Birchbox Beauty Box December 2017 – Unboxing and Product Reviews

It’s getting more and more exciting to open up this month’s beauty boxes and see their Christmas/Holiday editions. Birchbox definitely came with high Christmas vibes and promise, as even the outer, postage box was red and Christmassy!

The actual Birchbox was the standard Birchbox drawer design but it had a Glossy red bottom drawer and red floral pattern for the top lid. It definitely had the right vibe for this month’s festivities. Unfortunately, though, it turned out to be a similar situation with the December Look Fantastic Beauty Box. Great holiday spirit box design but containing products that do not fit the holiday theme.

This month Birchbox teamed up with Matthew Williamson to create the theme “Life’s Little Treasures”. As lovely as the theme and the collaboration are, it is December! Where did the Christmas/holiday theme go? Sure, a luxury theme definitely fits the month but an actual Christmas/holiday festivities theme would have done so much more!

We want glitter and colours and red lipsticks and eye shadows and hot chocolates with marshmallows. What an amazing month for makeup and what a snooze fest is it becoming with the beauty boxes so far…

With that out of the way, let’s get into the products. This month’s Birchbox contained 5 products as always which were, from left to right as seen in the picture: a lipstick, an eye mask, two brushes and a shower gel.

Let’s have a look at the products in more detail. Bear in mind that these are my personal opinions and as beauty is a very personal thing, we all have different skin, requirements and biological build which can influence things. What worked for me might not work for you and vice versa, please leave your comments below!

 

LOC Vibrant Matte Lipstick in Colour Me Confident

This is, no doubt, the most Christmasy/winter holiday product in this month’s box by far. And, I’m not sure it counts as a point for Birchbox, as I chose it last month, between two options. Birhcbox VIPs has a choice between this one and a Pixi tinted lip balm, so knowing it was for the December box, I went for the one thing that every makeup lover should have for the Christmas holidays. A red lipstick.

I must admit though, I wasn’t expecting much. I don’t really know why but at least I was pleasantly surprised. This LOC lipstick is lovely. It is very convenient to use because it is thinner than a normal lipstick. It applies easily and effortlessly, and it survives food and drink but fades obviously, like any other lipstick. I love the colour and I love the name, “Colour me Confident”, it’s definitely an appropriate name for a red.

The packaging is simple, elegant but also very practical. It is durable and nothing will happen to it if you just throw it in your bag. It contains about 2cm of lipstick in it, so it also lasts a reasonable time.

It doesn’t dry out the lips but neither makes them feel particularly moisturised. Also, it didn’t feather or creep out the lip lines.

All and all there was nothing negative about this! If I could ask for one thing to make it better, it would be to include some vitamins and maybe even SPF too.

This lipstick is a full size and retails for £6.50. Not a bad price at all! This was a Birchbox exclusive product. SCORE = 9/10.

 

FaceD Instant Effect Depuffing Eye Mask

I love eye creams and products simply because I think that eyes are one, if not the one, face skin area that you have to really nourish and take extra care of. That is because you can tell someones’ age from the eyes and it is one of the first places where wrinkles appear at. So, eye patches? Count me in. Can I have a basket full?

At the same time, I also dislike little packages like this. Because skin care, especially eyes, takes weeks to months to take effect and you never really know, as it is almost impossible to make a solid conclusion, as to whether this one time mask you used did you any good.

I used this and I thought it made my eyes a little brighter. But that’s about as much as I noticed. I don’t really know if it worked or I imagined it. It is so scientifically inaccurate to make a conclusion out of a one time use. That is why I open one beauty box a week and test the products for a week before I give you my reviews.

So, does it work? Does it not? I don’t know. It has some serious claims of “immediate reduction of bags by -11.8% in just one application” and “forever reduction of bags by -25.5% in 1 month”. If you suffer from eye bags definitely try it out and if you don’t try it out anyways, there are some nice ingredients in it.

Put them on, wait 20 minutes and see for yourself. They might work for you! This was a Birchbox exclusive product. SCORE = 8/10.

 

Spectrum Collections B04 Angled Blender Brush

I love Spectrum Collections brushes as they are high quality but at the same time reasonably priced. They also have a lot of themes so you can find a brush design you like. I have so many Spectrum Collection brushes and they have never had anything wrong with them.

This brush was typical Spectrum Collection quality. Looks good, works well, cleans nicely and feels soft. It’s not particularly Christmassy, although the black and gold theme does fit. Nevertheless, it’s a great item to have.

This was a full size brush that retails for £4.99. It is apparently a Birchbox exclusive which well, I’m not sure what that means. Spectrum Collection brushes are not Birchbox exclusive, perhaps this specific colour and type is? SCORE = 10/10

 

ecoTOOLS Contour Perfecting Applicator

One box, two brushes is a little much. Where are all the holiday celebratory makeup?!

This is a full size brush for contouring but you can use it for anything you want really. Personally, I would use it more for under the eye concealing.

It is created from eco-friendly materials and it retails for £5.99. Not a bad price at all. Would I buy it? If I’m honest, no. I think it does exactly what a beauty blender does so you don’t need to buy this extra. The only unique selling point on this is the eco-friendly part but there are probably also beauty blenders that might offer that.

It worked well, feels soft and washes nicely but to me this is just a beauty blender on a stick. The metallic handle part feels very light and cheap and almost as if it is hollow. The eco-friendly part on the other hand, is a major advantage.

It has a strong rubbery type smell so you might want to wash it first before using it. SCORE = 8/10

 

Rituals The Ritual of Ayurveda Foaming Shower Gel

This is perhaps the second and last product in this month’s Birchbox that feels somewhat festive. It looks Christmassy and it smells, well not Christmassy but the smell suits the festivities. It reminds me a little of Dove soaps. It has that soapy but still nicely cosmetic smell.

It’s a nice shower gel for sure. It contains Indian rose and sweet almond oil. The skin is left soft and there are no oily residues left behind.

This is a full size bottle that retails for £4.50. It’s a cheap price but for a shower gel it is expensive. If you want to treat yourself to a little luxury but at the same time not spend much money, then this is exactly what you are looking for. SCORE = 8/10

 

Overall, I loved the box design and the collaboration with Matthew Williamson. However, I am still left feeling disappointed. The products were good but it was not what I would have picked for the festivities. I strongly believe that this time of the year has amazing makeup potential and it was an opportunity that neither Birchbox or Look Fantastic embraced. This was the last Birchbox of the year and it didn’t really go out with a bang.

Initial box score, in terms of products and first feelings = 7/10

Overall box score after product testing (a sum of product scores) = 8.6/10

Star product = Spectrum Collections B04 Angled Blender Brush

 

Did you get this month’s Birchbox box? What did your box contain? What did you think of the products? Have you tried any of the products listed? Let me know your experiences!

For general Subscription Box reviews see my: Birchbox, Glossybox, Look Fantastic and Cohorted general review posts. For help on how to choose the right subscription box for you check out “Which Subscription Beauty Box is right for you?”.

I am not affiliated with any company or brand. These are my views and experiences.

 

This article is from www.bonds-of-beauty.com but you can also find me on:

Instagram: @bondsofbeauty

Twitter: @bondsofbeauty1

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/bondsofbeauty/

Bloglovin: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/bonds-beautycom-18959593

Blogorama: https://www.blogarama.com/blogging-blogs/1287212-bonds-beauty-blog/ 

WordPress: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/64442128

Influenster: Bonds B