My thieving ways continue.  As Taylor went off to work today, I borrowed his Birchbox.  I think he knows I will because even though he was excited about certain items, he didn't use them yet.


In case, you didn't know Birchbox Man is $20.00 per month and earns points like the women's boxes.  You earn 50 points or $5.00 in the Birchbox store for referring friends.  You earn 10 points per review on items you review from your Birchbox and also from purchasing things in the store.  These points can be used towards anything in their store.  They have the best point system of any of my boxes.


This month's theme was Life Hacked.  I was pretty much expecting some bungee cords and cool stuff.  I wasn't right.  This is one of those months where the theme doesn't really follow.

Malin + Goetz

 Malin+Goetz is a sensitive skin brand founded out of new York and the provider of the first item in the box.  It's the Grapefruit Face Cleanser and it is 32.00 for the 8 oz full size.  It actually smells like grapefruit.

Blackbird

Next up is Blackbird's Pipebomb a scent created by a former men's wear company that came from Seattle.  They have some interesting names for their products.  This one is supposed to smell like salt water, amber, and metal.  It's $58.00 for the 15 ml spray.  It's a different sort of masculine scent.  It appears they use a lot of oils rather than chemical scents.

Jack Black

Next up was the Jack Black Turbo Wash Energizing Cleanser with rosemary, eucalyptus, and juniper berry.  Prices range from $10.00 for the 3 oz tube to $55.00 for the 33 oz bottle.  I have heard wonderful things about the Jack Black chap-sticks and I know Taylor likes their hand lotion (when and if he remembers to use it).  This is for the hair and body.  It does contain arnica which is good for sore muscles, sprains, and bruises, but it is also it should not in any way be ingested unless with a doctor supervision.  So, if you decide you want to eat this, call your doctor first. ☺  Also, keep out of the mouths of your pets.  Arnica may not be that good for consistent use for people with eczema.

Clinique

Clinique is a well known brand for it's fragrance free and hypoallergenic offerings.  This was the Clinique for Men Oil Control Mattifying Moisturizer it's $26.00 for the full size.  It seems that this gel does moisturize and is light weight, but it doesn't have powerful mattifying abilities.  So, you may want to use a different product if you need to keep down an abundance of male "glow."

The item Taylor was most excited about was the OCD Experience RFID Wallet.  This is the item he left today, even though I know he wanted to use it.  This wallet is leather and got a little Jack Black on it in the shipping.

It is supposed to have radio frequency identification protection, to help against people scamming your card.  It is made to be slim, has a money clip, and has a large ID slot so you can keep your ID in the wallet and not take it out for every IDing.

 It is $42.00 for the black version.  There is also a red version and a yellow version and they have similar price points.

I think that once again the men's version did very well for themselves.  For Taylor this was worth the $20.00.  Birchbox man usually ships before the women's box and has a cool item like the wallet to keep them coming back for more.

* Taylor paid for this box himself.  I borrowed it and reviewed it all by myself.  If you would like to try this out and use his referral code rather than mine, feel free to do so.

At this point I have been doing my nails since the dinosaurs roamed the earth, at which point, I used to do their nails.  You haven't lived until you've seen a T-Rex with some lace nail art.  I might be exaggerating a little.  My point is that I really don't think much of what I do, it's easy for me.

However, I get asked all the time by people how to do these things.  I decided I would attempt to make a post on how to do a simple nail look.  If you do your own nails all the time, this will be of no help to you.  If you're a nail art newb, this is for you.

I will apologize for the bad lighting, all the pictures were taken in the bathroom, with my camera phone.  I may have to redo the pics at a later date.

I started by oiling my nails after removing my nail polish.  I let that soak into my nails for about an hour before washing my hands.  Before you paint your nails, you want clean, dry nails.  If you have issues with your nail polish just peeling off, it may be because there is oil or lotion on your nails.

Nails Inc

Now I might be a box kleptomaniac.  I borrowed this box when Taylor went to work.  I know, I'm a very bad woman.  I did return it though! The Birchbox Man is $20.00 per month and also earns points.  You earn 50 points or $5.00 in the Birchbox store for referring friends.  You earn 10 points per review on items you review from your Birchbox and also from purchasing things in the store.

Birchbox Man

Men get a rather plain, but manly box.  They get some cool stuff sometimes and generally makes it worth the $20.00 a month men pay.  The theme this month was Reboot.

Marvis

This month Taylor got a Marvis Toothpase in Cinnamon Mint, it's $10.50 for the 75 ml full size.  It's imported from Italy and has a wonderful scent.  It does have lots of parabens though and no fluoride, so really quite up to your personal thoughts on that.

