Winter Essentials 2015 Birchbox

Winter is that time of year where everything is decorated, music is playing on every speaker, and cold, dry air to dry out your skin and hair. Nothing quite like below freezing temperatures to make you stock up on lotion. The editor box from Birchbox this month is called the Winter Essentials box and is full of products to help keep you looking and feeling good this holiday season. I love these themed boxes, they always have the best curating I think. And since the weather here has been super cold (well below freezing some days) I was more than ready for some Birchbox help.

This box has 6 items in it, though the sixth item is more of a treat than a beauty product. There are two beauty items, two skincare items, a hair care item, and the bonus treat. That's a nice ratio of items, I hate getting boxes that seem to be all one thing. The box itself is pretty, but a bit plain compared to the November box (which is in my top 5 designs for sure). And as a bonus I got this box ridiculously fast. As in two days after I ordered it, even though I used standard shipping. So kudos to Birchbox for being awesome.

Let's start with the eyeshadow duo I received. Some of you may be looking at the picture and thinking "that's not the shadow that comes with the box." And you would be right, I was sent the wrong one by mistake. I've already contacted customer service about it and they have the correct one being shipped to me as we speak. All the boxes this month are getting an eyeshadow duo from Coastal Scents's new palette set, you just had the option to pick which duo you got. I actually picked this green and gold duo for my regular box and a pink set was suppose to come in this box. I'll be gifting the extra green/gold duo to a friend when it arrives.

Aren't these gorgeous swatches? I LOVE how pretty they are and I know my picture doesn't do them justice. Coastal Scents has great eyeshadows so I know I'll be picking up their new palettes after all my Christmas shopping is done and I have money again.

Chuao is a tasty chocolate company that makes some super unique chocolate bars, like this one. It's a chocolate pod (aka individual sized bar) with pieces of cinnamon toast cereal in it. I don't like cinnamon cereal but that's my son and husband's favorite so they split it. Hubby said it was alright, the kiddo loved it though. I've had other bars from them and I do like them. If you don't want to order them online I have seen them at Target. This was a fun little perk for sure, I love it when we get bonus items.

I normally love getting things like this, but my hair isn't quite to the length I need to really use and enjoy a leave in conditioner. I haven't tried eSalon before, or even heard of them to be truthful, but I'll stick this into the box of stuff to use as my hair gets longer. It is a decent sized tube though and does smell nice, so it can't be awful.

This was the one item going in I knew I'd have to pass on. Juara makes some great skincare items, but I'm dealthy allergic to coconut so this coconut hand and nail balm is getting passed onto the same friends who are getting the extra green shadow duo. I'll let you guys know what they thought of it, but I'm expecting good things for sure.

How adorable is that little tube? I put a regular sized tube of lipstick next to it for a size comparison. It is soooo cute!

This tiny little baby is by Jane Iredale and is their Just Kissed Lip and Cheek stain in Forever Peach. I haven't tried it on my cheeks yet, but it did give my lips a nice and bright glow to them. And it smells so good, I want to eat it.

There's just a nice peachy tint to it, and according to the info card it will adjust to your skin for a natural, customized shade. This is a very Spring/Summer feeling color, which makes it a nice little perk up in dreary December. And since it's a baby sized lippie I can probably actually finish it before 2017 rolls around.

And last we have one of the items I was most excited about. Derma e is an awesome skincare line that I pick up from time to time at Marshalls for pennies on the dollar (love their clearance section) and I've been wanting to try their microdermabrasion scrub forever.

While the jar looks pretty nicely sized the bottom is false and there is really only two uses in their. I hate when companies do that, it just feels like they are lying to me. And at almost $33 a pop I want to know if it actually works before I buy it. I'm testing out a bunch of other skincare items right now so this will have to wait for a bit. But I'm going to enjoy using it even if I did get lied to.

Overall I really liked this box. I thought the curation was great, the items picked were perfect for a winter essentials box, and I'm really happy with my items minus the few hiccups. And for $10 the value is there for sure just in the lipstick and face scrub. Add in everything else and the value goes up fast.