Ok guys, I am sure this is not why you are reading this post but I made risotto for the first time on Monday night.  It was so incredibly worth my arm being sore from stirring for an hour.  I am literally sore from cooking.  That counts as a workout, right?  I was extremely proud of myself for making a dish I was afraid to make.  It was also totally delicious.  I had leftovers for lunch yesterday after dreaming about my leftovers all morning…  I plan on making it again as soon as my risotto muscles have recovered and are back in business.

Anyway, July seems like the perfect time for a June Birchbox review, no?  I opted out of letting Birchbox choose my samples for me this month and chose the Guest Editor Box instead.  I was not disappointed.

Marcelle BB Cream Golden Glow

This was actually a sample I had received about a year ago and I really enjoyed it.  The coverage is not great, but it does give you a nice glow.  I enjoyed using that sample for a BB cream I could use on the go, so I was excited to receive another sample of it!  It now lives in my purse with its fellow teeny tiny travel makeup samples.

4/5 would buy

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel

Ok y’all, confession time.  The main reason this review is so late is because I avoided this sample like the plague.  The word “peel” makes me incredibly nervous.  I am always paranoid that I will end up looking like Samantha Jones from the Sex and the City episode where she gets one and shows up at Carrie’s book release party looking like a beekeeper in mourning.

Aren’t licensed Estheticians and/or Dermatologists supposed to give you these?  With emergency procedures in place?  In a sterile environment?  Surely it would not be safe to administer a face peel while sitting in front of my TV with my pups while watching The Bachelorette and stuffing the only part of my face that is not being peeled with Trader Joe’s Assorted Macarons… (by the way, these are too delicious for words).

This sample sat on my counter for two weeks before I was brave enough to even open it.  I didn’t know what was inside.  A liquid?  A cream?  A medieval torture device?  The time had come to take the peel plunge.

I got out of the shower and read the instructions.  I should have read the instructions first… “Use in the shower to save time”.  Oops.  The first step is to quickly apply the gel (the verdict is that it is, in fact, a gel substance) to your face and neck while your skin is damp (hence the shower).  The gel came out of the tube like hair gel but it clumped the second it hit my skin.  Then you are supposed to rub your face in a circular motion for 2-3 minutes.  Y’all, this stuff was both the coolest and grossest thing I have ever done to my face.  I started rubbing it in and it immediately turned into little white clumps, like when a sweater starts to pill.  This is not the product, my friends.  According to the instructions, this is your SKIN.  Yes, disgusting, dead, pilly skin clumps that you continue to rub into your face.  I realized after the three minutes was up that I definitely should have done this in the shower.  Or I just waited too long.  When I tried to rinse my face, some of the little skin clumps had become stuck in the tiny hairs on my upper jaw line that I didn’t even know I had.  I could still feel some remnants of them this morning.

Pesky rinsing process aside, HOLY COW THIS STUFF IS INCREDIBLE.  It’s like I have new skin.  It is so soft, clean, and glorious.  My face has only felt this good after a facial.  There is no exfoliator that I have ever tried that even compares to this.  However, this miracle skin clumper is costly and is not exactly in my budget.  I am not sure the full-size is much bigger than the sample, and I barely had enough to cover my entire face.  I was not able to apply it to my decolletage like the box sujoosted *Franc voice from Father of the Bride… anyone?*.  Today I sat there at my desk while petting my face and continuing to pick the remnants from my fine little jaw hairs.  It was kind of painful.  But TOTALLY worth it.

5/5 would buy

Harvey Prince Hello Body Cream

I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes because you think that I am going to complain about receiving a lotion sample even though I knew I was going to get a lotion sample since I chose the box in the first place.  Ok.  That’s out of the way.  As you might imagine, I don’t have a lot to say about this sample.  It was a lotion.  It smelled refreshing and citrus-y and embodied the smell of summer.  It took a while to rub completely into my skin after my shower.  It got the job done.  Let’s move on, shall we?

1/5 would buy

Oribe Cote d’Azur Fragrance

The fragrance smelled very nice.  It was sweet but not completely summery.  I was surprised because they tend to send fragrance samples that fit in with the season.  I smelled it throughout the day and enjoyed every whiff.  I’m sure my other fragrances have this kind of longevity as well but I am so used to them that I probably don’t smell them anymore.  Did I love this fragrance enough to spend a whopping $85 on it?  No.  But I will definitely use this sample sparingly so it doesn’t run out quickly!

4/5 would buy

davines SU Hair & Body Wash

A lesson I learned from the sample: read the fine print.  All I saw when I pulled this sample all of the box was the SU and the / and the hair&body wash.  I’m not sure I’ve used something that was advertised to be used on my hair and my body since it said Loreal Kids on the bottle and smelled like a sweet strawberry dream.  I wasn’t sure I could trust this stuff on my hair so I plopped it into my loofah.  It was alright as a body wash.  The light scent was nice.

I hopped into my shower the next day and noticed a little something I didn’t notice the day before…

The davines logo.  One of my most favorite hair care brands.  I expressed my love for their Alchemic Silver Conditioner in my post about My Hair Washing Routine & Go-To Hair Products.  I used this wonderful product as body wash.  I almost cried.  I vowed to treat this product with the respect it deserves each day going forward.  On my hair, where it belongs.  And, I mean, until it runs out.

One thing I noticed when I went to review this product was that it is not found in the Women’s Birchbox shop, but it is found in the Men’s.  This probably explains why it is both a shampoo and a body wash.  Men like to keep it simple.  I like how Birchbox found a way for people who usually shop in the Women’s shop to explore the Men’s side.  Well played, Birchbox.

4/5 would buy

Once I got over my irrational fear of potentially putting acid on my face (even though the peel is acid-free) and forgave myself for treating a lovely shampoo like a dollar store bottle of body schlop, I loved this box!  Whomever this Guest Editor was should definitely choose boxes more often 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!  See y’all next time…

Marissa