Skip to main content

Putting Some Positive Force Into My Life with my October 2015 Birchbox!

Birchbox yay! Not too bad of a box this month I have to say. Usually I have a lot of gripes about them, but I think 5 out of the 6 items (yes 6! I got a bonus this month) were really nice finds and I've already incorporated them into my beauty routine. So enough blabbering let's get to it!


Borghese Fango Purificante Clay Cleanser/Full-size $30
This gentle foaming formula deep cleans like a mask as it soothes skin.
I've never used a clay cleanser before, masks weekly, cleanser nope. I've always wanted to try Borghese, so this is the perfect sample for me. It comes in at 1 fl oz, which is your typical cleanser sample size, and I've been using it everyday since I got it! Which is odd because I typically just throw the cleansers I get from BB in a box of stuff I use for the gym or travel, I mean I didn't even use the Acure cleanser yet, sorry Acure. I was surprised that this was very liquidy, and it has a slight perfumey scent. Nothing overwhelming though and I think it does a really good job at cleansing. I feel very refreshed after using it, I would 100% recommend this cleanser. And for all of you non Birchbox members Borghese can be found at your local Kohls! Final Grade: A-

Davines LOVE Smoothing Shampoo/Full-size $25 (Bonus! LOVE Conditioner Packet/FS $29)
Enriched with olive oil and rice protein, this formula smooths frizzed-out and tangle-proned.
I love Davines! I believe I made that clear in my last post when I received their This Is a Sea Salt Spray (which I still haven't used). Love their products! I've only used the shampoo/conditioner once, so I can't say that its changed my life, but I think it did a good job at keeping the frizzies at bay. I'm also extremely satisfied with the size of their samples and that BB includes a bonus packet(s) so that you can try out a whole system or cleansing/conditioning combo. My only gripe is, what's with the bottle not being full?? Final Grade: B


Oscar de la Renta Flor Eau de Parfum/Full-size $20-78
Blossoming top notes of fresh-picked mango and lush neroli finish with a base of creamy musk.
I am totz changing the 6 months of fragrances preference on my beauty profile. This was so heavy and very unappealing to me. I like sexy scents that linger, not floral I'm having tea with granny scents. When I first sprayed it, the top note had a really great fruity scent, and then 2 minutes later that heavy floral/musk scent came out. It was rather suffocating, but if that's you're kind of fragrance then you'll love this. Final Grade: F

too cool for school Dinoplatz Highlighter/Full-size $33
This illuminating cream is formulated with tiny light-catching flecks to perfectly contour your face. 
My first K-Beauty product! Korean beauty trends/products are everywhere, so I'm sure more of these will be popping up in subscription boxes. Just like sea salt sprays I am drowning in both full-size and sample highlighters. I tried it out already and it does give a nice glow. I'm so happy that I got the baby pink clam color, because the other color would've been white with glitter. And those light-catching flecks they describe are pieces of glitter. I know because I had glitter left on my hand after I swatched. I don't feel like it lasted a long time on my skin and I have highlighters I've used and own that are much better. Final Grade: C-

SAMPLE CHOICE: W3LL PEOPLE Expresionist Mascara/Full-size $23.50
All-natural, pro-grade mascara that lifts and lengthens lashes without chemicals or dyes.
I think this mascara gave my lashes a nice amount of volume, nothing crazy, but I did enjoy it. I think because it defines so much that it looks better if you have a shadow on because the definition it gives you is rather natural and I personally liked it better when I had my eyes all done up, rather than just wearing it on its own. Another thing that bothered me about this mascara is that the formula is quite dry, so it makes this weird scratching sound against my lashes. It kinda weird's me out a bit, but I guess I could get over that. It's also all-natural, so if you are into organic or naturally sourced beauty products this would be for you. That is the main reason why I took this as my sample choice, and I'm overall happy with it. Final Grade: B-

A decent box for the month. I wasn't too pleased with the perfume, but that's my own fault for having that in my beauty profile. The sample choice spoiler for November isn't up yet, but you can look at what the curated box is. This month its curated by Tati from GlamLifeGuru! I absolutely love her on YouTube and I'm so excited for this box! I'll still wait and see and debate the sample choice against the curated box, but I'm pretty excited about the curated box. Oh and BB now has their own makeup line called LOC (Love of Color) and the first batch is curated by Tati herself! I'm so excited for this, words cannot even describe. That's all for now!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee or Another Disappointing Read

A Book that Came Out this Year: The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee Ugh what a downer. Usually I'll stop reading something if it doesn't grab me within the first 50 pages, and I didn't have to do that here because within the first 50 I was in. It was the middle 200 that really wasn't that great. The best way to describe The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee is to take Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner minus the breastfeeding and Mommy woes and add in an exotic local and kidnapping. Not that I don't love myself some Jenn Weiner, but I thought this was going to be 100% different. Damn you GMA, you pulled me in with a review and it was not like you said! Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, Margaret, once a happily married mother o...

The Pulitzer Prize Dilemma...

I've been having a hard time deciding on what to read in order to check off Pulitzer prize winner on my reading list. Originally I wanted to read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  After some further research, I read a lot of reviews that weren't very kind about Ms. Tartt's work. And they weren't professional reviews either, they were just ordinary reviewers on Goodreads, because the professional reviews that seemed to only fawn over this book. I'm conflicted. I fell like I should at least give The Goldfinch a try, but it's a really big book. I have some backups A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr . I've just finished the 4th book in The Selection Series, so now I can focus on this daunting task ahead of me. Any suggestions if this doesn't work out? I'm open to non-fiction winners as well! UPDATE: Okay so The Goldfinch definitely did not work out. I think I'm going to go with A ll the Lig...

Terrible True Stories

Two books I read in January were both non-fiction accounts that were informative, sad, and grotesquely interesting. The first being Gracia Burnham's In the Presence of My Enemies , a terrifying recount of Burnham & her husbands time being held captive by an Islamic military sect, Abu Sayyaf, based in the Philippines. The second non-fiction novel was Jerry Oppenheimer's Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty . I don't think it needs a one sentence summary because really we can all draw our own conclusions from that title. Photo Courtesy of Goodreads Quick Facts: Based on the true story of two American missionaries taken hostage in the Philippines. The Burnham's (Gracia & Martin) spent over a year in captivity. Rescue attempts along with the actual rescue were very botched resulting in the wounding of Gracia & the deaths of Martin, as well as one other remaining hostage.  Okay so that's not a lot of qu...