Birchbox December 2015

I’ve already featured the December Lookfantastic box and December Glossybox and it’s time for the December Birchbox 2015, and for me Birchbox beats Glossybox this month in terms of products and delivering a festive theme.

Instead of the typical box, this month’s Birchbox is packaged within a limited edition ‘Luxe Birchbag’ which is a gorgeous mixture of green velvet, faux leather and gold glitter which is actually really nice, and totally usable as a clutch even with the Birchbox branding in the bottom corner. I think the clutch is a really nice touch, especially for the festive theme and it’s actually really well made too.

The first two items in the box are tiny little samples of the; Benefit They’re Real! Push Up Liner, and the Benefit Puff Off Instant Eye Gel. I already own the full sizes of both of these, but one is an angled gel eyeliner which is quite hard to apply, but I find it better to apply the liner to the back of my hand and then use a brush to apply the liner as the formula is really good, but the applicator lets it down sadly.

Puff Off is a peach tinted eye gel which helps to depuff and smooth the skin around your eyes, and I find that it is effective and it helps to prep my eyes for makeup. I like the idea of having the liner for parties, and then using the eye gel in the mornings to help disguise any late nights which is ideal for the party season.

Next is a 50ml sample of the Rituals White Lotus and Yi Yi Ren Foaming Shower Gel. I am a big fan of the Rituals Foaming Shower Gels as they lather up amazingly, and they’re so heavily scented that they fill your bathroom with fragrance which lasts even after your shower has finished.

This is a really lovely scent, and it’s ideal for the mornings and it’s so fresh and invigorating, and it leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth too.

Then we have a 5ml sample of the Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre Nourishing Moisturiser, which is one of my favourite moisturisers and it can double up as a primer too.

It has such a rich and nourishing formula which leaves my skin feeling silky and smooth and it’s not at all greasy even though it’s very rich. I sometimes even use this moisturiser as an handcream as it’s just so nourishing that it helps to treat my dry hands too – gotta love a beauty multi-tasker!

I love the next item.. a miniature Ciaté Nail Polish 5ml, which doesn’t have a name sticker on strangely enough so I have no idea what shade it is, but it’s a clear polish with gold glitter suspended within it, alongside black and blue feather effect strands which looks so pretty in the bottle, and I’m looking forward to trying it out very soon.

It looks like it would be a lovely, festive glitter topcoat and I do like Ciaté polishes so I’m happy to see them within the box. The polish shades do differ from box to box, but what I can gather, the shades are all glitter based.

The last two items in the box are… a ModelCo Ultra Long Lasting Lipstick in the shade Smitten, and a tiny Catherine Malandrino perfume sample. The lipstick is a bold deep red shade which again is ideal for Christmas, and it has a nice creamy formula which is long lasting just like it claims.

I’m not a fan of perfume samples in beauty boxes which you’ll know if you read my blog regularly.. I’d much rather have a proper beauty product sample than a perfume sample as you can fragrance samples for free from any fragrance counters, but disappointing perfume sample aside, I think this is a great box this month and for me it beats the Glossybox December box hands down as it is actually festive, and packed with big brands…

All products featured on Gemma Etc. are PR samples or gifted items, unless otherwise indicated. This post may contain affiliate links. If you wish to find out more, please see my Disclaimer within my navigation bar.