November Birchbox Review ★★★☆☆

Hello delightful people of the internet!

My first impressions of this box were very underwhelming; whereas the last box was difficult to close because of the amount of items, this one seemed a little empty.

All of the products seem very small, not travel size or smaller than usual versions but the kind of thing you’d get for free in a shop as a tester.

The box is beautiful and I still like the little drawer but none of the products besides the brush cleaner caught my attention. But I am notoriously biased so as usual I tested the products before I complained about them.

So without further ado let’s begin:

Benefit Hoola Bronzer £24.50 ★☆☆☆☆

I have used this bronzer before and even though I love Benefit products I found this disappointing. I don’t think it blends very well and I am extremely pale so it doesn’t suit my skin tone. If you have more olive-toned skin then this might work for you but I’m personally more a fan of Hoola Lite. Having said that, I don’t use it as a bronzer I use it for contouring so if you like a bronzer you might find it works better as a bronzer. While I have no real qualms with the product – it might not work for me but I know it’s popular so some people must like it – I was shocked at how small this was. While I didn’t expect to get an expensive full-sized Benefit bronzer in a package worth £12, this isn’t even a travel size bronzer, it is for lack of a better word dinky. Not overly impressed, but also not overly surprised.

Percy & Reed Smoothed, Sealed & Sensational Volumising No Oil, Oil £14.00 ★★★★☆

I have very thin hair but I have a lot of it so it tends to matt and get greasy quickly. I use a leave-in conditioner and tend to avoid oil. I have been looking for a way to volumise my hair and smooth any flyaways so that I could have the wavy beach curls I’ve always dreamed of and this product is fab for that. It’s lightweight and despite being an oil, isn’t oily. It’s light, didn’t make my hair greasy and smoothed stray hairs and smelled lovely, I really like this product. But it didn’t volumise my hair at all. This isn’t the end of the world because I love the product anyway but it’s a bit odd that it doesn’t do what it says on the tin.

Klorane Oat Milk Dry Shampoo £8.00 ★★★★★

Like I said before I have greasy hair but if I wash it too much it tends to get a bit dry (combination hair, how delightful) so I am always on the lookout for a good dry shampoo. I find that cheaper dry shampoos make my scalp itchy and smell like chemicals or just don’t work. I really like this one. It doesn’t make my scalp itchy, it smells lovely and made my hair look as if I’d just washed it. I would definitely buy this product again, it’s perfect for my hair type.

L’Occitane en Provence Shea Butter Hand Cream £20.00 ★★★★☆

I’m not a big fan of hand cream; I find it sticky and quite often a bit smelly. However, now that we’re getting into the colder months my hands do get a bit dry and I needed a new cream for my handbag. When my hands get extremely dry I use Soap & Glory’s Hand Food, but in an effort to stop it getting that bad I wanted a more lightweight cream. This smells lovely, I’ve had another cream from LOccitane en Provence and I didn’t like the smell but this is divine. It’s light and not oily and a little goes a long way. It also moisturised my hands but doesn’t moisturise them to the point that if you shook my hand it would be like touching raw chicken. My only problem with this is the price. I would buy this again if it was cheaper but I’m not sure I can justify £20 for a hand cream (that’s like five McDonald’s!).

Birchbox Brush Cleaner £5.00 ★☆☆☆☆

Ironically when I first opened the box I was most excited to try this product. I am guilty of not washing my brushes enough (which will probably surprise absolutely no one) and I had already been looking at these online. But this wasn’t very good. I found it easier, quicker and more effective to use a tool that most of us are born with; my hand. Also I know in comparison to the other things on here £5 seems cheap but that amount of money for a bit of cheap plastic that doesn’t work is kind of ridiculous.

You also get six free editions of Vogue if you buy a one or two year subscription. I mean, really?

My first impression of this box was wrong. I really like some of these products, but I was very underwhelmed by some of them as well. Going off comments from my previous post on the October Birchbox (https://depaysement325.wordpress.com/2017/11/05/birchbox-review-810/) from people who have tried it, Birchbox doesn’t get much better.

I’ll give the birchboxes one more shot and if I don’t like the December box I’ll give another beauty box a try. If you have any suggestions for different boxes or you’ve tried Birchboxes and have an opinion, leave a comment below.

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Happy National Play Monopoly Day! Now go destroy some relationships with loved ones over a board game! 😉