unboxing

June 11, 2014

Birchbox unboxing June 2014

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Makeup / Cosmetics, Subscription boxes

Benefit Cosmetics – Benefit They’re Real! Mascara: no cones but not waterproof and I’m not a huge fan of the brush type. I can’t ever seem to get the spiky ones to work as well as the brush type wands. It ranks a 4 with the cosmetics database which is ok though.

Cynthia Rowley Beauty Creamy Lip Stain in Valentine: cones rule this out for me which is too bad because it’s a cute shade AND it’s a healthy 2 with the skin deep cosmetics database. So healthy and cute but I can’t use it personally.

English Laundry Signature for Her: no no no. Not only is it a synthetic fragrance but it has even more unhealthy ingredients beyond that. On the plus side though this one came in a sealed pouch so it didn’t kill me when I opened the box so that part’s good. It ranks an unhealthy 7.

Evologie Stay Clear Cleanser: looks good. It’s ok. I’ve used it for about three days now. Not a miracle worker but seems pretty good. Not too harsh which is one of the problems with many of the acne focused cleansers. It has not caused any problems and I do wonder if it would have better results over time because it’s not harsh. If you want a soap style cleanser this seems like a good choice. It’s going to be tough for anything to beat the Liz Earle hot wash cleanser though. This ranks a decently healthy 3 with the skin deep cosmetics database.

Number 4™ Super Comb Prep & Protect cones rules this out for me. If they hadn’t added fragrance though it would be pretty healthy too – it ranks a 3 as well.

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February 18, 2014

Birchbox February 2014 unboxing

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

First lets start with what you can see in these photos – this is the first time I’ve had something leak in one of my Birchboxes. When I posted this on instagram I was told to contact in**@bi******.com which I did and since I told them I hadn’t wanted to try the hair oil and nothing else was ruined they gave me some birchbox points for the trouble.

I didn’t take any additional product photos after opening this month’s box and I threw out the hair oil bottle and the packaging so let’s move on to what was inside. 🙂

COOLA Tinted Matte SPF 30 for Face – cones rule it out for me (allergy / breakouts.) I think I swatched this on my hand with a sample I received in the past though and wasn’t thrilled. I’m never thrilled with tinted moisturizers though. Love the Coola sunscreen though and I can highly recommend that!! This tinted matte moisturizing sunscreen rates a 3 with the cosmetic database. (reminder: lower is better with 0 being best and 10 being worst with regards to being healthy.)

Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish in Kitten Heels – is this 3 free? I need to do a bit more research (tiny print.) Love the brightness of the shade indoors. We’ll see how this wears.

Smashbox Cosmetics Full Exposure Mascara – have to call. Not waterproof so not worth it for me. Not going to do the cosmetics database report on this one either.

Beauty Protector Protect & Oil – cones rule it out for me. Rates a 6 with the cosmetics database so even without the cones it’s a bit too high.

Smashbox Cosmetics Full Exposure Palette – Most of these don’t have cones but there are one or two shades that have cones in them. Also I’m half and half on this “card” style sample. There’s enough to try but not enough to play with. I can maybe do swatches on my arm ONCE and ONCE on my eyes and that’s it. Yes, retail it would be $49 for the full palette so I get why they couldn’t give us the full palette but this paper card seems a bit of a cop out – like something you might see for free in a magazine. Colors are good but I don’t think I’m impressed enough to buy the full set. The ingredients are long and listed out on the back of the card (and nowhere online) so I’ll have to come back to running a cosmetics database report on these.

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April 20, 2013

Birchbox April 2013 Unboxing & Reviews

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

In my Birchbox for April 2013:

