made it pretty much ideal for what I was doing.

Sumitra Pencils $11
Super smooth, creamy pencil. I got the one in black and have been using it quite a bit, I used it to hash out the details on this look, and have been really pleased with it’s lasting power. Even though it’s creamy it doesn’t melt down your face like a lot of soft pencils do. There’s a lot of variety in the colors and I’ll probably end up investing in a few more of these.

Runa Guayusa Tea $7
Tasty! I especially like the ginger citrus tea. Excellent flavors, and I love that it's organic and full of antioxidants. I’ve been dieting and herbal tea in the evening is an awesome way for me to deal with my overactive sweet tooth. This stuff is full of caffeine though so if you’re particularly sensitive don’t drink too close to bedtime.

Marvis Mint Toothpaste in Classic Mint $10.50
I also took this backpacking (I couldn’t find my normal toiletries bag), really bright minty flavor. Very foamy, which was sort of weird for me since normally when I backpack I use all natural toothpaste, which isn’t formulated with sulfates (the ingredient that makes shit foamy). Still I think that it’s a nice toothpaste. I straight up love the retro, apothecary packaging. That being said I don’t think I’ll ever be spending $10.50 on toothpaste in spite of the positives with this one.

April Birchbox Review

I might actually do a Birchbox review the same month it comes to me! Hurray!

Overall I really liked this box!

Glossy Kiss Pencil in Starlet by Mirenesse. (4.2/5)
This was my favorite product out of this month's box. It's got a really nice texture, and even though I don't usually wear orange-red lip colors (it's more orange in real life than in the picture) I think this is pretty darn fabulous. They also claim you could use it as a cheek stain, which I'm a little on the fence about. It's not very waxy so I suppose you could, but I feel like it would be hard to deal with such a vibrant color, maybe if I was more tan it would be okay.

Protect and Detangle by Beauty Protector 8 oz - $21.95 (4/5)
I really liked this product a lot, it's a leave in conditioner, with heat and sun protectant. It smelled nice and didn't leave any kind of residue on my hair or weight it down. I also think this would be a great thing to take on extended backpacking trips, where I need to carry as few products as possible, but will still want to wash my hair. I could use it after shampoo so I don't have to rinse my hair twice and it will help protect my hair from sun damage.

Huile Divine by Caudalie (4/5)
I love this brand, everything I try from them is so nice. Everything they make has not parbens, ethanol, sulfates, and is not tested on animals.This oil in particular has a really great smell, feels great on my skin and doesn't like any greasy residue. Now if only they would lower their prices just a tad...

Supergoop Advanced Anti-Aging Eye Cream (3.8/5)
Anti aging eye creams are sort of tricky for me to review since I don't have wrinkles, my biggest concerns are always dark circles. Regardless of whether or not this product would get rid of wrinkles, it'll certainly prevent them. In addition to it's anti-wrinkle ingredients it's got a Broad Spectrum SPF 37 Sunscreen. I just wish it didn't smell like sunscreen. Luckily I don't breathe through my eyes. Yet.

Hail Merry Macaroons 3.5 oz - $5 (1/5)
If you like chocolate covered sawdust, buy these. They get one point just for having chocolate.

One nice bonus is that they also gave a little card to mail in for a free one year subscription of Women's Health. So that almost makes up for the macaroons.

March Birchbox Review

I'm going to start doing product reviews a little differently, each product (if there are more than one per review will get an overall score in parentheses next to the product name just so you get an idea about how I would rate it personally.

Also my hope is to get back to updating this Tuesdays and Thursdays. I think I've got a pretty good schedule established for my hiking blog so now I just need to get back into the swing of things with this blog.

Whish Shave Cream, 150ml - $20 (3.5/5)
I don't usually use shave cream cause I'm always running late. Also, if you exfoliate fairly frequently, have a good razor and a moisturizing body wash, you don't really need shaving cream. That being said, this shaving cream is incredibly moisturizing, and has a really nice texture. Even though I have very sensitive skin and my razor is at the end of it's life, I had NO skin irritation at all. The smell is sort of "meh" to me. It smells like fake blueberry smell, which isn't awful but it's not great to me either. I was hoping for a more fresh, clean scent rather than something that smells really sweet and too heavily perfumed.


Oscar Blandi Hair Lift Mousse, 6.3 oz - $23 (5/5)
Oh man. I love, love, love this mousse. It leaves my hair with some really nice volume, it isn't heavy or crusty. It doesn't make my hair look dull, which I find is a big problem with a lot of volumizing products. The scent isn't super overwhelming, it's smells kind of woody and spicy to me, not like hot spicy like aromatic spicy. It's a little pricey but I might splurge.


Madewell for Birchbox Floral Nail Emery Board - $5
Not really sure what to say about this. It's an emery board. It's pretty. Works fine. 'Nuff said.

MAKE Face Primer $30
If you are looking for a mattefying primer I would NOT go with this face primer. It's a pretty okay primer overall although I didn't notice a huge difference in length of wear I do think it helped with applying my foundation evenly and evening my skin tone. The texture was nice, it didn't dry out my skin at all which is a good thing since I have a tendency towards dry patches on my cheek bones. It's SPF 30, which is always a good thing. It's on the pricey side, and honestly I'm starting to lean towards using BB/CC creams mixed with moisturizer as a primer rather than using something like this. Still if you want an un-tinted primer this is a nice option.

