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October Birchbox

October 17, 2014 By //  by The Beardsgaards Leave a Comment

Are you as much of a hair and grooming product junkie as we are? Do you like personalized but surprise goodies in your mailbox? Do you like discount rewards? Yep, we do too. That’s why Birchbox is so awesome. And in this monthly feature, we tell you all about the our monthly samplings.

Birchbox

It’s like getting the coolest care packages ever once a month, you get to try all kinds of carefully curated products, and if you like them, you can buy them and get points toward free or discounted stuff. You even take a quiz when you sign up so that you only get the kinds of products you actually use (i.e. no hair product for bald guys, etc.).

We love this service because although we are product junkies, we do so detest buying an expensive full-sized product only to find we don’t like it or it doesn’t work like it says it does. This way we try little sample things until we find a product that blows our minds, then we will go buy it. It’s all about finding the right tool for the job.

We should also mention that Birchbox posts are not sponsored posts. We have just found so many life-changing product through this service since we signed up that we thought we should share the goodies with you each month (although if you sign up HERE, we do get a little credit for having referred you!).

Each month we will review the men’s Birchbox products, as well as some products from the women’s box that Natalie receives that are totally guy stealable. You could just buy them for yourself, or give yourself some cover while earning serious husband or boyfriend brownie points and treat your lady.

Read on to find our favorites from this month, along with the price and size of the full-sized items, the rating and amount of reviews on Birchbox’s active review community, the Birchbox product description, our take, and whether or not we would go and buy a full-sized one (for the men’s products – for the women’s products, we only mention the products that we would actually purchase).

Men’s Birchbox

October Birchbox

Gents, this month Birchbox knocked it out of the park. Except that’s a terrible metaphor, because this month’s theme was The League, as in fantasy football. Then again, close enough, for we know nought of sportsing.

This month we had one face cleanser, one miraculous face goo, an everything wash, tough skin fix, one fragrance, and a nifty little multi-tool (did we mention the men’s box comes with lifestyle gear and accessories?)

Most of the products from the women’s box this month were distinctly lady-centric, with one notable exception at the bottom of this post. Read on!

Jack Black Pure Clean Daily Facial Cleanser | $18 | 6 oz

Birchbox Rating: 4 stars | 103 reviews

Jack BlackBirchbox Breakdown
Sometimes, to get clean, you have to fight a little dirty. This dual-purpose liquid cleanser and toner packs a powerful one-two punch against pore-clogging dirt and oil, while moisturizing and nourishing in one fell swoop. Its sulfate-free formula leaves skin feeling smooth, fresh, and perfectly prepped for a shave.

How it Works
Oat and coconut derivatives cleanse gently but thoroughly, while certified organic chamomile and aloe leaf calm skin and reduce redness. Soothing witch hazel acts as a natural astringent, and removes excess oil. Certified organic sage leaf and rosemary have natural antibacterial and healing properties, keeping skin smooth and blemish-free.

Both Natalie and Tyler have ancestors that hail from regions of deathly pale, sensitive skinned people. This one really impressed both of us, not least by how little you have to use. It says to use a nickel-sized smoosh, but a dime will do ya. That 6 oz in the full-sized bottle will last you a good long time.

Would we buy it? Yep!

If we ever run out of face wash again (we’ll be damned if we can imagine that ever happening again, we have so many samples of things these days), this would definitely be a top pick.

das boom industries Everything Body Wash | $24 | 8 oz

Birchbox Rating: 4.5 stars | 701 reviews

das boomBirchbox Breakdown

Technically designed to shorten your shower, this all-over wash may actually do the opposite. Don’t get us wrong: The sulfate- and paraben-free formula will clean you up in a flash, but it’s the scent—a complex, multilayered aroma—that makes sudsing up not just a routine, but a ritual to savor.

How it Works
Argan oil, rosemary extract, and Vitamin E combine to nourish and hydrate both hair and skin. The rest is in the scent: Bay Rum, Smoke & Dirt is a dark and earthy blend that’s both refreshing and intoxicating. Bourbon & Leather’s top layer of sweetness gives way to a dangerous potency, like a cocktail at a speakeasy. Yuzu, Shiso & Saffron washes away fatigue with a citrusy herbal bouquet.

