November 2015 Birchbox

I adore getting a Birchbox every month, even if I really don't need more beauty stuff right now.Oh who am I kidding, I always need more beauty stuff! Most of my boxes are pretty great, though lately I feel like they've been kind of "meh". My October box was one of those, I couldn't even bring myself to review it. The stuff was fine, it was just really....boring I guess. I used it all, but I wasn't excited about it. Maybe I'm getting old and jaded, but I'm becoming harder to wow I've noticed. Let's dive into the first November box and see if it wows me a bit more than October's did.

First, can we talk about how pretty the box design is this time? I love darker tones, especially this time of year, so this pattern was a total hit with me. I'd love a notebook with this pattern on it, or something similar. If you know of one please link it to me down below in the comments.

5 items is a pretty standard box, but this one had a really good mix. One hair, one skin care, one perfume, and two makeup items. If the perfume had been another skin care item this would be the perfect item ratio for me. Only one "full sized" item this month, and you'll probably be super surprised which one it is.

Let's start with the hair care product first. My hair hasn't grown out enough to use anything I've received lately, but I did adjust my profile so I'll be getting short hair items only. This is a moisturizing fluid, to help make your hair more manageable and nicer looking. This sample is huge too, so I'm super excited about this. I'm kind of on the fence about Davines so I'm hoping I really like it. A full size is 125 mL (this is 50mL for reference) and only $26, so if it works like I think it will I'll probably pick one up. I'll post about this again in 3 months or so when I can actually use it.

I love a good body scrub, so I was really excited to receive one this month. Until I saw the size. Seriously, could it be any smaller? I'll get one use out this max.

And as you can see from the picture it isn't the grittiest thing out there. I haven't tried this yet, I've been to busy to take longer than 5 minutes in the shower lately, so I'm saving this for the weekend. It smells ok, not a scent I would choose on purpose but I don't hate it. A full sized is $25, so no matter how it works I won't be buying a full sized. I'd rather make my own for a fraction of the cost.

Another theBalm product! I've been fascinated with this company and their adorable vintage packaging but they're a tad expensive for my budget so I never buy them. I received a bronzer from them over the summer that I like, and now I have a blush. This is the Frat Boy shadow/blush (who wears matte pink eyeshadow?) and is a super pretty matte light peachy pink color.

This is such a wearable color, I really like it right now. I haven't actually worn it on my face, just swatched it repeatedly. I'm working on a blush right now so this hasn't made it into the rotation, but I'll use it starting in December for sure. A full size is $21, so I probably won't buy one after my teenie sample is used up. I'm still cranky about the small pan sizes of theBalm samples, but they are cute and I'm a sucker for that.

I HATE getting perfume as a sample, I'm so damn picky I almost never like them. They also feel like such a cheap sample, you can get these tubes for free a lot of the time at various stores. This is Joyful by My Daughter fragrances, and it does actually smell really nice. I think it smells grape-ish, my friend said it was super floral, the packaging says citrus and flowers. But at $85 a bottle I don't care how good it smells, I'm not buying it. I'm waaaay to cheap to spend that much on anything beauty related, especially a perfume I'd wear once a week tops.

And last is the much anticipated item, a lipstick from Birchbox's very own brand new cosmetics line! I was actually going to order the whole line but then I saw they were the sample choices for this month. I got a lipstick in this box and the eyeshadow pencil in my other box (being reviewed tomorrow), so this was a good way to try before I drop $50 on the whole set. These are billed as an affordable and travel friendly cosmetics line, which actually means tiny ass items at regular prices. This lipstick is TINY, only 0.6 grams of product in it. And guess what, according to Birchbox this is full sized. Is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? A deluxe sample sized item being called a full size product. $8 isn't bad for a full sized lipstick, but for this tiny little stick? I don't think so.

The shade I picked was Glam Life, which is a matte plum shade. It's pretty enough but I think they could have tweaked the color a bit more. I've heard rumors that the red shade in the line makes you look like a clown, so I'm SUPER glad I didn't pick this one out. It's a matte lipstick, so I expected it to be drying but man, this thing sucked all the moisture out of my lips. They felt like the Sahara desert after I applied it. And it did not hold up as well as I'd prefer after eating some pizza. If you are going to be that drying you better stick to my lips like glue. I'll use this up but I'll pass on buying the rest of the lipsticks from this line. Oh and as a packaging complaint, my lid does not go on all the way, there's a little gap between it and the actual tube that's driving me nuts.

I didn't hate this box, but it was another "meh" for me. The blush is a thumbs up, and I do like the scent of the perfume, but I either haven't tried the other products or didn't like them at all. I did get the editor box this month so hopefully that one will make up for what I didn't like about this one. If you received a Birchbox this month what did you think of it?