February 2012
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The Leading Causes of Acne: Guest Blogger
We spend inordinate amounts of time obsessing over our skin. But we’re always in need of some more expert help. This week, we’re lucky enough to have Dermalogica’s director of global education, Annet King, on hand to explain all things skin to us—and to relay her great tips to you.
Photo: blog.dubunne.com
To prevent and treat any acne grade, you have to first identify the leading causes...
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3 Easy Winter-to-Spring Makeup Tips from Jouer
We fell hard for Natalie Alcala last fall, when the L.A.-based writer and blogger spent a week guest blogging for us. In fact, we loved her posts so much that we asked her to be a contributing editor. In addition to blogging for us once a week, she’ll also be writing for the Birchbox Magazine and keeping us up to speed on all things fashion, beauty, and fun.
Spring officially begins on March...
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Calling All Bloggers: What Products Are Worth The...
Earlier this week in her ‘Dollars and Sense’ post one of our editors, Mai, explained why she thinks the Clarisonic is worth the splurge—specifically why you should buy one instead of a pair of jeans. This got us thinking: what other beauty products are worth saving up for? Send us your blog posts and videos about the products you think are worth a pretty penny and we’ll feature...
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Fake A Beach Tan with this 2-Second Bronzer Trick
Photo: Allure
Just because I’m deathly afraid of the sun doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy a healthy glow. Since I don’t tan for real, I rely on sunless tanner all summer long to keep me looking bronzed (and from frightening anyone with my pallor while in a two-piece). But honestly, in the winter, I just can’t be bothered to slather on tanner from head to toe—mainly...
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Sad but True: Almost Half of American Women Feel...
Photo: luxuo.com
I’ll admit it. Most mornings, I would rather be late to work than show up without swiping on some eyeliner and dabbing on a bit of concealer. Makeup always makes me feel more confident before I walk out the door. But regardless of my daily vanity routine, I was still disheartened to learn about the findings of this new study: almost 1 in 2 women don’t feel...
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3 Towelettes You Should Never Travel Without
I do a fair amount of traveling on the weekends. Not to exotic places, but nonetheless, I make frequent trips up to Boston, or home to Chicago, or down to see friends in D.C. But no matter where I go, I never leave home without packing my cosmetic bag full of wipes. These ultra-portable towelettes magically improve my travel routine by leaps and bounds. How so? They’re far more convenient...
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How to Prevent and Treat Cystic Acne: Guest...
We spend inordinate amounts of time obsessing over our skin. But we’re always in need of some more expert help. This week, we’re lucky enough to have Dermalogica’s director of global education, Annet King, on hand to explain all things skin to us—and to relay her great tips to you.
Photo: empiremedicaltraining.com
Question: How can you prevent and treat cystic acne?
Answer: First,...
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Hooray! Australia Plans to Ban Tanning Beds by...
Photo: abcnews.com
The land down under is known for having the highest rates of melanoma, a.k.a the most dangerous form of skin cancer, in the world, and the country is now taking action. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, is making headlines with the decision to make commercial tanning beds illegal in three years.
More than 1,200 Australians die from skin cancer each...
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Whitney Port Goes to the Mall for Fall: Notable...
Notable Quotables is a weekly series featuring a great quote. Whether it’s the founder of a beloved beauty brand, an eccentric makeup artist making headlines, or even a super-stylish celebrity, our favorite tastemakers always have something worth sharing. At the Whitney Port’s Whitney Eve show during NYFW, models sported big ponytails and baubles in their hair. We spoke with stylist...
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The 4 Kinds of Acne: Guest Blogger
We spend inordinate amounts of time obsessing over our skin. But we’re always in need of some more expert help. This week, we’re lucky enough to have Dermalogica’s director of global education, Annet King, on hand to explain all things skin to us—and to relay her great tips to you.
Photo: homeremediesforacnehq.com
Question: What are the main types of acne?
Answer: As opposed to...
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3 Easy Ways to Wear Bright Pink Lips Like A...
