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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
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 January 2016 “On Trend: Korean Beauty” Featured 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 January 2016 “On Trend: Korean Beauty” Birchbox Box includes the brightest stars in K-Beauty as selected by Charlotte Cho – esthetician and co-founder of Soko Glam:
~RE:P Bio Fresh Mask with Real Calming Herbs (.20g/0.70fl.oz) ($6.31): This is one of the most interesting masks I have ever tried. It’s designed to reduce redness and deeply cleanse pores with the organic hers and kaolin clay in it. I was amazed by how smooth this mask is. It’s like silk on your skin. It made my skin squeaky clean too!
~IPKN Flash Cream Radiant Primer (0.24 fl.oz / 7mL) ($4.90): The formula of this is amazing. It’s about the consistency of a moisturizer and has a built in SPF15. Be prepared though because this is shimmery. I was a little surprised at first, but once you finish your makeup and put on some powder the “glow” tones down a bit.
~TonyMoly Delight Tony Tint in Red (No Size Listed) (~$2): Wow, this is a stain! It’s not super deep in color, but it stays on forever! A little of this and some clear lip balm and you are set for the day.
~Manefit Soothing and Moisturizing Sheet Mask (1 Mask) ($2): I used the clay mask already so I figured I should hold off on this sheet mask for a while. This sheet mask is designed to hydrate and nourish dry parched skin. Our winter hasn’t been overly dry yet but I am sure it’s coming and I will need this.
~Goodal Waterest Essence (6mL) ($1.20): This smells like something, but I can’t quite place it. It “purifies and hydrates skin with a blend of natural botanicals”. The texture is similar to that of a serum and I was blown away by how fast my skin sucked this up. I’m not totally sure when you use this though? After cleansing I’m sure, but before moisturizer / serum? After?
~Goodal Bonus Packettes: The box also includes packets of Goodal Phytowash Yerba Mate Bubble Peeling and Goodal Phytowash Yerba Mate Cleansing Foam. It’s basically impossible to tell if something works for you after just one use, but these were bonus packets so I am happy to have them, even if it’s just for one use.
All totaled I came up with a value of $16.41 for the January 2016 “On Trend: Korean Beauty” Birchbox. 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 $23.41. Not a “valuable” box, but it had so many new to me products I never would have gotten to test anywhere else!
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.
