• July Birchbox #4 // review •

Not the best Birchbox I've received; it could be better, but then it could be worse. The thing is, it was always going to 

be pretty hard to beat a Beauty Blender, wasn't it?

The theme for this month's beauty box was Sun, Sea and Sand. I'm not going to lie, when I first saw reviews of this box, I assumed I would get a Vita Coco coconut water in my box and was ridiculously excited because it's my favourite ever drink, but unfortunately it was not to be! Aside from that, the beauty products are pretty average in my eyes and not super impressive, unlike previous Birchbox's I've received. But let's not bash without discussing the positives first.

benefit Porefessional primer // £24.50 (full size)

Obviously, popping in a benefit product will always bring the rating of the box up, particularly when it's a cult favourite. I've used Porefessional many times and can honestly say it's a good product, but I have to be honest and say that I can never really be bothered with primers, especially in the summer months when I wear such a light coverage foundation that I don't mind subtly slipping off. Nonetheless, it is a great product which I know I will get lots of use out of - and the sample size is pretty generous too, as you only need a teeny tiny amount of it for your t-zone.

 Laqa & Co Sheer Lip Lube in 'Menatour' // £14.43 (full size)

When I first saw this product in my box I was a little gutted as I was unsure as to whether I could pull off a purple lip in summer, but the colour is more of a pinky/fuchsia rather than a deep purple so the packaging is deceiving. It's sheer but has a nice amount of pigment, so you could slap it on without a mirror and not be worried about application, and it has a lovely minty scent, similar to the Revlon balms. I really like this product and the name of it - Lip Lube (??) - makes me giggle a little bit...anyway, enough of that.

Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream // £20 (full size)

I'm in an abundance of eye creams at the minute and I'm thinking to myself, when will this stop?! I don't need more samples of eye creams as I pretty much have a box full, but I guess I can save this for when I run out of my others (in about 10 years time). I've received a few Balance Me products before and they are a bit 'meh', so we'll have to see how this one goes. I do have to say, though, that I've not tried an eye cream that is as moisturising, creamy and luxurious as plain old Vaseline. I've used it since I was 16 before bed and no other eye cream has lived up to it. It sounds weird, but give it a go - it conditions your eye lashes too, so you're killing to birds with one stone.

Models Own Fireworks in 'Sparkler' // £5

Again, I have about a billion glitter nail polishes - but then I guess, how were Birchbox to know that. This is cute for summer over the top of a pink polish and it's the only Models Own nail polish I own, so I'm not sure how good the formula is, but I may do a review of it along with the other glitters that I own.

Whish Three Whishes Lavender Body Butter // £14.50 (full size)

People keep saying that this doesn't smell strongly of lavender, but I'm not a lavender lover at all and think this smells so strong. I'll be passing this onto my mum and I'm afraid I can't even give you an idea of the formula or texture of it as I disliked the smell so much that it went straight back into the box. Sorry! I'm sure that if you like lavender you'll be pleased with this product but I'm so not a fan unfortunately. On the bright side, my mum will be happy!

Filosofille - price unknown (can't find this anywhere?!)

This is probably genuinely the best product I received in this month's box. I've been needing a new one of these for a while so it's just saved me a trip to the shops. I love the way it has 4 sides so you can just carry this around and it'll do you for a full manicure - no using 4 different nail files, just this one. It's really quick and easy and is a real staple for nail lovers, such as I. And it's such a wonderful lifestyle extra, something I'd actually use - I mean, a flip flop key ring is cute, but...really?

So this month's Birchbox was okay, not great, not abysmal, but I really would've liked a 'wow' product which the other boxes have given me. I still really recommend the service and can't see myself giving up the subscription any time soon, although I know that a few people have been really turned off by this month's box. Each to their own I guess - but I'm just hoping next month's box will be amazing.

PS. sorry for the poor photo quality - my iPad is naff and the lighting wasn't great at the time. My Canon 600D is on it's way (I keep tabs on the tracking service every half an hour!) so the quality can only get better :)

Did you receive the same products as me?

Are you happy with your July Birchbox?

Daniela xo