Battle of the Beauty Boxes - January 2013

Welcome to my comparison of January's Glossybox and Birchbox (previously known as Joliebox).  I have done full reviews of each box but I thought it would be interesting to see which box deem to be better each month.

Let us begin...

In all photos Glossybox is on the left and Birchbox is on the right.  Here you can the full contents and packaging   I prefer the packaging of Birchbox, the drawstring bag and magazine mean they get the point for this round.  

Glossybox: 0

Birchbox: 1

They both came with rubbishy freebies this month.  On the basis that I may be able to give away the teabags whereas I don't think anyone would want a polyester eye mask Birchbox wins the points yet again.

Glossybox: 0

Birchbox: 2

The worst products in both boxes were body lotions.  However the sample in the Glossybox is bigger so I feel I will get more use out of it.  Therefore Glossybox wins the point.

Glossybox: 1

Birchbox: 2

The best products were a Monu Mask in Glossybox and a Fresh lip treatment   Although I am really happy to receive both of these I almost squealed with delight when I saw a Fresh product.  Therefore I have to give the point to Birchbox.  

Glossybox: 1

Birchbox: 3

This month Birchbox wins happily.  Having said that I am happy with the contents of both boxes.

I can't wait to see what next month's beauty boxes bring.

Birchbox/Joliebox - January 2013

This is the third Joliebox that I have received, however this month Joliebox became Birchbox.  I liked the first two boxes but this month's has blown them both out of the water.

So boring details first.  Birchboxes cost £10 plus £2.95 for postage and packaging.  However you can make savings if you pay for more than a month at a time.  If you do want to look at the different subscription options you can find them here.

So what was in this months box?

For the first ever Birchbox they decided upon the theme of 'fresh starts' which obviously goes perfectly with the start of the new year as well.

I am really glad that Birchbox decided to continue with the drawstring bags and the magazine.  These are the things that set them apart of other beauty boxes in my humble opinion.

Chamomile Flower Tea from Teapigs: I'm not a fan of 'lifestyle extras' because lets be honest - this is a teabag.  its not exciting or glamourous, its just a teabag.  Plus to add insult to injury I don't even drink tea and neither do anyone in my family so I fear this may end up either in a cupboard for years or in the bin.  I really hate wasting things so I'd rather just not receive things like this.

Deep Massage Body Cream with Myrrh from I Coloniali: I always feel a bit miffed when I get sachets of things like body cream.  I don't know about anyone else but this tiny sachet is not enough to cover my body let alone make a decision about whether or not I would repurchase this.  The packaging is lovely though.  A 1/5 on first impressions.

Taaj Crème Mains Delhicates Hand Cream from Taaj:  I was really pleased to see this.  I love getting hand cream samples as they are perfect to have in my handbags.  Plus Taaj is a brand that makes me happy - products that work, natural ingredients and packaging that is simplistically beautiful.  A 3/5 for this one.

KMS California Free Shape Quick Blow Dry from KMS California:   I am ashamed to say that I have never tried KMS products before.  This smells lovely, like when you go into the hairdressers.  This is meant to make your hair dry faster whilst you are blow drying it.  Unfortunately I don't blow dry my hair so I'm not sure how much use I will get out of this for that reason it gets a 2/5 from me.

 

WEI Jujube Age Control Serum from WEI: I have always been curious about WEI as a brand so I was happy to see this.  I do like using serums but at 22 I'm not sure if I need one with 'age control'.  At least I hope I don't.  I'm still excited to try this out though.  I'd give it a 3/5.
 

Sugar Rosé Lip Treatment from Fresh:  This is the absolute stand out in my opinion.  I have wanted to try Fresh lip treatments for ages but they always seemed very pricey.  I was glad to get a tinted version as it makes it that bit more useful than usual lip balm.  The packaging on this is divine and I personally like the scent.  I think I would almost have been happy to receive this alone.  A massive 4/5 for this little gem.

Overall I'd give this box a 4/5.  If this is a sign of things to come from Birchbox I am very excited.

