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Birchbox
Cost: $10/month
Ships To: United States. However France, Spain and the UK also have their own Birchbox subscriptions.
Coupon Code: Subscription Box: “BBKIWI100” to score 100 Birchbox points (aka a $10 shop credit) OR
“SUBPACK” to get a Mystery Sample Pack containing one deluxe sample and one standard sample. Shop: Try “welcomeoffer20” for 20% off your shop purchase or “BONUSBOX” to get a free Bonus Anniversary Gift Box containing four hit samples with your purchase of $50+. And don’t forget to add a Mystery Sample Pack to your cart with your $35+ shop purchase!

My second Birchbox box arrived over the weekend and since it was totally different than my first one (I have two separate subscriptions), I thought I would do a review on this one too.  Like last month, Birchbox had two box options this month.  You could select the regular Birchbox (the “Fresh Paint” box) and pick which sample you wanted to receive or you could opt for the Fashionista + Birchbox collaboration box.  I opted for the Fashionista box on one account and the regular box on my other one.

If you aren’t familiar, Birchbox, which is $10/month, offers 4-6 (sometimes more) hand-picked beauty and lifestyle samples, delivered to your door each month. You can review the samples you receive on a monthly basis to earn points in their shop, which makes the “real” cost of the box even less. Points accumulate until you are ready to spend, so you can stockpile and combine with coupon codes and get some complete steals (which I try to do).

Birchbox ships via USPS using Newgistics.  This month’s box took four days to arrive.  It shipped on the 9th and arrived on the 13th.

I was both surprised and happy that this box had arrived in the special Birchbox anniversary box!  It had a special Fashionista sleeve on it, but it was that adorable box.

The Fashionista + Birchbox box was Box #56 (*) this month.  The contents for this box were listed at selection time (and then again when boxes were revealed on the 10th), but it was fun to check it all out in person.

The September 2014 Fashionista + Birchbox box included the following Fashion Week inspired beauty finds from Fashionista.com:

~Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume Supreme Mascara ($14.29): I have been wanting to try this mascara for a while now which made it one of the reasons I opted in for this box.  It did everything it promised – lengthens, volumizes and curls and was easy to apply.

~Cynthia Rowley Beauty Silver Eyeliner ($12): This eyeliner was probably the only item in the box I knew I wouldn’t use.  I will pass it along to a friend.

~dr. brandt pores no more vacuum cleaner ($11.25): When picking this box, it showed that we’d be getting a “dr. brandt Clean Up Nice Kit” so I was expecting to see more than one item.  If we had to get just one product though, I am happy for this one because it’s new to me.  You apply it on problem areas and rinse and it will “degunk” your pores.  I’ll probably save up my points for a full-sized one.

~Naobay Body Radiance Lotion ($2.88): I actually just got this one in my last Mystery Sample Pack!  It’s not overly exciting, but it smells good and works great.  Totally a usable items.

~Macadamia Professional Flawless Cleansing Conditioner ($12.38):  Wow, I did not realize that this sample would be so big! It’s probably the item I was most excited about, so I am thrilled.  You use it in place of a shampoo and conditioner on wet hair, leave on for 1-5 minutes and then rinse.  It’s really different, but I really like it.

All totaled I came up with a value of $52.88 for the September 2014 Fashionista + Birchbox Box.  Including the points I get for reviewing the items in the box (5 items = 50 points = $5 Birchbox Shop Credit) and the points I got for purchasing the box (**) (10 points = $1), the real value of the box is $58.88 which is amazing.  I am really hoping that Birchbox continues with these collaboration boxes each month because I have been loving them.

Do you subscribe to Birchbox? Did you get your box yet this month? What number was it and what was in it?  If you don’t subscribe (it’s only $10/month) and are interested in learning more, click here and use the coupon code “BBKIWI100” to score 100 Birchbox points (aka a $10 shop credit) OR “SUBPACK” to get a Mystery Sample Pack containing one deluxe sample and one standard sample.  If you are interested in a shop purchase check out of some of the offers I posted last week.

(*) If you want to see all the boxes this month, click here and change the 1 at the end to anything from a 1 to 58 since there were 58 (in comparison, last month there were 65 box variations) box variations this month.

(**) You only get points for purchasing the box if you buy an annual subscription (or 3-month, 6-months, etc.). You don’t get points if you are on a month to month subscription.