December 2018 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $10 monthly subscription that offers 5 (sometimes more) skincare, hair care and beauty samples in a cute little box that will contribute to further clutter and hoarding in your home. Birchbox likes to focus on mid-range and prestige brands so their samples are often on the smaller side. If an increased fire hazard sounds like a great idea to you, here’s a referral link. December’s box was one of the better boxes I’ve had in a while:

November 2018 Play! by Sephora

Play! by Sephora is a $10 monthly subscription that delivers sample sized skincare, hair care and makeup right to your doorstep. The best part about Sephora’s subscription box is that all items can be found either in store or online. Sephora also sends out 50 bonus Beauty Insider points to be redeemed with purchase either in store or online with each box. These points typically expire by the end of the following month.

November’s box contained:

November 2018 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $10 monthly beauty subscription that tends to provide (mostly skincare and hair care) samples of brands ranging from mid-range to prestige. I’ve been a subscriber for 2 years now and while there are better subs out there, I just cannot quit you, Birchbox. Call it fear of missing out, maybe.

November’s box contained:

November 2018 Ipsy

Ipsy is a $10 monthly subscription that promises subscribers 5 sample or full sized items and a makeup bag personalized to their profile (referral link here). Each month is curated around a theme but for the past year or so the themes have been more vague and thin. Personally, I prefer the camp from days of old but that’s just me.

November’s bag was not the cutest bag I’ve ever seen. I appreciate the pleather material for easy cleaning but I didn’t care for the black hearts on a dark field. It did not scream autumn to me in the slightest and it was difficult to see the hearts. The contents fared better though:

Updated Socials

I finally got tired of half adding Instagram posts so I made a new Instagram account. I’m not deleting old posts but that username has changed and moving forward any beauty or blog related posts will be on the new account. Activity will probably remain as minimal as ever but at least now I can feel a little less self conscious about posting selfies. Unfortunately I cannot change my email address associated with this blog without scrapping the entire blog so that will remain the same. I do have a new email address though for consistency’s sake.

Twitter: @stunted_giraffe - useless to me outside of entries for drawings
Instagram: @stunted_giraffe
Email: stunted_giraffe@gmail.com
Pinterest: @stunted_giraffe
Tumblr: stunted-giraffe - again, why do I have this?

I tried to be consistent for simplicity. Sort for being overly redundant.

Quickie Deal: Allure Beauty Box

Hi all. I was perusing one of my usual haunts and stumbled upon a pretty good January Allure Beauty Box deal. The Sunday Riley products are almost too good to pass up. I’ve been buying my nails all day thinking about taking the plunge.

Allure’s January 2019 box features

• Sunday Riley C.E.O. Glow Vitamin C + Turmeric Face Oil – 15 ml
• Sunday Riley A+ High Dose Retinoid Serum – 8 ml
• Ouai Hair and Body Scrub – 30 ml
• Doucce Relentless Matte Lip Crayon in Winterberry– Full Size! Retail Value $22
• Mally Eyeshadow Stick in Burnished Bronze – Full Size! Retail Value $25
• Amika Soulfood Nourishing Mask – Full Size! Retail Value $12 OR Beautyblender Micro.Mini Value $9
• NCLA Nail Polish (Full Size! Retail Value $18)

*sizes and values courtesy of My Subdcription Addiction

You can get a $5 coupon here through My Subdcription Addiction (I’m not affiliated with this group).

My Subscription Addiction is a great resource for beauty box news, deals and reviews. I suggest you check them out for all of your sub box needs. Think of them as an IMDB but for subscription boxes (ISBDB?)

October 2018 Sephora Play Review

Play! By Sephora is a monthly subscription box that delivers skincare, hair care and makeup items that can range from the house brand to high end right to your front door. Sample sizes are always on the small size, sometimes deluxe size, but the value is usually there (for me). The boxes aren’t anywhere near as personalized as Ipsy bags. In fact, I would say its level of personalization is about on par with Birchbox for me. There are a ton of repeats within a calendar year but if you like the brands and items Sephora ships then this box would be a good call. If you are a frequent Sephora shopper, each box has 50 bonus reward points that can be redeemed and put toward a future mini not unlike the items found in each box).