Caudalie Divine Oil – “Fragrance“… otherwise the ingredients are good. I’ll have to try this for a day to see if I react to it. They have an excellent ethics policy on their website so I decided to check further and see if there was any chance that the “fragrance” was from essential oils – nope. Too bad. This is what their website says at the bottom of their FAQ page “What is the origin (natural or synthetic) of your fragrances? We prefer synthetic molecules for our face care products and Fresh Fragrances to prevent the risk of sensitization. Essential oils are indeed known for their photosensitizing and allergic risk.” I really disagree with this statement as it relates to allergies. Personally, I’m more likely to have an allergic sinus reaction to a synthetic fragrance than one from a natural ingredient. Synthetic cause allergic reactions as well and you could have an allergic reaction to the other ingredients + check out what the cosmetics database says about FRAGRANCE. I’ll probably try this since it doesn’t make my nose itch. I’m still going to dock it a star for synthetics fragrance when there’s just no need.
Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Repair CC Cream – Excellent ingredients. I’m REALLY excited to try this one. Hmm except “Warm Glow” is not a match to my color. I’m going to dock it a star for two reasons: 1) I still get to try it but I can’t go around looking like an oompa loompa so I can’t try it for a full day 2) The product only comes in two color options (“neutral glow” and “warm glow”) seems like it would make it less likely work for people. $39 is a bit of a hefty price to pay to check a shade so with only two colors they should have either sent two samples OR included with the single bigger sample one of those peel back shade numbers they tend to use in magazines with all shades. Just sayin’ – it’s not like lipgloss and the goal is to get me interested to buy a full size version right?
Hail Merry Macaroons – More excellent ingredients. Gluten Free. Non-GMO. Vegan (this last one I don’t care that much about.) Made with Coconut and Coconut Oil – Nom.
Ojon rare blend™ Deep Conditioner – Seriously? What have you done with my birchbox, ingredients look good on this one as well and I’ll be trying it! Use like conditioner at the end of your shower except leave it in for at least 2 minutes before rinsing it out. I went ahead and tried this and I’m in love with it. Soft lovely hair.
Supergoop!® Advanced SPF 37 Anti-Aging Eye Cream – Paraben, Fragrance,and Oxybenzone Free. BUT it has dimethicone listed as an ingredient (linked to ingredient list.) Without a doubt will break me out. :/ Ugh. So SO close but not for me. I am however giving it one star because it is so SO close and usually the ones that have dimethicone in them aren’t!
Elizabeth Arden – 3 samples in one: 0/5 stars for these next three.
- Visible Difference Skin Balancing Exfoliating Cleanser – Fragrance and Parabens. :/ There’s no dimethicone in this one but I’m not sure I’m going to try it out. I checked it on the cosmetics database with a custom report using the ingredients listed on Birchbox’s site and it came up a 5. It’s on the higher side for me but it’s also not the worst product out there (they go up to 10.) FRAGRANCE and PROPYLPARABEN are the ingredients that really affect this one’s score – it would probably be around a 3 and acceptable with healthier versions of these. I’m giving it one star because despite the score I’m tempted to try this one. I love exfoliators and it’s not horrendous (but I won’t try it if the smell makes my nose itch.)
- Visible Difference Optimizing Skin Serum – again with Fragrance and Parabens. Dimethicone means I won’t be trying this one. And when I ran it through the cosmetics database, the custom report generator based on the ingredients this one came up a 10. 10 is the worst score you can get.
- Visible Difference Skin Balancing Lotion – more fragrance and parabens but again the dimethicone is the killer for me. I ran it through the cosmetics database and it came up an 8 so it’s pretty bad for your health as well.

AND OH MY GOODNESS — NO CRAPPY PERFUME SAMPLES!!!! THANK YOU!!!! Now the brands could work a bit on the synthetic fragrance IN products side of things but that’s notsomething Birchbox can control.

If you tally my numbers above we have a little over 3 stars for this box. 🙂

Birchbox April 2013 is a good one for me.

I think the product I’m most excited about is the Ojon rare blend™ Deep Conditioner because my hair looks like this without using a curling iron or straightener.

What I used in my hair for this photo and video below:

Desert Essence Organics Fragrance Free Shampoo
Ojon Rare Blend Deep Conditioner – healthier, softer, nicer looking
Alba Botanica soft hold style cream – adds a bit of volume and a little control
Shea Moisture Organic Hold & Shine Hair Moisture Mist Coconut & Hibiscus – not really for hold, but acts more as a detangler for my hair because the Alba style cream seems to make it more tangle prone

Birchbox April 2013 Unboxing video below:

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Update May 16th: The Ojon has dimeticone in it -ARGH!!! I was trying to figure out what I had used recently that was breaking out my chin and I’ve used this a couple times the last few weeks. I thought maybe it was stress but then I reviewed the ingredients and there it was. ARGH!

