August Birchbox: Back to School

I work at a university, and the fall semester starts today at the medical school and next week for everybody else.  Am I ready?  Not really, as fall semester always seems to catch me by surprise because it starts in what I consider to still be summer.  However, a coworker informed me Friday that Alabama football starts up in three weeks, and I guess that's the first official sign of fall around here.

Birchbox's August offering is all about refilling your beauty supply kit with "must-try essentials and new products that will take you through the fall".  Plus, there is Beauty 101 pamphlet with beauty "how to" tips - my favorite is "How to Read a Label".  Something I did not know - a product's expiration date is determined by heating a sample to simulate the decay process.

Not on the card is the Schick Hydro razor.  This is actually perfect timing for me, as my good razor broke and I've been using some crappy disposable razors.  This will be a decided step up.

I'm excited to try the Shu Uemura Essence Absolue, as I've become a fan of hair oils.  You only use a drop so this sample should last me a while.  Or it would have, if I hadn't dropped it on my bathroom floor and shattered the bottom.  I've got about half left in the vial that I managed to salvage.  Them's the breaks.  I've nicknamed it "liquid gold", as the full size is $66.   The star ingredient is Camellia Kissa seed oil and was apparently something geisha's used to condition their hair.  Exotic!

Talika is a totally new to me brand, and this mascara remover contains silk proteins and cornflower water to help restructure weakened eyelashes.  I don't usually wear waterproof mascara, but I've got some eyeliners that are difficult to remove so I'm interested to see is this works on them.

I also received a stila curling mascara.  My lashes are fairly straight and even using an eyelash curler does not seem to make much of a difference.  Maybe this will help.

The only item that won't see use from me this month is the perfume sample from Viva la Juicy in La Fleur.  It's a bit sweeter than I care for, and will join my ever growing stash of unused perfume samples.  I estimated the value of my August box at about $28, so a pretty good value for my $10.

Overall, I'm pleased with my box and continue to think Birchbox is the bomb!  For $10 a month, I've gotten to try a variety of products and have found some new favorites.  Birchbox also has a points system that allows you to review the items in your box for 10 points each.  This effectively reduces the price of each box to about $5 per month, a steal IMO.  Points can be used at the Birchbox store, and 100 points = $10.  If you'd like to subscribe, you can use this link (which gives me 50 points if someone subscribes), or you can go straight to Birchbox and sign up.

Disclosure:  I subscribe to Birchbox for $10/mo.