August '13 Birchbox!

Oh yay, a Birchbox to remind me that school starts in less than a month. Well, okay, technically it has nothing to do with school school but the fact that the theme has the word 'school' in it at all gives me the heebie-jeebies; don't mind me if I grab Galileo and do the under-the-sheets-hibernation-huddle (DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT)...

Ahem.

I know my box looks quite empty this month but I can assure you it was filled with some intriguing goodies! Take the jump to read all about it :)

Obligatory card shots for anyone interested in reading through them; if you're like me though you'll just skip to the products and read the card afterwards (my mom is always appalled at the fact that I read the last chapter[s] of a book after the first chapter or two... I can't help it! I want to know what happens haha #typicalGemini).

(MALIN+GOETZ) is a brand that I haven't dabbled in because of the insane price tag attached to their products so I was pretty excited about receiving a sample this month... EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT'S IN THESE STUPID RIPPY-PACKETS. 

Uuuuuuuugh...

Seriously, this madness needs to end. If a brand can manage to sell their products for upwards of $100 a pop, surely they can scrape together a few extra bucks to package their samples a bit more luxuriously.

I'm pretty happy to have something from (MALIN+GOETZ) to try out nonetheless so hopefully the product overrides the packaging and proves superior; time will tell!

Now here's a brand that understands the importance and appeal of a pretty package.

The last time I received a Juice Beauty product was waaaaaay back in December (of last year... yikes!!) but, even though the product was... erm... not so great, I remember it because they put it in a package that isn't a hassle to use (nice sized squeezy-tube, safety sealed, etc.); it's rare that I'll get to the product if the package is less than appealing and creates a mess.

So we'll see on this one! I remember not liking the last Juice Beauty thing I got (a CC cream) because the smell was overwhelmingly unpleasant but who knows? Maybe this one will be a winner (I haven't smelt it yet because I want to keep it sealed until first use). Anything that screams acne-prevention has my utmost attention!

Something I'll never turn down (in a Birchbox or otherwise) is fashion tape. Pretty sure I don't have to go into detail about this since, if you've seen any of my fashion videos (i.e. my OOTW or How I Style series) you'd know that I have a very, erm... prominent bosom. I don't run a personal peek-a-boo service so I'm always making sure my girls are behaving and not popping any buttons!

When Birchbox first revealed that they were going to be giving lipsticks away in some people's boxes this month, my hands immediately went up in the air and flapped about screaming "PICK ME PICK ME PICK MEEEEE!!!" I have a definite 'thing' for lipsticks (it's hands down the thing I hoard most in terms of makeup) so I was beyond enamored to see this beauty rolling around in my box this month. 

While it's not a 'wow!' color by any stretch of the means, I think every girl needs to have a neutral (or two... or ten) in their lipstick wardrobe for classier or professional occasions (I know, I know, it's funny hearing that come from a student, huh?). I have yet to try this on my lips but the color looks promising and the formula is fantastic; extremely soft, creamy, and pigmented. The smell is a little... off? But I like it haha. It's a mix between old-lady lipstick and delicious gummy snacks so definitely not something everyone would be happy with but it doesn't bother me.

The last thing that I got in my August Birchbox was another product that I was extremely tickled to have received and that is this little quad of shadows from Coastal Scents. Coastal Scents is a bit of a cult classic brand in the beauty community and I'd be lying if I said I haven't gone on their website, put handfuls of palettes into my online cart, then apprehensively wavered between the 'checkout' button (bad Cassie!) and 'x' button of my browser screen (good Cassie...). My wallet's happy that I haven't purchased any palettes from Coastal Scents but I really have been overly tempted by their humongous and cheap palettes.

Thankfully I got this little guy to finally try out... unfortunately I have mixed feelings.

First off, I have to say that these shadows are GORGEOUSLY formulated; all four of them were silky smooth and incredibly pigmented (the above swatches were only one swipe). However, the light blue "Sea Spray" applied patchy-looking and "Peach Fuzz" and "Sand Dune", while uniquely beautiful in the pan, end up looking nearly identical on the skin (the only difference being a shimmer or frost finish). The blue/teal colors are absolutely beautiful though and should prove fun to play with; I have plenty of nude/champagne shadows in my hoard already so if any of them had to be letdowns I'm glad it was them.

So that's it folks!! As always, I hope you enjoyed taking a peek into my Birchbox samplings of the month and, as a little bonus, here's a couple pictures of Galileo for you! I feel like it's been awhile since he's made an appearance on the blog (he always monkeys around in the background of my videos) so hopefully these photos make up for his absence :3

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xoxo - Cassie