January 2016 Birchbox

Birchbox is a monthly subscription box ($10 plus tax) of personalized beauty, grooming, and lifestyle deluxe sized samples tailored to your profile. You can accumulate points with each box and redeem those points at the Birchbox shop. If you review all your products in each monthly box, you can accumulate 50 points which is equivalent to $5 and half the value of the box.

For this month's box I made sure to log on to the Birchbox website early enough to select the curated K-beauty box in collaboration with Charlotte Cho from Soko Glam.

RE:P Bio Fresh Mask with Real Calming Herb ($41)

Apparently this brand is difficult to find and is eco-friendly and cruelty free. I have oily skin so this mask is good for detoxifying and removing excess oil and impurities. The kaolin clay in it will help to absorb oils without stripping the skin of its natural oils. The wash off mask hydrates, clarifies, and exfoliates the skin. There's quite a bit of product in the sample so it should last quite awhile.

IPKN Flash Cream Radiant Primer ($28)

I currently have two sample sized IPKN primers, so this is my third one. I should mention that one of the two is from a previous Birchbox. I've been so happy with the 3W Clinic Collagen Makeup Base that I don't want to mess with anything else. At some point I'll get around to using these primers.

TONY MOLY Delight Tony Tint in Red ($6)

Picture on bottom right is the stain left behind after using a cleansing oil.

There are two other shades: #1 Cherry Pink and #3 Orange Cha Cha. The main ingredients consist of rose hip oil, jojoba oil, and argan oil. I received a full size of the lip tint in Cherry Pink from a Mishibox. I love the scent of these tints! The shade Red smells just like a strawberry fruit snack. The product has a jelly like consistency that is liquid-y. It's very pigmented and long lasting due to the staining effect. I find that the tint doesn't fade all that evenly (after 4-5 hours depending on what you eat or drink) and feel the need to check in the mirror frequently to fix the situation. If my lips are particularly dry I'll apply a lip balm underneath but the tint is pretty moisturizing on its own. A word of precaution, this will stain your fingers and hands.

Manefit Beauty Planner Cucumber Soothing + Moisturizing Mask (set of 5 $10)

Birchbox has three other Manefit masks on their site: Beauty Planner Mugwort, Bling Bling Hydro Gel Mask Energizing Rose, and Bling Bling Hydro Gel Mask Platinum. The mask has a light, refreshing scent. As expected, it smells like cucumbers mixed in with a floral scent. There's quite a bit of fruit extracts in the ingredients so I was surprised it didn't have much of a fruity scent. The mask is quite big and I had to fold over a few spots along the hair line. I'd describe the mask as having a baggy fit. The essence looks like a milky lotion in the pouch and absorbs nicely into the skin. Although I have oily skin, I found the essence to be surprisingly light, yet hydrating. I didn't notice a huge difference in my skin afterwards but I did like this mask. It was soothing and hydrating which is basically what the mask claims are.

Goodal Waterest First Essence ($30)

I like the Goodal products I've used so far and I'm happy to see the brand included in the box. The essence has a medicinal/herbal scent which is quite pleasant to me. I'm going on a short trip this weekend so I'll bring the essence along with me.

The bonus item in this box was a packet of the Goodal Yerba Mate Bubble Peeling & Yerba Mate Cleansing Foam.

I find you can get a lot of uses out of the Goodal packet samples. I used a Bubble Peeling sample awhile back and was able to get 5-6 uses out of it. All I can remember is being surprised at how much the product foamed up and a little went a long way. I guess that's why Bubble is included in the name of the product! The peel seemed really gentle and left my skin very soft. I don't have any experience with the Cleansing Foam but it's probably a good cleanser if it was included.

After December's lackluster box, I'm very happy to see a K-beauty box. I hope Birchbox includes even more Korean brands and products in their future boxes this year. It's always a good sign when you start off the year with a good box.

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Thanks for stopping by,
Jennifer