Proraso

I can't see Taylor using too much of this.  It's Proraso Pre-Shave Cream and the full size is 3.53 oz and sells for $13.00.  It has a menthol scent.  He likes his beard, but this would be good for his neck area.  He loves his Art of Shaving, but trying new things is good for the soul or something.  Plus if he likes this, it's waaaaaaaay cheaper than the other.  This is another Italian import.

Foreo

 Next up was the Foreo Cleanser for Men it's a gel formula, the full size is $29.95 for 3.3 fl oz.  It's meant to be used with the Foreo tool, so one wouldn't receive the full benefit from just using the wash.  It does come out black from having volcanic rock and it's supposed to change colors when the light from the tool "activates" it.

Lab Series

Lab Series Future Rescue Repair Serum is the next item he received.  The full size is 1.7 oz and it sells for a whopping $60.00.  It's supposed to rebuild collagen and all sorts of useful stuff.  It smells good and felt refreshing when he applied it after a shower yesterday.

Octovo

The last item he received was a valet tray by Octovo.  It buttons up to form that tray and is $60.00!  It's a good size and make a nice tray for keys and wallets and game password push button things.  It feels like it's a good quality and is yet another neat item the men receive.

What do you think?  Did he do well this month?

* Taylor paid for this box himself.  I borrowed it and reviewed it all by myself.  If you would like to try this out and use his referral code rather than mine, feel free to do so.

As always this is an exciting time of the month.  I mean who doesn't love a big box of presents every month?  Boxycharm is one of the more exciting boxes or if you want, this is my referral link.  When you refer a friend you receive 500 points.  You also receive points just for getting a box delivered!

For $21.00 a month you get four to five full size products. The points earned take off money in the store.  The store isn't as extensive as Birchbox, but it's still pretty good.  1000 points will take off $10.00, 2000 takes off $20.00, and so on.  It also contains a card that lists the prices and information on the products you receive.

Boxycharm

Ahhh, a familiar theme.  Much like Ipsy this month, Boxycharm had a eyes theme this month, Boxycharm did it with Eyes on 2016.


First off is Blinc Mascara Amplified this was, as usual, a full size .3 oz for $26.00.  This is a tubing mascara.  It's supposed to be removed easily with warm water, although it is water proof.  It has a drier formula that lets you build this onto your lashes.  Some mascara with fibers or tubes irritate my contacts, but so far this has not done that.

 I also received the Ardency Inn Smooth Ride Supercharged Eyeliner in Lilac.  If you remember before I moderately liked the Ardency Inn liner in black.  This is also full sized and has 1.2 grams of product for $20.00. The card lists this at $19.00.  I only found it to be $20.00 when I looked.  I saw other people got a blue and I was expecting to get that, unfortunately, I already have their bright blue.  Color me delightfully surprised to get this lovely lilac shade.  It's very creamy and pigmented and so far I haven't had any issue with irritation.  I'm thinking this will be a lot of fun in the spring.

There was also a brush set by Royal & Langnickel.  This was also full sized and retails for $23.97.  There were three brushes in the set.

The first brush was the BX-80 Detail Brush.  There was also the BX-90 Crease Brush and the BX-95 Smudger Brush.  The detail brush looks to be the best brush.  They are moderately soft.  They should be worth a shot and I always love getting more brushes!

Lastly was a full sized Coastal Scents Revealed Smoky Palette.  It's supposed to be a dupe for the Urban Decay Smoky Palette.  According to the card on the inside, the CS palette is worth $39.95.

 On the website, you can purchase it for $19.95.  I think the $19.95 is closer to the actual value of the palette.  There are some good colors, but there are colors like the gold in the top row that are crumbly and patchy.  Leighannsays used the palette beautifully in a Party Time Tutorial.

If you look at the value based on the card, the value of the box would be $108.92, I think, because the value of the Revealed Smoky should be $19.95 and the Ardency Inn being a dollar more, the actual value would be $89.92.  However, I only paid $21.00 for this box.  I think getting $89.92 worth of product is a great value.

* I purchased my own Boxycharm.  It wasn't sent to me for any reason other than the monthly deduction of $21.00.

This month the theme for Ipsy was All Eyes on You.  They did stick with their theme and all of the products I received were eye products.  Ipsy is a $10.00 per month subscription service.  You get points for referring friends.  However, the points system isn't that great.  Most things require 1000 points and if it's less than they're usually sold out.  However, this month they had several items that were 250 points, maybe they're trying to fix that problem.  I should receive those with my next subscription bag, so I'll show those then.  I still don't like posting my reviews to Facebook though.

The bag

Ipsy has bags that they give with your monthly subscription.  This one was pretty cute.

Mitchell and Peach

This is another item I've received in my boxes/bags, though perhaps not in this scent.  It's the Mitchell and Peach English Showers Body Cream.  It's £36.00 for 180 ml.  It sinks in well and is moisturizing, but I'm not a fan of the scent.  It's an herbal sort of scent, but not in a pleasant way.  This time they shipped it in a plastic bag, again showing that they are learning and in case there was leakage, this bag would have protected my other items.

