Monthly Beauty Boxes : April

I'm actually following through with my promise to show you guys what I get in my monthly beauty boxes. I'm doing this because I feel like there are those of you out there that are curious about what come in these, but aren't quite ready to subscribe yet. This month, I've received Ipsy and Birchbox (I have another box coming my way, not sure how I feel about it yet), so I wanted to break these two down and show you the differences. There aren't any product reviews in this, I just want you to be able to see what comes in both types of services. Keep reading for more info!

We're going to start with Ipsy; Ipsy is $10/month and all of the products come in a small makeup bag each month. This month, the bag is white with a pink pleather trim and zipper, the inside is pink and white striped with the Ipsy logo.

For the month of April, I got 4 items: Big Sexy Hair Powder Play, Sation Nail Lacquer in Love at First Byte, Be a Bombshell in Sweet Cheeks (which I traded with my friend for the one above, Beach Please), and Two Cosmetics Eyeshadow duo in Heartbreaker.

Like I said above, I traded my original blush shade for the one pictured, which is Beach Please. I have not used the eye shadow yet, but I am a bit skeptical because I hear that Two Cosmetics isn't the most respectable makeup brand. The nail polish is not really my shade, so I will probably end up giving this away.

Overall, it's not a horrible bag, but it's not a great bag for me. I am oddly picky about eyeshadows and this one just doesn't do it for me, especially after hearing ZadiDoll talk about Two Cosmetics' history. I think I will enjoy the blush and the hair powder the most.

Next up is Birchbox and for April, they had a themed (or curated) box from Women's Health. As you can see on the box, it says "tiny tweaks, big results" which is the actual theme and everything in the box is supposed to go along with that. Generally speaking, with most beauty products, they are small tweaks that give big results, but I'll go along with said theme.

For my Birchbox, I technically got 4 items plus a lifestyle extra, but I always view this as 5 items. Pardon the opened food bag... I couldn't help myself. From left to right, we have: Hail Merry Chocolate Macaroons, Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish in Peony, Number 4 Support Solution, Supergoop! Advanced SPF 37 Anti-Aging Eye Cream, and Caudalie Divine Oil. You may have noticed that this box doesn't have any makeup in it, but I'm surprisingly ok with that. The nail polish looks to be a similar color to the Ipsy polish, but it's different enough that I like it better (and it changes colors!). The Number 4 product is a leave in conditioner, which is useful to me since I'm growing my hair back out and I need to be taking very good care of it. Also, those macaroon things were delicious, so I'm perfectly fine with those being put in my box.

And a close up of the two smallest samples; the Supergoop! and the Caudalie Oil. I am a bit underwhelmed by the eye cream sample, I think that they could have sent something a bit bigger, but I'll try it regardless. The oil is actually a pretty decent size when you think about the fact that it's oil and a little goes a very long way.

So, those are my two "boxes" for this month. Which one do I like better? Probably my Birchbox because I will actually use all of these products. I follow several forums about these beauty boxes and there was a lot of controversy surrounding Ipsy this month and I just can't get past it, unfortunately. The other thing this month that bothered me about Ipsy is that the blush and the hair product are nice, but I think that the other two items are incredibly cheap looking. There were variations on this months Ipsy and I ended up getting pretty much everything I didn't want. 

Will I stay subscribed to both? Yes. However, Ipsy is starting to get close to the chopping block and I may be unsubscribing soon. I will give them a few more months to show me what they got, but I'm not feeling it as of recent. 

What do you guys think? Let me know down below!

(all photos copyright Allison Richardson Photography and not available for use without permission)