September Birchbox Review

Hello Gorgeous! I recently received my September Birchbox in the mail and have tried out some of my samples, so I'm ready to share it with you! If you haven't heard of Birchbox before, it is an awesome monthly  service that sends you 4-5 personal deluxe beauty samples for just $10/month! So far I have been quite happy with my selections and think Birchbox is a great value for the price! If you're interested in seeing what I have received over the last few months, check out these previous reviews: June, July, August.


This month's box is a celebration of the one year anniversary of Birchbox! The samples inside were supposed to be highly personalized based on each member's beauty profile, but I can't say that I was in love with everything I received (but hey, that's what samples are for, right?). Here's what came in my September Birchbox:

Clockwise from upper left: Birchbox Friendship Bracelet, Jouer Lip Enhancer Balm, Harvey Prince Eau Flirt Perfume, Blinc Mascara, Incoco Nail Polish Appliques, Lash Card, Product Description Card.

I know a lot of people were thrilled with the contents of this month's box, and although I like it fairly well, I can't say that it's my favorite (that still has to be June's box; It was amazing). Now that I've had my box for a few days I have had time to try everything except for the nail polish appliques, but I'm sure they will look just as cute as the Sally Hansen ones I posted a how to for back in April.


My favorite item from this box so far has to be the Blinc mascara. It's different from most because it doesn't just paint your lashes, it encompasses them with little tubes (once it's dry) that can only be removed with the combination of water and pressure. This means that your mascara will never run if you get stuck in the rain or have a good cry, and that you don't need eye makeup remover to take it off. I just removed it while I was washing my face before bed by gently pulling my eyelashes with my wet fingers. The little mascara tubes came off easily! I must say, this is a pretty cool invention and the only negative I can think of is that it tends to smear before it's dry.


My next favorite item is the Jouer Lip Enhancer. It is supposed to soften, moisturize, and plump your lips all at once. I like it because I can put it on by itself and my lips still look nice, even thought they're lipstick free. Not sure if I would buy the full size, but it's only $14 so it might be my next lip balm purchase.


The other two beauty products I tried so far were the Harvey Prince perfume and the Lash Card. Neither of these blew me away. The perfume says it's supposed to "inspire desire" but my fiance said it mostly inspired him to sit farther away from me. :( I must agree though, and definitely wouldn't ever consider paying $98 for this fragrance. The Lash Card, which is supposed to be used behind your lashes to keep you from smearing your mascara during application, was effective, but I don't usually smear my mascara so it isn't a product I would normally use.


So that's what I got in my September Birchbox! Happy birthday to the Birchbox team, and thanks for keeping the high end samples coming! Are you a Birchbox member yet? If so, what has been your favorite box thus far? If not, what are you waiting for?! Sign up now! :) I'm sure you'll love the monthly surprise just as much as I do!

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Interview with Jess Lam, Co-founder of ObviLux

Hello Lovelies! Last week I had the opportunity to talk with Jess Lam, one of the co-founders of ObviLux, a new website I've been digging for the last month or so. Jess is super sweet and has spent a lot of time talking with me. Although this site is already lots of fun and easy to use, Jess and the rest of the ObviLux crew are clearly committed to making people's experience with the website the best it could possibly be. Although I could go on and on about the site, I will let Jess tell you about Obvilux in her own words!

T: What is your role at ObviLux?

J: I am one of three founders of ObviLux. Currently I'm trying to help grow an active ObviLux community while talking with shoppers to figure out how to make the experience better overall. I spend most of my days on the phone with fashion gurus, stylists, and shoppers. It's pretty awesome. 

T: What was the idea and/or motivation behind creating ObviLux?

J: We noticed that our friends were sharing a lot of clothing through Facebook and of course we always shared links through email. There were lots of problems with using FB or email to find and share clothing so we wanted to make the experience fun for ourselves and our friends. 

T: How does ObviLux work?

J: ObviLux is completely fueled by our shopping community. All of the clothing and products are on the site because individuals added them using our Lux It! button. We made it really easy to add clothing so we've seen a high level of participation. Once clothing is on the site people can share it with their followers and create style-sets, which give the price and vision for what an outfit might look like. You can also discover some really amazing items by following other users and stores. Needless to say there's plenty do :)

T: What can ObviLux bring to the table that other websites, such as Pinterest, cannot?

J: We're specifically focused on the shopping experience. People use ObviLux to find and share items they want to buy or dream about buying. This also means that we work with brands to reward the most influential and loyal shoppers. If you're a big fan of urban outfitters, with a little work you can eventually become the store ambassador and potentially earn rewards. We will also recommend clothing and products we think you'd like based on your style, favorite stores, and friends' recommendations.

