December Birchbox

Ello Ello lovelies, so sorry for the delay this month but to top off my Birchbox being just a little late, I was sent a completely different box than what was listed on my profile so that was a little odd. Has that ever happened to any of you before? Let me know! The theme for this month is "All Wrapped Up", because of that, our boxes arrived a little differently. Instead of the usual brown box, we received a cute wrapping paper style box.

Surprisingly, i'm actually HAPPY that my box was switched this month because the one that I was originally going to receive was SUCH a downer! Even though there are a couple items in this box that are a bust for me, I feel as though it's a much better fit. I received:

• Thebalm Hot Mama Blush/Eyeshadow
• Frownies Eye Gels
• Nick Chavez Advanced Volume Shampoo
• J.R Watkins Hand & Cuticle Salve
• Emily's Dark Chocolate Mint Fortune Cookie
• Rent The Runway $50 Coupon

My favorite product of this box is by far the hot mama! It is an absolutely GORGEOUS, pink coral shade and it complements my skin tone perfectly. Since I have a very medium skin tone, it's hard to find the right shade because they usually are either way too light or they blend so well into my skin that you can't even see them. I use this as an eyeshadow since I do not wear blush.

The eye gels were a nice surprise, I put mine into the refrigerator for about 5 minutes so they would be just a little cool. I like how refreshing they felt but as far as noticeable results, I really couldn't see anything but I can admit that it would be a little hard to see something after only a few uses. The texture was extremely odd, to the point of almost not wanting to use it so that took some getting used to.

I really disliked this shampoo. First and foremost, I absolutely hated the smell, it's very assertive and unpleasant. I honestly found myself wrinkling my nose the entire time. Secondly, it dried my hair out a bit. Not to the point of feeling like straw as some shampoos have but enough that I won't be using it again. Lastly, I noticed absolutely nothing in the form of volume. I won't totally blame that on shampoo because I do have naturally thick hair so if it added any volume, I didn't notice.

As for the J.R Watkins salve, as a whole, I've never been a fan of the J.R Watkins brand. In general I really don't like the scents and I find that the products that I've tried, really did nothing for me. This was by far my most disliked product though. Even though this product is a solid, once touched, it became an oil. I used this a few times and each time, there was almost no difference whatsoever. My cuticles were slightly moisturized but nothing that any hand lotion or body butter couldn't do so I definitely won't be purchasing. 

I have to be honest here, I was NOT looking forward to the fortune cookie because I usually despise mint flavored things but my GOODNESS, this cookie was DELICIOUS! I really enjoyed this cookie so much that i'm already planning to cash in my points to buy them as soon as they are in stock. It was perfectly chocolatey and not too much mint flavor. LOVED this!

Now that I've said all of the good points about this box, here comes my rant. I REALLY dislike when a clothing or limited size related product is included in any type of subscription box. There are so many sizes and shapes and heights and everything that it's very rude in my opinion to include something like that because if you aren't in the size range then you're pretty much getting cheated out of an item and it's not fair. Rent the Runway's service only goes up to a size 16 and as someone who is a size 24, well this is completely useless to me. I know, I know that in a subscription box there is ALWAYS going to be something that doesn't work for everyone but by including something that automatically excludes a certain group of people, that's just not right in my book. So, shame on you Birchbox. If you're going to include something like this, next time choose a company that caters to all sizes.

Overall, I like this box. At least all of the products I received are things that I will use except for the RTR promotion. My favorites were the fortune cookie and Hot Mama, both of which I will be purchasing!

Much love and Happy Holidays! xo