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Birchbox
Cost: $10/month
Ships To: United States. However France, Spain and the UK also have their own Birchbox subscriptions.
Coupon Code: Subscription Box: “JILLIAN” to get 100 Birchbox shop points with any subscription purchase. Shop: Try “welcomeoffer20” for 20% off your shop purchase. And don’t forget to add a Mystery Sample Pack to your cart with your $35+ shop purchase!

My May 2015 Birchbox is here! If you aren’t familiar, Birchbox, which is $10/month, offers 4-6 (sometimes more) hand-picked beauty and lifestyle samples, delivered to your door each month. You can review the samples you receive on a monthly basis to earn points in their shop, which makes the “real” cost of the box even less. Points accumulate until you are ready to spend, so you can stockpile and combine with coupon codes and get some complete steals (which I try to do).

Birchbox ships via USPS and all boxes generally ship by the 10th of the month.  This box shipped much earlier than that (my other box has yet to ship though) and took just a few days to arrive to me.

This month Birchbox offered both their classic box (which was themed curated by Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere) or their featured “Beauty Solutions” box.  I opted for the classic box on one account and the Beauty Solutions box on my second account (which is this one).

Birchbox reveals the contents of their themed boxes like this before you need to make a decision on it so I knew what was coming, however, I was a little underwhelmed when I opened it up and discovered the product sizes.

The May 2015 “Beauty Solutions” Birchbox contained the following items:

~CoTZ Flawless Complexion SPF 50 ($1.44):  The coverage on this was sheer, but also did work to even out my skin.  I love that it has SPF in it and think it’s a great summertime product.

~JUARA Candlenut Body Creme ($1.72): This is a fantastic cream, but I am going to use it as just a hand cream and not a body cream since it’s so tiny.  For reference the container is probably the size of my finger.  Not enough to use more than once or twice as a body cream.

~Marcelle Hydra-C 24H Energizing Hydrating Gel ($3.39): This gel works to brighten skin and really just to improve a stressed-out complexion.  I haven’t tested this long enough to see ant results, but I liked how it made my skin feel cool when I put it on.

~Number 4 Blow Dry Lotion ($6.40): I don’t have thick hair, but I have a lot of thinner hair that takes a long time to dry.  This helps protects against split ends and damage from the blow dryer.  I try to avoid drying my hair, but I will use this on the days I cannot avoid it!

~W3LL People The Expressionist Mascara (~$8): I don’t know that I have an opinion either way on this.  It’s not the best mascara I have tried, but it lengthened and  it didn’t clump.  Although, I mainly have problems with clumping when the mascara tube is half (or more) empty and not when it’s brand new.

All totaled I came up with a value of $20.95 for the May 2015 Birchbox “Beauty Solutions” box.  Including the points I get for purchasing the box (10 points = $1 to spend at Birchbox) and reviewing / sharing the items in the box (60 points = $6), the value increases to $26.95. I liked all of the products well enough, but I do wish they were a little larger.

Have you gotten your Birchbox yet this month? May boxes will generally ship by the 10th of the month and should be posted to your account online at that time.  Or you can check here to see if your box is up (make sure you are logged in first).  Just know that these are NOT final and may change.