Has it been a month already? My second Birchbox arrived on the doorstep around a week ago and I was possibly more excited about May's edition than the last, and I had high hopes for what I'd receive. This month's Birchbox has the theme of 'Free Your Mind' and came with a set of coloured pencils to customise your box with. I hadn't done any colouring in since being a child but it was actually pretty therapeutic - although I still can't stay in the lines.
As expected, May's box definitely didn't disappoint, and within the last week I've had the chance to try out all the products I received, so without further ado, here's what I thought of this months samples.
Mirenesse Mattfinity Lip Rouge in Paris - £21
I absolutely love a liquid-to-matte lip product so I was pretty excited to try out a new brand I hadn't heard of before. I received this sample in the colour Paris which is a gorgeous vibrant pink shade with deep purpley undertones - I think this is one of those lip colours that would suit almost anyone. From having a look on the Mirenesse website, they've got a pretty impressive range of shades that all seem equally as flattering. Now, as much as I love a matte lip, my one gripe is that they can sometimes be overly drying - and that cracked lip vibe doesn't look good on anyone. This Lip Rouge promised to be matte-yet-moisturising, so I had high hopes. On first application, the formula seemed super creamy and moisturising, and while it look a few minutes to dry down, it gave a lovely velvetty matte finish. On my lips, the product lasted well over five hours, even through eating (a lot), and when it did start to wear away, it subtly faded instead of leaving me with patchy lips. I am properly impressed by this lipstick and I'd love to try out some of their other shades.
WAH London Nail Polish in Late Nights £9
This month you were given the choice between a nail art pen, press on nails or polish from WAH London. I don't have the precision, patience or creativity for funky patterned nails so I opted for a polish. Now, the product I originally received was in the colour In A Daze - a vibrant orange colour - however, I'm not a huge fan of bright nails. Luckily, my housemate, Sianie, also received this months Birchbox and is a fan, so we made a swap. In return I received her WAH London polish in the shade Late Nights. Late Nights is a pale, shimmery lilac with a matte finish - much more my thing. The formula of this polish dried in literally seconds, which is fab for me because I always find something I desperately need to do, but will without doubt smudge my nails as soon as I'm done painting them. Two coats gave great coverage and the colour is just metallic and gorgeous. I did find that my nails chipped quite easily, but I thought that might have something to do with the matte formula. WAH is one company I'll keep my eyes out for in future.
PARLOR Moisturising Sea Salt Spray £17
This product can be sprayed onto damp or dry hair and styled to create beachy texture and tousled locks. Used before blow drying this spray gave me amazing volume and texturised, but soft hair. I also used a tip I picked up from the Birchbox blog, where I twisted my hair into a bun and sprayed. When the product was dry I took down my hair to reveal soft waves - perfect for summer! I absolutely loved this sea salt spray and it's definitely one I'll buy full size in the future. OH and it smells AMAZING! Like, somehow they squeezed the exact scent of peaches and freshly cut grass into a bottle and sent it to me. I don't know how it works but it's heaven.
WHISH Three Whishes Body Butter in Almond £14.50
I used this body butter all over after a shower, and my first thought was ohmygod this smells like Christmas cake! The sample I received came in the flavour Almond, and it's a good thing I like marzipan because this has a very strong scent! Seriously, I wanted to eat it a bit. The formula was super creamy and buttery (obvs. it's body butter) and felt amazingly moisturising. As well as making my skin feel dreamy and smell like cake, this body butter is organic and full of loads of good stuff like shea butter, aloe and raspberry butter. When my current body butter runs out, Whish is absolutely a brand I'd consider switching over to.
Jelly Pong Pong Caribbean Sun Bronzer Duo in Martinique £15.95
Jelly Pong Pong isn't a brand I can say I've heard of or used before but this bronzer/blusher duo looked promising. The sample came in a a nice round compact and you got a fair amount of product for a sample. The colour I received was Martinique and included a matte brown bronzer and a shimmery dusky pink blush, which looked perfect for creating a glowy summer look. The bronzer shade was just slightly too pale for creating the dramatic contour look I prefer on my skin tone, but I used it to set my cream contour and worked well. At first glance the blush reminded me of Nars' iconic Orgasm blush, however after comparing the two I found Jelly Pong Pong's shade to be slightly darker, and without the gold shimmer. But deffo a product I'd recommend.
Number 4 Lumier d'Hiver Reconstructing Masque £36
I've never really had much luck with hair masks in the past, they often either didn't make a huge difference to my hair or left it looking greasy and limp. After looking at some reviews of this reconstructing masque online they seemed very positive so I was eager to try it out. The masque contains a tonne of nourishing ingredients, such as soy proteins, shea butter, and jojoba seed oils, and promised to leave hair smooth, strengthened and shiny. After shampooing my hair I squeezed out a ten-pence size dollop from the sachet and applied it, starting from my tips to my roots. The full size product is pretty pricey but with my shoulder length hair I reckon I can get about four uses from the sachet I received in my Birchbox. After about five minutes of doing other shower-type things, I rinsed the masque out and it was amazing. As soon as the water touched my hair, any tangles just fell straight out and my hair felt super fresh and smooth. This has really changed my mind about hair masks and I'm definitely considering purchasing the full size product.
Check back next month to see what I though of June's Birchbox!
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