One of our favorite enduring trends: bright pink lips. Whether you’re rocking an easy-going, natural vibe or a look with a touch of dramatic flair, this ultra-feminine color is nothing but flattering. We’re always on the hunt for the perfect shade, and, in fact, we teamed up with Jouer to create a bright magenta Birchbox pink lip gloss. Sheer and subtle with one coat, keep applying...
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Our Readers' February Beauty Discoveries!
Last week we asked you to send us your blog posts and videos of your February beauty discoveries. We received so many fantastic submissions it was hard to pick only three! Read about what these bloggers discovered this month and check back later this week for your chance to have your blog featured here.
7 layers of creative Beauty Discovery: BeautyBlender “I think I am officially done...
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Oscar Superlatives: 2012 Edition
Photo: buzzsugar.com
Last night’s Academy Awards were a little snore-inducing, but it’s always fun to watch, and judge, the red carpet. Herewith, this year’s completely arbitrary, totally subjective picks and pans.
Knock It Off — We’re a little tired of the same, played-out looks from Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez. We’ve seen Angie’s all-black,...
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The New L'Eau de Chloé Ad Has Me Aching For Spring...
Patience has never been my strong suit. Fittingly, I just want it to be spring already—like now. A large part of my eager anticipation: I’ve just come down with my second cold of the season, and I am positive it could easily be remedied by an uptick in temperature.
If you’re as keen as I am on warmer weather, then you’ll definitely enjoy watching Chloé’s latest TV...
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Dollars & Sense: Why You Should Buy a Clarisonic...
The best skincare products may not be cheap, but trust us: they’re worth every penny. Every week, we’ll break down the math and show you exactly why our latest pick is a smart splurge.
Our pick of the week: If you’ve yet to try the Clarisonic, drop everything and listen up. The entire Birchbox team agrees that this next-gen device is the best thing that’s happened to our skin...
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Reading List: Bruce Willis' Fragrance, Natasha...
TGIF! We don’t usually say this, but we can hardly wait for Sunday night. The Oscars means red carpet coverage on E!, lots of glamorous dresses, and more often than not, some questionable hairstyling choices. Don’t forget to tune in to #BBRedCarpet on Sunday for our live tweets! In the meantime, check out some of our favorite stories from this week below.
Photo: Refinery29
Bruce...
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Sandra Suy's Illustrations Inspire Fashion and...
We have a deep, abiding love for all things fashion, which is why we often turn to stylish online boutique ModCloth to snag everything from chunky, bold bracelets to fancy frocks. This week, we asked the ModCloth fashion mavens to impart some of their style wisdom to us—and therefore you.
Can one appear both sweet and fierce simultaneously? My personal fashion mantra says yes!
Fashion...
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Tweens asking "Am I Ugly?" on YouTube: The New...
Photo: Huffingtonpost.com
There’s a new disturbing trend that’s popped up on YouTube, and I can’t stop thinking about it. News outlets like The Daily Mail and The Huffington Post are reporting that a growing number of adolescents (between the ages of 11 to 14) are posting videos asking, “am I ugly?” and urging commenters to leave thoughts about their looks.
The...
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Amethyst Hues: Mood Board
Our creative team is pretty, well, creative and they come across beautiful imagery all the time. Why not share the inspiration? Keep an eye out each Friday for their Mood Board, a collection of images they’re loving.
1. Flickr 2. Pinterest/JennPeralta 3. nefsc.noaa.gov 4. Armas Design 5. Kagozi 6. Pinterest/JennPeralta
Even though it’s been a mild winter here in New York, we’re...
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Birchboxer Subscriber Philanthropy + A Dermalogica...
A few weeks ago, we told you about Dermalogica’s work with joinFITE, an organization that supports women entrepreneurs around the world through microloans. There are two ways that Birchboxers can get involved—the first is by contributing a microloan here, and the second is by purchasing Dermalogica products and redeeming the special joinFITE code on the packaging via joinfite.org/birchbox/. We’re...
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Mattese Elite Launches Paris-Inspired Polishes!
