Birchbox order (with special offers) Color Club Blue-Insta-This

Well, as a newcomer to the whole sample box scene I thought I would have a look in the Birchbox shop after my July box had come. One thing jumped out at me and that was the Color Club "Blue-Insta-This" nail varnish. I have a love/hate relationship with nail varnish. I adore it, I have literally about 30 of them but they never last very long on my nails.

It isn't because I don't prep my nails, but I am in a wheelchair and my hands get really abused trundling myself round all day!

So, I thought I would treat myself to something other than the copious amounts of Avon and Rimmel nail varnishes that I have.

So, this month (err, well that would now be last month), I decided to treat myself to the most gorgeous colour I could see. I am a huge fan of really bright colours not on the pink/red/purple palette (even though I had pink on in a previous post) so a really bright blue it was.

So, onto Color Club's Blue-Insta-This, which is available here from Birchbox which had a couple of gorgeous freebies with it this month!  

Pretty box, as I have very quickly come to expect from Birchbox, it is incredibly protective of the contents, considering what the freebies were...

Aaaand it is open! I love the US style brown bag that it was packaged in. I am a total sucker for packaging to be honest, it can make or break buying something for me. 

So here we have it - my gorgeous nail varnish, some Birchbox branded eyelash curlers and a fab little Birchbox branded mirror.

I have to be honest - I was absolutely blown away by the colour of the varnish. Sometimes the pictures can be a bit misleading but mislead I was not in any way. It is a really vibrant blue (or, as my husband calls it, Smurf blue!)

An absolutely dinky little mirror. I think it would be superb for any handbag and is big enough to see your face in but small enough to fit in a small bag for a night out/wedding etc. I haven't got a tape measure to hand, but think normal compact size, and you are on the right track. 

The Birchbox branded eyelash curlers. I am not one for curling my eyelashes (as I have never found any that can actually curl my eyelashes but preliminary investigations prove these to be a big contender. Very very comfortable too, which is more than I can say for others that I have tried in the past. 

And there we go, me attempting to be all artistic to show the size of the mirror. I am really looking forwards to trying the nail varnish out and am going to be seeing how it gets on over a week. Given that any varnish I put on usually lasts about 4 to 5 days, and that is with Sally Hansen's Double Duty and 2 coats of colour, I am going to do a post in about a week seeing how this one gets on as it is a product that I haven't used before. I am looking forward to seeing how well it stands up to my demanding hands!

I am left handed so I will be taking pictures of my left hand too (have you ever tried taking a picture with a camera if you are left handed? Right old pain once you get past the "point and click" versions!

So, in about a week, pictures of my nails to see how the new varnish stands the test of time.

One thing I will say is that Birchbox continue to surprise me with their quick delivery time. It took 3 days from the day of ordering (and I don't live on mainland UK).

xoxox

Beauteco Box comes through

As I mentioned, I was having trouble registering for a Beauteco Box. My address wasn't conducive to getting on there but with help from a lovely lady called Natalie - I am sorted!


So, now I am signed up for Birchbox, Glossybox and Beauteco Box. The first two seem to be quite similar in their approach. You fill in an online survey as to your skin and hair type, what kinds of products you would spend the most on and with that information they will select things for you.


I have already got my July Birchbox which is STILL unopened as I am waiting for F to get her bum into gear so we can open them together. I did ask customer services at Birchbox if we can make a video about the contents as I wasn't sure about their policy and got a lovely email back saying that it wasn't a problem at all. + 1 for their customer services already, the email came back the same day.


I haven't got my Glossybox yet as I only just found out about all these things in the last few days so I think I will miss July's and start with the August box with them.


The Beauteco Box works slightly differently and this is where I think it may come into its own. With the previous two, you get surprises. With Beauteco Box, you get to choose your box from their boutique. As there are only 3 boxes left (I don't know how many they are going to be offering per month) you can actually see what is in the box before hand and decide which is the best one for you. I know it takes some of the surprise out of it, but for a beginner like me, I really like this idea.


I think by giving myself the option of 3 boxes to start off with, I am going to give myself the best possible chance of finding two that are suitable for me and F.


I quite like the idea of choosing one box and having a surprise box. I must admit to having a look on YouTube and this month's Birchbox (which remains UNOPENED, grrr) is looking fantastic. I haven't had a look at any of the July Glossybox videos but I think I am going to give them a whirl this morning.


One box I would love to try is the ipsy bag but as far as I can work out, it isn't available in the UK. Saying that, I think 3 a month is more than enough to start off with!