• $25 off coupon to Kate Spade Saturday…umm yes please!
• N4 Volumizing shampoo smells amazing. I LOVE this stuff! A few months ago they sent out the hairspray that I became a huge fan of as well.
• Marcelle New Age 8 and 1 power serum is nice, however, I have a favorite serum at the moment so I probably won’t be adding this one to the mix.
• Radical Sun Recovery after-sun lotion by Coola is one I’ll be adding to the summer list. We used it after our beach day yesterday and it felt fantastic. I’m also a huge fan of their sunscreen.
• Pixi….hmm…I could live without this one. Way too pink of my liking. But my daughter had fun using it.
• Last were the Smarty Pants Vitamins. Excellent source of fiber, Vitamin C, D3, E and B12 with folic acid. Sounds like everything I need and they tasted good. There is no reason why adults can’t have sweet vitamins too.

I wasn’t sure if I’d continue receiving the Birchbox but after the last two months I’m going to stick with it. I’ve been introduced to some amazing new products that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about.

• I just discovered the N.4 Non-Aerosol hairspray in last months box and it has quickly become my favorite. I have very thick hair and this stuff has some serious hold without feeling heavy.
• My hairstylist always encourages dirty hair for styling. This was a tough one for me because what can I say…I like clean hair. However, if there is a certain look I’m going for…like say…calm hair…which my hair is not when its clean. I will use the dirty hair and give it a spray with Klorane the next day before styling. It works like a dream.
• Perfect for unmanageable, thick and unruly wet hair. The Beauty Protector detangler is amazing. I use it for both my daughter and myself. AND it smells good.

Next week on Monday Makeup and Beauty I’ll share some of my facial cleanser favorites for the year. Hope you all have an awesome week!

The August Birchbox wasn’t fantastic but there were a few items I really liked.

1. Miyu
2. WEI Pomegranate buffing beads- Wasn’t a fan. It comes in a powder form with minimal instructions so there is a possibility that I wasn’t mixing it properly.
3. Fresh Feet Wipes- Living in Hawaii, I found these fresh feet wipes genius. Life is about flip-flops and tank tops here in Banana Land and with that, we quite honestly end up with dirty feet so these were useful to me.
4. Miku Tea-
5. The Perfect Smoky Eye- Not really my colors but it was a nice eyeshadow.
6. Stila- Definitely a little too red for me but I love the lip gloss.

I’m obviously a little late posting July’s Birchbox, due to being on vacation but I really wanted to share this one with you all. Honestly, it’s the first time I was thoroughly impressed with all of the contents.

• Sud Pacifique Perfume was very light and summery scent of vanilla and apricots just like it describes.
• G-1 Boys & Girls a great matifyer that works like a charm.  I would say it’s very comparable to Clinique’s matte (which I’m not even sure if they still make).
• Marcelle BB Cream Golden Glow- I was pleasantly surprised with this particular BB cream because I’ve tried several brands and wasn’t a fan at all. This one did exactly what it promised to do. It’s light and doesn’t have a strong scent. My only complaint is that it does feel a little tacky for awhile after it’s applied.
• Klorane Dry shampoo. First time I’ve ever used a dry shampoo so I honestly do not have a basis for comparison but I can tell you, I really liked it. It smells good and your unwashed hair will not look oily. I’m not sure that I would personally buy it because I have to wash my hair everyday but if I didn’t this would totally make the shopping list.
• Birchbox bobby pins were very cute and held everything in place, only complaint is that they are impossible to pry open at first. Good luck with those long finger nails.

The first thing I noticed was Birchbox new look. Like with any change, it takes you by surprise but overall it’s a nice simplistic design. The June Birchbox had a Wanderlust theme with items like sunless tanners, small nail files and cute post cards.

Here were the items in my Birchbox.