We got the Bay Rum, Smoke & Dirt sample, and Tyler has become plum obsessed with the stuff. We aren’t 100% convinced about its shampoo qualities, but for a body wash it is tops, and super concentrated. You wouldn’t believe how little you need to get your clean thoroughly on.

Would we buy it? Yep!

Already did.

Ursa Major Fortifying Face Balm | $36 | 2.5 oz

Birchbox Rating: 4.5 stars | 230 reviews

Ursa MajorBirchbox Breakdown

Choosing a moisturizer often means making a sacrifice: Either you opt for a deeply hydrating cream that can leave skin looking downright reflective, or you go for something lightweight that doesn’t seem to do much of anything. Consider this face balm the ultimate happy medium. While it absorbs fast and reduces shine, the all-natural formula delivers serious moisture while keeping skin firm and youthful.

How it Works

Aloe, sunflower, and kendi seed oil moisturize without leaving a residue. Witch hazel tightens skin, while willow bark, olive leaf, and spearmint sooth redness and irritation. Birch sap nourishes skin to help reverse the signs of aging. Lavender and rosemary serve as natural antiseptics, and a host of other botanicals, from lime peel to frankincense, offer an infusion of nutrients and a crisp, woodland scent.

We already have Ursa Major’s face wash, and it is fantastic. Tyler is a bigger fan than Natalie, because even with eyes squeezed shut, it stings them like the dickens. The face balm certainly delivers on its promises, and although it is a nice moisturizer, it really shines as an aftershave with all of its antiseptic qualities (reviews say it is also magical for acne-prone skin).

Would we buy it? Yep!

Again, if we ever run out of moisturizers, which is not bloody likely.

True Utility Framework Mini | $17.99

Birchbox Rating: 4 stars | 172 reviews

True UtilityBirchbox Breakdown
You’re as handy as you are handsome, but hauling a toolbox around does a number on your swagger. With this stainless steel multitool stashed in your pocket, you can swoop in and solve any number of problems—from screws that need tightening to beers that need crackin’.

How it Works

This open-framed multitool includes a bottle opener, a can opener, a knife, a saw, an awl, a file, three screwdrivers (Phillips and two sizes of flat-head), and spring-assisted needle-nosed pliers, which double as wire cutters. However, it’s still small enough to fit in your pocket, or hang on your keyring, instead of collecting dust in your toolshed.

The lifestyle products you get in the men’s box are the full deal, because you can’t really make a sample size of these things. Notice the price there? Sometimes this stuff is worth double the price of the box or more. This little guy is solid and sturdy, well-made and is going to get a hell of a lot of use.

Would we buy it? Eh?

Well, we have one now, so no need. But if in need of another multi-tool, yes, this is an excellent choice.

Atelier Cologne Absolute Santal Carmin | $195 | 100 ml

Birchbox Rating: 4 stars | 131 reviews

Santal CarminBirchbox Breakdown

Jerome Epinette, one of the world’s top noses, is behind this woodsy, unisex scent. Part of Atelier Cologne’s Collection Métal line, the cologne absolue is a quiet, but solid fragrance with an essential oil concentration of 18%—which means it will last all day, no reapplication necessary. Bonus: The (real!) gold bottle and handcrafted red leather cap will class up your perfume display.

How it Works

Bright, fresh top notes of lime, bergamot, and saffron round out into woodsy heart notes of sandalwood, gaiac wood, and white musk. The scent has a base of papyrus, cedarwood, and vanilla.

When they say this stuff lasts all day, they mean it. Complex and exotic, it smells fantastic, but as we have said before, scent is a very personal thing, in that colognes and perfumes literally blend with your personal scent. We are far too dweeby to wear something so grown up and expensive. So it is not the best match with us, but we feel like it would be killer on someone like Javier Bardem. Penelope would probably like it.

