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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:  “BAGGUGIFT” to get a free BAGGU® bag when you join Birchbox or “WGIFT” to get a Women’s sample bundle when you spent $60+ on Gift Subscriptions.

Birchbox 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 to get some complete steals (which I try to do).  I have been subscribing to Birchbox for over 3 years now and would say they are one of the most (maybe the most) well known subscription boxes out there. They are certainly one of the longest lasting boxes.

Birchbox ships via USPS and all boxes generally ship by the 10th of the month. The monthly “curated” box (like this one) tends to ship earlier, unless you get add-ons.

Since I have two accounts I generally opt for that month’s curated box on one account and opt for the standard Birchbox on the other account.  This review is on the December 2015 Winter Essentials Curated Box.

Birchbox always reveals the contents of the curated boxes in advance so you can make a decision if you want to skip your “regular” box in favor of the curated option. I love having two subscriptions so I don’t have to make that choice.

The Birchbox Winter Essentials Curated Box features the following products that will have you feeling and looking luminous on the holiday party circuit:

~Jane iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain – Forever Peach (No size on packaging) (~$4): This color looks straight up orange in the tube, but as you can see in the swatch below it turns into a gorgeous peach shade when it is applied. It smells faintly like strawberries (?) and I really wouldn’t consider it a stain?  It’s more of a tint?

~Coastal Scents Eye shadow Duo – formalEYES (0.65g) ($0.61): Pretty colors, but I don’t know that the green is really me?  Maybe it should be? The shadows apply evenly and smoothly or the price, I’m not sure you can beat Coastal Scents?

~eSalon Perfect Ending Leave in Conditioner (29mL / 1oz) ($3): This smells  amazing!  It’s a light fruit scent and doesn’t weigh down your hair at all.  It’s lightweight and just leaves your hair silky and smooth.

~derma e Microdermabrasion Scrub ($8.13): This also smells amazing!  Much to my surprise it has a nice lemon scent.  I feel like I have tried this before, but I don’t recall the scent? Anyway, after even just one use, this will leave your face feeling amazing.  I didn’t find it to be super harsh, but I also wouldn’t use it daily.  Once or twice a week is plenty.

~JUARA Coconut Illipe Hand and Nail Balm (8mL / .27oz) ($2.16): This was a nice hand cream, but I am not sure it’s anything I would ever buy again.  I’m not sure it’s supposed to be scented, but I couldn’t smell anything?  It did leave my hands soft, but I felt like I needed to apply more right away.

~Chuao Chocolatier Cinnamon Cereal Smooch (~$1): This was labeled as a bonus item on the information card. I think it’s a great bonus!  These little bars have only 60 calories and make for an amazing treat.

All totaled I came up with a value of $18.90 for the December 2015 Winter Essentials box. Including the points I get for purchasing the box (10 points = $1 to spend at Birchbox) and reviewing / sharing the items in the box (70 points = $7), the value increases to $26.90.  It’s not the most valuable Birchbox by far, but I thought it was a fun one.

Have you gotten your Birchbox yet this month? What’d you think?  If your box hasn’t arrived yet and you want to peek in it, you can use this link to see if it’s been posted.  Just remember, these boxes are NOT final and may change when boxes are officially posted by Birchbox on the 10th.  If you are interested in subscribing, new customers can use the coupon code  “BAGGUGIFT” to get a free BAGGU® bag when you join Birchbox or “WGIFT” to get a Women’s sample bundle when you spent $60+ on Gift Subscriptions.