Free From Birchbox: stila's "in the know" Palette & Juicy Couture Rollerball Duo! Reviews and Swatches Abound!!

Not the normal monthly sample goodies from Birchbox... these are much better!

Ever since I first signed up for my year long subscription from Birchbox, I've been saving up my feedback/reward points until I had enough to get myself a product I normally wouldn't indulge in at no cost to me. Yup. That's right. I didn't pay a single penny to get these two full sized products!

Take the jump to see what I got! 

I have to say it again because I'm just so excited:

I GOT THESE FOR FREE!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Alright, now for the normal babble.

I feel like I've been seeing the stila "in the know" palette pop up in quite a few beauty videos on YouTube recently, but it's definitely something I've been coveting for a long while now. 

As for the perfume, I was having WWIII in my mind for quite some time before a cease fire could finally be declared. You see, I originally thought that once I had enough Birchbox points I would buy myself the Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy perfume. However, contradictory to what I said in a previous post, I fell in lust love with the Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy la Fleur version (which I included in my September "Favorites" Video). They're such different perfumes though so I was really struggling with which one I would spoil myself with! Thankfully Juicy Couture must have heard the nuclear missiles being launched within the confines of my skull and made a beautiful dual ended roller ball housing both of these lovely perfumes.

 Ahhhh, what a lovely creation, don't you think?

These scents are both gourmand but in entirely different ways; essentially they are reversals of one another. The original Viva la Juicy centers on the gourmand caramel and vanilla that I feel the brand is known for with very slight supporting notes of white floral and fruit. La Fleur however, as the name suggests, focuses on the white floral from the latter perfume but has extremely (but not sickeningly) sweet fruit, caramel, and vanilla notes mingling with the fresh floral bouquet.

If you haven't given either of these a whiff, I do highly encourage you to spritz yourself with one or the other at a Sephora or Ulta to try on for the day. I doubt you'll be disappointed if these are the types of scents that tickle your olfactory fancies.

Now that Fall has finally seemed to roll around (minus the few random days here and there where we are still getting weather in the high 70's; I know Californians, Texans, etc., you can stop glaring at me through the sweat on your brow now) I've been reaching more for my matte eyeshadows. This palette is perfect in the sense that all of the shades are matte, most are nudes appropriate for every day wear, plus there are the oddball couple that add a real punch for days I'm feeling daring (aka days I give myself more than ten minutes to do my hair/makeup).

The "in the know" palette also came with a nice little "look book" of different ways to wear the shadows for multiple types of occasions. Nice as it was, I'm not sure that I'll ever use it so I just let Galileo bat it around for awhile until he got bored with it, rolled over, and moved onto the duct tape on the box.

Another little bonus of this palette is that it came with a (full size?) smudge stick in a lovely ashy grey/wanna-be-black shade. I've never tried one of these and DANG, they pack a punch!! This smudge stick glided on incredibly buttery smooth and it lasts and lasts. Seriously, I took these photos yesterday morning and the swatch is STILL on my hand.

This photo was taken after removing all of the eyeshadow swatches off my hand!

Now, onto the swatches of the shadows!!

 Air - A classic milky nude

Wind - A muted pinky cream

Desert - A tan brulee

 Clay - A blushed pink mauve

Earth - A dark, cool toned brown

Driftwood - A warm milk chocolate

 Fire - A blazing burnt orange

Rain - A taupe brown

Smoke - A navy ashen grey

Ebony - A nearly black

Smudge Stick "Halfmoon" - An ashy grey/wanna-be black

As I'm sure you can see, all of these shadows are extremely pigmented, buttery soft, and an absolute dream to work with. I couldn't be happier with this palette and am excited for it to become a staple in my daily Fall makeup routine!

If you're in the market for a new palette of matte shades that will work for every day wear but also has some shades for special occasions (or just days that you're feeling especially sassy) then I would definitely check this one out. And speaking of checking things out, Galileo was having a good look at himself while I was busy swatching...

So that's it, that was my free stuff! I'm not sure if you've ever been able to bring your online shopping cart to $0.00 after shipping before, but it really is one of the most fantastic feelings ever!!!

Have you swatched stila's "in the know" palette before?

Own it already?

What about the Juicy Couture perfumes?

Love 'em? Hate 'em?

Do share!

xoxo - Cassie