Birchbox - April 2014

I have had a pretty bad week this week (and to top it all off my laptop has gone to laptop-hospital today - boohoo) but my latest Birchbox arriving earlier than I was expecting on Friday did cheer me up a little - small things, eh? Although I was pretty happy with most of the items I received this month, I have had a little grumble over the sizes of some of the products, namely the makeup products.

TheBalm Cosmetics How 'Bout Them Apples? Cheek & Lip Cream An easy to blend cream that offers a gorgeous, long-lasting pop of colour to cheeks and lips. £26.00 for palette
This was a pretty tiny sample of the product. I don't know how big the pots are in the palette, but if they are this small, I definitely wouldn't be buying at £26! They are an ok size for a lip product but as these are for cheeks too, I would've liked a bigger size. The little book style packaging is pretty cute though and the size of the sample was the only issue I have with this product. The shade I got was Pie, which is a bright pink colour, one I would use a lot in summer. The formula is lovely & creamy, and is easy to blend.

Lord & Berry Couture Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil A sleek black kohl eyeliner pencil is a must-have accessory for eyes, no matter the season. £10.00
I received an eyeliner in my Birchbox, albeit a liquid one, a couple of months ago, so it would've been nice to try a different makeup product, but I do use kohl eyeliners a lot so it's nice to try a different brand at least. This was the product I was most disappointed with size-wise - why couldn't this have been a full size product? I haven't tested the product on my eyes yet, so can't comment too much on the quality but, having swatched it on my hand, it's not the most pigmented which is a little disappointing.

Color Club Gala's Gems Nail Polish Our collaboration with London-based Spanish blogger, Gala Gonzalez, includes this pretty Birchbox-exclusive polish. £15.00 for set of 4
This was what I was most excited about when I opened up my Birchbox, as the shade in the box was a gorgeous rose gold colour. I literally squealed when I saw this! I love rose gold but sadly don't own a nail polish in the colour, so this was a big thumbs up for me. I did have a sneaky look on the bottom of the bottle and, again, this is a mini product. I'm going to be painting this on my nails tonight and, if the quality is good, I may consider purchasing some of these - £15 for a set of four nail polishes seems like a pretty good deal to me!

One Love Organics Skin Saviour Waterless Beauty Balm A do-it-all balm to remove makeup, cleanse and moisturise skin - it even tames flyaways! £30.00
This was a pretty decent sample size. At £30.00, I probably won't be repurchasing this, but I'm certainly interested in trying it. I've recently just got into using balm cleaners to take off my makeup in the evenings, so I'm curious to see how this compares to my current favourite from Lush - coincidentally, this balm smells a bit like one of Lush's soaps! I think would make a pretty nice lip balm too.

Campos De Ibiza Almendra Body Milk Spring in a tube! A light and quickly-absorbed almond body milk to hydrate. £16.55
I'm not too fussed about trying out body products in beauty boxes - I always get so many at Christmas to last me until my birthday in the summer! I do like the almond scent though, and it did absorb very quickly into the skin when I tested it out on my hand and the scent lasted for a long time, so I look forward to giving it a proper testing to see how hydrating it is.

Propercorn Sweet Coconut & Vanilla A sweet new gourmet guilt-free flavour from this subscriber-favourite brand! £0.90
Why does this always happen to me? Birchbox add a lovely food brand which normally I would be really excited about, but they include a flavour I'm not going to like! The same thing happened with the Green & Black's Dark Chocolate, and unfortunately it's happened again this month. Obviously Birchbox were not to know but I hate coconut and anything with coconut in it. Once again I did give it a fair go, hoping I wouldn't be able to taste the coconut too much, but it's most definitely there and I had to throw the majority of the packet away. It's a shame because I've tried a few Propercorn flavours before and loved them, this just wasn't the one for me. Hopefully it'll be third time lucky for me next time!

Although I wasn't too happy with some of the sizes of products in my box this month (it would've been nice to have one full size product at least), I was happy with the actual products themselves. It was nice to have more makeup items in this box, as these are the products I like to experiment with the most. And maybe, just maybe, I'll receive a food product I like one day!

Did you receive a Birchbox this month? What did you get? Have you tried any of these products before?