November Birchbox Unboxing and Review

Hello there,

I continue to be absolutely swamped at work, with barely any time to sleep, much less time to blog.  But I thought I'd take a break and put together a quick one about my November Birchbox just because I loved it and want to share (even though I'm about 100 posts behind...) So you'll have to excuse the lack of good pictures, which tends to delay my reviews because I never have time to set up the whole thing.  So without further ado, here's my November box:

For those of you who aren't aware, Birchbox is an awesome service that costs $10 a month, and you get a fun monthly box of beauty products to sample delivered to your door.  If you review each of the things you get to try (usually 4-5), you get $1 in credit for each review to use in their store, making the net cost of the box about $5-6.  You can check it out here if you're interested (if you sign up through the link, we each get an extra 50 points, or $5).

Anyway, the first product in the box is the amika Nourishing Mask (20 ml, $4 value).  This is a paraben-free treatment that conditions and repairs hair with superfruit sea buckthorn berry.  I'll be honest, I have no idea what sea buckthorn berry does, but I actually already have and use this regularly, and I can say that I'm a fan because it smells nice and makes my hair soft.  Although the directions on the card say to use this once a week and to leave it on for 5-10 minutes, you can (and I do) use this more regularly, and I don't have any issues with build up.  Anyway, glad to have a convenient travel size!










The second product is the derma e Evenly Radiant Brightening Cleanser (1 oz, approximately $2.60 value).  This face wash contains green tea and vitamins B3 and C, among other things, and is supposed to help brighten skin.  It's also pH balanced so it shouldn't dry out your skin, leaving it in worse shape long term than it started. I was just running out of my cleanser, and am always looking for products to brighten my complexion, so I'm excited to try this out.

The next sample is of Harvey Prince's Petaly Noir, a new "lush floral scent that evokes a midnight stroll among blossoming orchids."  According to Birchbox, this has notes of jasmine, orchid, lily of the valley and vanilla.  I love Harvey Prince (my go-to perfumes are by HP) despite a somewhat strange interaction with the president/CEO (I can't remember which), so I was excited to try this.  Unfortunately this is just way too heavy and musky for me, as I prefer light, sweet scents (admittedly, I am ok with smelling like a 15 year old girl.)













The next item is the Royal Apothic Cuppa Cuppa Firming Tea Treatment Mask (.33 oz, $9 value - full size is made up of 6 of these tubes).  This was the sample I picked out this month (Birchbox lets you choose one of your samples out of a selection. The other choices this month were a body wash, a facial peel that I've already tried, and the amika mask, which I incidentally got anyway).  Being that I love masks, and I love tea (especially as a cosmetic ingredient - how could tea ever be bad for my skin?), I couldn't say no to this, so I'm super excited to try it!  This is made with anti-oxidant rich tea and is supposed to firm and brighten skin.  I don't need any firming yet, but I'll take all the brightening I can get.

The next product is the theBalm cosmetics Cindy-Lou Manizer (.57 grams, $1.6 but honestly a fantastic sample size - this will literally last me months, at the very least).  I love theBalm products so was thrilled to get this one to try.  Their packaging is always super cute and their products (so far) are reliable and good quality.  I haven't really figured out how to use highlighter yet, but this is a pretty pink or peach/gold highlighter that I am more than happy to experiment with, and after brushing some on my cheekbones, I can at least say it's not too shimmery or sparkly that I have to be careful about application.  It would probably show up better on someone with slightly darker skin than me, but I thought it did give a nice glow!

The final item in the box is a bonus and not a beauty sample, but I am certainly not complaining.  It's a piece of Vosges' Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt Caramel 70% cacao dark chocolate ($20 for a box of 12 chocolates, with three delicious sounding flavors of caramel).  Not much to say here - I know some people don't like getting food in their boxes, but feel free to throw chocolate my way any day.  Throw in some burnt sugar caramel and sea salt?  YES PLEASE (speaking of which, I just got a copy of Amy Poehler's Yes Please, courtesy of Birchbloggers and the Birchbox book of the month club, which I am super excited to read!)

Anyway, that's my November Birchbox for you - overall I thought it was a very successful month.  Hope everyone else enjoyed their boxes as much as I did!

