Product details and rating are below my Birchbox vs Ipsy August 2013 unboxing video:
Birchbox August 2013
Curly Hair Solutions™ Curl Keeper – no cones yay! A custom report with the cosmetics database returns a 4 which is ok but it would probably rank lower if they didn’t have synthetic fragrance which as an ingredient on it’s own is an unhealthy 8. As long as it doesn’t make my nose curl though I will be trying this one but I would encourage the company to consider going with natural fragrance sources or no fragrance. 
4/5 stars – docked one for fragrance
Whish Hair Inhibiting Deodorant Swipes – anything “hair inhibiting” creeps me out a little. And although this has a lot of natural ingredients, it also has a lot of questionable ingredients. One ingredient didn’t even register with EWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. which was Amino-esters. This one is one that although it doesn’t have a lot of the usual suspects when it comes to ingredients I avoid but it’s a 7 based on a custom report and fragrance isn’t the only ingredient that concerns me a little. Plus if it’s supposed to help inhibit hair growth, how are you going to be able to tell if that’s actually happening with one wipe? I think I’m going to pass on this one. 0/5 stars (creepy and toxic! in my opinion…)
Whish Exfoliating Body Wash in Coconut Milk – So this product is a winner in the quality ingredients category with the exception of about 4 ingredients. The overall score for a custom report was a 4 with the cosmetics database but the four ingredients that on their own rank a lot higher are: fragrance (again), geraniol (which is a natural fragrance but possible allergen … I’m not too concerned about this one personally), citral (which is a skin irritant … but it’s natural and I suspect they are using this as a natural preservative), limonene (again natural, again low on the list and I suspect used for preserving.) So overall other than the synthetic fragrance on this one this is a good one. I’m going to give it a try. 4/5 stars – docked one for fragrance
OC8® Professional Mattifying Gel – holy cow I’m actually excited about this one. No cones, no parabens, no fragrances, no other major nasties AND it ranks a 2 with the cosmetics database! AND mattifying products are something I’ve been casually looking for. Birchbox you are redeeming yourself with this one! 5/5 stars
CAILYN Cosmetics Gel Eyeliner – dimethicone is on the ingredient label. Here’s the thing though, on their website the ingredient list does not include dimethicone so I’m wondering if a) they haven’t updated their labels, b) this is an old batch of eyeliners c) well it’s possible they missed it in the ingredient list on their website. I sent them an email and I’m waiting to hear back. MEANWHILE there is a redeeming quality here – the brush lid that it comes with fits my Mica Beauty eyeliner jar! So I’m going to give the brush a try. Honestly these two look so similar that it makes me wonder (if the ingredients don’t actually include dimethicone) if Mica Beauty and Cailyn are using the same supplier. 3/5 stars Response from the company about the ingredients: “We are updating our website recently and the new ingredients hasn’t [sic] been updated yet in the ingredients section. I apology for the confusion. The ingredient label in the gel eyeliner label is the most updated one.”
Ann Taylor discount codes … so I’m going to treat this like the ipsy bag and not count it in the star rating because I do have to still spend money for this to be of benefit but I did just want to quickly mention it. 20% off one product or 30% off two or more products from Ann Taylor. Valid from August 12 – Sept 16 2013. I’m wondering if this can also be used with Ann Taylor Loft but it’s a nice little extra here since I like the brand. UPDATE: Nope, it doesn’t work on the Ann Taylor Loft site.
