Happy Wednesday y’all!  I’ve been signed up for Birchbox for just over six months and I’ve had some good boxes, and some not so good boxes, but this June box is a winner.  At last!  For those of you who have potentially been living under a rock, Birchbox is a subscription service that delivers a box containing about five beauty and lifestyle samples to your door each month.  The boxes often contain samples from high end brands that I haven’t heard of, but they also occasionally throw in a sample from a well known brand, and/or a full size product.  Overall a pretty good use of $10.

In the months that I’ve been signed up, I’ve received a handful of products that I’ve completely fallen in love with and subsequently purchased in full size from the Birchbox shop, making the subscription worth it for me.   In addition to your box of samples, you’re rewarded with points (aka Birchbox Bucks) for reviews of the samples you receive and purchases made in the shop.  But back to June.  Let’s dig in to the products that have me drooling over this month’s batch of samples.

Birchbox + Color Club Nail Polish (London Calling)
Birchbox sent out one of four polishes in the new Wanderlust Collection of neon pastel polishes to each subscriber, and I received London Calling, a beautiful neon mint green.  I’ve been yearning for a mint green polish for ages, and this one is quite fun.  It’s really opaque, goes on fairly smoothly, and has a nice glossy finish.  This polish is such a fun way to wear mint and brighten up your style for the summer!  (Full size, $8)

Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo w/ Oat Milk
I love discovering new hair products, and the sample size is nearly always amazing.  This dry shampoo has a nice scent, but is straight up white powder.  I’m talking instant grandma gray.  On the flip side of that, it’s extremely effective at soaking up oil.  The white cast can be worked away with a little finger tousling, but as someone who primarily uses dry shampoo for volume and texture, this isn’t the best option for me.  I’ll definitely use up the sample, but then I’ll be switching back to my trusty, cheap, and even better smelling Suave. (Full size, $18)

suki Exfoliating Foaming Cleanser
Let me start off by saying that I love the sample size and packaging.  It would have been completely standard and acceptable to put a single use of this product in a little packet, but instead they provided at least four or five uses in this adorable little jar.  I’d say it’s really more of a scrub than a foaming cleanser because it didn’t foam up at all, but I’m totally okay with that.  It smells like a frozen lemonade and left my skin feeling clean and polished.  I use an exfoliating scrub a few times a week, and I’d be happy to work this into my routine.  (Full size, $33)

SW Basics Cocoa Lip Balm
I’m super picky about my chapsticks and lip balms.  It has to hydrate my lips (seems obvious, but a lot of them leave my lips feeling drier), last a while, have a good smell (or at least no smell), and taste okay (or again taste like nothing at all, but there’s nothing worse than a lip balm that almost instantly coats the entire inside of your mouth with some disgusting taste).  I told you I was picky.  Apparently all it takes is three natural and organic ingredients to meet my high expectations.  Cocoa butter, Coconut oil, and beeswax.  It smells like chocolate, has no taste, is amazingly moisturizing, and has successfully lasted through a cup of my Detox Tea, a few hours of chores, photography, and blogging, and a Chocolate Protein Shake.  It’s ridiculously expensive for a tube of lip balm, but if I continue to love it as much as I do now, I really may buckle and repurchase, and then just pray that I have enough points to cover the splurge.  Upon further investigation, the price makes much more sense.  The full size is a “flight” of lip balms!  You get Peppermint, Cocoa, Cinnamon, and Citrus in an adorable little tin.  Now I really want this!  (Full size, $15)

Tweezerman Matchbox Itty Bitty Nail Files
This month’s lifestyle extra is just too cute for words!!  There are few things that bother me more than being trapped out in the world with a snag in one of my nails and no file to rectify the situation.  This precious little matchbox is the perfect size to keep in your purse, and if I were stranded in the woods, I wouldn’t be able to start a fire with them, but at least my nails would look good.  And for those of you who follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that our two kitties are the primary subjects of my pictures, so the paw prints were a huge hit with this cat lover.
And this cat lover’s cat.  This is Lane, our sweet little girl who always sits with her paws crossed, so naturally she went straight for the nail files.
Our big boy Tonk, on the other hand, tried his best to turn my face scrub in to a new toy to bat all over the house.

If you’re interested in signing up for a Birchbox subscription, click here.  They also have Birchbox for men, including a special, limited edition Handsome & Hungry box for Father’s Day, so if you’ve been slacking and haven’t yet shopped for your old man, then you’re welcome for both reminding you and giving you a great gift option.  If you order before noon tomorrow, your box will arrive in time to give to your dad on Sunday!

Best & Blessings,

Last Week’s Wednesday Write Up: Inferno by Dan Brown