Birchbox November 2013 Review

Birchbox is one of the lower priced subscriptions where for $10 a month (or less if you subscribe for a year), you get 4-6 sample products (though looking through my history, I have a box of 8 in there!). They're usually of the smaller variety, given that this is only a $10 sub, but there's occasionally a full sized item thrown in too. When you sign up, you fill out a profile (basic stuff - skin type, hair color/type, what basic kinds of products you like, etc) and there are I think 50 possible box combinations each month that you can get, which is, I suppose, somewhat based on your profile. You can also review your items each month, which doesn't have any impact on your future boxes, but does give you points - 10 points per review (100 points = $10) which you can ultimately use in their pretty large shop, which sells full size products. I recently resubscribed for a year with Birchbox after being away from them for about 6 months.

The theme for November was "More Good". They want to emphasize the good things you can do to help others. I'm not entirely sure how this box really fits the theme, but they are donating a part of their proceeds from the Birchbox shop this month to No Kid Hungry. 

Opening the box

Info card

First peek

First up, we have a good sized sample of Ayres Midnight Tango Body Butter ($4.00). This is supposed to be a nice thick, moisturizing body butter. I say supposed to because after I opened the top, I could tell the scent way waaaay too floral for me so I didn't try it. I knew I wouldn't want that scent hanging on me all day, so I closed it back up and put it in the trade pile. It's supposed to be a mix of vanilla and orange blossom, but unfortunately I don't smell the vanilla at all. Oh well.

Ayres Midnight Tango Body Butter

Next was a single application of WEI Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask ($5.25). This one I am excited to try. It's supposed to clean, remove impurities, and tighten pores. I've always had pretty good skin, but I've noticed lately my pores are getting a bit noticeable, so hopefully this will help! The packaging is a bit odd - it kind of looks like a creamer!

WEI Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask

Also from WEI, I got 2 sample packs of Pomegranate Buffing Beads ($2.00). I haven't gotten to try this yet, but I'm super excited to. I love that it's just the beads necessary to make any cleanser I already have into an exfoliating cleanser. That's a great idea!

WEI Pomegranate Buffing Beads

The next product was a sample of Joie Folle de Joie eau de parfum ($1.96). I'm not a huge fan of samples of fancy perfume. I tend to like indie perfumes and roller balls. Simpler ones. At least it's a sprayer sample and not one that just opens that you have to tip onto yourself. Those are a pain. This scent is a mix of sweet citrus, light woodsy floral, cognac, jasmine, rose, "spicy and rich wood", and leather. It's ok, but not my favorite scent.

Joie Folle de Joie eau de parfum

My last beauty product was a half-size sample of Eyeko Black Magic Mascara ($12). I was excited to get this because I love eye stuff, as I'm sure you know! The soft tube is definitely different from what I'm used to with mascara. I kind of wonder what happens as you use it up. Does the tube make it easier to get every last bit, or harder? It has a nice thick, curved brush, too. When I tried it, it wasn't bad, but I didn't feel that it really lived up to its promise of "drama, volume and curl". It was a fairly standard mascara. Oh well. I do really like their liquid eyeliner, which I think I also got from Birchbox at some point months ago.

Eyeko Black Magic Mascara

Finally, the bonus this month was a food bonus. I think some people got tea, some people got Chuao chocolate samples (I just used some of my BB points on the set of samples - so good!! I love the ones with the popping candy in it! Can you believe I've never had Pop Rocks and was totally surprised at how it felt?), and some got dipped pretzels. I got the pretzels - one mini stick of Fatty Sundays Chocolate Covered Pretzel in the flavor toffee crunch. I'm not sure if the pretzel we got is full size or not in terms of length, so I don't know if this is valued at $1.40 or $0.70. It seems small for $1.40. It was pretty good. Not as good as the Chuao chocolates, but I'm definitely glad I got it over the tea.

Fatty Sundays Chocolate Covered Pretzel in toffee crunch

November 2013 Birchbox

I'm a little less enamored with this box compared to last month's, but overall, I'm still pretty happy that I got some new things to try. Plus, it had a value of $25.91, which certainly isn't bad for a $10 sub. My only real disappointment is that this is now the second subscription to not give me the Chella Highlighting Pencil when it's available that month as an option. I've heard good things about it and really want to try it!

If you get Birchbox, what did you get for November? I know there are quite a lot of variations (I got variation number 39). If you don't already get Birchbox and are interested in signing up, please use my link! When I logged out, it looked like the normal month to month sign up had a 2 week wait list, which isn't really that bad, but maybe being invited would help skip that wait.


(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself. I was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. I have included referral links.)