January Birchbox and Mini Haul

This is a bit late, as I got my January Birchbox a week ago. My second Birchbox ever. I didn’t bother to cover the December box, as I got it super late and I was busy. Anyway, for those of you not in the know, Birchbox is one of the many brands of beauty boxes popping up everywhere. Beauty boxes are small packages you get (usually) monthly and include a handful of samples from a variety of brands. Birchbox is typically known as ‘the first’ beauty box, and it’s one of the most affordable, at $10/month with free shipping. I also signed up for Glossybox, which is more expensive at $21/month but is supposed to be awesome. I’m still waiting on that one… any day now….

This month’s Birchbox contains Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrè, Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner, Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy, Oscar Blandi Dry Styling Heat Protect Spray, and Oscar Blandi Hair Lift Thickening and Strengthening Serum.

The Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrè is apparently a really good moisturizer. I haven’t tried it yet, because I’m really picky with moisturizers. I finally found one that works for me: Formula 10.0.6 Seriously Shine Free Mattifying Oil Free Moisturizer. What a mouthful, right? But it’s great, so I haven’t bothered trying out this new one. Yet.

The Eyeko eyeliner I’m most excited about. One, I’ve really wanted to try out Eyeko stuff after reading all the British beauty blogs out there (and it’s not available stateside) and two, I love a good eyeliner. I’ve used this once and it was wonderful, but I was reminded how abysmal I am with liquid eyeliner. Oh well. Practice makes perfect.

I haven’t even smelled the Juicy Couture fragrance. I hate getting fragrances as samples. I do. Probably because I have my staple fragrance (L’Occitane Thé Vert) and I have no desire to stray from it. Not for Juicy Couture. Not now. Not ever.

I’m pretty excited about both Oscar Blandi products, even though I have yet to try them. I have fine-ass hair so the Thickening and Strengthening Serum will be interesting to try. Those are usually hit or miss for me. The Heat Protect Spray will be nice too, since I flat-iron my hair a lot. My poor hair…

So there you have it, the January Birchbox.

Last but not least, I picked up a few things that I felt compelled to post about.

The Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay is something I’ve read about online (go check out the Amazon reviews and you’ll see what I mean). I was super surprised to run across it whilst grocery shopping at Market Street last week. It’s clay powder that you mix with either water or apple cider vinegar… and has rave reviews. I tried it last night but I didn’t mix it that well because I’m awful. So I had a chunky grey goop on my face. But even so, this stuff is intense. It like… vacuums at your face, and you can feel it pulsate. It kind of hurt after awhile, and was a bitch to clean up. Maybe I’ll do a better job next time. Anyone else try this?

The Burt’s Bees Natural Toothpaste is something I’ve been wanting for awhile. After not finding it in any stores, I caved and ordered it from Amazon. And then two days later, on the same Market Street trip, there it is. So now I have two tubes of it and I couldn’t be happier. It is wonderful and has a slight minty-cranberry aftertaste. The reason I got it is because it’s one of the only ‘whitening’ toothpastes that actually whitens, due to the ingredient Novamin. Novamin is wondrous. I’m too lazy to spit a novel at you, so Google it if you’re interested.

I saw an ad for Maybelline Color Whisper in this month’s Cosmopolitan and I knew I had to have it. It’s just one of those things. If you are a girl, you know. After searching around for this new product, I finally found it at Target. I picked a dark reddish-pink, Cherry On Top. I’m not totally sure how I feel about it yet… I’ll probably review it at some point.

If anyone has thoughts or opinions on any of these products, I’d love to hear them. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!