The June 2016 Birchbox is all about ‘Everyday Magic’. Within the boxes for this month, Birchbox is sharing with us some of the best products and techniques for a ‘presto-chango payoff’. Keep reading to see the full unboxing, along with my June 2016 Birchbox review!
My Birchbox June 2016 Review
In total, my June 2016 Birchbox came with five samples, mostly in the skincare and makeup department (which I personally prefer, so it’s all good!). Here are the products I received, along with my initial impressions of each.
Lavanila The Healthy Sunscreen Sport Luxe SPF 30 – This sunscreen has a whipped, mousse-like texture that feels (and looks) sort of like foundation, but blends into the skin beautifully, giving off a transparent finish with an extra bit of glow. I can’t wait to use this on my face the next time I’m at the beach! It just feels so good on the skin. Best of all, it’s 100% natural.
Avène Thermal Spring Water – This is actually a long-time favorite of mine when it comes to calming my skin in the Summer and refreshing my face during the day. I featured it in my beach bag essentials recently because it works so well to re-hydrate my skin after a day in the sun. Can’t go wrong with an extra travel-sized bottle!
dr. brandt® PoreDermabrasion – I love this scrub when it comes to clearing and refining clogged pores, however it can be quite harsh, so be warned! You can check out my full review here.
IPKN Moist & Firm Beauty Balm SPF 45 – For the Summer, BB creams really come in handy when you want a speedy and minimal foundation application. This one has the added SPF 45, plus it’s incredibly pigmented for a BB cream. The shade ‘light/medium’ is a bit dark for my NC25-27 skin (in MAC terms), but after some tanning, it should work just fine! 😉
Benefit gimme brow volumizing fiber gel – I haven’t tried too many of Benefit’s brow products, so I was excited when it came up as a ‘Sample Choice’ pick. It’s the perfect color for me, too – shade 05 deep is the darkest shade, and comes across as an ashy dark brown, making perfect for those with dark brown to black hair. I love the new packaging, plus they now have three shades available, including 01 light, 03 medium, and 05 deep.
Swatches of the Benefit gimme brow volumizing fiber gel in shade ’05 deep’, and the IPKN Moist & Firm Beauty Balm SPF 45 in shade ‘Light-Medium’ (initial swatch on the right, blended in on the left)
Final Thoughts
Overall, my box for June 2016 had a lot of fun products to play with. While two of the products were already previous favorites of mine (can’t say no to extras!), I did enjoy trying out a Benefit brow product, as well as makeup from IPKN (love the quality of their makeup and creams!).
I also want to bring up Birchbox’s changes to their points system, which I know many of us have enjoyed over the past couple of years. Here’s the update from Birchbox that came in today via email:
While I am happy with the ability to spend my points in any increment (and not have to wait til I hit 10 reviews to cash in $10), I’m so upset to see that 1) the points will expire in 6 months and 2) that they’re limiting points for only the first 5 samples…for the entire duration of your subscription. That means the max points you can ever accumulate from Birchbox sample reviews is $5. Considering these updates, I’m not sure if I’ll be staying a subscriber, especially with all the other great (and ingredient-conscience) subscription boxes out there that I’ve been trying out (like Vegan Cuts and Petit Vour, to mention a few). We will see.
If you’d still like to try out Birchbox’s monthly box, you can sign up here. And if you are subscribed, let me know what you thought about your June 2016 Birchbox samples, or their new points system changes.