September Birchbox Review

It's been a busy few weeks, so this is a little late, (ok maybe more than a little late, given that it's October...) but better late than never!  At this point I'm sure no one is really interested in unboxings so I'll just get straight to the point! September was Birchbox's anniversary (see my post about their Customer Appreciation Day) which was the occasion for the extra special boxes (literally, the box itself).

But I know what really matters is what's on the inside (or so I'm told), so I suppose I'll share that too:

From left to right:
1.  Macadamia Professional Healing Oil Spray (at 2 oz., this extremely generous "sample" (generous for a hair oil, at least) is actually sold as a standalone product for $14.5 so if nothing else I certainly got my money's worth, given that a Birchbox costs $10 and you get $4-5 back in points!)  This is supposed to be like a hair oil lite.  In spray form it's much easier to distribute evenly, and the risk of instantly taking your hair from freshly washed to oily mess is much smaller.  It's also supposed to reduce frizz, boost shine, and protect your hair against UV rays.  I think it's a nice spray, and it did seem to make my hair a bit softer.  I thankfully don't really suffer from frizz, and I rarely notice any difference in shine (no matter what I use), so I can't really speak as to those qualities.  I won't even try to get into how well it protected my hair from the sun.  In any case, my hair felt pretty nice, but I already have other products I love too much and make my hair crazy soft that it's hard to compete.  Also, for some reason the smell of the Macadamia Oil spray reminds me of summer camp.  Mind you, it has been quite some time since I was anywhere near a camp-attending age.  But it's a sweet, earthy smell, which smells nice (but not as nice as my trusty Beauty Protector).

2.  Moving on, this month's box also contained the Acure Organics Day Dream - Gotu Kola Stem Cell + 1% Chlorella Growth Factor (1 oz., which is apparently worth about $10 because the $19 full size is only 1.75 oz?)  Anyway, this highly scientifically-sounding anti-aging moisturizer is supposed protect collagen and elastin fibers, which keep skin elastic and firm.  Obviously, this is due to the chlorella growth factor ("CGF") (everyone knew that, right?).  Research indicates that CGF promotes the rapid growth of chlorella (during which each cell multiplies into four new cells every 20 hours - this is faster than any other plant on Earth. That's a lot of new cells.)  It's also been shown to enhance RNA/DNA functions responsible for producing protein, enzymes and energy, stimulating tissue repair and providing protection against certain toxins (source).  So if you're going for anti-aging, this sounds like a decent bet.  But wait, there's more!  The day cream also has gotu kola stem cells, and gotu kola has been used for thousands of years to treat wounds and conditions including psoriasis.  The wound healing properties come from something called triterpanoid which some studies have suggested strengthens skin, boosts antioxidants in wounds and increases blood flow to the area (source - it's a .edu link therefore must be legit).  So overall, sounds pretty great, no?  Well, looking at the ingredients list, there seem to be a whole lot of things that come before either the gotu kola or the CGF (the CGF in particular is almost at the end of the list).  But I can't honestly say I can fairly interpret that - just pointing it out.  As for my experience, this moisturizer has a citrus-y scent but for some reason I don't love it, though I can't pinpoint the reason.  It actually seems to be keeping my oiliness at bay a bit, which I love, but for some reason I'm just not loving the product.  The texture is fine, though not as soothing or refreshing as some other moisturizers.  It works fine with my makeup, as well - no balling up, which I often get.  So why don't I like this?  It's kind of irrational, really, but I think the not-so-refreshing scent, the fact that it just feels ok when I put it on, and the packaging will prevent me from really getting into this.  It's kind of silly, but the packaging just reminds me of a random drug store product.  It doesn't scream "groundbreaking skincare developed by actual scientists" but it also doesn't look especially nice.  So who knows, maybe that's making me biased, but oh well.

Anyway, the third (and fourth) products are the Ruffian Nail Lacquer in Ruffian Naked  and the Ruffian Acetone-Free Dressing Room Perfumed Nail Lacquer Remover Towelette (that name needs to be cut down).  I really like nude nails for work, so I was excited about this one, but I'm feeling kind of meh about it overall.  The hue isn't great for my skintone, and as you can see the formula ended up kind of uneven, so sadly this will have to get used by someone else.  I haven't tried the nail polish remover wipe, which I hear is black, has vitamin E and has a lily scent, but I can't imagine having anything revolutionary to say about it anyway.