• Destination Inspiration post cards-Very cute cards from destinations like Paris and London with a fun design.
• Commodynes Urban Cosmetics sunless tanner- I’m always leery of sunless tanners so I honestly haven’t used this one yet. With just a sample I’m not sure how much it could possibly cover and I’m not ok with a splotch of darkness on my body just to check it out.
• Matchbox itty bitty nail files by Tweezerman- Perfect for travel and the kids thought it was cool to get an itty bitty nail file. There were plenty.
• Sukiface lemon exfoliator- LOVED this stuff…smells so lemony clean.
• Lil’ Lip- Not crazy about you at all. Way too bright….way way TOO bright.
• Color Club Nail Polish- I literally had just added a white nail polish to my shopping list so I was super excited this was in the Birchbox. It was all that I expected. Sort of like the black nail polish trend, I loved it on other people but its taking a while to get used to it on my own fingernails. It sort of reminds me of when I’d get bored in school and I’d start painting my nails with white-out.  What? You didn’t do that?

The Yes to Grapefruit was nice but I’m not a fan of grapefruit so I couldn’t quite deal with the smell but if you don’t mind that I think this is a great product.

The Yes to Cucumbers on the other hand was very nice. I am in fact a huge fan of cucumbers they are so refreshing and so are these facial towelettes.

I am incredibly picky when it comes to lipstick or lip gloss of any kind. It was days before I even sampled this Mirenesse Glossy Kiss  and wow! Love it, it goes on really light and the color was perfect! How often is that going to happen in a sample?  It can also be used as cheek tint, which honestly I am not 100% sure about that idea but fabulous for the lips!

Where have you been all my life Beauty Protector!? This stuff is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! My daughter and I both have really thick hair which makes combing a brush through it nothing short of torture on a good day. At this age I am pretty much immune to the pain but my poor little girl, I feel terrible for her. I sprayed some of this genius in a bottle on her hair and not one little complaint.

Overall the April Birchbox was a winner!

I’ve been wanting to try this Supergoop sunscreen forever. Well, let’s just say, I didn’t burn but it was a little heavier than I like my sunscreen to be since I literally wear it every day. That being said, this is what I like about the Birchbox, I didn’t spend the money on a big bottle I’ll never use.

A nice shaving cream but I’m certainly not the expert in this department since I just use regular old Dove.

Ok, this Macadamia Oil Deep Repair Masque was definitely a nice gift because just two days before, I accidentally used the Wool and Cashmere shampoo on my hair. Blonde moment perhaps but the bottle did say shampoo AND I did realize it right after I started to lather up. Not only that, why in the world would they label a laundry detergent with the word “shampoo” in a bottle that LOOKS like shampoo. My husband said it was so obvious and maybe that’s true but because I don’t buy fancy laundry detergent it was not obvious to me.  I told myself I would never share that story with anyone but here I am blasting it on the ‘ol blog. So long story short, this Macadamia Oil helped repair some rather dry hair after the horrible wool shampoo incident.

I’ve always been a fan of Benefits but I wasn’t crazy about this benetint but that might be because I live in Hawaii and my cheeks tend to get a little pink regardless with the heat and sun alone.

Looking forward to sharing the contents of the April Birchbox with you all soon!

The Sicilian Body Gel was nice but it smelled a little masculine for my taste in scents. However, this nail polish by Color Club is definitely my new favorite. The color was Cactus and it is a part of the Color Club Fiesta Collection. This nail polish goes on surprisingly smooth, especially for someone like me who is always in a rush and has zero patience when it comes to primping for anything. There was not one smudged nail. Amazing!

Here is what the color looked like on my nails.

I wear my hair down for the majority of the pictures taken here on The Life of the Party but in all reality my hair is actually in a bun about 95% of the time so this little gem was a nice surprise. Perfect for keeping my bangs out of my eyes while cleaning the house. I’m sure there are several ways it can be used but so far that is its purpose for me. It’s sort of like the Scrunchie of 2013.

So that was the month of February’s Birchbox! I missed taking a picture of the caramel Ghiradelli chocolate because….well….I ate it immediately. I thought taking a picture of just the wrapper might have been weird. Hope everyone had a fantastic Monday!!