Birchbox July 2014 Review, Pictures: Power Up

This month Birchbox partnered up with Women’s Health magazine to bring us a special Power Up themed box. Each subscriber received a unique card redeemable for a free one-year subscription to Women’s Health magazine along with their usual samples. Also July was the first month when Birchbox let some subscribers choose one sample. Knowing that you will like at least one thing in your box is a nice thought, isn’t it? 🙂

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!

Cynthia Rowley Creamy Lip Stain in Sugar – A Birchbox exclusive, this lip stain was one of the samples subscribers could opt in for. I chose this dusty mauve shade, but it turned out to be significantly darker in person so I’m probably going to swap it for something else or save as a stocking stuffer.

Naobay Body Radiance Lotion – I actually have a sample of their moisturizer still sitting in a box somewhere, in a tube that looks exactly like this, so at first I thought I got a dupe. When i actually read the label, this one turned out to be their body lotion, so I knew I had to try it. It has a lightweight milky, slightly runny texture that absorbs fully without leaving my skin sticky. It smells like sweet lemons with a hint of floral, a fragrance I use and love in my body care products. If you subscribe to POPSUGAR MustHave and received their June box, it smells exactly like those lemon wet wipes.

Number 4 Super Comb Prep & Protect – A fairly pleasant leave-in conditioning and detangling spray. It’s no Beauty Protector, but it does its job when it comes to making my crazy frizz less apparent. It’s a huge problem for me during Summer, because I can seriously look like a dandelion sometimes when it’s really humid outside.

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel – A new brand for me, so that’s the product I tried first from the box. It’s one of those miracle gels that you put on your dry face with dry hands and gently massage in circular motions for a few minutes until it flakes off along with any dead skin cells. So far I tried 3, maybe 4 of this type of exfoliant, and this one is definitely the most gentle one of all. It doesn’t flake aggressively, doesn’t make the skin sting, and doesn’t have an unpleasant fragrance [my eyes watered every time I used Sonya Dakar peel, yikes!].

Harvey Prince Singular Scentsations Imperial Gardenia – Gardenia fragrances and I have our moments, but right now I’m just not feeling it. I’ve been on a citrusy kick lately, so I’ll save this sample and use it when gardenia and I get back together.

THE VERDICT
I thought I’d like this box, given that I was able to select a sample, but I just feel totally indifferent about it right now. None of the products had that “wow” factor, but nothing was straight up bad either. The peel would have probably been my favorite, but I personally prefer stronger ones that flake a lot. Well, at least I will get my $10 back by sending a rebate for the magazine, since I already subscribe to Women’s Health.