Birchbox April 2014: Review

So it's arrived, my first Birchbox!

If you saw my previous post From Beauty Box to Beauty Box then you'll know I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my first foray in to Birchbox.

I'll give you the info about the delivery and cards after I show you what I received in my box! All pictures of the products will be at the bottom of this post, let me know if you prefer it this way, or if you'd rather I add the pictures throughout.

The theme of this months box was Good Enough to Eat. I've never really been one to pay much attention to beauty box 'themes' as it's not often that the products inside reflect it, you can be the judge of this one.

So the first product I received was theBalm Cosmetics How 'Bout Them Apples Lip and Cheek Cream. I was really excited to see this in my box, I've been wanting to try theBalm's products for so long, just another product I was sitting on the fence over. The cheek and lip tint is persuading me to take the plunge. The product itself is in the shade Pie, and the formula is so creamy and pigmented it surprised me. The colour is a really pretty red/pink, and blended out has a slight peach tint to it, definitely a colour I'd feel comfortable wearing. From the lip and cheek products I've tried before, they seem to only really work well with lips or cheeks, so we'll see how theBalm fares. The full size product comes with 6 shades and is £26, the sample I received was 0.02 oz in size, so gives it a value of around 70p, which is not a lot, but I'm really pleased I received it to try.

The second product I received was the One Love Organics Skin Saviour Waterless Beauty Balm. This product claims to be a do-it-all balm, I love a good multi-tasker! It smells; a-may-zing! It has a really subtle citrus scent, not overly offensive, I'd definitely feel comfortable putting it all over my face. It can be used to remove your make up, moisturise your skin, and apparently tame your rogue locks! I'm really intrigued by this product, and One Love is a totally new brand for me. The sample size is an impressive 15ml of product, and with a full size sitting at 39ml, you're looking at just over £10 in value.

Next up us the Color Club Gala's Gems Nail Polish, I received the shade Breakfast At. I was really please I got this shade, I love a good mint green for Summer. It looks quite pearlescent, it reminds me a little of the Barry M Silk Collection in the bottle. I've never heard of Color Club, so it's another new brand for me. I'll have to report back on wear time and durability, but I'm excited to try this, my Sunday nail session will definitely include this. The polish is part of a set, which is 4 polishes for £15 giving our sample a value of £3.75.

Fourth up was another new brand for me, the Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle Spray. I've never used a leave in conditioner before, I tend not to mess with my hair too much, it does pretty well with just shampoo and regular conditioner. I've read plenty of posts with raves for leave in hair treatments, so this should be an interesting one to test out. All hair products seem to have a very similar scent to me, but maybe with longer use it'll start to stand out, it's in no way an offensive scent though. A full size is £15, there's no measurement reading on the sample bottle, but I think it looks around 30ml, so possibly around a £2.50 value.

The final beauty sample was the Laura Mercier Souffle Body Creme. I was SO excited to see this in my box, I've been wanting to try Laura Mercier for so long! I'm not a big vanilla scent lover, but this has a really lovely musky scent to it, which I really enjoy (and so does my other half!). It claims to nourish your limbs, with shea butter, honey and grape seed oil. I think this sample will get plenty of use! The full size is £44.50, which gives our sample a value of around £3.50.

I love the fact you get a little added 'lifestyle' extra in Birchbox, who doesn't need an excuse for a little snack here and there? I was so please I received the Sweet and Salty Propercorn Popcorn, I knew the other flavour was tomato, and I really do not like tomatoes! I'm really itching to try it though, due to the whole bag only being worth 39 calories. It might become a new lunchbox staple! It's 90p a pack, which isn't too bad for the size, I wonder where I can get some....

That gives us a grand total of; £21.50.

So down to the nitty gritty. Is it better than Glossybox? In my opinion, from this first box, a million times yes! The brands in Birchbox are so much more on the luxury end of things, and the sample sizes are so much better. I'm only one box in, but I'm so impressed. After completing my surveys I'll have 52 Birchbox points, which is half way to the 100 I need for £10 to spend in the Birchbox shop. I can't believe I waited this long to make the swap, it was totally worth it.

When I received the box, I was surprised how compact it was, a welcome change from the bulky Glossyboxes that are taking up tonnes of room under my bed, I think with a little imagination, I could re-use the Birchboxes as gift boxes (maybe that's for another post). I received quite a few cards in my box, a Welcome to Glossybox card, which was realy nice to have, just giving you a little 'hello, and welcome...'. A card just going over the points system, really handy for a newbie such as myself. Then you receive your product card, and 'newsletter' card, both give really handy information, they were quite a good read to be honest.

If I had one negative thing to say, the shipping was not great, but I think that's down to circumstance. Birchbox use Yodel, which is very similar to Hermes, the original courier for Glossybox. My local Yodel courier doesn't work Saturdays, and there's no one available in our home until around 5pm each day, meaning I was never in to receive my package. I text my local courier a few times to express this difficulty, and they weren't really much help. Eventually they left my parcel in the meter box, which I think was a great idea, but it took 3 attempts to get it there. Hopefully the next delivery will go a little smoother.

All in all, I would totally recommend Birchbox, and I can't wait until next month, that beauty box excitement is back, lets hope it's here to stay!

If you want to try Birchbox you can sign up here, it costs £12.95 per month (inc postage), and in my eyes, is a really lovely treat.

Do any of you already subscribe? Let me know what you thought of this months Birchbox down below!

Now for the pictures...