Birchbox December 2015

• The December Box: "All Wrapped Up." Open one present early: This month's box is filled with products that will have you feeling festive all month long! 

• The box is a nice festive wintery print that says "For You" where "Birchbox" is usually printed. The box also came with a gift certificate for $10 off a $35 purchase! Total value of the December box: $45.76
• Serge Normant Dream Big Instant Volumizing Spray (1.8 oz; Value: $10)
• Product description: We’ll let you in on a little secret: Stars like Blake Lively and Sarah Jessica Parker don’t wake up with that effortlessly tousled look. Their secret weapon? Celebrity hair guru Serge Normant. We may not be Hollywood royalty ourselves, but with this spray, we can still get voluminous, drool-worthy hair like our favorite leading ladies. Now if only we could get our hands on their shoes.
• This was my sample choice for the month. It gave me some volume, smells nice, but feels a little heavy on my hair and feels a little sticky. The sample is a good size and will last me quite some time! I'll probably use this sparing when I want a better hair day!
•  Soap & Paper Factory Shea Butter Hand Cream (0.5 oz/15 ml; Value: $3.91)
• Product description: These luxurious botanical hand creams are anything but garden variety. The fragrances are carefully crafted with essential oils from a host of flowers, fruits, herbs, and more, smelling as fresh as if you’d picked them yourself. Meanwhile, the rich cream moisturizes and soothes even winter-dry hands—and that, we know, is no walk in the park.
• I got this in “green tea.” I found the scent to be nice and clean, not too overwhelming and fairly subtle. The cream was also good and very moisturizing! Am tempted to get a full size in Verbana!
• The Beauty Crop Lighting Crew Highlighting Cream (10ml/0.34 oz; Value: $18)
• Product description: Here’s a bright idea: ditch the lighting crew (and the filters). This cream-of-the-crop highlighter puts your best features front and center, adding a fresh, healthy glow to cheekbones, brows, and pay-attention-to-me spots that deserve to shine. The versatile cream is loaded with antioxidants and vitamins, and works perfectly under foundation or mixed with body lotion to create a lovely and luminous look.
• Wow, this is the full size! This dries really fast so I probably had as much on my cheeks as I did in my fingers. It feels light on my face and gives a subtle glow. I like it! Thanks, Birchbox, for sending the full size in the box! This will last me quite a while.
• Coastal Scents® styleEYES Palette (0.65g/0.023oz; Value: $0.61)
• Product description: Few things excite us more than getting a shiny new shadow palette. The only downsides? Not knowing the best way to coordinate shades, and not being able to fit our favorite hues in our clutch. The pros at Coastal Scents fixed these conundrums with these handy mini-palettes. Designed with specific scenarios in mind, these exquisite color collections feature perfectly complementary shades in purse-friendly sizes. The socialEYES palette comes with beautiful, deep neutrals for everyday looks, the formalEYES palette offers lovely nudes and rosy pinks for a big night out, and the glamourEYES collection boasts gorgeous, bold colors for special occasions (or any time you crave a little va-va-voom). Bonus: Each comes with a mirror for on-the-go touch ups.
• The sample is two colors is a cardboard palette with a magnetic closure, and doesn’t have a mirror (the full size does). The colors I got were a really pale nude and a bronze. The nude color totally disappeared on my skin. The bronze gave a slightly rose gold sheen, but it was fairly light on my skin tone.
• Beauty Protector Protect & Oil (~7.5ml/0.25 oz; Value: $3.24)
• Product description: While we have no objection to following in the footsteps of our favorite trendsetters (and we often do), there are days when we relish being ahead of the curve. Which is why we leapt at the chance to try Beauty Protector’s new launch: Protect & Oil. Suitable for all hair types, this uniquely lightweight paraben-free formula hair oil protects against UV rays and heat damage like no other elixir we’ve tried, and, using star ingredient argan oil, it also protects, strengthens, and adds a pretty gloss to strands.
• I LOVE the smell of the oil! Worked pretty well, didn't leave my hair feeling oily or heavy. It calmed a lot of the flyaways and left a nice subtle shine to my hair. As I don't use heat on my hair, the sample will last me quite a while!