Beauty

What’s in my January 2018 Birchbox?

January 31, 2018

It feels like forever since I did a Birchbox review! I still get my box every month, but I’ve been nowhere near organised enough to take pics and review the contents. One of my aims this year was to go back to some of my older blog posts for inspiration. One thing I want to do more of again is beauty reviews and going back to regularly reviewing my Birchbox seems like a great place to start.

Birchbox is a monthly beauty subscription box, packed with high-end surprise beauty products which arrive at your door once a month. I’ve been subscribed for a few years now and always love getting my surprise package through the post.

There are always a few products that I love in each Birchbox, but often a couple that I know I won’t really use. This months box is a perfect one for me, as I was pretty impressed with all the products. The box itself is also really pretty. I like to reuse them to store my vintage jewellery in, so a lovely looking box is always a bonus.

This month’s box was a collaboration with cute lifestyle brand Ohh Deer, who sell quirky stationary, homewares and clothing with lovely graphics.

The box included a lovely set of Ohh Deer stickers. There was also a 20% discount code to use on the website, which is awesome.

The first product I tried was the Paul and Joe Beauty Moisturising Foundation Primer. I’ve admired the gorgeous packaging from this beauty range for years. I love the vintage look and think it would look amazing on a vintage dressing table. Somehow I’ve managed to never have tried any of the products though. I had high hopes for this one and it didn’t disappoint. This lovely primer makes a perfect base for under makeup. It’s super moisturising and very smoothing. It has a slight shimmer which makes my skin look fresh and glowing. The full sized version of this costs £24.

Next I tried the Lord and Berry Blusher Crayon in the shade Camelia. I’ve never used a blusher crayon before, so I was intrigued to see how well it worked. I love other make up in crayon form, I have lots of eye, lip and highlighting products that come as crayons. This one was pretty good. It was easy to apply and blended well. The colour was surprisingly subtle, but is quite buildable. The RRP for this is £15.

Probably my favourite product from the box is the Thermaliv Night Cream, mostly because I’m a big skincare geek. I’m always on the lookout for good night creams to try. This one is packed with awesome ingredients and made my skin feel really good. It’s surprisingly light for a night cream, but sits nicely on the skin. If I wasn’t completely loyal to my Elemis night cream, this is definitely one I’d consider purchasing. It’s also far more affordable at just £15.75 for the full sized product, so I may repurchase when I need a budget friendly product.

Next up was the Marcelle Waterproof Eyeliner in the shade Charcoal. Recently I’ve been wearing less liquid liner and going for more subtle make-up for everyday. This is a nice addition to my make-up bag and something I will definitely get a lot of use out of. This eyeliner is super soft and glides on effortlessly. It’s also waterproof and stays put all day. The colour is really nice and a softer alternative to black. The RRP for this is £10.99.

The last product is one I’ve not heard of before. Afterspa is a special magic cloth, designed to take off all your make up without using any products. It lasts up to 1000 washes. I tested this on all kinds of make up, including lipstick foundation, mascara and eyeliner. The only one it struggled with was my liquid liner, which is pretty hard to take off anyway. On the whole this works really well and feels really nice to use. Its very handy to have in my gym bag for quickly taking my make-up off before I work out. I was happily surprised by how good this one was. These usually cost £5.50.