5.  Next up is the TEMPTU S/B Highlighter in Champagne Shimmer.  In case you're not knowledgeable about these things (like me), S/B means silicone based, which gives it a nice, smooth texture.  That being said, this is called a highlighter, but given the shade, it would be more appropriately called a bronzer ,at least for me.  I put a bit on my cheeks one day and it seriously made me look more tan (and I mean darker, not just a nice glow).  I wear blush every day but with this on, there was no room for blush.  So I think the name is a bit misleading, but otherwise it's a fine product, except that I don't really use highlighter or bronzer.  I do like the texture though.

Do I look like a highlighter to you?

The final product I got to try this month was the dr. brandt pores no more vacuum cleaner (and I will respect dr. brandt's apparent disdain for proper capitalization).  This is described as a "blackhead extractor mask" that degunks pores for fewer blackheads and smoother skin. It's a light blue gel that turns into a pale blue, crumbly substance when it dries.  After rinsing, I really so no difference in my pores, but I have noticed that if I use a pore strip immediately after, it seems to get out much more gunk than usual, so I think it does help to loosen stuff up, even if it doesn't actually remove anything on its own.  So I do like it for that.  Unfortunately it also seems mildly irritating, at least to the inner corners where my nose and cheek meet (unfortunately also where I get the most gunky stuff).  This may be because the second ingredient is benzyl alcohol, which is a preservative, a solvent (i.e., it dissolves stuff) and the main ingredient in head lice treatment and above all, a potential skin irritant (see here and here).  Or it could be the fifth ingredient, denatured alcohol (i.e., ethanol) or the sixth ingredient, methyl lactate, which is probably responsible for the cooling effect the gel has, since it's a derivative of menthol, but is also classified as a skin irritant (source).  One morning when I used this + a pore strip, the edges of my nose were slightly raw feeling all day.  Nothing painful or even that bad, but still mildly uncomfortable.  So while it does seem to be effective, I probably won't continue using it (or at least, I'll only put it on tougher spots on my face).

Oh and one last thing - Birchbox has a system where each month (for the past few months, at least) you can choose one of your samples out of a select group.  This month, I chose the Davines Oi Conditioner, which came with the Oi Shampoo and Oi Absolute Beautifying Potion, but was very sad when I got my box and that wasn't included.  (Instead, I got the Macadamia Oil, which was another one of the options).  But, I emailed Birchbox about it (they have great customer service, by the way) and they promptly sent me the Davines samples separately.  Unfortunately I rushed too quickly to try them that I forgot to take a picture, but the conditioner was a big, generously sized tub, while they included only a foil packet of the shampoo.  Technically the conditioner was the sample and the shampoo and oil were just bonuses, but come on, why would you give someone one use of shampoo to go with their 15 uses of conditioner??  But I digress.  Overall, using the combination of the three products worked well for my hair, and it made it very soft and light.  Unfortunately, I really don't like the smell - it reminds me a bit of baby powder, which some people are fine with, but it's just not up my alley.  So that's kind of a bummer.  But even if I won't be using the shampoo/conditioner, the Davies Oi Absolute Beautifying Potion seems to make my hair super soft and the scent is pretty faint and doesn't linger, so I may consider buying the full size, but we'll see.

Anyway, that's my September Birchbox for you.  In my opinion, totally worth my $4 (since I got $6 back in points for reviewing each of these on the Birchbox website).  Now, onto October's box!

Birchbox Customer Appreciation Day

Inside the Birchbox store

Yesterday, in honor of its fourth anniversary, Birchbox held its first Customer Appreciation Day.  What does that mean, you ask?  It was actually pretty sweet.  Birchbox made in-person deliveries across the country to people who were "nominated" (i.e. entered into the contest).  I sadly was not one of the lucky recipients, but judging from their Facebook pictures, it looks like Birchbox showed up to deliver tote bags (not sure what, if anything, was inside), flowers and balloons, which I think is super sweet.  They also notified a bunch of people that they would be receiving Birchbox treats in the mail - yet again, I was not one of the lucky ones.  Thankfully, for those of us who were not lucky enough to get treats delivered to us but who are lucky enough to live in or near NYC, anyone who stopped into the Birchbox Soho store got to put together a free Birchbox to take home.  How could I say no to that?

BYOB: Build Your Own Birchbox!

