Birchbox UK & Ireland

What is Birchbox?

"When Birchbox founders Katia and Hayley first met, they had wildly different approaches to beauty. Hayley was a self-proclaimed novice, while Katia was a connoisseur. But they agreed on one thing: Shopping for products was frustrating, inefficient, and confusing. How were customers supposed to navigate the vast range of options? And in the growing online market, how could they try products without buying them all (and going bankrupt in the process)?

That’s when Birchbox was born: the brainchild of two friends with a love of the internet and an itch to create a better way to shop for beauty products.

Katia and Hayley envisioned a way for customers—just like themselves—to easily and efficiently try, learn about, and purchase beauty products online. They combined monthly deliveries of personalized samples with original editorial and an exciting ecommerce shop. It was easy, efficient, and fun—a monthly delivery of surprise and delight.

We shipped our first Birchboxes in September 2010, and soon realized that men needed a better way to shop too. Birchbox Man launched in April 2012 to bring guys tailored shipments of grooming and lifestyle products. Millions of boxes and product matches later, our mission remains the same: to help customers find products they love. We keep that top of mind every single day."

I started to subscribe to Birchbox in July of this year. Initial sign-up was easy, I filled out a questionnaire about my preferences & skin types. Then all I had to do was wait for my first box to arrive! So I waited & waited & waited... I placed my order on 27/07/16 and it took over three weeks to arrive, I actually received my August box before my July box! So beware: Bircnbox shipping is SLOW!

                                            

Birchbox costs me approximately €16 per month & for that I received 5 samples, one is usually full size, one single use & the rest deluxe size.

                     

Each box has a different theme, July was a Millie Mackintosh inspired collection, which included one of her lip pencils

                 

August theme was "Festival"

 

The products I have received so far are all items I would use (I think the detailed questionnaire when you sign up helps with this) my only complaint about what I have received a volumizing hair product two months in a row, which while useful it would have been nice to have a bit of diversity.

     

Every time you leave a review or feedback you receive points which can go towards products from Birchboxes online store. The store has a multitude of items and every month features full sizes of that months box samples (these sell out quickly though) 

I haven't decided if I am going to continue long term with Birchbox yet, I think I need to get a few more boxes to judge the consistency of the boxes & compare to the likes of Glossy Box.

ColourPop Haul!

Our prayers have finally been answered, Coloupop are finally delivering to Ireland! Colourpop is an American cosmetics brand based in Los Angeles. what sets this brand apart from the multitude of other brands out there is its low price point & quality products. As a relatively new brand,  Colourpop uses social media as one of  its main marketing tools, using Beauty Bloggers & Social Media Influencers to spread the word. 

Also some people have suggested that Colourpop may in fact be the makers behind Kylie Jenner's hugely popular Kylie Lip Kits, a claim that both camps have strongly denied, saying that they merely share the same factory, but completely different formulas.

The reason why I actually ordered Colourpop on the day that I did was because I was waiting to order some of the Kylie Lip Kits from the Birthday Edition, but they had all sold out within one second... 

So on a whim I logged onto the Colourpop site to have a look at their liquid lipsticks to see if I could get anything similar. At only $6 per lipstick compared to $17 for the Kylie ones, I went a bit mad...

So the one downfall is the shipping cost.... €25 to Ireland. Ouch. So I wouldn't order these products for the price, more for the formulas of the make-up, which in terms of liquid lipsticks, I have definitely found Colourpop to be the best. It's dries to a matte finish which feels odd initially but settles to a comfortable matte feeling.

I also wanted to try some of the Super Shock Eyeshadows, which I have seen mixed reviews about. I decided to order one of the sets so I'd have a few shades which would work together. I ordered the Kathleen Lights collaboration "Where The Light Is" as I would be a regular viewer of her YouTube channel.

Shipping was incredibly fast for an international order, I had my parcel a week to the day that I ordered. I don't even get that with some of my orders from the UK, so almost makes up for the €25 shipping fee. Almost.

Everything in my order was absolutely beautiful, just one problem: They had sent me the wrong eye shadow quad... They'd sent "Where The Night Is" instead of "Where The Light Is" still a beautiful set, but darker than the colours I'd originally wanted. I emailed their customer service, not expecting an answer for a day or two due to time difference etc, but received n answer in less than hour asking me to send them a picture of my delivery docket & a picture of the eye shadows received. They then said that they would send out the correct quad & that I could keep the wrong one. Nice. I have to say that even over email they were incredibly polite & helpful. 

