Birchbox : December 2013

I got my Birchbox super duper early this month (I think it arrived here on the 10th, but it might have been the 11th), so in turn, I get to bring it to you guys a little bit earlier than normal; at least it feels earlier than normal. The theme of this month's box is "Sparkle and Shine" which you know, is kind of the sentiment around the holidays. I feel like glitter and metallics get busted out big time around the holidays, so I get their theme.

What I Received:

• Laqa & Co. Fat Lip Pencil in Ring of Fire
• Arcona Magic White Ice
• La Fresh Travel Lite Antiperspirant Wipes
• Hayadie Pure Happy Smooth
• Ahmad Teas

My Thoughts: 

My initial thoughts when I peeked at what I was getting (box pages update on the site on the 10th, so I looked before my box arrived) were "hmmph". When I got the box, my thoughts were still "hmmph" and I'm still undecided on whether I like this box or not. 

I am not a tea drinker. I was at one point in my life, but it's when I lived abroad and had tea with milk and sugar pretty much every day. The main take away from that sentence was "when I lived abroad"; I think American tea is pretty much horrible. When I saw that I was getting tea bags in my box, I was definitely put off. However, this is not American tea, this is British tea and when I opened up my box, I was taken back with the amazing smell of these three tea bags. I've only consumed one so far, but it was magical and wonderful and I take back my sentiments of being upset with tea bags.

I am excited to use the Magic White Ice, which is a moisturizer designed for winter skin. The real thing that is selling me on it though is that it's a gel moisturizer, which is what I use every day. I honestly don't think that it's going to replace my holy grail of moisturizers (Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel), but I will definitely try it out.

The Laqa lip color will be put to use as is almost every single lip item that I receive from Birchbox. I'm glad that I got the color that I did; it's a great, slightly blue based red. Nice and opaque and great for the holida season.

The Pure Happy Smooth is a hair product that you apply to prevent frizz from blow drying your hair (it's a "thermal protector"). My hair is still pretty short, but I suppose I can keep this around until it gets longer. 

The big fail for me is the La Fresh Antiperspirant Wipes. Why? Why do you do this to me Birchbox? There are certain brands that get thrown into pretty much every single subscription service at some point or another and La Fresh is one of those brands. It's nothing personal, La Fresh didn't wrong me in any sort of manner, but I just think that their products suck. I know it's not fair to judge all of their products off of the ones that I have already used, but I am expecting not to be blown away by these. Also, deodorant is not hard to apply nor is it cumbersome to carry around... just sayin.

Monetary Values:

Laqa & Co. Fat Lip Pencil: $8 (taking value from their mini lip duos, which are $16/two)
Arcona Magic White Ice: $13.20 for .33 fl oz (full size: 1 fl oz/$40)
La Fresh Travel Lite Antiperspirant Wipes: $1.66 for 2 individual wipes (full size: 3 wipes/$2.49)
Hayadie Pure Happy Smooth: $4.38 for 1 fl oz. (full size: 4 fl. oz/$17.50)
Ahmad Teas: $0.53 for 3 bags (full size: $7/40 bags)

 

Full Monetary Value: $27.77

Final Thoughts: Meh, this box is a little lackluster and it doesn't have anything that really stood out to me as ah-maz-ing. I'm sure I'll use it all up, but perhaps not as joyfully as I would have hoped. Birchbox usually seems to have pretty lackluster boxes in December (this is my third December with them), so I guess I'll just see what next month has in store.

If you want to subscribe to Birchbox, you can follow my referral link here or visit birchbox.com