Operations associate, Loren, has a thing for nails- and we can’t blame her. We love reading about new finishes and fun techniques, so we thought we’d give her a weekly slot on our blog to wax poetic about all things manicure (and pedicure!) related. Check back every Thursday for Nailing It, Birchbox’s dedicated polish series.
Spring is almost here and there are tons of exciting polishes...
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The Top 5 Moments From Last Year's Oscars
We’ve been waiting for months and one of the biggest nights of the year is almost here: the Oscars! We’ll be live tweeting and critiquing this Sunday night, so don’t forget to follow us at #bbredcarpet. And in preparation for the occasion, we wanted to do a roundup of last year’s hightlights. Tell us in the comments: what have been your favorite Oscar moments? Are you looking forward to...
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Dream Vacation Packing List: Guest Blogger
We have a deep, abiding love for all things fashion, which is why we often turn to stylish online boutique ModCloth to snag everything from chunky, bold bracelets to fancy frocks. This week, we asked the ModCloth fashion mavens to impart some of their style wisdom to us—and therefore you.
1. Bathing Beauty One Piece in Black 2. Greeted Under the Veranda Dress 3. Wherever You Wander Backpack in...
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Calling All Bloggers: Send Us Your February Beauty...
Photo: pinterest.com/enilak
Can you believe it? March is just around the corner! It’s staying light outside for longer and we’re already daydreaming about spring dresses. But before we kiss February goodbye, let’s take a look back at this month’s best beauty discoveries.
Whether you fell in love with a sample from your Birchbox, or your sister turned you on to a new lip...
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MAC To Launch A Marilyn Monroe Makeup Collection
Photo: fanpop.com
Stop everything. Blockbuster color-company MAC cosmetics has just announced that it will be releasing an exclusive, limited edition Marilyn Monroe collection. We’ve seen the blonde bombshell popping up at the top of everyone’s list these days, from Michelle William’s film My Week With Marilyn to the sassy Norma Jean-inspired musical in NBC’s new show...
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Our Top 5 Fashion Week Manicures
New York Fashion Week might have come to an end, but we’re still gushing over our favorite manicures from the fall 2012 shows. We wanted to round up the highlights, so we came up with the five standouts that have inspired us to test out new designs.
Show: threeASFOUR
The Look: Gorgeous lacey, spider web nails by Color Club that were created to match the laser-cut pieces. Lead...
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Hair Inspiration Courtesy of Fashion Week Street...
We fell hard for Natalie Alcala last fall, when the L.A.-based writer and blogger spent a week guest blogging for us. In fact, we loved her posts so much that we asked her to be a contributing editor. In addition to blogging for us once a week, she’ll also be writing for the Birchbox Magazine and keeping us up to speed on all things fashion, beauty, and fun.
Ever since photographers, bloggers,...
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Bare Naked Nails: The Nude Brigade
Photo left to right: Marc by Marc Jacobs; 3.1 Phillip Lim; Giorgio Armani, all Style.com
Even though I love colorful nails all year round, I’m taking a break this spring to wear more subdued nude shades on my digits. The barely-there polish look was huge on spring 2012 runways. Case in point: models at Marc by Marc Jacobs, 3.1 Phillip Lim, and Giorgio Armani all wore shades of nude. Lucky for...
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What We're Loving: A Unisex Scent By BLK DNM
Photo: Kanon
Lately, I’ve been dying to take a break from the standard floral perfumes that populate the fragrance world and spritz on something a little different. Since Birchbox HQ is full of discerning noses, I asked my co-workers to recommend a non-sweet, non-cloying scent, and they had one suggestion across the board: BLK DNM’s Perfume 11. This spicy blend of musk, incense, and...
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3 Headbands, 3 Styles: Guest Blogger
We have a deep, abiding love for all things fashion, which is why we often turn to stylish online boutique ModCloth to snag everything from chunky, bold bracelets to fancy frocks. This week, we asked the ModCloth fashion mavens to impart some of their style wisdom to us—and therefore you.
