February 2013 Birchbox Review+Swatches

 I wasn't expecting anything this Saturday, I got my Birchbox tracking on Thursday and it said I would get my box by Monday. Surprise! Got it on Saturday, yay!! I was super excited, because I had absolutely no clue what I was getting this month and I wasn't expecting my box till Monday. If I say it made my day I would lie, it could have done it, but some event ruined my weekend...sometimes people can be just mean... Anyways, my blog is my get away, from this kind of people, that shall not be mentioned and do not deserve to be mentioned either. Everything is make up and prettiness here!

*sigh* Award seasons, it's the season to drool over those gorgeous gowns and throw up over those bad decisions! 

That doesn't look TOO exciting yet.

My first impression of this box wasn't the best.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares Milk Chocolate with Caramel Filling: $0.42, I don't think it's even worth it to count the value, but oh well. Full size bag has 10 chocolates I think for $4.25. This chocolate is super tasty, the caramel is a little bit salty, which makes it awesome. But if I want chocolate I can go to a store and get some. I will be able to review this and get points for it, but I would have liked to get something else instead of chocolate. I get it, Birchbox also sends lifestyle items, but food? Meh. I have Love with Food for that(last month too). 

theBalm Cosmetics - Mary-Lou Manizer(1g/0.035oz): $2.82, full size is 8.5g/0.3 oz and goes for $24. I've been dying to try this for the longest time, so much I actually traded for it. Luckily I haven't gotten my trade yet, so I will just trade it. This is a highlighter with gorgeous golden-ish shimmer. It's really pretty, I used it under my eyes, on the bridge of my nose, on my cupid's bow and on my brow bone today, oh and I also used it as my eyeshadow. It's gorgeous, I love it and I'm so glad I got it.

Swatch:

Blended- on the left and swatched- on the right.

Curly Hair Solutions - RevUP Volumist:$9.75 this product is full size, however, it comes in a set of 2 products that goes for $19.50. This is supposed to add volume and definition to your curls. My hair is more wavy than it is curly, but sometimes specially the first day after washing it, it gets really curly and I don't like that! So, I tried this out and my hair was not freshly washed at all. The results? Voluminous waves! Yup, waves! Gorgeous waves too, I'm pretty pleased, this made my hair feel a bit dry, but it didn't look dry at all. It actually looked shiny and pretty! They advise to spray it on dry or wet hair and scrunch or squeeze the hair after. I scrunched it and thought I would get a bunch of frizz. No frizz at all! Yay! My waves were definitely bouncy and just gorgeous. I really liked this and thought I would just trade it away, but decided to try it after.

Dr. Jart+ - Black Label Detox BB(3ml/.1floz): $2.16, full size is 50ml and goes for $36. When I first got this, I was like: meh. I have my Missha BB cream that I love and that one is really good. I swatched this on my hand and it was super pink. I have yellow undertones, so pink is not good for me. I was set to trade this, but I decided to give it a try and applied it with my Beauty Blender. When it set on my skin, it was the perfect shade! The tube itself is almost empty, like you have to squeeze it to the end to get some product. Even if this is a "deluxe sized" container, the sample is a foil pack sample size. Either way, I really liked this BB cream and I was matte for most of the day. I decided not to use any setting powder just to test out the "matte" powers and it didn't let me down. It doesn't have a lot of coverage though, but there is a decent amount.

Juicy Couture - Couture La La(.05floz/1.5ml): $1.35, full size is 3.4oz/100ml and goes for $90. I'm not usually a fan of perfume samples or Juicy Couture perfumes at all. However, this one is not bad, I don't mind it. It's not gonna become my HG perfume, but it smells OK. So, I'm not too disappointed in a perfume sample for once.

Value and review:

 The value of my box for this month was: $16.5. That's not bad, at least it covers for the price of the box itself. 

First impression of the box:

-Oh no, I traded for the Mary Lou Manizer, now I'll have two!

-Chocolate? I can buy chocolate anywhere -.-'

-Adding volume to my curls? I hate my curls -.-'

-Pink BB cream? I hate looking pink!! -.-'

-Juicy Couture perfume? Ewww! They all give me a headache!

 Those were my impressions before trying everything out. I decided to give stuff a chance and there's not a single thing in this box I didn't like! Except getting chocolate, I liked the chocolate, I didn't like getting chocolate much, but that's OK since that's part of Birchbox, I guess. The point of these subscriptions is to introduce us to new stuff, right? So, I guess Birchbox did their part this month, because they did in fact introduce me to stuff I wouldn't have tried by myself. And I actually ended up liking a lot of the things I got!

 Even if the value is not the highest, I'm happy with my Birchbox this month! And I'm glad I got to try out new things and somewhat get out of my comfort zone :) I'm really pleased and satisfied with Birchbox.

 If you want to try out and sample new products, Birchbox is definitely the way to go, don't expect getting full sized products, because that doesn't happen to often. But their point system is amazing! So at least you get something besides getting the box every month.

 If you want to subscribe to Birchbox, you can click here. Or copy and paste this link onto your navigation bar: https://www.birchbox.com?raf=58jbc

Disclaimer: I purchased this with my own money, and this is my own personal opinion :) Link is a referral link.