Pur-lisse

Next up is an item I already know I like.  The Pur-lisse Blue Lotus Eye Adore Serum and it came in the November Boxycharm.  A small dot will moisturize both eyes and it feels wonderful.  I use it morning and night, it does take a time little to set, so if you use it during the day, make sure to set it. It is moisturizing but it may be causing my eye-makeup to smudge during the day.  I guess I'll have to set it better.  It's $65.00 for the full size 15 ml.


I also received the Hikari Cosmetics Cream Pigment Eyeshadow in Mink.  It's $13.00 for the full size.  I'm not sure I feel that the color is actually a mink color.  It's a bronze shade.  It swatches well and we'll see how it goes on but, why is it that I nearly always receive bronze cream eyeshadows in my bags/boxes?  This is the third one like this I have received.  I would love more taupe in my life.

Next up was Mr. Write Now in Jac, by the Balm.  This was once again a bronzy almost old gold sort of shade.  I suppose it would go well with the cream eyeshadow.  Some people were very lucky and got it in the color Scott which is a pretty wine color.  It is a roll up liner and decently pigmented, although a little on the dry side.  It is $17.00 for the full size.

 Lastly, I received a smudge brush from Beau Gâchis.  The handle feels rubberized and the bristles are almost as soft as the MAC 217, but a little more scratchy.  It sells for $12.00 normally but they are selling it for $10.00 on the website.  It's not a bad brush, I always love getting brushes in my bags/boxes.

 Again, this was a pretty good bag.  In both Ipsy and Birchbox, there were lotions that I was not wild about the scent.  There were eyeliners, obviously the Eyeko one wins there. I think the brush was my favorite item in my Ipsy.  I have had the eye cream and the dry shampoo before.  I really was excited about the mask and the primer in the Birchbox.  I think that Birchbox will continue the lead 6 to 4.

 * As per usual, I buy my own boxes.  They don't magically show up for my pleasure.

Birchbox is another $10.00 per month subscription box.  It has sample sized beauty items.  They have both men's and women's boxes.  The men's boxes are $20.00 and sometimes they make me jealous.  I really like Birchbox's points system.  

You receive 10 points per review and 50 points for referring friends.  100 points is $10.00 in the Birchbox store and you can use it towards anything in their store.  Birchbox also includes a a card the describes the theme on one side and the products and the prices for the full sizes on the other.  This month's theme was 2016: The Year of ______.



Inside were stickers that you could add to decide what your year was going to be.  I wanted to use too many, so I decided not to play with my stickers.

Whish

My first item was the Whish Body Butter in Lavender.  It's $24.00 for the full size of 5 oz.  On the plus side it is decently moisturizing,non greasy, Leaping Bunny Certified, paraben free, sulfate free, phthalate free, but it's lavender.  Usually they do a good job of matching fragrance, so I probably would have been happier if they had done that.  I hate.  Detest.  Loathe.  Despise the scent of lavender.  It's lightly scented, but still, it's lavender.  It comes in many other scents, but it being lavender means this won't be something I'll use.  I'm sure someone else will take this off my hands though.

Amika

Next up was the Amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo.  It's reasonably priced, $9.00 for 1 oz. It has a slightly perfumed scent.  It doesn't leave a white cast in my hair and uses safer ingredients than many other dry shampoos.  It's not bad, I have had this before, I think it may have came in before I started my blog.

BioRepublic

Now this is the scent I wish my lotion had been.  I love pomegranate.  I am looking forward to trying this.  I have only tried one other sheet mask.  I liked it, but the eye holes were a little off.  Maybe this one will be better.  This mask is by BioRepublic and it's in Pomegranate Crush, it is normally $4.99 for one mask, but they also have three masks for $14.95, and ten masks for $44.95.






Lastly was the item we were supposed to be given in all our boxes many months ago.  Then it got stuck in customs.  I was then able to pick this for my monthly selection.  I did stew over the lip stain for a second, because of BabsBeauty Popsicle lips.  I mean who wouldn't want to look even a tiny bit like her?


The Eyeko Fat Liquid Eyeliner in black is very black.  It is $18.00 for 3.5 oz.  It has a glossy finish but patting a black shadow over that will dull that down.  It is long lasting.  It's fairly easy to use and not bad for a quick line.  We'll see how long it lasts, as it has been my experience that felt tips love to dry up on you.


Overall, I really liked this box.  My least favorite item was the lotion, of course.  Well, Ipsy is up next.  Last month, Birchbox took the lead.

* I buy all of my monthly subscription boxes myself.  No one pays me to review or send me items to review.