Would we buy it? Nope

For that price? No thank you. But will totally use up that sample.

Basics for Men by Beckman Ultimate Tough Skin Relief | $12.95 | 6 oz

Birchbox Rating: 4.5 stars | 339 reviews

Basics for MenBirchbox Breakdown

There’s fun in flaunting your hard-earned scars—but only in moderation. So after wielding weighty implements or battling the elements, repair chapped and calloused skin with this lightweight, healing lotion. Call it TLC for the tough guy.

How it Works

This glycerin-based formula includes Beckman’s signature herbal complex—made with cucumber, ivy, and elderflower extracts—which naturally soothes damaged skin without a greasy residue.

Ha! You want tough skin? Natalie has psoriasis. Tougher than tough in those stupid spots. Not the worst case ever, but solidly moderate. This stuff won’t cure an autoimmune disorder, but this may be the best nonprescription skin stuff we have ever used, Natalie especially.

Would we buy it? Yep!

Again, just might soon.


Women’s Box

TOCCA Crema da Mano Deluxe | $20 | 4 oz

Birchbox Rating: 4.5 | 7,437 reviews

TOCCABirchbox Breakdown

In the hierarchy of our daily beauty essentials, hand cream ranks right below toothpaste and face wash. And it doesn’t get any better than this brand new version from TOCCA, the luxury Italian fragrance house. The rich formula is lightly scented and cures dryness any time of year.

How it Works

Free of parabens, this quick-absorbing cream is made with a heavy-duty dose of avocado oil, coconut oil, and chamomile extract. It comes in TOCCA’s five signature fragrances: Cleopatra (grapefruit and cucumber), Stella (blood orange), Giulietta (pink tulip and green apple), Bianca (green tea and lemon), and Florence (bergamot and gardenia).

Natalie now keeps this is her coat pocket. We barbers are constantly washing our hands, and this keep them soft and smooth. Because we touch your faces a lot, we can’t have gargoyle hands. We might buy all of the scents, but the blood orange one sounds enticing.


So many great finds this month! Remember, if you want to give the service a try for yourself, you can use our referral link HERE.

Filed Under: Blog, From the Chair, Products & Grooming, Series Tagged With: Grooming, Past, Products

About The Beardsgaards

The Beardsgaards are a pair of mom-and-pop barber nerds with a shared obsession with perfection. We built this old school barbershop to feel like home to everyone who enters beneath the Elvish script above our door. If we and the Gaardian army can give you a better handle on your grooming routine, all the better.

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greetings, nerds!

welcome home
We built this place for you, to bring you everything you ever dreamed you could find in your friendly neighborhood barbershop, and a stupid amount more. Beardsmith and Blademaiden, the mom and pop founders, invite you to explore the realm.

Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

Parking

On the general 2020 theme, there is currently no parking out front due to construction, and no front shop entrance either! Enter the back parking lot by First Street and come on in the back door with the beard on it (like a restaurant, wait at the sign inside for the Shopkeep to greet you)

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beardsgaardbarbers

Family owned & operated since 2014. There be nerds here. And dragons.
💈Classic Haircuts • Epic Beards • Razor Shaves💈
House brand @riverpeakapothecary

Beardsgaard Barbers
You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but do You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but don’t forget your hat. It’s cold outside.
The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soa The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soapdistillery body oils smell good enough to drink. We promise the oils will make you feel much better if you put them on your outside instead of your inside though.
Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whi Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whispers of moving out of Tier 3 Mitigation! Please pause, we're not there yet. 

This does not apply to the entire state of Illinois, only certain regions. As of now, we are still in Tier 3. We will announce when we have moved to Tier 2 on all of our social media channels as well as our email list, so sit tight until then!

Because knowledge is power, you also can go to http://dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics?regionID=8 at any time and look at Region 8, which contains Kane County. As of this posting, we are not meeting the metric on hospital bed availability. 

