The box took forever to arrive. I ordered it whilst I was still in the UK and I think it arrived just under 3 weeks after. As far as I understand it, the boxes do have a roll-out date but I did see girls posting pictures of theirs the week before I got mine! I know I'm used to UK shipping times, but 3 weeks does seem like a lot.
The box itself was great! I think it looks really pretty and the Tone It Up sleeve is a lovely touch. I love that it was packed in pink tissue paper and the eyeshadow palette had extra protection to stop the shades from shattering en route which, again, was a really nice touch. I also loved the fact that it came with further information about each product with mini-directions.
On to the exciting part...the products! As always, I'm only being honest and these are just my opinions!
The first thing I noticed about this dry shampoo when I used it on two-day hair was that, even after shaking the bottle for about ten seconds before I used it, the powder came out and was still really really white in my hair, in comparison to other dry shampoos I have used.
It smells nice; it's got a fresh and clean scent and once I brushed through I was able to lose most of the powder. I also felt as if my hair looked a lot shinier than it did before. This Dry Shampoo is made with Oat Milk which, after some research, I found protects and strengthens your hair.
That being said, a full size bottle retails at $19.50 and I could never ever justify spending almost 20 dollars on dry shampoo. I do like that its made without parabens, silicones or other harmful chemicals but I don't feel as though that warrants the cost.
My favourite dry shampoo is, without a doubt, Batiste's. It smells the same and you can get it for a fraction of the price, without an abundance of white powder in your hair as I found with this sample. (US | UK)
Next up is the Aqua Reveal Satin Bright Soft Water Face Peel. I was a little bit sceptical when I saw this face peel, only because the box was pitched as a gym essentials kit and maybe it's just me, but I could never imagine myself doing a facial peel in the gym changing rooms.
Putting that aside, my initial impressions was that it really smells like chemicals. At first I thought I could be mistaken and it smells fresh, so I keep putting it on my hand but it really does smell like a science lab which I find a little bit ironic as Tone It Up promote all-natural goodness!
I've never used a facial peel before so I followed both the Birchbox instructions and the directions on the back of a bottle. Straight away I could see that the peel was removing all of the dry/dead skin on my face which I was impressed with and now, half an hour later, my skin does feel really smooth which I also like.
That being said I don't think I can really get past the smell so I won't be paying $49 for a full sized version. Also, just to compare you can get drug-store brands such as Olay or even a Clarins product that will do the same thing.
This is the product I have used before. I love Coola sun care. For some reason, my skin really reacts badly to most sun lotions, to the point where I can only use Coola or Hawaiian Tropic without breaking out in to a rash. I really like Coola specifically, because it uses all organic ingredients, which if you're going to be slathering your skin in something, I think is important.
Coola is expensive in terms of suncare but I do love the formula, the smell (so Fresh!) and the application. It rubs in effortlessly and feels so moisturising. One of my favourite products of theirs is their aerosol sun lotion!
I have a full size version of this already and I'm counting down to being back by the pool so I can use it.
This is probably my favourite product from the whole box - definitely a revelation for me. The Whish Body Butter smells gorgeous, is really moisturising but it doesn't feel heavy like a lot of other body butter's do.
This is full of anti-oxidants and I can't tell you how often I keep reaching for it! I would definitely consider buying the full size version of this and in fact I probably will next time I run out of body moisturiser. I can't say anything negative about it!
Good news - the full size version is also available on Birchbox UK :)
Finally, the product I was most excited to try was the Coastal Scents Revealed Palette sampler. This mini Palette is perfect for travelling and I've been able to create day and night looks with it. I was absolutely going to buy it, because it's a steal for $17 on Amazon. However, as I looked in to it more, I'm convinced the first Revealed palette is an absolute dupe for Urban Decay's Naked 1 and 2 together.
The Revealed palette comes with 20 shades, 4 of which I got samples of. The top left shadow is a dupe for 'Verve' from the Naked 2 palette, the top right is a dupe for 'Tease' from Naked 2. The shadow on the bottom left is a dupe for 'Darkhorse' from the first Naked Palette (see below). The bottom right is a dupe for 'Naked' from the first Naked palette, this didn't really show up on my skin for you to see! I'm also sorry that I don't have Naked 2 out in Arizona with me to swatch for you!
So, seeing as I own both Naked and Naked 2, I won't be buying the Coastal Scents Revealed palette!
That being said, if you don't own either of the palettes but were interested in them, I would highly recommened the Revealed palette to you. I'm really impressed with it. The shadows are almost on par to Urban Decay in terms of pigmentation, colour pay off and staying power. And to get both palettes for $17 is a steal!
That's it! Thank you so much for reading. Did you get your Tone It Up Birchbox? What do you think? I would love to know!
Love Always
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