You can see all the things that could have been in the box here.

I wish, I wish, I wish

As promised this is a wishlist of the products that I will want to buy after Project Pan.  I realize it seems counter-intuitive to think about buying whilst on a spending ban but it has made me focus on which products I really want and why I want them.  It also means that hopefully when I have finished Project Pan I won't go on a mad spending spree and end up in the exact same position.  If I do purchase these during my project pan they will, out of embarrassment and shame, turn purple.

Therefore I have made a list of the 10 products that I am currently lusting after.

1) Real Techniques Brushes (from the amazing Samantha Chapman of Pixiwoo fame).  I already have the  Core Collection and use them nearly everyday so I would love to get a few more.  In particular the Travel Essentials.  You can find a list of stockists here.

2) UNII Palettes so that I can organize my, hopefully smaller, makeup collection.  These have been getting really good reviews.  Plus another selling point for me, because I am shallow, is the fact that they are beautifully designed and come in various pastel colours.  Perfect for colour coordinating.  You can see all the beautiful shades here.

3) Benefit 'Hello Flawless' powder foundation in Shell.  This is my favourite foundation of all time.  I am a powder or tinted moisturizer girl at heart and I am sad to say that I am very nearly out of this.  It pains me because I won't be allowed to buy another one due to the fact that I do own other powder foundations (usually either slightly to light or too dark for me - so I may be slightly odd coloured for a while).  You can see it on the Benefit website here .  (Update:  I caved in and bought this -read my attempts at justifying it here)

4) Nyx Blush in Taupe.  I have read on countless blogs that this blush is a wonderful contour colour for paler skin so I am anxious to try it out, especially since it is such a reasonable price.  There a few other of their blushes which catch my eye but Taupe is the one that I will start with, you can see it here.  Let me know which Nyx Blushes are your favourites.

5) Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti.  I already have several of these in other colours and I think I could write an entire post on my love for them.  I have barely been wearing anything else on my lips in over a month.  They are perfection.  There are millions of blog and youtube reviews of these so I won't add to the numbers but take my word for it - if you haven't tried these you really should.  You can see all the available colours here

6) Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire.  This nail varnish is beautiful, and rumoured to be a dupe of the impossible to find Clarins 230.  I would only ever use it as a top coat as it is said to be fairly sheer but the effect it gives is gorgeous.  You can see a swatch and wonderful review here and see all the Max Factor nail colours here.

7) Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish.  This has been all over the blogs this year and I would love to try it once I have used up all of my other various skin care items.  The adorable Zoella did a review on her blog of this and a couple of other Liz Earle goodies which also sound incredible.  You can see the, surprisingly reasonably priced, cleaner here.

8) Alpha H Liquid Gold is supposedly a skin miracle worker.  I am quite lucky in that I do have good skin, but I do suffer from redness and this has been reported by some as helping this.  It is quite pricey but my curiosity has gotten the better of me so it made the wish list.  You can see a review here and buy it from here and various other places.

9) Moroccan Oil is, I'm hoping, going to be the thing that saves my hair.  I have recently had a slight dye mishap (I'll explain later) and my hair, which is uncontrollable at the best of times, is telling me exactly how angry it is with me.  This has had fabulous reviews from so many people that I can't help but think it would help at least a little.  I just can't decide whether, when I take the plunge, if I should go for the 25ml or the 100ml.

10) And now for something completely different...JolieBox.  I would love to get myself a subscription to this beauty box.  From what I have seen online it is the one that appeals most to me.  I also think that receiving a few luxury samples each month could help me fight my desire to go out and buy more products.  Plus I really do love getting post, especially when it is beauty products in a cute as a button box type of post.  Plus if you sign up for longer periods of time you save a little bit of money as you can see here.


Wow, that was a long post.  Well done if you made it this far.  As Project Pan proceeds I may swap things off and onto this list so that I have to remain strict even after my spending ban.  What is on your wish list at the moment?