Now that I’ve been a Birchbox subscriber for more than a year, I’ve tried my fair share of beauty, skin care, and hair care samples, and I thought it was time to try out a makeup look using only products I’ve received Birchbox samples of. I could have done any number of different looks because at this point I’ve received 65 Birchbox samples (!!), but I decided to do a quick and easy no-makeup makeup look. Below are the products I used to achieve the look:
You’ll notice that three of the products are full sized—that’s because I liked the samples Birchbox sent me so much that I went back to their website and bought them! So while I didn’t strictly use samples to create this look, I still think it counts because I only used products that I first learned about via Birchbox samples. 🙂
I started by prepping my face in the shower with Vasanti Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator. Then I moisturized my face with Air Repair Complexion Boosting Moisturizer (which I actually don’t find to be all that moisturizing and will not buy it full sized) and patted 100% Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream under my eyes. Unfortunately I lost the tiny cap for the eye cream down the sink, so as you can see in the photo above I now use a bit of tin foil in place of the cap. Then I smoothed Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Foundation Primer Light all over my face. Prep status: complete!
For the actual makeup portion of this look, first I applied Coola Face SPF 30 Unscented Matte Tint to my face using my fingers—this is one of my all time favorite Birchbox products! I’ve never received any concealer samples from Birchbox so unfortunately I skipped concealing my under eye area for this look, which is something I normally do. I wanted to keep to my Birchbox-only decree, so going concealer-free was sacrifice number one.
On to the eyes! I used a Coastal Scents Revealed Palette Sampler in “Latte,” which contains four neutral colors.
I didn’t go into the eyeshadow application with a plan so I just made it up as I went along. First I applied the cooler medium brown (bottom right) to my eyelids and on up into the crease. Then to give a little dimension I applied the warmer medium brown (bottom left) in the crease. I lined my top lashes using the dark brown (top left) and swiped the light champagne color (top right) just under my eyebrows for a bit of highlight.
I did receive a W3LL PEOPLE Expressionist Mascara sample in a Birchbox last summer but it’s long gone, so I didn’t have a mascara to use for this look. No mascara was sacrifice number two here, which I was a little sad about because mascara is probably the number one desert island makeup essential for me! I did curl my eyelashes, however, so that helped a lot.
For my cheeks I swirled just a touch of Cargo Swimmables Water Resistant Blush in Los Cabos and blended it out a bit. A little goes a looooong way with this blush on my pale skin, so I use it very sparingly. I patted theBalm cosmetics Cindy-Lou Manizer along the tops of my cheekbones for some highlighting, and to complete the look I slicked on a couple coats of the new ARROW BOOST Color Enhancing Lip Balm from my February 2016 Birchbox.
I also spritzed my damp hair with Parlor by Jeff Chastain Sea Salt Moisturizing Spray and blow-dried it a little so that I could take a photo without wet hair. 🙂 I know I grumble a lot about getting hair product samples, but this spray was a GREAT one for me and I bought it full sized because I loved it so much.
Ready to see the finished look? Here it is!
Very simple and natural…the essence of a no-makeup makeup look. It’s like a MFBB (my face but better) thing. Though I used 10 products to achieve this look, I didn’t spend much time applying the makeup—probably 10 minutes tops. The addition of under eye concealer and mascara wouldn’t have added much time to the process, either.
In case you’re wondering, my earrings are the little pavé triangles from the Stella & Dot Aurora Stud Pack, and my owl totem v-neck tee is from Target a few years back.
So that’s it: my first attempt at an all-Birchbox beauty look! I may try another one sometime in the future, a date night or special occasion look would be fun to do.
What’s your favorite beauty look that you’ve achieved using your Birchbox samples?
