Okay - this is my justifying, rationalizing, preaching to the choir ramble about why I do multiple Birchboxes a month and gamble. I 'only' - ha ha - had 3 boxes for myself, two after the first month and then added an extra during teen vogue so I could get the regular Birchbox and two teen vogues, ended up giving one teen vogue away. The fourth box is for a friend and she pays me for it. She just decided that she wants to quit her box and her MyGlam, so I have an extra box and and extra MyGlam that I should get rid of but I'm enjoying the extras for the trade thread right now. In fact, since I bring back her boxes every two months to her, I have the past two Birchboxes and MyGlam bags and told her she could retroactively cancel if that's what she wanted and I'd keep them and she wouldn't have to worry about paying me for them, of course. She's thankful and is happy that she gets to keep her money to save for something she really is wanting to order and might take two of the four, now that she knows what is in each, but from now on the subs are all me.
This is what I got in all of the boxes this month. So for $40, I got 2 $15 eyeliners that I love, 2 $17.50 mascaras (that I'd been wanting and would have bought myself anyway), 4 Tea Forte mintea tins - 3 go for $10, so about $13 worth, 4 pairs of earphones - darn, I was hoping these were usable. Are anyones? Do they at least have the same rubber tips as the regular ones, the skull candy ones? I'm always losing those and was hoping that I could keep these as extras. The headphones I usually use are about $10 a pair. I also got 4 perfume samples, 3 different types, lip gloss, the color protection fluid x 2, the luminizing moisture tint, shimmer lotion, sunscreen serum and a nail polish. A pretty good haul, I think, and definitely worth what I paid. A gamble? Yes, but that's part of the fun. Just one box with a $34 blush or a $36 bronzer can make up most of the price of all of the other items in all four boxes and I get tons of samples, to both try, make up gift boxes/bags and trade for items I really want and give others what they really want. It really ups my chances of getting what I want. I've been really lucky not to have double boxes all these months (since January), how - I don't know. Even if I got doubles, some things I really like and want to use up and others I can try one and trade one. I also am able to review products that I like for points, and this month all my boxes have 6 items, so that's $6 back in the future on purchases, which I will definitely use, bringing my cost to about $4 a box. Plus Birchbox lets you use anniversary codes for 20% off and use points and includes free shipping, so when I do use those points I really get an awesome deal. I am a bit crazy but I figured if anyone would maybe understand, it'd be some MakeupTalk gals. Plus, I don't have a mall or Sephora or anywhere to buy nice makeup here in Belize, the closest thing to it is a variety type store that sells elf and Covergirl makeup at 3 times the manufacturer's suggested retail price and that is probably very old because it's so expensive, no one buys it. I probably won't do this forever, I can see getting burnt out on too many samples eventually, but I'm having fun with it now. It makes me a very good friend to have, because I always have something interesting to share. My husband asked me this morning, "Do you have a moisturizer, not a sunblock? My skin is really dry" and then "of course you do", shaking his head.
/emoticons/
[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> The only bad thing for me about this is it's exposing me to brands that are amazing and expensive that I'm starting to love. But I always have a serum, lotion, cleanser, body lotion, new mascara/eyeliner, travel shampoo/conditioners, etc. on hand, so that's nice. Just wanted to share my boxes this month - sorry for the novel!