So I pushed out of my mind the fact that I would have to be late to work (the store doesn't normally open until 10:00 am, and today they didn't let people in until around 10:15 am) and made my way over to Soho, and thought I'd share a bit of it with you guys who couldn't make it.

This was the first time I've made it to th Borchbox store, but it's really nice! It's a very clean, modern looking space and they had it decorated with balloons and gold confetti on the floor.

There are little stations with vanity mirrors in the middle where products are laid out to try, and then there are also products lining the walls and organized by category and need, like this skincare wall which has a section for oily and acne prone skin, among others.

Sadly since I was already late for work I didn't really get to stick around and explore the offerings, so I made a beeline for the build your own Birchbox station (as did everyone else).

So many Birchboxes!

The first thing you do here is pick your box color, then you get to the really fun part - picking your samples! One rule, though, you're only allowed to pick one thing from each category (I think the categories were body, face (skincare), hair, fragrance and makeup).  Sometimes I think Birchbox forgets it's own rule when curating our boxes - ahem. But I digress.  Sadly the selection and process were not nearly as extensive as it was when I went to their NYFW pop up shop, but I guess I shouldn't be.  Rather than just browsing and picking out your samples out of giant, candy-store tubes lining the walls, you just move down the line of cases that display the sample choices, and an employee fills your box with your choice in each category. There were roughly 3-5 choices for each one, which basically like your typical pick-your-own-sample, but for your entire box!  Unfortunately a lot of the samples offers I had already tried or wasn't interested in, but I still found a few I'm excited about and they change every month so the options will always be different.

What I ended up choosing:

Body: Color Club nail polish in Peace, Love and Polish. I don't know why but I am seriously loving this polish right now.  Not usually into bright hot pink nails, but  this one is not only a great shade of pink (which would look great with a tan, btw) but it has a gorgeous gold sheen that makes it 100x more appealing to me. In the picture below, you can't really see it on my nails because I put a coat of Sephora/OPI's It's Real 18K Gold on top, but you can see the sheen in the bottle. So pretty!

Other options: I think there was a Whish body scrub, but I can't remember anything else... 

Face: I chose the Supergoop Advanced Anti-Aging Eye Cream with SPF 37. I've never noticed any difference from using eye cream (I don't yet have wrinkles or dark circles) but I try to use it on the off chance it may actually be effective in preventing wrinkles. But since I don't see any immediate effects I have no real way to distinguish between eye creams, so one easy way for me is to get eye creams with SPF, which is rarer than it should be! I figure no matter what, it has to be good to protect that delicate skin from the sun, right? 

Other options: Suki exfoliating foaming cleanser, a Marcelle 8-in-1 serum (I think) and I can't remember what else.

Fragrance: they had about four fragrances (of which I only remember two - Harvey Prince Ageless, which I chose, and Folle de Jolie, which I've already gotten in my Birchcbox). They had tester strips for each fragrance so you could smell it before choosing, which is nice, though they only had one of each that was reused. While this is economical and makes sense as long as you can still smell it, some people might want one that hasn't been held up to other people's noses all day. I didn't care though. 

Hair: Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment. While I just got the spray version of this in this month's Birchbox (and since I rarely use leave in hair products I have way more than I need), the other two options were a curl cream (I have straight hair) and Fekkai's glossing shampoo and conditioner (good sizes! They were bottles and not foil packets) which I have tried and don't love. And the Macadamia oil spray has seemed nice so far, so I'm ok with having another formulation of it.

Makeup: this one was kind of a bust for me. I chose the Laura Geller GlamLASH Dramatic Volumizing Mascara (which is .2 oz, almost 3/4 of the full size!) even though I'm up to my ears in mascara and I rarely use it, because the other options were the Cynthia Rowley eyeliner in silver (which I already have two of, thanks to Birchbox), the Manna Kadar sheer glo shimmer lotion (which I also have two of, thanks to Birchbox), the Anastasia clear brow gel (which I have at least one of from Birchbox) and I think there was one other option but I can't remember what it was. 

All in all, not as thrilling as the NYFW box I made (with the amazing variety of samples there, it was impossible to choose just five of the ones I wanted to try) but it's still definitely nice to be able to pick your own samples. (And let's not forget that Birchbox was giving these away for free, so I really have nothing to complain about!)  One thing I do wish they retained from NYFW is a card that describes all the possible samples and includes brief instructions on how to use it, and the employee helping you can check off the ones you chose.  Not that I need instructions for these particular products, but it would be helpful in general. 

