Birchbag....!?!


I'm sure we've all figured by now, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Birchbox, apart from a few rare instances I haven't found many of the products inside to be really very interesting or of use to myself personally, plus the amount of non cruelty free products I get from them puts me off completely.
I have asked them before for a cruelty free check box but to no avail, so if you strive for cruelty free skincare and make up, I would advise you avoid them.


To try and liven things up, Birchbox decided to try out a Birchbag for the summer, in four different neon shades for the quintessential 90's throw back look.
This meant they turned up in a thin green package that could be delivered through the letter box, wasn't the greatest idea tho for reasons that will soon become obvious.


Unani is an odd company, I can't find them online outside of Birchbox webpages so can't find if they are cruelty free, or anything about their company.
This is an aloe vera treatment to work as an after sun product, I rarely burn and never manage to tan, but I shall be passing this along to Edd who recently suffered with the worst sunburn I have ever seen! I think he'd appreciate it.
Balance Me however is a cruelty free company, who won't sell in countries where animal testing is compulsory.
This skin serum is basically a spot treatment to help unclog congested skin. I rarely right now am spot free (jinxed myself there....cue breakout pre wedding day) so can't test it fully, but I did wonder about how many ingredients are used in this product, especially the many chemically sounding names which makes me want to throw it away more than put it onto my skin.
I don't use benefit products, their own website FAQ's state they don't test on animals, except in cases where its legally required.
For me that is just not good enough.


Although the shade of this Soigné polish wasn't one I would pick myself, it does apply to the nails very evenly, dries quickly, and gives plenty of interesting sugary almond colour.
At £11 a bottle, and with loads and loads of other cute and lust inducing shades available on their website, I'm pretty sure I may start somewhat of a collection depending on how well this colour holds up!
Nail file is always handy, so er...yeah thanks for the nail file Birchbox.


So now you see why I don't think the bag was a great idea....
Who puts easily breakable powders into a slightly padded envelope and hope it holds up in our postal system!?!
I saw a lot of people have complained about receiving theirs the same way, some of which have had replacements sent to them, I didn't bother as really this product kinda looked cheap and not like something I would ever use anyway.
So one decent product that I could get mildly excited about in one months box, sorry bag, but not really enough to keep the subscription going.
I did only receive this months instalment as I signed up to see if the French Sole box I wrote about the other day was worth it, and didn't cancel in time to not get this one!
It has now been cancelled so I doubt I'll ever be writing about Birchbox again.

A Great Frenching...


It has been a while, I did keep picking up my camera and taking photo's of various blog subjects, but then never finding the time to sit and edit the photos, write and edit some blogs, and do the usual social media malarky....sorry!
In the run up to my wedding I'm going to try to set aside some time when I won't be stressing out with the upcoming nuptials and distract myself with some writing.
So some of these boxes may be a bit out of date now, but I shall still be giving a fair review on them all, and sometimes it does help to see a bit of what companies have done previously to see whether you'd like to sign up for their future boxes!
It's a battle of the French themed boxes, My Little Box is a company based in Paris bringing some genuine french chic to your door, and Birchbox is a well known company started up in New York but now sell all over the world.



Every box of My Little Box has very different and unique themes, all with a nod towards french etiquettes and styles, this months (well, last months I guess!) is a summer fresh French Riviera box.
In france it's the norm to summer on the southern coasts of the country, this box is the perfect nod to that, and lets me pretend momentarily that I have a summer chateau in St Tropez, not that I'm actually just quite skint generally and can't even afford a trip to Cornwall!


The contents of the My Little Boxes are always so different than what you would expect, it's one of the reasons I love them so much, as they are not the norm so you never know what to expect when it turns up at your door.
This box contained two plant pot holders, both with very cute nautical designs, and they could be used for more than just plants so let your imagination run wild!
I try my best with plants, but as you can probably tell from this photo, I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.
I'm a plant killer.


All the accessories I've got in these boxes have been so effortlessly chic, I almost imagine I could rock a monochrome linen suit with these sunglasses, made in conjunction with Sarah Lavoine, a French fashion designer, and interior designer who specialises in clean lines and slight 60's style.
I have many pairs of sunglasses, but these shall be making their way into my regular rotation.


I'm not always a huge fan of the beauty products in these boxes, simply due to L'Oréal being owner of many various make up brands, and french their products end up in these boxes far more than I'd like them to be.
I am however, always happy to receive the products from My Little Beauty, their own in house range of wonderful products, sadly not available to buy in the UK, but a treat is always tucked into their monthly boxes.
This month it was a sea salt scrub, with an adorable anchor design, which smells super fresh and leaves the skin feeling silky smooth due to its mineral rich sea salts.
Another collab with Sarah Lavoine brings this teal shade of nail polish, the perfect colour to have on the toenails upon a sandy beach!


I've had a subscription to Birchbox before, which I cancelled a long time ago due to just not being impressed. 
It's easy enough to go into stores and collect samples I actually want to try rather than pay for the privilege of getting some I'm not interested in sent straight to my door at £15 a month.
However when I saw this French Sole collaboration I decided to give it another chance, as a fan of French Sole products but being completely unable to afford such products.


Sadly instead of sending some actual shoes, or anything that was really a French Sole product, the box was once again full of samples.
It also had some temporary tattoos for people to try if they feel like being edgy one night, I however have real tattoos so I'm just edgy 24/7...
I have no space to put these fake tattoos, unless I popped them on top of real tattoos.


As well as perfume samples and fake tatts, you can also partake of miniature bottles of oils, if they haven't leaked all over the rest of the box like these ones had that is...!
Cowshed is a brand I do like, mainly vegan, cruelty free and paraben free, they offer a range of wonderful smelling products that are kind to skin and planet.
I will use this whenever I'm next travelling as I have so many shower products in my house!
I'm not one to use mascaras aside from my trusty Lush mascaras, every other I have tried has ended with eye irritation and red eye, so forgive me that I shall not be trying this one to review, especially so close to my wedding! 
Bridal pink eye, anyone?!


The only actual French Sole item in this box was a striped shoe bag, I'm assuming as it was possible to choose from three box patterns, this affected the shoe bag you received, but it's still a bit of a let down.
I don't have the French Sole shoes to put in it, and Primark ballet flats aren't quite so deserving of the outer label.
There was some French Sole shoes available at a slight discount of the Birchbox website, the ones I wanted seemed to not be discounted however, and there wasn't much of a discount on the others either.
All in all, I'd kinda like my £15 back please.
My Little Box wins this round, yet again!
Pull your socks up, Birchbox.
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