T: What other benefits might members experience from using ObviLux?

J: Every time I visit ObviLux I'm always so impressed by the range in awesome clothing people have shared. I use a lot of this clothing to create wish lists that I'll send out for birthdays and Christmas. That way my friends and family don't have to guess what to get me. Of course the store ambassador titles are an awesome benefit. Shoppers are always pushing to be the store ambassador for their favorite brands.

T: How have you partnered with stores to reward "store ambassadors?"

J: We have been meeting with many of our shoppers favorite brands to negotiate partnerships. These meetings have been going well and we are learning a ton. We hope to secure these rewards (gift cards, merchandise, coupon codes) in the near future from our most popular online stores.

T: Since ObviLux is still in it's early stage, are there any new features that users have to look forward to?

J: We are going to upgrade the design of all the current features soon. We're obsessed with design. On-top of that we plan to do some really exciting things with the Style-set feature. Outfit creation can be pushed much further. We're also still meeting with many of users to hear what they want most. So feel free to shoot me an email if you dream up a feature you'd like to see and want someone to build it for you (jess@obvilux.com). We only create the things our users want.

Intro to ObviLux (official alpha) from ObviLux on Vimeo.

Thanks to Jess for answering all my questions about ObviLux! Like I said, I've been using it for about a month now, and have had a lot of fun creating style sets and browsing through people's "luxes." If you would like to follow me, you can find my ObviLux profile here. Hope to see you on ObviLux soon!

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Pinterest: My New Obsession

Hello Gorgeous! Ever since Jessica from The Embellished Life invited me to join Pinterest, I have been browsing the internet "pinning" photos of things I adore. If you haven't heard of Pinterest, it's a website that lets you save images from the web to different boards (it's like virtually pinning photos to a cork board)! Some of my boards include "Fashion Inspiration," "Wedding Ideas," and "Yummy Treats." You can create different boards for your various interests, and save photos from all over the internet! You can also follow your friends to see what they're loving (if you'd like to follow me, click here)! The best part is that Pinterest saves the links to all the photos, so if you want to go back and buy something you pinned (for example) it's super easy to find! Here are some of the lovely images I've pinned so far:

Possible wedding hairdo?

Chanel Runway Makeup

Wedding gown by Maggie Sottero

Fab DIY bracelets from Honestly...WTF

Gorgeous Anthropologie Blouse that I first saw on Katherine from Feather Factor

I would love something like this for my wedding reception.

Lovely ice cream sandwiches...yum!

Fabulous Missoni Sunnies

If you aren't currently on Pinterest but would like to join, just leave a comment with your email or send me a message and I can send you an invitation to join! I'm sure once you start pinning you will be just as obsessed as I am! Also, if you're already pinning, feel free to leave your link so I can see what you're loving at the moment!

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My First Birchbox

Hello Hauties!  :)  Just this past Saturday, I received my first Birchbox in the mail! I recently signed up for Birchbox thanks to some coercion from Lia at Smart n Snazzy, and so far, I'm pretty happy I did! If you haven't heard of Birchbox before, it's basically an online beauty store with a monthly sampling program. For $10 a month, you receive a box of 4-5 deluxe beauty samples to try.  The box comes with a card telling you about the products, but you can also go to the website to learn more.  If you end up loving any of the products, you can buy them on Birchbox and earn loyalty points to use towards future purchases. Here is the box I received this weekend:

And here is what was inside the box...

Clockwise from top left: Oribe Beautiful Color Shampoo & Conditioner, Erno Laszlo Transphuse Night Serum, Product Card, Tiny Prints Sample Gift Card, Stila Eyeshadow in Moonlight (shimmery white), Bvlgari Mon Jasmine Noir Perfume, & Archipelago Pomegranate Soap.

Here is a close of up the product information card that came with the box. It provides information regarding each product and the size/price of the full size item.

So far, I have tried everything except the night serum. I will probably give it a try soon, but won't bother reviewing it because it costs $190 for a single ounce (I don't think many of us would be interested in a product that expensive)! I will tell you that my favorite item of this lot is probably the Archipelago pomegranate soap, which smells fabulous and leaves my hands feeling moisturized. The Bvlgari perfume smells pretty nice as well.


Overall, I think the quality and amount of product you get is worth the $10. I really love trying new products, so signing up for Birchbox was definitely a great option for me (thanks, Lia)! Be on the lookout for reviews of some of these products in the near future! Also, if you're a Birchbox member, I would love to hear your thoughts about these products!


Haute Lunch Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Trays

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