October Birchbox review!

So if you read my most recent Birchbox post you would know I was quite upset and ultimately canceled my subscription with them.  Wellll after watching everyone else open up their September 1st anniversary Birchbox (with the SUPER adorable friendship bracelet inside) I decided to reopen my subscription with them.  I'm ashamed to say I actually went through Birchbox withdrawals over the 2 months between my cancellation and the October box.

What better way to quench my Birchbox thirst than with the mother of all boxes (so far).  Feast thine eyes on the October box!

The theme for this month is "Prep & Finish"which honestly did seem to structure the contents all that much (or as far as I can tell).

loose contents

wrapped up samples

The first thing I saw caught me by surprise.  Literally the night before I received my box I was thinking about checking out this product.  And there is sat in my box!! Crazy! I couldn't have been happier with my Blinc tube mascara sample :)

 It comes in a little maroonish tube made of what I assume is aluminum.  The sample is .141 oz.  The full size contains .21 oz and retails for $24. 

the inside tube of mascara

 If you're not sure what a tube mascara is, it's not just a mascara that comes in a tube - it's a mascara that uses polymers to coat each lash in a "tube" that removes only with a combo of warm water and pressure.  I've been using this mascara for about 10 days now and haven't experienced any running, flaking or smudging. 

The reason why I wanted to try this product so badly is because of the ease of removal.  I HATE removing tedious eye makeup at the end of the night.  What you see in the photo above are the little spindly tubes that came off of my lashes.  Some people don't like tubing mascara because it looks like your actually lashes come off, but no worries.  You can definitely tell the differences between fallen lashes and these rubbery tubes.  This mascara is farrr more lengthening than volumizing.  Because I tend to prefer volumizing mascaras, I don't envision myself repurchasing this.  It's really novel and fun to be able to just slide off my mascara but it's rather pricey for a "natural" looking mascara.

Next product in the box was the Pangea Organics Japanese Matcha Tea mask with acai and goji berry.  I've used this twice since I've gotten it and LOVE it.  I'm a hugeeee green tea fan and this mask is really gentle, cleansing, exfoliating, and minorly brightening.  My skin feels so good after using this.  I have the full size in my online Sephora cart waiting as I type.

 The sample is 1fl oz.  The full size is 4 fl oz and retails for $40.  It smells very herbal.  I honestly didn't pick up on the acai which I normal don't like, which is a plus.

Here's what it looks like on!  I know, not very flattering, but trust me.  This mask is sooo nice.  The little bits of grit you can see really help slough off an dead skin and add to skin's natural glow.

Next sample is actually a full size tin of the Minteas Resist Lime Mojito mints.  Again, this is made with organic matcha green tea.  It has definite lime flavors going on which I'm normally not a fan of but these are actually really tasty.

  It comes in a cute little leaf tin!  I wish that the lid was hinged or something because it doesn't feel secure enough to just toss in a bag but I do have a mini zip up pocket in my school bag and that's where this is living currently :)

The mints have little green dots in them which I'm assuming are the spots of matcha tea in them.  The mints too are little leaves!  So cute!! And they are sooooo yummy.  One of the reasons why I might not repurchase these are that they're currently selling on Birchbox for 2 for $10, which to me is a bit steep for some mints (90 in each container).  They do keep my breath fresh for a longer than say an Ice Breakers mint or something but that too me is achievable with gums that are so much cheaper.  We'll see.  If I can find these somewhere cheaper I may consider repurchasing.

Inside the little wrapped up satchel were two more products.  The first thing is this BeFine Lip Serum.  I have to say I was scared for a second when I saw the big beet on the outside.  Gross! But you really can't smell or taste it in this product and MAN this is moisturizing.  It also gives my lips the nicest sheen.  And unlike some balms, after repeated application my lips don't start peeling which is a huge plus.

light sheen from the product

The sample is a 10ml tube .  The full size comes in a set of this plus the lip exfoliator for $25, each holding 15 ml of product.  I already repurchased this!! I had $10 off from accumulated Birchbox points and it had free shipping so I couldn't resist.  Best lip conditioning product I've used so far.

The last product was the least exciting for me.  Orofluido is a hair oil, named "liquid gold" in spanish.  It's a thick golden oil scented like vanilla and amber.  The scent is rather pleasant and breaks outside of the box as hair as normal hair oil goes (can everyone stop scenting their things like argan oil please?).  It was so so on my hair.  It moisturized it...temporarily.  My ends felt like they needed more after just half an hour.  I wasn't expecting that from a product like this.  I guess Macadamia Oil has spoiled me.

  This sample is .17 oz and the full size is 3.4 for $29.99.  I won't be repurchasing from the sheer standpoint that I have things like this that work so much better, and for cheaper.


So that's it!! I'm SOOOO glad I rejoined Birchbox.  I really missed the opportunity to test out new products each month and for only $10 a month, you make your money back with the volume of each product and the occasional full size. 

If you haven't joined out you should check it out!

xoxo,

JessieBear