February Birchbox Review

For February, Birchbox decided to not go with the usual love and romance theme and opted instead for a theme of Friendship.  I appreciated this diversion from the norm because, even though I'm in a relationship, I'm not into Valentine's Day.

*Disclaimer: This box was purchased by See, Shop, Love! Post contains referral links.

Birchbox costs $10 a month with free shipping, but if you live in New York like I do it's going to cost you $10.80 because of state tax.  They recently started shipping to Canada as well.

My box this month was okay.  I wasn't jumping for joy over any of the samples, but I felt that it was a decent assortment.  I got a perfume sample this time, but I'm starting to come around to them more.  I still don't want more than six per year (you can choose this option in your user profile), but I've resigned myself to the fact that Birchbox isn't getting rid of them.  Plus, I've discovered a few that I really like because of them.

• CLEAN Skin Eau de Parfum ($.96 for .03 fl oz) - "Clean" is the perfect way to describe this scent.  It's supposed mimic the scent of bare skin, but I know my bare skin has never smelled like this!  I do like it, though.  It has notes of lotus blossom, blue rose, honeydew, and white musk.  The base notes include amber wood and creamy vanilla, and those are the notes that really attract me to this perfume.  I wouldn't purchase a full-sized version, but I will use up this sample.
• Jules and Esther Cucumber Eye Gel ($3.24 for .12 oz) - I like that this is 98% natural and 75% organic, and I have a like/dislike relationship with the texture.  It is very gel-y in texture, so much so that I feel like I'm dipping my finger into a pot of Jell-O.  It makes it kind of difficult to remove the right amount from the container, but it does make it very easy to dot along my eyes.  The skin around your eyes is incredibly delicate, so you don't want anything that will tug at it too much.  I don't mind this, but I probably wouldn't purchase a full-sized jar of it.
• Caudalie Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet ($2.93 for 3 mL) - I didn't even bother to try this because I already have too many skincare products.  Plus, this sample is way too small to really be able to tell whether it works with my skin or not.  It's a gel-cream derived from grapes that hydrates skin and reduces redness.  I do have issues with redness so I'm curious about the efficacy of this, but not enough to buy a full-sized version.

• benefit Cosmetics Roller Lash ($8.00 for .1 oz) - benefit is not a brand I purchase, but there's been a lot of buzz about this new release so I decided to try it instead of posting it for swap.  If any of you didn't receive this but really wanted it, don't worry--you didn't miss anything.  It's a nice mascara, but it did nothing as far as curling for my short, straight lashes.  It was no different than any other mascara I've used before.  I would say this one isn't worth the money.
• PARLOR by Jeff Chastain Moisturizing Sea Salt Spray ($4.90 for 1 fl oz) - I've been all about sea salt sprays lately, so when this was one of the options for sample selection I picked it right away.  I actually haven't tried it yet, but it's been getting good reviews on Birchbox.  It's also a Birchbox exclusive.  If this works well for me I will definitely purchase a full-sized bottle in the future; I think the price is pretty fair.

Bottom Line: Overall, this wasn't a bad box.  The approximate retail value for all of my samples was $20.03, which is a good deal for only $10.80.  I hope that the PARLOR spray works well for me, because that's the only product I would consider buying a full-sized version of, but I'll have fun using up the other samples.

What did you get in your Birchbox this month?