Graceland: My First Birch Box

Thursday, June 14, 2012

My First Birch Box

I am so bummed. I just wrote this whole post then lost it all. Ugh.

I have jumped on the Birch Box bandwagon. First of all, I'll explain the Birch Box if you haven't heard of it. You pay $10 / month and get a monthly box of samples of beauty products. I was intrigued by what I've read on others blogs about it, so I decided on a 3-month trial. You have to get on the waiting list, which I think is a marketing ploy to make it seem urgent you sign up. It took a week or two, then I received an email saying I was at the top of the list and better sign up soon so I didn't lose my place. Silly, but effective, I guess.

I had a long, tiring day at work today. Two people are out so I'm covering for them. Thursday is usually my short day at work, but today it was extra long and extra busy. Thursday evenings my boys all go to various lessons and I usually have some Betsy time, which often means a bike ride. I was so tired after work I just couldn't get myself out there. So I settled on a little yard work so I didn't feel guilty for being a total slug. I came in to shower and saw the Birch Box on my bed. It came when I was at work and Rick brought it in for me. Ahhh perfect. My Betsy-time could be a mini-spa night.

Here's the breakdown of the SWAG:

MicrodermaMitt - Denizia Olive Oil Soap - I love fancy, all-natural soap, but I never buy it. I think because it's usually expensive and also usually overly-scented. This has little to no scent. I took a nice long shower. It seemed fine. I'll need to give it a week or so of use before I make the final call.

Juliette Has A Gun- Not a Perfume and theBalm-Stainiac in Beauty Queen. These are the two items I'm most skeptical about. I'm not a big perfume person. I just don't like artificial smells. However, every once in a while (lets face it when I don't shower but probably should- or when I just want to feel a little extra fancy) I like a little perfume. This tester size is perfect. I actually often choose tester perfume as my free gift at Sephora. I can try a new scent without buying a big perfume bottle that rarely gets used. I've never been a fan of lip stain. It seems to always be a funky color and dries my lips. This is for lips and cheeks. I am open to give it a try tomorrow.

Cynthia Rowley Dress Up Band-Aids - How cute are these. I thought there'd only be 3-4 in the box, but it's a full box. They are fun. Luckily :) Isaac got cut in his fencing class and needed a bandaid so we were able to try one out.

Cute. We couldn't really see which design it was through the wrapper. I thought this one wasn't as girly as others, but it's flowers. Isaac didn't care. I love that my boys are cool with girly bandaids. (This is why I lost my post. I had just finished it when Isaac came looking for a bandaid. For some reason when I added the pic it erased all my text.)

Masqueology - Pore Minimizing Mask - Ahhh. Here is what made it seem like a mini-spa night. This is not what I'm used to in a face mask. Instead of being a cream you put on and wash off, it was a towel you place on your washed face and leave it there for 20 minutes.

It was nice. Just a tad tingly. Now my face is very soft, but a bit sticky. Nothing I'd buy, but fun to get a sample to try.

So that's this month's Birch Box. Really fun. I'm excited for additional boxes and what they will bring. This would be a fun gift for girlfriends' birthdays or a shower.

1 comment:

kat said...: you have me intrigued . . . i myself could use a little home spa action.; June 20, 2012 at 8:39 PM

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

My First Birch Box

1 comment:

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