That's pretty much it, aside from the cute bag they put the box in (though walking into work with a bright pink bag that says BYOB at 11 am is maybe not ideal) and the jars of delicious candy they had out.  It was a total coincidence that I only got pink candy! 

Anyway, I thought it was a nice event and certainly wouldn't mind if they did this every year! Happy anniversary Birchbox!

July 2014 Birchbox Unboxing

and now for something completely different!

today i received my july birchbox, something i have not yet reviewed.  birchbox was my intro to beauty subscription boxes, and is so far the only one i have stuck with the entire time.  while i get tired and bored of others, something about birchbox just keeps me coming back for more.  perhaps it's the fact that it's only $10 a month, compared to other subscriptions that can be a bit pricier.  or perhaps it's the fact that i generally find myself getting to try a decently wide variety of products with birchbox, and despite the fact that everyone loves getting full sizes, it's actually kind of a relief that you can only fit so much in a birchbox that it can't add too much to my ever-growing hoard of unused products.  or perhaps, and most likely, i LOVE the point system.  basically, you get 4-5 products (sometimes more) every month, and you get 10 points, equivalent to $1 credit in the birchbox shop.  so as long as i do these super quick and easy reviews (really just ratings), i get to enjoy a fun surprise every month, try new beauty products constantly, and ultimately it only costs me about $5 a month.  pretty freakin' awesome if i do say so myself.  on top of which, the point system incentivizes me to actually use the products every month so i can get my points, whereas i have to admit that with other boxes, i sometimes excitedly collect my new products, then shelve them away for the "right time" to use them, only to forget about them while they clutter up my room.

anyways, onto the july box! this month since i got my box before the 10th, i managed to go spoiler free, which hasn't happened in a long time.  it reminded me how fun it is to be totally surprised.  note to self: stop checking spoilers already... in fact, this month birchbox let us choose one sample (or rather, we could choose between two samples, and then choose the color of whichever we picked).  i, however, being careless with my emails, apparently deleted that email without even looking at it, so i didn't even know which one of those i'd be getting.  in any case, here's the box:

from left to right (clockwise) we have:

1.  Cynthia Rowley Beauty Creamy Lip Stain in Valentine (full size is $20)

this is one samples we could have chosen - it was between the lip stain (two colors) and the Ruffian nail polish (three colors).  at first i wanted the nail polish since i don't use lip stains often, but i'm intrigued by the texture of this. it's creamier than other, gel or liquid based lip stains of tried (benefit and theBalm, in particular).  perhaps because of the texture, it doesn't dry as fast as the benetints which makes it easier to blend, and it also seems less drying.

 apologies for the lighting - i work late hours and rarely have natural light for my photos, so the lip stain is pinker than it appears in these pictures.  this is birchbox's representation of the color, although honestly i think it's more true pink and less orange than that picture looks too.  in any case, it's a fun summer color that's not too bright but can undoubtedly be layered on for even more color, and in an initial swatch on my lips, it does seem less drying than other lip stains, although as someone who is dependent on lip balm, i would definitely layer some balm over this for additional comfort.

as you can see it blends pretty far without leaving stain lines, which i'm pleased with! also the more you blend the more sheer it is, so you can see i blended this a decent amount beyond the initial application and it's still definitely noticeable, but you could easily build up more color with no trouble.

2.  Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel ($48 for full size)

i've gotten a whole lot of peels like this in various subscription boxes over the years - thin gels that instantly start pilling on your skin, claiming that the pilling is your dead skin cells coming off - and this one seems pretty much like the others.  i've always been wary of these, since i read that it's just a chemical reaction in the gel making it ball up on itself. i'm no scientist so i won't make any claims one way or the other.  these types of exfoliants/peels do generally leave my face a bit smoother/softer/less flaky, though how much of it is due to the chemical exfoliation and how much of it is due to the fact that i'm massaging little beads of something around my face for 2 minutes, i don't know. that being said, this did help get rid of some minor flakiness.  however, it also gave me a very mild sensation (i don't want to say burning since it didn't burn, but it was like 5 steps down from burning), so if you have sensitive skin, maybe test this on a small patch first.  final verdict - i will continue to use this up (though there isn't really that much in there, considering they tell you to use a quarter sized amount) but don't think i'll be shelling out $48 for it anytime soon.