March 10, 2013

Ipsy March 2013 Review

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Ipsy subscription, my second month review for March 2013

Yaba eyeshadow minis – “so vein” and “sand dune” not thrilled with the ingredients of the eyeshows (dimethicone and parabens) and probably won’t use them BUT it is worth a quick mention that the site does have some other interesting things. It looks like a good resource for depotting eyeshadows since they sell pans ( empties ), magnets, pallets etc. http://www.yabycosmetics.com/

GlamRX – when I opened this I thought I had been shorted a blush or something. I actually had to look up what this was. It’s a magnetic palette that you can put various products in… like the yaba eyeshadows or your own products. If you have a lot of makeup that’s pan based then this would be a nice item to throw in your purse. Better than the version on their site that includes a second level with their own products. For me personally it’s kinda “meh” but I’m keeping it in case I have a need for it in the future. Biggest comment on this is that it should have been labeled so my gut reaction wasn’t super disappointment from thinking I had been shorted products.

Juice Beauty Hydrating Mist – ingredients are ok but my nose can’t handle anything that smells of roses which this does. So for me personally this is not a good one BUT otherwise it seems like a good product.

LA Fresh Travel-lite Makeup Remover Wipes – mineral oil and parabens and fragrance so not natural. I LOVE their nail polish remover wipes but I’m going to have to pass on these.

Nautical Anchor makeup bag – this is fairly cute.

Bottom line – if the juice beauty product hadn’t been rose scented I’d be pretty happy with this for $10. I had been interested in trying other LA Fresh products but I didn’t realize that not all of their products had the same level of natural ingredients. This feels a bit more like the Birchboxes have been for awhile for me so not as amazing as last month. I’m going to stick with Ipsy for awhile but at some point I’m wondering if I might instead just start buying $20 worth of makeup I pick out instead. There IS just something fun about a surprise bag though. ALSO seriously happy that there’s no perfume in the Ipsy selections.

January 16, 2013

Birchbox January 2013

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

My Birchbox January 2013

number4 clarifying shampoo – yay! Interested in trying this one
the balm hot mama – was excited about this until I read dimeticone on the ingredients – it breaks me out
fresh lotus youth face cream – dimethicone strikes again
lashem – my eyelashes are thick enough so no interest
harvey prince skinny chic – when are they going to stop sending me synthetic fragrances – I haven’t even opened it and the smell coming from it is giving me a headache. They need to stop sending me fragrances already. Particularly since they aren’t sending anything that’s natural.

Anyone want to swap? The only one I plan to try is the shampoo. And I also think I’m going to try ipsy.

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January 1, 2013

Birchbox November 2012 unboxing

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Beauty & Skin, Makeup / Cosmetics, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

Masqueology Revitalizing Eye Mask – parabens
MCMC Fragrance Phoenix Eau de Parfum – “In the MCMC Fragrances laboratory, we use both natural and synthetic ingredients. The Dude No. 1 beard oil is the only 100% all natural product we currently have on offer, however, in all of our products, we do use an especially high concentration of natural ingredients in comparison to mass-market perfumes, which usually contain little (and sometimes none at all) natural ingredients.”
stila all over shimmer liquid luminizer – dimethicone

The next three only list “key ingredients” on their website so they probably aren’t completely natural:

Kiehl’s Creme de Corps
Masqueology 7D Moisture Cream
Masqueology Masque Cleanse

So second month I’m not going to use any of the samples. I’m repeatedly disappointed that somehow when they have an organic brand I typically don’t get it in my box. I would be less disappointed if they didn’t have natural and organic things that I would like to try. I feel like they avoid sending the items that would be a good match for me to me. I want to sample these things, not buy full size to try, which is part of the whole reason I joined Birchbox. Yes, what I got was high end, but that’s not my main concern. Yes, I still want it to be a fun process too.

Items listed as November items I wish I had received:

One Love Organics® Aromatic Body Serum

Shea Terra Organics Whipped Shea Butter Ultimate Moisturizing Body Crème

Mox Botanicals Lip Butter

Lulu Organics® Lavender + Clary Sage Hair Powder

Anyone get any of these 4 items and want to trade? I have some products from previous months that have gone unopened. (I ended up doing a giveaway with many but still have some.)

I’m starting to not feel the love here Birchbox – why are you taunting me so Birchbox!! It might be time to try an natural / organic box. Not sure yet if I’ll ditch Birchbox entirely but definitely time to try something new and more fitting.

Birchbox 2012 Holiday Gift Guide:

Open publication – Free publishing – More birchbox

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