We promise, we want to get everything under your mask looking and feeling great, but we cannot do that until it's safe. Thank you for understanding, and please keep an eye out here, on Instagram or sign up for our email list at the bottom of www.beardsgaardbarbers.com to get updates.
And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you. And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you.
We may specialize in short, traditionally masculin We may specialize in short, traditionally masculine haircuts, but Beardsgaard has always been a place for everyone; girls, guys, gays, theys - all identities and orientations find acceptance and a barbershop home here. If, however, you are looking for the luscious salon locks that are far less in our barberly skill set, we are the lucky next door neighbors of the incredible @coasthairsalon
Between the two of us, we have heads of every sort covered in spectacular hair, and positive vibes.
While we would love to see more than half of your While we would love to see more than half of your faces, until Illinois is out of Tier 3 we are just not allowed to do any face services. That means all beard trims and face shaves are not a thing for the foreseeable future. We know that’s a bummer for most of you but think of how epic and wizardry your beards will be once we can do trims!
For beard updates we will be posting across social media and sending an email out to those of you that are on the email list as soon as we know anything. Hang tight Gaardians, your face gardens will be pruned again some day.
When this year started, we eternal optimists could When this year started, we eternal optimists couldn’t have imagined what dragons were coming. With the support of this amazing community, this little barbershop made it through lockdown, occupancy restrictions, six flipping months of construction including losing our whole front entrance for months, are still in the middle of not being able to perform our signature services, but we’re all starting to see light on the other side. We don’t know what this next year will hold, but we believe this shop and this community will keep on adapting and end up stronger for it. We just hope, so hard, that the dogs will be able to return in 2021. In the meantime, we have the dragon. And all of you.
Over the years here, no one has held quite as many Over the years here, no one has held quite as many positions at Beardsgaard as Joey. As (at the time girlfriend, now wife) Amanda worked here, Joey was keen to fill in on desk when a shopkeep got sick, and he didn’t even work here yet. Nor did he yet when he let us tie him to a tree during the making of a dumb movie. 

Eventually, he came to be a Shopkeep at Beardsgaard before, like Tyler, following his wife into the blade game and going to barber school, turning out to be really good at it. He progressed from intern to apprentice to a knighting to staff barber of Beardsgaard to beard model for our sibling shop’s most popular product, Deepwell. 

And now, as if the fondest wish for any Gaardian, business ownership, taking over for Amanda as the head chair of Fox & Stone Barbers in St Charles while she is off wrangling puppies for a living in the vet world. 

We wish him endless luck and happiness in his next steps, but we won’t miss him too much. As the dad of our dearly departed Mia, and the wiggly love sausage Mabel, he has agreed that Mabel should still work at Beardsgaard once we can have shop dogs again because she is so good at her job and misses all of you. So we’ll see him then! Huzzah!

Today is his last day, be sure to give him your love/hardcore trolling, whatever your relationship with him is. As you know, he’s a barber who can do both.
Onward buttercup! There’s fuckery to spread! Onward buttercup! There’s fuckery to spread!
A big Happy Birthday to @barberbeardsmith 🎂
We’ve been messing up his age for years now so the first person that can tell us his correct age gets a free Deepwell Beard Butter (in-store pick up only).
🎉
#giveaway #beardsmith #happybirthday #barber #barbershop #shoplife #guesstheage #chicagobarber #bataviail #bataviaillinois #smallbusiness #fyb #fuckyeahbatavia
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Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

Parking

On the general 2020 theme, there is currently no parking out front due to construction, and no front shop entrance either! Enter the back parking lot by First Street and come on in the back door with the beard on it (like a restaurant, wait at the sign inside for the Shopkeep to greet you)

Current Hours

Closed for Shop Lunch 2-3 pm weekdays, 1-2 pm Saturdays

• Monday - Friday 9 / 8 • Saturday 9 / 5

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All full for the day! (Closed Sundays & Mondays. Call or book online )
For the safety of our staff and clients, we must refuse service to anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
Actually there’s a whole list of questions we’re gonna ask you at the door, brace yourself.
Shop closes for lunch weekdays 2-3 PM and Saturdays 1-2 PM
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While you’re here, peruse our sibling shop right next door or in the Webs of Inter, River Peak Apothecary!