Battle of the Boxes: July 2015 Birchbox and Ipsy

Hi all! Welcome back to Battle of the Boxes Round 2! Honestly, this month I wasn't impressed with the boxes as a whole, but there were a few stand out products between the two. So we'll just hop to it!

First up, Ipsy

Crown Brush Tweezers: Full sized, $17.95. These are good tweezers, gets the job done.
City Color HD Powder: 4.0 grams, full size 7.0 grams for $5.99. Good setting powder, works just as good as high end ones I've tried. It is translucent so you don't see it on top of your foundation.
Nudestix Magnetic Eye Color in Gilt: Full size (0.10 oz) with sharpener, $24. I'm not going to lie, I'm a cream shadow junkie. When I got this I was extremely excited to try this out. It is a light gold color with some sparkles. It just looks amazing on my skin and against my green eyes. I'm sure this would double as a lovely highlight color too! It wears throughout the whole day without creasing or loosing too much color. Here's a swatch of it:

It was love at first swatch. *drools*
pur~lisse pur-bright ultra skin brightening serum: 0.34 oz, full sized 1.0 oz $76. I love the way this serum feels on my skin, I use it in the morning before my moisturizer. I've only had it a week so I can't say if it's doing anything or if I'm going to be dropping $76 on a full size (my skin better glow from the inside out for $76...)
Classico by Jor'el Parker: Full size, 0.3 oz, $21. Honestly, I hate this scent. Way too flowery for me, it makes me gag just taking a small whiff, I'm more of a clean or musky scent kind of girl (I've been known to wear guy's cologne once in a while). This was a definite miss for me.

And now, Birchbox

StriVectin-AR Advanced Retinol Eye Treatment: 0.17 oz, full size (0.5 oz) $75. It's a very creamy and deeply moisturizing eye cream but I don't feel it's worth the $75 to me. I'm all about preventing wrinkles but I'm not sure I'm ready for retinol just yet, maybe in a few years after I hit the big 3-0.
Dr. Jart Ceramidin Liquid: 0.3 oz, full size (5 oz) $39. I've used this a few times, I'm not too impressed with it, I didn't feel like this did anything for my skin. This is supposed to be used as a serum followed by a moisturizer which is what I did. Maybe it's just not for my skin...it happens.
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant: 0.25 oz, full size (2 oz) $78. It's a good, gritty scrub but it's too harsh for my skin. I ended up breaking out a bit with this after I tried it sadly (not so sad because of that price tag....)
Oribe Apres Beach Wave and Shine Spray: 1.0 oz, full size (8.5 oz) $39. Love love love the smell of this! And it lasts well after you first apply it. I'm still working on how to use this exactly but it does have good hold to it and it does make my hair shiny. I already have curly/wavy hair so for me it's more like a hairspray but it's supposed to make it curl more, if I read correctly?? (I probably didn't, I sprayed it and smelled it and just started using it lol)
Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Venezia: 0.05 oz, full size (0.10 oz) $24. Love the bright pinky coral color but unfortunately, after drying this cracked and started to crumble every time I moved my lips...I plan to play with it and try to get it to work for me...I like it that much!
FULL SIZE PRODUCTS:
Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara: $20. Got this as a sample from Sephora a while ago and fell in love. Ironically, I was just thinking about ordering one when I got this in my Birchbox. It gives wonderful volume and separates lashes beautifully. This one is definitely going to be in my rotation on a regular basis.
Laura Geller Bronze-n-Brighten in Medium: $33. I personally find it funny that they sent me the darkest shade of this and yet it still barely shows up on my skin! However, it does give an amazing glow to the cheeks. I use it like a blush, lightly sweeping it over the apples of my cheeks and then blend a blush over it and I look like I just got out of the sun. It's amazing. It's not too sparkly but you can see the "highlight" properties of this product.

Left: Laura Gellar Bronze-n-Brighten in Medium; Right: Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Venezia

why did they both send me lots of expensive skin care?!? I don't have $75 to drop on that LOL.

The winner: Birchbox! Mainly for the two full size products I received in my upgrade. The Nudestix from Ipsy did make that bag worth what I paid for it but Birchbox still wins, hands down.

If you want to give either of these subscriptions a shot, below are my personal reference links.
Birchbox: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/6dppz
Ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=4ydj

xoxo,
Shell