In an attempt to encourage a higher customer base the company have created various codes to entice you in. If you recommend it to friends it gives you 50 points or you could get up to 100 points for other codes. 100 points are equivalent to a £10 spend in the online shop and when you first sign up your account is credited with 10 points. They also send you regular emails that offer little hints and tips and gives you a sneak peek at the box for the following month. They also try to tailor your box to you and match it to your profile each time.
I was really excited by my make up bundle that when it arrived I used three of the products straight away. My hair's naturally curly so I've never really embraced the sea salt look. I've tried sea salt sprays in the past but I've always found that the product sits on my hair and doesn't sink in. Unfortunately it makes my hair look messy and tatty instead of the beautiful beach goddess you're supposed to channel. My hair's a lot shorter now and whenever I brush it the curls drop out so I used the Moisturizing Sea Salt Spray by Parlour (Jeff Chastain) to create definition in my hair. The product is available to buy for £17 for a small 147ml bottle. It's a really light formula that sinks into the hair and after I scrunched my hair a few times, my hair was back to being it's usual curly self. I really liked this product and it was easy to brush out unlike other sea salt products. As it's quite light it doesn't stay in the hair. What I mean by this is my curls and waves dropped out fairly quickly so you need to use a stronghold hairspray to maintain the look. I like Elnette Satin by L'Oreal Paris as it's cheap and available from most supermarkets. A 200ml can lasts forever and it holds the hair in place but can also be brushed out easily.
Next I tried the Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics Caribbean Sun Bronzer Duo (£15.95) and the Stilla Lip Glaze (£15) to complete my look. The Jelly Pong Pong company prides itself on the fact that they use natural ingredients and advertises their ethical policies. All of their cosmetics are dermatologically tested so no animals are mistreated by the company. The duo comes with a rose blush and a bronzer in the other half alongside a handy swivel mirror. I used both colours to define my cheeks and colour the apples of my cheeks. Although it has quite a subtle glittery formula, the colours are really quite dull and do little to define the face. I'm willing to preserve with this and I think the angle on my blusher brush was too wide to get full coverage on the brush. I did have to reapply my own St. Moriz bronzer over my cheeks as the colours did not show at all on my face. As for the Stilla lip gloss there were several flaws with the item. It takes a while to get any liquid to come out as you have to twist the end a lot before any product is dispersed. It's quite sticky and thick which wasn't great when it was windy as my hair ended up on my lips most of the time. The product looks really nice on and provides a subtle pink hue to the lips but it rubs off quite quickly. My lips felt very smooth after I had used it but it also rubbed some of my skin off as it was cracking them.
A disappointing start to my bundle so far. After this I tried the NUDE ProGenius Treatment Oil, which costs a whopping £58 for 30ml and the Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser by Liz Earle which retails at £15.50. The tiny treatment oil bottle is packed full of Omega 3, 6, 7 and 9 which makes it very oily for your skin. This is another company that refuses to test its' products on animals and is also paraben free. You have to pump it three to four times until the oozy orange liquid comes out. I pumped it three times once the oil started flowing and this was probably too much as it is really greasy and doesn't sink into the skin straight away. It's best to use this after cleansing with Liz Earl Cleanse and Polish and apply the treatment oil overnight. I really liked the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. It's packed full of natural ingredients and has a really subtle smell which I think might be the rosemary coming through. You apply the cleanser to dry skin and then polish it off with the muslin cloth and hot water. It was a little bit greasy when I first applied it but my skin felt soft and oil free after polishing it off.
The Nail Art pen by Wah London was the extra addition to the bundle and there was a choice between the pen or false nails. I opted for the nail art pen in an attempt to force me to try something different with my nails. There were two colours up for grabs and I was sent the bright orange colour shown in the image. I don't normally go for really bright colours but I was surprised to find that I actually liked it. I played around with it doing different designs just to mess on with it (I don't normally paint my nails in wacky designs like this). The pen provides even coverage and can be used as nail varnish or as a pen depending on which top you use. (The larger top comes off to reveal a thin brush or you can use the pen nib in the top lid). It's quite thick and dries really smooth, (even the areas where I drew crazy designs). It's really easy to use and you just need to gently squeeze the pen to allow the liquid to come out. I did like it but I'm just not one for playing with nail art pens, in all honestly I don't have the level of concentration needed to execute nail art designs.
Last but not least I tried the Lumiere d'hiver hair masque which retails at £36 normally. I'm not entirely sure about this product. When I opened the packet I found the sample to be quite thick and gloopy which I'm never really a fan of when products are like this. I've read other reviews and they complained that the 7.5ml sample was too small. Honestly I think there was probably too much in that small packet as my hair's quite short so I didn't need a lot of it. I probably should have waited until I'd gone swimming or something to properly reap the benefits of this. At the minute my hair is dyed so technically this is a form of damage but my hair's in good condition. As for the scent I'm not sure I can comment on this. I was using a variety of different products all at once when I sampled this but something resembled the smell of a hairdressers which I assume was this product. Unfortunately I think I might be allergic to it as shortly after using it my scalp started to hurt. It might be coincidence but this has never happened when using other products. I found that it also sits on the hair and doesn't sink in which makes the hair feel greasy. For £36 this was a very disappointing product and one which I'm not overly keen on if it causes me to have a reaction.
Although there were some items I probably wouldn't reuse in this months Birchbox, I really liked that a lot of the products have natural ingredients. I like the idea of Birchbox and £12.95 isn't too expensive considering the price of some of the items in the box. I love trying out new products so this subscription service is perfect for me.
I've included a link here: if you want to try this service out as well.
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