MAKE eye shadow in Great Lakes $18
Nice satin finished eye shadow in a medium grey. Very wearable, I could see doing a really pretty smokey grey eye with this. It applies evenly but I can really speak to length of wear since I just swatched it. It's also hypoallergenic, doesn't have any oils, parabens or fragrances (do most eye shadows have fragrances??). It does include vitamins C and E to help protect the skin around your eyes. Overall a very decent eye shadow, except for the price. If I'm going to be buying eye shadow I'll go with Inglot, MAC, Sugarpill etc. All of which are cheaper, and have a better selection.

Late Post: January Birchbox

Right around the time I went on my year long hiatus from this blog I cancelled my birchbox. We were tight financially and I couldn't rationalize continuing to receive them, also around that time the quality of the birchboxes was a little questionable. You can see my previous rant about the quality, including the incredibly questionable product known as Lashcards here.

However about two months ago I sort of said what the hell, they were fun and I could use a monthly surprise, even if some of the items are ridiculous. I can honestly say I haven't had a bad box since. January was no exception.

From left to right:

1. Hot Mama Blush and Shadow All-in-One by theBalm Cosmetics $20
I really really like product, I already have the Mary Loumanizer,which I love. Both are really smooth and velvety in texture and buildable so you can have a subtle wash of color + highlight or you can use it as a full fledged blush, or a shadow if you want to keep building. It's got wonderful pigment it's a sort of peachy rose color with gold shimmer. The sparkly is really small so you look dewy rather than glittery. I didn't swatch it this time but I may include swatches in a later post. Awesome product, will definitely get used a lot. The size of the sample is also really great.

2. Ojon Rare Blend Total Hair Therapy $35/1.5 fluid oz (approximately 44.4 mL)
So I am in dire need of a hair cut. It's been months and months, the only reason I'm able to go on at all is that I use hair oil 2x weekly. I've been using Nuxe Dry Oil (which is my favorite) and sometimes Amika Obliphica oil treatment and it's kept my hair healthy and shiny. I plan on getting it cut in the next couple weeks. The point is I can't tell you too much about how well this will repair you hair, because I've been working like mad just to keep mine tolerable. What I can tell you is that it'll make it very shiny and that it has a lovely citrus scent. However, if you're in the market for a dry oil. I would steer you towards NUXE Huile Prodigieuse® / Multi-Usage Dry Oil ($45/100mL). Since it has more uses (skin and hair) and is cheaper and smells amazing.

3. Lashem Measurable Difference Lash Gel Serum $69.99/3.5 mL
I don't know that I've been using this consistently enough to really notice a difference, plus my lashes are quite long anyway, I do think they've been a bit fuller. The brush does make it easy to apply and even though I have very sensitive eyes it doesn't seem to irritate them or make the skin around them itch at all. Which is more than I can say for some eyeliners I've used. It's quite expensive, but it would probably last quite a while since you basically use a drop per eye.

4. Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrè (24-Hour Miracle Cream) $28/75 mL

Dear God this moisturizer is AMAZING. It is similar in texture and consistency to my Oil of Olay Daily Moisturizer. It also has a similar smell, it's a little different but similar. The major difference is that this cream is significantly more moisturizing. I applied a little to a dry patch on my arm which had been irritating me, and poof. Gone. It's a little pricey, but if I decide to upgrade my moisturizer one notch I think this might be it. 

Not pictured: Skinny Chic by Harvey Prince ($28 for 8.8 oz)

I gave this to my bestie because the smell is more to her taste than mine. I love Harvey Prince and his crazy concoctions. His Eau Flirt Pumpkin Lavender perfume was AMAZING and Yogini is a pretty wonderful scent as well. This just wasn't it... Cucumber mint is just not a good scent for me. It sounds like salad, I want it in my belly not on my skin.

Update and Birchbox

So obviously that 30 day challenge thing hasn't been happening. But I promise it's not my fault, Chris re-organized the office and my camera disappeared, right after the cord connecting it to my computer disappeared, which was the original reason I wasn't updating. This past weekend Chris and I went through the office together and found my camera. So! I'm going to add a BUNCH of stuff to this really soon. In the meantime (a little late) here is my review of last month's birch box.

August Birch Box

I've decided to just start doing these at the end of the month since for the past two months I haven't got my box till the 20th or so, and I like to have at least a week to test the products before I review them. The only hazard of this is that it's possible that there will be overlap between monthly favorites posts. We'll see... Now, on to the review!

BIrchbox July

Birchbox!

Oh man, my new Birchbox is probably waiting for me at home. I'm super excited about this one. It's got the Redken Shine Mist, an eyebrow pencil, Korres Shower Gel and Purity Facial Cleanser from Philosophy. I'll post some reviews once I try them out.

Also I'm going to go to Lush sometime this week and pick some stuff up. I'll do some reviews.

I know that I need do a tutorial, but I want to figure out a better way of formatting them. I don't want to do videos, mostly because I don't want to buy a video camera.

Oh! One last thing, I've been working my way through the BBC's Big Read List and I think I'm going to try and do some makeup looks based on the books. The one I'm working on right now is Stephan King's The Stand... so I'm not sure how that will work... Probably something dark and purple.