Birchbox "Holiday 2013" Review - December 2013

Yes, I took the picture after I ate the chocolate! 

My December Birchbox also came while we were on the cruise! I came home to a huge pile of mail and it made me happy to see some things were actually for me and not just bills and packages ordered for others Christmas presents. For those of you that don't now, Birchbox is a monthly subscription (cancel/pause any time) where you get a monthly box, delivered to your front door, or 4-6 high-end beauty and lifestyle samples from top brands. The best part, it's only $10/month! (and free shipping!)

Birchbox was delivered in a festive box, and then as always the actual box is inside (also festive this month - I've been saving all my boxes, they really helped with small xmas presents that needed boxes lol) with an information card and all the goodies! I love when subscriptions come with information cards (especially for a beauty product newbie like me) since they explain what all the products are and what/how they are used. The theme this month was "Holiday 2013" and was obviously about wishing a warm holiday and the option to buy more beauty presents from Birchbox. Now on to my items:

Beauty Protector Protect & Shampoo and Protect & Condition: Smells yummy! Love that it isn't a packet and is actual bottles! Will be using tomorrow! It's sulfate free, paraben free and vegan. I'm not sure what that all means for a hair product but it's listed on the bottle so some people must care lol The bottles don't state what size they are so I'm estimating the size. (~ $2.75 for each ~1oz sample).

Color Club Harlem Nights Collection Nail Polish (in Baldwin Blues): I've been getting a lot of nail polishes lately in my subscriptions, I think they are trying to help me with my 30 before 30 goal of not biting my nails. Although if you saw them today, you'd think otherwise lol. I hear Color Club is a good polish so when I'm feeling "blue" again I'll have to try it.. currently on a red/pink rotation. (~$4.00 for .25oz sample)  This was in the little blue pouch/box in the main picture. 

Grand Central Beauty S.M.A.R.T. Skin Perfecting Polisher: "The botanical-infused liquid exfoliates, peels, tones, and hydrates skin all at once - and does it all without water too" --obviously the description from Birchbox since I had no idea what one did with a Skin Polisher, I will have to give this a try! (~$7.60 for 6ml sample) -- might be an 8ml sample (which would be ~$10.13) - it was REALLY small print on the bottle. This was in the blue box in the main picture as well. 

Chuao Chocolatier Chocolate Bar (in Honeycomb): there are a bunch of flavors of these available and some sound way better than Honeycomb but this was exceptionally yummy and was only 50 calories and 100% natural! Score! They could throw one of these in my box every month and I'd be a happy camper! Although at $6 each (for the large size) they are a little pricey! (~$0.84 for .39oz sample) Although since this is considered the "lifestyle extra" it's not supposed to count towards the value of the box. In my November Box Review, I complained about getting Tea instead of Chocolate, I'd like to think somehow the Birchbox curators read my review and put in my file to keep giving me chocolate instead, I know this was just a coincidence but I can pretend it wasn't. 

Total Estimated Value of Box: $17.10 (not including shipping or the "Lifestyle Extra")
Total Cost of Box: $10.00 (Free Shipping)

Overall Impression: Pretty good box (although it had chocolate in it so that helped sway my opinion).  I'm not normally a huge fan of sample shampoo and conditioner which was half my box but it has awesome reviews and smells soo good (and didn't come in stupid packets) so I'm happy with it. Although my December ipsy Glam Bag blew this Birchbox away - and so for now I'm keeping both subscriptions!

If you are interested in signing up for Birchbox, use my referral link. If you review each product monthly you also get credit money in the Birchbox, shop. If you review each product each month (assuming there are 5) that equals $5 so the box itself pretty much costs $5 which is a great deal!

My box was "Birchbox 12" - thanks to Jen @ Ramblings of a Suburban Mom  - she explained how you can find out which box is yours and what all the other variations were each month! 

Oh yea, they threw in a promotion for Cynthia owley Beauty and a "DigiMate" which is supposed to be used to clean you screen on your phone as a way to promote the new Birchbox Mobile App. Which reminds me, I need to download it ASAP. 

Which box did you get? Did you like it? Did it have the yummy chocolate in it?

Disclosure: This post contains referral links!