As well as the Ultra Matte Liquid Lips I also picked up a few other bits...

The Super Shock highlighter ($8)is absolutely beautiful, gives an insane highlight, but as the formula is a slightly wet texture I can't work out a good way to apply it, brushes don't seem to apply enough product & applying with fingers doesn't blend it too well, but it's so pretty the search shall continue until I find a suitable method.

The Lippie Pencils (cringe name) are LIFE, for $5 they are much better than my previous  MAC favourite pencils, so smooth & pigmented. Can't figure out how to sharpen though as they're plastic, not wood.

The Super Shock Shadows look beautifully pigmented in the pots, but be aware that the pot colour doesn't necessarily transfer as such to the eyelids, it's a slightly shearer look than when swatched. You are recommended to apply these with your fingers, which doesn't bother me, but some people don't seem to like this. I generally use these shadows if I'm looking for a single wash of colour on the lid, which they work well for.

Korean Activated charcoal mask

Traditionally I have always had fairly oily skin growing up. This changed about the time that I turned thirty, as well as moving to a new home which has very hard water. The combination of the two has now turned my skin to dry/dehydrated.

One side effect of my new skin type is that I now have to use heavier products to moisturise my skin, resulting in clogged pores & blackheads on my nose!

I have tried several different masks & pore strips over the last couple months, but all these have done have dried out my skin more without actually removing the blockages. It was during my daily dose of YouTube viewing that I came across a 3 Step Korean Activated Charcoal Mask, which claims to first soften the blockages, drawing them to surface & then removing them via a peel off mask

I ordered this mask on Amazon for approximately €15 & took a week to arrive.

 

So this was my nose before. I started of by thoroughly cleaning & drying the area.

The instructions which come inside the box are much easier to understand than those printed on the back of the box, for example: " Penetrates pores deeply to quickly dissolve accumulated oil & dirty old horny to promote normal metabolism of skin keratin & recupertion of skin"... Enough said.

So step one of the process involves massaging the Deep Pore Sebum Softner into my nose, leaving on for about 5 minutes, rinsing off & then patting dry.

Next step was to smooth the Blackhead Removal Activated Carbon Mask to my nose (I used a cheap flat head make-up brush to ensure even coverage) I let that dry for approx 30 mins & then slowly peeled up from the bottom of the mask to the top.

It was not sore to peel of the mask, just made my eyes water slightly.

After I removed the mask I patted on the Skin Clarifying Pore Treatment Essence which they highly recommend to tighten the pores.

So this was my mask after I peeled it off. My nose felt noticeably smoother with a lot less congestion, especially around the corners of my nose.

Overall I would give this mask 4 out of five. Definitely made athe biggest improvement from any mask I've tried, the only downsides being that there is three different products to use & also that ordering off Amazon means that with the postage cost, the price can add up.

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Primark Make-Up Review

After seeing a lot about the new range of "Ps Beauty" I decided to try them for myself. The shade I picked was a deep plum colour to help ease myself into a darker Autumn/Winter palette.

First up is the Lip Liner at only €1.50 in colour "Plum". The pencil gave a nice crisp line around the edge of the lips, but wasn't as soft as some other brands when it came to filling in the lips, so it did drag a bit.

After filling in my lips with pencil, I applied the all over lipstick "Ladies Day". At €2 the lipstick is a matte, long lasting formula, which like the lip pencil does not glide over the lips, the consistency feels very dry & it tends to drag the skin. However when it is applied, it is long lasting. I wore the pencil/lipstick combo for a full day & only had to re-apply once (after eating).

Cons: The consistency is very dry & drags the skin as it is applied.

Pros: The price is definitely one of the biggest pluses, €3.50 for both is an unbelievable bargain. Long lasting, which is very important with such a strong, dark colour. The colour was exactly the plum shade I had been looking for & will be perfect for the up coming autumn colour palette.

Benefit They're Real Gel Liner Review

I wear liquid eyeliner everyday & I have done for years so I've tried many of them out. I actually do like the Benefit one, but I find it a little bit fiddly, so if you're not used to applying it, I'd say it would be a hassle. 

It can be hard to get the quantity right, but through trial & error I have figured out that on one of my eyes two "clicks" covers from the inside of the eye to the outside & after that another "click" does the little flick on the outside corner.

 If you open your eyes too wide before it dries it can transfer onto the upper lid, but if you're careful, once it's dried it lasts ALL day & the colour doesn't fade which is why I like it.

In summary, I love it, but it does take a bit of practice to get a smooth line so I don't think it would suit a make-up novice.