Birchbox October 2014 Unboxing, Review, Pictures: Fanfare

It’s officially October, and the theme for this month’s box is Fanfare. Birchbox staffers are talking about their beauty and lifestyle obsessions, and encourage all of us to share our faves, too. As for me, I’m mostly excited about the return of The Walking Dead; and also will be keeping an eye on James Spader’s brilliant acting in The Blacklist [I swear, his role makes up 99% of the experience for me]. And, well, we all have our guilty pleasures, and mine in this case is The 100, which is a totally stupid teen-flick that I admit to watching, but not so much for the acting; I’m just into that whole idea of post-apocalyptic what-ifs.

HOW IT WORKS
Birchbox is a subscription service that delivers a box of luxury beauty samples to your doorstep every month. Subscribers receive 4-6 samples and sometimes even full-sized products. At $10/month Birchbox is one of the cheapest monthly beauty subscriptions out there, the value of each box usually ranges from at least $15 and can be as high as $60. They also have a nice rewards program, where for each completed product survey you get 10 points, every 100 points earns you $10 in Birchbox credits – a currency to use in their online store for full-sized products and even gift subscriptions. 
If you would like to use my referral link then click here to join Birchbox. Thank you!

COUPON CODE
Use code BENEFITPACK when you subscribe/reactivate to receive benefit Posietint and It’s Potent Eye Cream sample duo in your next box. Expiration date unknown.

You know that Birchbox now offers a a sample choice, well, this month I decided to leave my box to chance, and selected nothing. According to the email I got, looks like everybody that doesn’t select a sample, will get a box curated according to their beauty profile, and mine was actually surprisingly accurate. Here are the products I received this month…

ModelCo POWERLASH High Impact Black Mascara – It’s funny that I got this sample, because I’m getting the exact same one in my Ipsy bag this month. Honestly, I’m over the whole ModelCo thing, I feel like I received way too many of their products over the past couple of years. The quality was always pretty good, but I don’t think I fell in love with any of the products or used them more than 2-3 times total.

My Mom and sister on the other hand are total mascara maniacs, so I always pass all of my unwanted mascaras to them. As you might have guessed, this sample is going straight to their stash, as well as the Ipsy one.

Essentiel Elements Wake Up Rosemary Shower Gel – Totally new brand to me, and the bottle is so cute! You know, I really like that Birchbox regularly introduces me to new names in beauty, and those companies aren’t just another variation of Be a Bombshell or some dollar store brand [that’s my personal beef with Ipsy].

As far as the formula goes, the ingredient list looks totally generic, nothing to write home about, and the fragrance on the bottle is listed as “rosemary”, but actually it smells more like peppermint cane. I think this could be a fun body wash to use around Christmas time if you’re into that whole minty thing, but I personally prefer pine or cranberry holiday scents. To each their own, right?

mally High Shine Liquid Lipstick Petal to the Metal – I consider mally to be a high quality cosmetic brand, and consider their eye shadow sticks and thin tightline eye pencils my makeup staples. However, as much as I like the company, it would be a crime to have this precious liquid lipstick sit in the drawer because I already have way too many similar colors in my collection, and I only actively use one of them – tarte LipSurgence lip gloss in Envy, which is almost a dupe.

This lovely item will probably end up in my Christmas presents stash or I’ll save it for next year’s blogaversary giveaway. I just realized that I never really celebrated those, and maybe it’s time I finally did. Either way, this lippie will definitely have a new home, one way or another.

dr. brandt pores no more vacuum cleaner – I actually tried this product before and got some pretty good results with it. It’s sort of a runny paste that should be applied as a thin layer in the T-zone area [I also used it on my chin], and it basically absorbs excess oil from the surface of the pores, removing that black-looking cap of oxidized grease. It also makes the skin look matte for a few hours, but I never noticed a lasting effect.

To be honest, I found it just as effective as Queen Helene Mud Masque, which retails for something like $4 for a huge tube, so it’s probably just a matter of what brand you like more. Like I said, it’s a nice product, but not something I’d purchase in full size, simply because I already have a very cheap alternative that is just as good.

Harvey Prince Petaly Noir – This is one of those fragrances that people will either love or hate, it’s hard to have a middle ground with strong scents. The bouquet was inspired by orchids in full bloom and long walks on the moonlit tropical beach, so it’s safe to say you have to be a huge romantic to like it. And I guess, I am!

Let’s break it down in three stages and see what’s inside. We got jasmine, tropical orchid, and lily of the valley base that opens up with a burst of strong rich florals. After 30-40 minutes we start smelling sandalwood, amber, and patchouli heart, and as a sandalwood junkie, this is the part of the fragrance I love most. Lastly, about 3-4 hours in, the whole thing sort of dries down with faint traces of vanilla and musk that finish up the base of this fragrance. This perfume lasted 5 hours on me, which is about what I’d expect from a good quality EDP [eau de parfum]. I have to note though that while I enjoyed trying Petaly Noir, it’s not a fragrance I would buy, simply because I’m not absolutely in love with it, like I am with Atelier Cologne Vanille Insensee or Nest White Sandalwood.

THE VERDICT
I’m so sorry, you guys, I’m sure this is probably someone’s dream box, and here I am talking about all the things I won’t use, and you’re probably sitting there thinking “then send them all to me you ungrateful wench!” Well, there have definitely been times when I was yelling those same things in my mind while reading other people’s reviews, but after you subscribe to beauty boxes for a long time, you start to accumulate samples faster than you can possibly use them, and also get more selective with things you keep vs things you give away. In this case, I would have been thrilled with both full-sized mally lippie and ModelCo mascara sample if I received them two years ago, but I feel like it would be a total waste if I open them and maybe use them once, when I know for a fact I have family members who will definitely use them up til the very last drop. Goodness, I ramble a lot today, don’t I? But really, I think I enjoyed my Birchboxes way more than my Ipsy bags lately, although it used to be the other way around for a long time. My October box reminded me that dr. brandt vacuum cleaner is a really good product, and I should probably recommend it more often as an option for combination/oily skin routine. I also enjoyed sampling a new fragrance, even though I didn’t fall in love with it; it was very rich and unusual, and I like unusual things.