A few weeks ago I got a text message from my sister in law telling me about a great offer from Birchbox.  They were giving away a Smashbox Photo Matte Eyes Travel Palette with a “new” sign up and promo code.

To be honest, I have subscribed to Birchbox in the past and didn’t love it.  But I wanted the Smashbox palette, so I signed up right away and patiently waited for my box to arrive. (that’s a lie, I wasn’t patient at all…)

While each month my ipsy samples come inside a cute makeup bag, Birchbox samples are sent in a cute box. (How fitting since it is called a birchBOX.)

This month’s box has a brown paper bag look to it that says “Magic Inside” in black/deep brown script.  The inside is a super cute pink and colorful floral design. While I do like getting the makeup bags, I do like the nice cute sturdy boxes that I have received from Birchbox.  I have makeup stored in all the other boxes that I received way back when I used to get it every month.

Here is what I got in my April 2017 Birchbox:

If you follow me on Instagram you already saw a photo of what I got.  If you don’t follow me on Instagram, you totally don’t know what you are missing. 🙃

amika Bombshell Blowout Spray

Smells great. I don’t tend to use these type of products due to the type of hair that I have.  I haven’t tried it yet, and who even knows if I will try it out, it might be amazing, not really my thing though.  I have a feeling that I will pass it along to someone else.

Coastal Scents Blush & Bronzer Palette

Am I just a huge baby when I get upset about these tiny little bronzer and blush samples?   Is it just me that gets mad? I mean, come on!  How in the world am I supposed to fit my brush in there?  It’ll take me forever to get the product on my whole face.  Maybe I will use it as an eyeshadow, I don’t know.  I would have rather gotten either a bronzer or a blush, but two tiny ones is just pointless to me.

rms beauty™ the ultimate makeup remover wipes

Birchbox, Birchbox, Birchbox, let’s talk here for a second. Not only did you send me a tiny little blush and bronzer “palette” but you gave me three makeup wipes?  No thanks!

I use coconut oil every night to remove my waterproof eye makeup.  These wipes are infused with coconut oil.  This should be a match made in heaven for me, right?  Wrong!

They are supposed to be a quick  “grab and go” wipe, but despite the fact that I use coconut oil to remove my makeup, I would never leave the oil on my face all night.  I can only imagine what my pillow cases would look like in the morning!

These wipes cost $16 for 20 wipes.  At that price, I am expecting something amazing!  What did I get? Basically a rough paper towel with a film of coconut oil on it. The sheet was small and only somewhat oily enough to take off my face makeup, and definitely too dry to remove my waterproof eye makeup with any effectiveness.  Yet despite it being too dry to remove my makeup, my hands were completely oily from the wipe.

It is a great idea, but it just didn’t work well enough at removing my eye makeup without tugging at my gentle eye area skin.

R+Co DEATH VALLEY Dry Shampoo

I feel bad that I am not more excited about getting this sample…So many people rave about how great this dry shampoo is, but I just don’t really use dry shampoo.  It has a great clean manly scent.  I would actually love this scent in a candle, and the packaging is super cute.

The Beauty Crop GRLPWR Liquid Lipstick Shade: Imma Bawse

If you have read many of my posts you already know that I love shiny glossy hydrating lip products.  That being said, the odds were already stacked against this product.  I am not a fan of liquid lipsticks at all!  I don’t like anything that makes my lips feel dry.

While I found it to be VERY pigmented, it never actually dried down completely like liquid lipsticks usually do.  Several hours later it was still transferring to my cup, my chin, my fingers. (not cute!)  Overall it wore off mostly evenly but made such a mess that I would never feel confident wearing this lipstick out in public.

The color is actually gorgeous, but not one that I would personally wear.  When my son saw me wearing it on my lips, he said “Mom! That lipstick!  You are too pretty to wear that color of lipstick!” Then he closed his eyes and said he couldn’t look at me while I was wearing it.  Lol, well, at least he is honest.

Also, anyone else feel as if the name of this lipstick is a complete rip off of the Smashbox liquid lipstick Bawse by Lilly Singh? I mean it is basically the same color and it is spelled exactly the same way.  (BTW: She is absolutely gorgeous and hilarious.)

Speaking of Smashbox…The only reason that I resubscribed to this box…

Smashbox Photo Matte Eyes Travel Palette

I’ll be posting a complete review of this palette soon so I won’t go into the details about it here now…. You’ll have to come back in a few days to read about what I think about this palette.

Here is one thing that I really like about Birchbox…They send a card with descriptions of each sample as well as the prices of the full-size products.

Thanks, Birchbox,  for the “free” palette, but sorry, because you sent me terrible samples, I already canceled my subscription…  I definitely prefer more makeup samples and fewer hair and skin care samples.

What about you? Do you subscribe to Birchbox, what do you think about it?  Have you gotten any decent samples? I would love to hear your opinion in the comments!

 I would choose ipsy over Birchbox any day!  I feel like my ipsy bags just keep getting better every month.  At the same price point, Birchbox just didn’t match up. If you want to read posts about my previous ipsy bags you can do so by clicking HERE.

If you want to try out ipsy click HERE to use my referral link!

I would love for you to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. You can find me as Looking Joli Good on all four.