Birchbox April 2015

Finals are over! So here is my (late) April Birchbox! (Birchbox is a $10/month subscription beauty service which sends you at least five sample (sometimes full-sized!) beauty products straight to your door. If you are interested in subscribing, feel free to use my referral link.) There were two very tempting curated boxes inspired by the show Mad Men, but the design of the regular box was just too pretty to resist for me! It matched the theme of Fresh for Spring.

The gorgeous April box featuring Rifle Paper Co!

Here are the contents of my April Birchbox:

• Jane Iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain – Forever Pink, $8.75
• POP Beauty POP Portfolio Eyeshadow Palette – Peach Parfait Trio, $5.82
• Obliphica Professional Intensive Hair Serum, $8.64
• Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel, $4.80
• Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream – Blueberry, $3.00

Total value of my bag this month = $31.01

Overall impressions: This was an okay box for me. I will use 4 of the 5 samples (all except the eyeshadow), but I wasn’t particularly excited for the hair serum nor shaving cream. However, I’m looking forward to the June box since everyone will receive an Eyeko Fat Liquid Eyeliner. I love and wear black liquid eyeliner often, so I’m excited to see how this compares to my current HG (L’Oreal Telescopic waterproof eyeliner)! I love the idea of pen-style eyeliners, but the ones I have tried int he past tend to dry out quickly and not allow for very precise, thin lines. The Eyeko liner looked full-size in the spoiler video, so hopefully  it won’t disappoint!

Jane Iredale: Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain, sample size

Jane Iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain – Forever Pink

Estimated retail value of $8.75 (based on estimating sample size to be 0.35 oz and full size retailing at $25.00 for 0.1 oz)

This was my sample choice, since the other options weren’t appealing to me. It adds a nice, subtle shine to my lips and is quite moisturizing. I find that it adds a natural glow to my cheeks, though it is more subtle. This has a faint sweet scent and self-adjusts to your skin tone! At the size of my thumb, this is a great size to put in my purse. While I like the product, I probably won’t purchase the full size at $25.

POP Beauty: POP Portfolio Eyeshadow Palette – Peach Parfait Trio, sample size

POP Beauty POP Portfolio Eyeshadow Palette – Peach Parfait Trio

Estimated retail value of $5.82 (based on sample size of 0.15 oz and full size retailing at $26.00 for 0.67 oz)

This was actually one of the other sample choices for April, which I didn’t pick because I rarely wear eyeshadow. I already have neutral shades very similar to this, so I’ll be giving this to a friend. It’s a nice small travel size with a sponge applicator included.

Obliphica: Professional Intensive Hair Serum, sample size

Obliphica Professional Intensive Hair Serum

Estimated retail value of $8.64 (based on sample size of 0.5 oz and full size retailing at $38.00 for 2.2 oz)

This is will used later this month while traveling. This states that it is intensive and for damaged, colored, or unmanageable hair, so hopefully this will help my somewhat dry, colored hair. It has a sweet, vanilla scent.

Real Chemistry: Luminous 3-Minute Peel, sample size

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel

Estimated retail value of $4.80 (based on sample size of 0.17 oz and full size retailing at $48.00 for 1.7 oz)

This had great reviews, so I was excited to try this! The exfoliates by adhering to dead skin cells, so you can actually see and feel clumps of skin coming off to reveal a new layer of skin. That might sound scary, but it’s actually pain-free and kind of gross yet satisfying. Unfortunately, I feel like the sample size wasn’t large enough for me to really judge how I feel about it. On a side note, this reminds of the Cure Natural Aqua Gel I was interested in a few years ago, but never bought because I wasn’t ready to commit the $32. According to Amazon, Cure is the best selling exfoliator in Japan (and Amazon itself), with one selling every 12 seconds! Cure is actually cheaper per ml ($32/250 ml = $0.128/ml) than Real Chemistry ($48.00/50 ml = $0.96/ml), so if I decide to take buy a full-size version of this kind of product, I would probably buy the Cure version.

Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream – Blueberry, sample size

Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream – Blueberry

Estimated retail value of $3.00 (based on sample size of 0.75 fl oz and full size retailing at $20.00 for 5 fl oz)

This will be used in my upcoming travels. I use conditioner to shave (it leaves your legs so soft and smooth), and reviews seem to be negative overall, so I’m not that excited to use this. It smells quite sweet.