3.  NAOBAY Body Radiance Lotion (full size is $24)

to be perfectly honest, i'm always pretty unimpressed and unexcited about getting body lotion in subscription boxes.  i rarely need body lotion on anything but my hands, and even then, i'm rarely impressed with lotion. best case, it gets the job done. worst case, it's too greasy, too watery, too powdery, or smells funky.  so i don't have much to say about this one.  the description says it has olive oil and avocado to naturally hydrate and soften the skin.  this one isn't thick and greasy, which i like, but it's also nothing special for me.  it doesn't seem more hydrating than other lotions i've tried, and i'm not a huge fan of the smell.  it's not bad per se (unless i stick my hand right under my nose, in which case i don't really like it at all. it's not really sweet or floral. i'm not sure it smells like avocado or olive oil either, but it does lean more to the savory side of scents, if that makes any sense...).  it doesn't seem to extend far though - i can only smell it when i press my hand right up against my nose.  ultimately, not a win for me, but that's ok.  lotions never are.

4.  Ofra Universal Eyebrow Pencil (full size! $13)

even if i got no points for this box, this pencil would make up for the entire price of the box, so everything else is basically a freebie (or sweet gwp).  that being said, i have to admit i wasn't giddy with excitement over seeing an eyebrow pencil, since i rarely do anything to my eyebrows besides pluck them, but i actually really like this. the shade is supposedly "universally flattering" (see pic below - it almost looks a little greenish on my screen, but rest assured it's brown).  i can't say if that's true or not, but it definitely worked well with my eyebrows (which are very dark brown).  it went on smoothly and is apparently waterproof, which i guess is good next time i want to go swimming with well defined brows... it says to gently smudge with a small brush, which i feel like kind of defeats the purpose of having a convenient pencil (at least for someone who doesn't really have a real brush set or carry around brushes).  thankfully i discovered it works just as well to just smudge it a bit with my finger (and somehow my finger even came away pretty clean!) minimal effort, and my brows actually looked much improved, to my surprise.  given how easy it was and the difference it made, i will probably continue using this regularly (hooray for it being full sized!)

UPDATE: as requested, i've uploaded a photo of my brows with and without the Ofra pencil. the picture on the top is my untouched brows, and the picture on the bottom is with a few swipes of the pencil blended (not very well.. i may have been late to work) by finger.  still looks completely natural, but more defined and less haphazard.  i'm also about as far from being an expert as you could get so it would probably look better in the hands of someone more experienced :)

5.  100% Pure honey cream wash gingerade Shower Gel (full size is $15)

last but not least, we have our "beauty extra" (i.e. what is supposed to be an extra that doesn't count as one of your 4-5 samples).  sometimes these are a bit different than the other samples (e.g. we've gotten pens, drugstore finds, notecards, etc.). this one is pretty in line with normal birchbox samples (i've gotten tons of body washes, and another month i got two identically sized packets of lotion).  body wash is another thing i really do not get excited about.  if it cleans me and doesn't dry or break me out (which is true for basically every body wash i've ever tried) and doesn't smell bad, it's fine with me.  i don't get a kick out of using fancier or nicer body washes.  that being said, "honey cream gingerade" sounds like it could be delicious! i'm not even taking a shower until tomorrow morning but i couldn't resist tearing this open just a tad to see how it smells.  verdict - it smells pretty good.  nothing mindblowing that would make me buy it, but pretty good.  it also looks slightly liquidy for shower gel, but i'll get a better sense of that when i actually use it.

UPDATE: ok, this shower gel is in fact super liquidy.  the information card describes it as a "richly foaming cleanser" and tells you to use sparingly.  that is about as far off from my experience as you could get.  first, i put it onto a spongy-type loofah thing i use, and it basically disappeared.  it soaked right in and i basically felt like i was scratching myself.  there was no lather whatsoever.  so then i used the second packet (i.e. not sparingly) with my hands, and that gave me no lather either, so i basically spread it around until it washed away.  on top of that, the smell? eh.  nothing special.

anyway, that's my july birchbox for you!  if you have any desire to try out birchbox, you can sign up here (warning: referral link). you won't regret it!