My First Ever Birchbox!

That's right ladies and gentleman... after all this time being a make-up fanatic and blogger, I have finally taken the plunge and subscribed to Birchbox! For those of you who may not have heard of Birchbox before, it is basically a monthly subscription service where you pay £12.95 per month (including shipping) to receive a box full of wonderful beauty-related goodies. I had always wanted to sign up to a beauty subscription service but up until recently, I did not have the room in my budget - so you can imagine how excited I am to finally be able to do so! I'm really looking forward to discovering new products and brands that I have never tried before. So today, I thought that I would show you all what I received in my first box and my thoughts on Birchbox in general so far. Let's get started!

As some of you may already be aware, Birchbox like to collaborate with other brands quite frequently and January' box is in collabration with Pinterest and this months theme to start off the new year with is the 'Best Year Ever' box - inspiring you to make the most of 2016! I love how visually appealing each box is and so I will definitely be using them for storage and keeping some of them on display once I collect a few.

Upon opening the box, I found all of this months products packaged up in this super cute drawstring bag (which I will definitely be using as a wash bag when I travel!) I love little details like this because it really shows how much thought and attention to detail goes into each months box. After seeing lots of beauty box reviews over the years on various blogs, the Birchbox team seem so creative and fun!

Now onto the products that I received... 

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle Leave In Conditioner
This spray seems to be quite the multi-tasker because as well as detangling and conditioning your hair, it can also be used as a heat protectant too. I loveproducts that I have more than one use as they are a great time saver! Although I haven't used tried out anyof the products yet, I did give this one a quick spritz and it smells amazing!

Absolution L'eau Soir et Matin Cleansing Water
I use my Garnier micellar water every day, therefore, it will be interesting how this one compares. I have never heard of the brand Absolution before, so I'm interested to see what its all about. After reading the booklet explaining more about the products inside my  box, this cleansing water seems to have lots of lovely ingredients such as hazelnut oil and aloe vera, which I imagine will feel amazing on my skin.

Benefit They're Real Tinted Lash Primer
I used to absolutely swear by my They're Real mascara, so I'm really interested to see how this lash primer performs. I have really short and straight eyelashes that struggle to hold a curl, so I'm wondering if this lash primer will help me out at all! Benefit claim that this product separates, lengthens and boosts your lashes and preps them for you mascara - I will have to test this out and report back!

Eyeko Fat Liquid Liner
This liquid liner is the full-sized item featured in this months box. If any of you have been following me for a while now, you will know that I do not feel complete unless I am wearing feline flick, so this product is right up my alley. The only thing that I am a little bit apprehensive about is that because the eyeliner is 'fat' aka it has a thick nib, I may not be able to get a super precise line with it but I guess time will tell on that one!

Rituals Foaming Shower Gel
The last item included in this months box is this Ritual shower gel. Although I have most definitely heard of the brand before, I have never used any of their products before. Of course, shower gels will always come in useful but I am really excited to try a higher end brand and see how it compares to a bog standard bottle from Boots or Superdrug. Also, I think that I will really enjoy both the scent and the foaming element of this product too!

As well as the five samples mentioned above, Birchbox also threw in a few little add-ons too. These prints above are actually postcards but I cannot believe how cool they are. I think that they will look awesome in a couple of frames scattered around my bedroom! They also included a #nofilter pink compact mirror (which you can see in the first photo of this post.) As I mentioned earlier, these extra little touches are what make this box really special and exciting in my opinion.

Overall, I am so happy that I finally took the plunge and subscribed to Birchbox. So far, I have absolutely no negatives to report! Not only am I happy with the products that I received in my January box but I am really impressed with how much you get for your money - especially as you get one full-sized item per box too! As you can all probably guess, I am so excited to see what next months box brings and I can really see myself being a loyal Birchbox subscriber from here on out.

I will probably do a blog post about each months box from now on, so be sure to check back for even more in-depth Birchbox reviews in the future! Furthermore, if you're interested in signing up to Brchbox yourself, then click here to find out everything you need to know.