What's in a Birchbox Mystery Pick Two Pack?

When you spend over $35 on Birchbox, you can pick out a Pick Two Sample Pack for free.  You can also buy them for $10, but that doesn't seem as good of a deal to me.  The duos vary throughout the year, and you can either pick a certain pair or opt for a "Mystery Pack."

None of the pairs really interested me when I placed my last order, so I decided to go out on a limb and chose the mystery pack.  I'm sure that what I got is not what everyone who picked this option received, but it can give you an idea of what to expect.

Ta-da! Mystery Pick Two Sample Pack from Birchbox.

I ended up with a 30 mL sample of Alessandro Cream Rich Hand!Spa Age Complex Regenerating Hand Cream with Pearl Protein Extract and Hyaluronic Acid, as well as a Color Club mini in Wild Cactus.

The full size of the hand cream is 100 mL and retails for $30 on Birchbox.  The sample value is $9.

The nail polish is part of Color Club's Fiesta collection and the full size, 0.5 oz is $8. The sample value is $4 (0.25 oz).

The hand cream smells like a Yankee Candle store.  I can't put my finger down on the scent, it just smells like a mix of everything, but not in an overpowering or unpleasant way.  It is very nice and isn't greasy at all.  Just a very rich hand cream with a very light, very unobtrusive scent.

Unfortunately, I had received a sample bottle of Wild Cactus in my February 2013 box.  It's a pretty color, but it stains.  I also don't like Color Club as a brand, in general.  I find that their polishes chip much faster than other, similarly priced, polishes such as Essie or OPI.

This is from February, when I received Wild Cactus for the first time.  Don't mind the mess on my cuticles.  It matched my shirt, though!

Just because this is what I received in my Mystery Pick Two Sample Pack, that doesn't mean it is what you will get!  I do want to note that neither of these items were listed in any of the other packs (there was a different color club polish in one of them, though).  The hand cream was a nice surprise and I will be able to give the duplicate polish as a gift... along with a nice base coat!

This post contains products that I purchased with my own funds.  No compensation was received for this post and all opinions are my own.

American Apparel Grab Bag for Women July 2013

I recently bought a grab bag from American Apparel for $45.  It was guaranteed to have 10 items in it.  I added on a pair of cheap shorts to bring my total over $50 so I could get free shipping.  I ordered size medium, and except for 1 item and anything 'one size', everything fits ok.  I'm a 27 (size 4) in pants and usually a small in tops, but according to AA, I'd be a medium.  

All photos (except the last one) are from American Apparel, and where available, I took the sale price (even if some of the colors I received are not listed in the sale section)

Baby Rib Long Dress in Asphalt
Couldn't find on sale, $46 regular price

Blossom Hair Clip in Black
$6 on sale (no black shown)

Leather Bow [Hair] Clip, Yellow
Sale $7 (no yellow shown)

Nylon-Spandex Micromesh Leggings in Fluorescent Pink
On Sale $2

Rhymer Print Nylon-Tricot Side-Tie Bikini Bottoms (Just the bottoms lol) in Rhymer Blue
On sale, $8.

Rib U-Neck in Olive
On sale, $3.

Sheer Jersey Two-Sided Top, in Black
$2 on sale, black not shown

Sheer Jersey Long Sleeve in Light Blue
I received 2 of these.  Identical colors and everything.  $4 on sale.

Striped Double-U Neck Tank, Black and Natural Narrow
Striped not on sale, solids sale $14

I couldn't find the last item on the AA website.  It is a leather belt with rainbow stitching and even though it is listed as a size ML, I estimate it is size ML for toddlers.  Seriously, I can barely fit it around my thigh with it set as big as it can go!

The belt and the two hair clips.
I really like the belt, I wish it fit!

Overall value: $96 plus belt.  I didn't even bother estimating that since I couldn't find it and it doesn't fit.

It's an ok value, but most of that came from the maxi dress.  I'd say I got my money's worth, but I probably won't order this again.  It was tempting, and I'm glad I saw what was in it, and it's nice to have some more basics, but that's it.  One-time only.  I'll stick to grab bags like Golden Tote; I like the items much more than these.