Un-Review: Why I Won’t Be Buying the CEW Mass Appeal Birchbox

Birchbox CEW – Mass Appeal Box. Photo Credit: Birchbox.com

I have to admit, I did get a bit excited when I saw the Birchbox CEW Mass Appeal box on instagram. I love trying new products, especially ones that are supposed to be innovative or with stellar formulas. I also hate buying full sized products that I have never used before because if they don’t end up working out, I always forget to return them. With my history of skin reactions, I have to be extremely careful with trying new skin, hair and beauty products. Although I have purchased the last few Target Beauty Boxes and am also subscribed to the quarterly Wal-Mart Beauty Box, I will not be purchasing this one for the reasons outlined below. But first, lets take a look at what the box includes.

Mass Appeal Beauty Collection – Birchbox for CEW – $15.00
Summary from Birchbox:

It’s hard to cut through the clutter in the drugstore beauty aisle—but that’s why we have the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Insiders’ Choice Beauty Awards. Every year, over 6,000 industry pros come together and vote on the year’s best and brightest products. This exclusive Birchbox collection features drugstore-available honorees from the 2015 awards—you’ll get a luxurious overnight mask, a lip pencil that packs a wallop of creamy color, and more. A $68 value!

Each box includes:
Burt’s Bees® Lip Crayon in Sedona Sands – Full size
Cetaphil® Gentle Skin Cleansing Cloths – 10-Pack
LANEIGE Water Sleeping Mask – Sample size
Olay™ Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting HydraSwirl™ Eye Cream – Full size
Rimmel Scandaleyes Rockin’ Curves – Full size
Simple® Skincare Ultra-Light Gel Moisturizer – Full size

Un-Review: Why I won’t be buying this box

The first red-flag was the inclusion of the Simple Ultra-Light Gel Moisturizer. I’d seen this at Target late last year when I was searching for a non-sunscreen moisturizer to use in the evenings. I used it probably on and off for about three months. I thought my skin was going berserk because it would get warm and flushed anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours after using the moisturizer. With the “Kind to Skin” slogan and short ingredient list, I did not realize it was the cause until I really started analyzing the products in my routine!

The second red-flag is the scathing review given to the Laneige Water Sleeping Mask on Paula Choice. I’ll let you peruse that review rather than summarizing it here.

I just don’t use face wipes that often and I already have several half used packages.  I have nothing against the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleansing Cloths and I like most Cetaphil products, so I may try these eventually once I run out of my current stash.

I prefer lipstick over lip pencils. If I’m going for color, I go all out. If I want a bit of color, I typically also want moisture, which this doesn’t seem to have. So I’m not that excited about the Burt’s Bee’s Lip Crayon in Sedona Sands.

I typically wear waterproof brown mascara daily and have five black ones that I rotate through when I do, on occasion, want more drama. So I’m also not excited about the Rimmel Scandaleyes Rockin’ Curves mascara.

Finally, with ONE product in the box remaining to possibly appeal to me, I just don’t think it is worth the $15. It looks like a full-size (which is included in this box) of the Olay Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting Hydraswirl* retails for around 20 bucks on amazon, so it may be worth it? Although, I don’t really need an eye cream to correct my dark circles.

Did you get either of the CEW boxes? Did you end up loving (or hating) any of the products?

Thanks for stopping by -Jenn

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