With warm weather (hopefully) just around the corner, it’s time to break out those spring dresses and let...
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WIN Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Solution Just by...
Chris Salgardo, President of Kiehl’s Photo:Adweek.com
Have you tried Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective™ Dark Spot Solution? The Birchbox community is raving. Some of our members have even written to us to say that the product has helped to fade dark spots and scars they thought would be with them forever. Given all the praise, we thought we should host a live Twitter chat with Kiehl’s...
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Sex Symbol Monica Bellucci Creates Limited Edition...
Photo: WWD.com
Beloved Italian design house Dolce & Gabbana has announced that they have a new face for their beauty line—actress and model Monica Bellucci.
Best known for her roles in films like Passion of the Christ and her appearance as the lithe Persephone in the Matrix trilogy, Bellucci has long been considered a sex symbol and leading lady in Italy. (I was a teenager when Matrix was...
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Olivia Palermo Gushes About Her New Rochas Gig:...
Notable Quotables is a weekly series featuring a great quote. Whether it’s the founder of a beloved beauty brand, an eccentric makeup artist making headlines, or even a super-stylish celebrity, our favorite tastemakers always have something worth sharing. Last week, Rochas announced that Olivia Palermo will be the face of their new fragrance. Palermo gushed to WWD about her new gig, which we think...
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Currently Obsessed With...Oils!
You may have noticed lots of your favorite brands coming out with oil-based products in the last year, and for good reason. These products are a far cry from the greasy, dirty kind of oil that clogs your pores and weighs down your hair. In fact, these oils are all about working with your skin and hair type to either cleanse or hydrate. My favorite cleansing oils fit the old adage “like...
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Our Favorite Films for Beauty and Fashion...
We have a deep, abiding love for all things fashion, which is why we often turn to stylish online boutique ModCloth to snag everything from chunky, bold bracelets to fancy frocks. This week, we asked the ModCloth fashion mavens to impart some of their style wisdom to us—and therefore you.
Every so often, all we crave is an old-fashioned movie night. Sometimes, things go wonderfully (like when we...
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Blogger Spotlight: Fashion Week Favorites
On Friday we showed you some of the hair and makeup styles from New York Fashion week that we plan to translate and wear off the runway. We asked our community of bloggers to tell us the runway looks that are inspiring their real world fashion and beauty style. Here’s what three of them had to say:
Aling Z, What’s Last Call? This week on NPotW (Nail Polish of the Week), I’ve decided...
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The Secret to Make Hair Grow Faster: Hairistocracy
We’re guilty of sticking with the same hair cut for years — if it’s not broke, why fix it? — but that can be a little boring. But not everyone has our issue. Paulina, one of our amazing operations associates, is always eyeing new cuts and styles. She’ll be sharing her tress inspiration and tips every other week here via her feature Hairistocracy.
Image: thehairfiles.com
I have a secret hair...
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The Future of Breakups: Guest Blogger
This week brought one of the most dreaded, or loved, holidays of the year: Valentine’s Day. No matter if you’re smitten or single,you’ll find nuggets of truth and hilarity in this week’s guest blogger posts from Annabel Acton, the Australian founder of Never Liked It Anyway. The genius site lets users buy and sell unwanted items from past relationships. Even better, though, it has a manual filled...
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Reading List: Beauty Routines, NYFW Roundups, Love...
New York Fashion Week may be over but the roundups are still in full effect. We’ll be clicking through them all weekend. Catch a few of our favorites below, as well as a poll about your at-home beauty routine and a fun new way to send a note.
If you’re like us, you probably attempt at-home beauty treatments fairly frequently. But, like us, you might not be trying them at the best times....
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Coolness Overload at Capsule: You’ve Got Male
birchboxman:
Some guys use whatever soap is in the shower. Others carefully consider the field and select the best option. Eric, our resident grooming god, falls in the latter camp. Once a week, he’ll be sharing his product findings and lifestyle tips.
This week, I had the incredible opportunity to visit the Capsule trade show in Las Vegas. This uber cool show has a collection of Men’s...