Ipsy August 2013:
Pixi Beauty Lash Booster Mascara in Blackest Black good looking set of ingredients, no dimethicone, no fragrances AND after checking out there website I found out it’s waterproof which I prefer. Waterproof mascara is one of the few times I will accept a slightly less healthy score since I have yet to find a natural AND waterproof mascara rolled into one. But I don’t have to sacrifice on this one because it’s score is only a 3 with a custom report on the ingredients. I will probably be doing a waterproof mascara review post sometime in the near future. 5/5 stars
Michael Todd Jojoba Charcoal Gentle Exfoliating Facial Scrub excellent list of ingredients. Michael Todd True Organics – I’ll have to do a little research and see how organic this brand is but this particular product has no dimethicone, no parabens, no synthetic fragrances, no other toxic ingredients. It’s a 3 on a custom cosmetics database report. I’m a big fan of facial scrubs so I’m really looking forward to this one. Stress and dimethicone have the biggest effect on worsening my breakouts but exfoliating either with a scrub or something like an exfoliating glove helps to keep breakouts at bay when stress and dimethicone aren’t playing a role. 5/5 stars
City Color Cheek Stain dimethicone and parabens and paraffin and synthetic wax – this one isn’t natural or as healthy for you. It’s only a 4 with the cosmetics database (keeping in mind one ingredient wasn’t found in the database) but because of the demethicone though I’m not going to be trying this one. 0/5 stars
noya Lip Balm excellent list of ingredients. I’ve already tried this one and it’s REALLY moisturizing. I’ve been leaning towards lip glosses more instead of chapstick types more lately though so I’m not sure how much use this will get. I’m going to throw it on the desk and see if I end up reaching for it. It’s a really good quality product though and rates a 1 with a custom report (natural flavor shows up as “flavor” and as such I think this is a real world zero for being healthy.) 5/5 stars
Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream LOVE this brand and with them I feel fairly certain (given their stance on fragrances and the fact that they started out as a natural fragrance company) that when the ingredients say “fragrance” they aren’t likely to mean synthetic. However this product has dimethicone in it so this product is ruled out for me. IF however you are looking for a BB Cream, I hear this one matches skin tones well and has a dewy shimmeryness to it so if that’s your cup of tea, you might want to give this a go. A custom report ends up getting it a 4 BUT it doesn’t distinguish that this company only uses natural sources for fragrance so I re-ran the report without “fragrance” and it gets a 2 which is more realistic for this product. For the box and how this product fits for me I give it 1/5 stars – I gave it a star because if it simply didn’t have dimethicone in it I would try it in a heartbeat.
August Birchbox 2013: 3.2/5 stars
August Ipsy 2013: 3.2/5 stars
We’re on pretty even ground for the two boxes this month and I’m really happy with the selection that I got from both Birchbox AND Ipsy this month. For only $10 per box I got a variety of products that I’m actually interested in trying and I’m introduced to several new brands I’ve never heard of before that I’m going to check out to see what else they carry. 🙂
Birchbox – all August products page: http://www.birchbox.com/shop/august-2013-box
Ipsy – other August products:
bareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow Broad Spectrum SPF 15 – holy cow, a BB cream with no dimethicone! YAY! Granted it’s eyeshadow instead of a foundation but I’m still excited. No fragrance or parabens etc. Ranks a healthy 2 with the cosmetics database. (ps: I have checked and the bareminerals foundation style bb cream has cones. As mentioned in the past, this might be a personal allergy but cones cause my skin to break out.) So the only negative here with the eyeshadow BB cream is that I can’t seem to find a shade name on what I received! I THINK I got the “Divine Wine” but since all of the shared are neutral and very similar it’s hard to tell (as I know print runs are not always perfectly accurate as well.) There’s a chance that I received Barely Nude as ipsy says “ipsy subscribers who receive this product will receive shades Divine Wine or Barely Nude.”
Befine Food Skin Care Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15 – another one I’m excited to try. Super healthy ingredients – so healthy it actually ranks a zero. Yay!
Hang Ten Dark Tanning Oil SPF 08 – no cones and again with the healthy ingredients! (Really hope we continue to see more brands using healthier ingredients!) But it does rank a 5 with with cosmetics database because of the OCTINOXATE and a couple of other ingredients (flavor? why does this need flavor? Or was the flavor for scent?) Octinoxate is NOT one of the top suncreen ingredients to avoid though. % could be worse but could be better when it comes to sunscreens. Check back to my previous article on sunscreens that includes the top ingredients to avoid: http://clothingcult.com/2013/05/19/find-a-healthier-natural-spf-sunscreen/ And EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. has a specific page to help you find healthy sunscreens here: http://www.ewg.org/2014sunscreen/
Pixi Beauty Mini Tinted Brilliance Balm in Unique Pink – no cones, no fragrance, no parabens. I’ve been really happy with about half of the pixi beauty products I have. Most wear really well but some shades are just really weird when applied which is the only reason I’m half and half on this company. I can’t remember which product looked chalky on me but one did. HOWEVER I have been regularly using the pixi pink lip balm I received in the May Birchbox which actually came as a surprise to me since usually I grab lip glosses over anything that’s a balm or lipstick. “unique pink” is a “pH reactive pink” but it seems to just be clear on me. Not sure if that’s just me or not. The cosmetics database ranks this as a 6. Mostly for the vitamin A and the limonen which are ingredients that don’t worry me as much personally. So although this ranks higher than I normally would go, I’m still willing to give it a try.
Fragrance added (likely synthetic), no cones, could be healthier but not bad. This 
Pretty good here. None of the usual nasties. No fragrances etc. This ranks a 