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Spikes: Mood Board
Our creative team is pretty, well, creative and they come across beautiful imagery all the time. Why not share the inspiration? Keep an eye out each Friday for their Mood Board, a collection of images they’re loving.
Fashion week just ended here in New York, and we found ourselves thinking about all the giant, stiletto heels that were featured on the runways this season. It’s...
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Calling All Bloggers: Send Us Your Fashion Week...
We don’t know about you but we love fashion week! It’s like Christmas for style and beauty junkies. Our favorite part, though, is seeing inspiring looks and thinking about how we’ll personalize them on ourselves next season. This fashion week we really fell for:
Wine stained lips at Nicholas K.
Pretty ponytails at Lauren Moffatt.
Color Club nails at Imitation of Christ by...
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Downtown Girls at Sachin + Babi Fall 2012
The Show: Sachin + Babi
Hair: Martin-Christopher Harper for Cutler/Redken
Makeup: Bobbi Brown
The Vibe: The perennial downtown girl. Lead stylist for Cutler/Redken, Martin-Christopher Harper, said the look was “all about a cool young downtown girl. We kept going back to this girl on 34th street that can’t decide if she wants to go uptown or stay downtown.” To achieve that...
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Behind the Scenes: March Video Shoot and Miss...
Yesterday, the Birchbox team was busy prepping our videos for March. As always, we’re so excited to bring you tips and tricks on all things beauty, but we just couldn’t wait till the videos are all finished to share some fun information. One of our favorite nail art bloggers, Miss Ladyfinger, stopped by the shoot to help educate us on all things polish related. We snuck a peek into her...
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How Magnetic Polish Works: Nailing It
Operations associate, Loren, has a thing for nails- and we can’t blame her. We love reading about new finishes and fun techniques, so we thought we’d give her a weekly slot on our blog to wax poetic about all things manicure (and pedicure!) related. Check back every Thursday for Nailing It, Birchbox’s dedicated polish series.
Many nail-lovers rejoiced last week when Deborah Lippmann announced...
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Let's Get Social! How To Start A Blog
In honor of our Social Media Week and our panel tomorrow, we’re blogging about some of our favorite social media sites, tips, and tricks. So far we’ve covered Pinterest, Instagram, and Mashable. Today we are going to tackle “the blog.” Starting a blog might seem intimidating but it’s actually very easy, and lots of fun.
blog.birchbox.com
Step 1: Choose a Platform...
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The Best of the Worst (Dating Stories): Guest...
This week brings one of the most dreaded, or loved, holidays of the year: Valentine’s Day. No matter if you’re smitten or single,you’ll find nuggets of truth and hilarity in this week’s guest blogger posts from Annabel Acton, the Australian founder of Never Liked It Anyway. The site lets users buy and sell unwanted items from past relationships. Even better, though, it has a manual filled with...
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Stila and Cut25's Exclusive Palettes
At Cut25’s opening party for their first brick-and-mortar location in New York a few weeks ago, stila debuted a brand-new, exclusive set of palettes. The sets, which include eye shadows ($42), eye liners ($40), and lip glazes ($32), are available at the Soho shop. I personally can’t wait to get my hands on some—obsessed with the illustrations of stila girls sporting Cut25 Spring...
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5 Winning NYFW Looks & How to Wear Them: Guest...
We fell hard for Natalie Alcala last fall, when the LA-based writer spent a week guest blogging for us. In fact, we loved her posts so much that we asked her to be a contributing editor. In addition to blogging for us once a week, she’ll also be writing for the Birchbox Magazine and keeping us up to speed on all things fashion, beauty, and fun.
Photos: Style.com
One of my favorite things to do...
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Hello, Lovely: Emily Dyed Her Hair!
Earlier this week, operations manager Emily decided to spruce up her hair by going extra dark and bold. “I was starting to get bored with my overall look,” Emily said. “Usually when it’s feeling a little drab I go to drastic measures and chop it all off, but this time I decided that a change in the color would tide me over for a bit.”
She looks absolutely...
