Beauty Review: January 2020 Ipsy Bag

Starting these Ipsy bag posts… man, what a challenge. I never really know what to say, but I guess one of the best things I can talk about is how my month was and how this bag made me feel. One thing I really want to emphasize is giving yourself little gifts throughout the month; while you’re building your career, or taking care of your child, or whatever… you deserve a few things for yourself.

And I want those things to be worth it. So month to month, the one thing I look for in every Ipsy bag is value. Is this bag both valuable monetarily and also to my life? Do the products make me feel good? Or do they make me feel blah?

So often, my Ipsy posts have been reflections of how I’m doing that month. Some of my saltiest reviews came when I was not feeling so great.

For a little context: the last few months have been some of the hardest of my life. I’ve struggled a lot, but I find myself doing better and better as time goes on. But December and January were definitely rougher months in the scheme of things—and honestly, November too.

With that being said, lately I’ve needed my self-care items to be even bigger than before. I’ve needed my therapy sessions; I’ve needed my bubble baths; I’ve needed my evenings to be quiet. Sometimes, I don’t get those things. Sometimes, self-care is just going to bed early or making an extra pot of coffee or closing my office door for 5 minutes to silently scream.

Not to give it all away quite so quickly, but this month’s Ipsy definitely felt like a bit of a let down. The last few months definitely have. But this month’s in particular is very disappointing and I’ll hit why on those specific items. Let’s get started, shall we?

You can read my past Ipsy reviews here. If you want to try Ipsy, you can sign up using my referral link here.

1. Glow Recipe Blueberry Bounce Cleanser, $3.19 value

I love the Glow Recipe, it’s such a great brand, but as I’m trying to repair my skin’s pH barrier, I’ve become more and more picky about cleansers I use. This one has a lot of pure soap ingredients—and it foams in a way I find slightly repulsive, for lack of a better word. The texture is akin to snot. There, I said it. It’s snot-like! It’s a snot-like cleanser and I don’t want to wash my face with it and despite being called “Blueberry Bounce Cleanser,” it smells like a Dollar Store.

I don’t like it! There!

I’m relegating this little sample tube to my travel bin; I think it’s OK for pH (I haven’t noticed any serious issues cropping up), but the weird smell alone is enough to make me avoid it. I give it a solid 3/10 in terms of how much I enjoyed it.

A full size tube is 160 ml and costs $34 (WHEW!). This sample tube is only 15 ml, making it’s value around $3.19. If I was nice, I would have rounded up to $3.20, but… I didn’t.

2. Luxie Fan Brush, $18 (Not Pictured)

I fully forgot to grab this brush while taking photos and didn’t notice until I was editing afterwards and wondering where my 4th item was. Then I remembered, “oh yeah, I got a 4th fan brush.”

You read that correctly: my 4th fan brush.

I have so many fan brushes, I expect to find all my cleanser samples fanning my blush samples in my bathroom any day now. (The blush samples are the kings of all the samples I receive, natch.) I have fan brushes coming out of my eyeballs at this point, which is funny only because no one needs a fan brush. It is the most useless brush. I don’t even wear highlighter anymore! What else is a fan brush used for? That’s right, nothing.

0/10. It is pretty. But… 4 fan brushes, guys. I’ve gotten 4 of them.

3. Urban Juve Lip Balm, $10

I love a lip balm moment, but guys. $10 for a lip balm this big?? For comparison, the Glossier Balm Dot Coms come in a 3 pack for $30, making them $10 a piece. And they have 0.5 fluid oz (which is HUGE!) This little lip balm has… 0.14 fluid ounces. Sorry, but that’s highway robbery. It’s not any different from Burt’s Bees either, it just has hemp in it!

If I’m going to spend $10 on a lip balm, it better be the size of a Moon Pie. I’ll take Glossier’s tubes of lip balm, but they’re on thin ice anyway. $10 for a Burt’s Bees size tube? Girl. 0/10. It’s just minty! It’s not even special!

4. Finding Ferdinand Lipstick in Very Berry, $6

You’ll be shocked to learn that I love this lipstick. Yes, I said it! I love one thing in this bag! And it’s this lipstick. It’s tiny, it’s cute, and it comes in a clear component that literally made me squeal out loud. I like it! What can I say? It’s a nice, bright berry color and perfect for spring. The formula is a little more dry than the average lipstick, which makes it more long lasting than a high shine formula. And at only $6, it’s pretty reasonable for a sample size that you can carry in your purse with ease. I give it an 8/10.

A full size is valued at $30 and the mini is $6. You can buy a set with both for $33 (savings!)

5. REALHER Eyeshadow in Victorious, $3.11 value

So, this shade is apparently in the Conquer from Within palette, but to me, that looks like a completely different color. Mine is a shimmery, pink-brown (I’d describe it as a dusty pink with a gold sheen if I was pressed). That looks like a straight champagne. They describe Victorious in the palette like this: “Metallic light slate. Perfect color to add a touch of highlight to inner corner of eye, or to work over entire lid.”

Ipsy, in comparison, describes it like this: “Rose gold is a universally flattering shade that’s always on-trend—this super pretty, shimmery color will quickly glam up your beauty looks, but it’s versatile enough to wear during day or night.”

Metallic light slate and rose gold are… not the same color whatsoever. So is this the same shade? A different one? With the same name? I don’t know!! Is this an extra that they slapped a random sticker on that they just needed to get rid of? God, I suspect so.

Either way, I did use the cost of that palette to calculate the cost of a single shadow.

Apparently, you can buy this brand in Neiman Marcus. Remember when Neiman Marcus was name dropped in like every song in 2004? What a weird time to be alive that was.

All that being said: I think I’ve received this same shade of eyeshadow about 40 times from Ipsy and I still am not going to wear it. It’s a perfectly fine eyeshadow, but… it’s not new! Ipsy, stop it with the brown-pink eyeshadows! It gets a 5/10: not awful, but I’m not going to wear it, so…

Final Thoughts

The total value of this bag is… $40.30. Womp womp. That’s pretty low. That may be in the running for one of the lowest valued bags I’ve gotten in… quite a while, actually.

If you can’t tell, there were some bummers in this bag. I don’t know why, but I get really annoyed when the cost of the bag is dependent on one item. An $18 brush does not a high value bag make, monetarily or enjoyment wise. I don’t need an $18 fan brush because I’ve already been sent 4 $18 fan brushes! That single brush ups the value of the bag significantly, but the other items are all valued at less than $10—except for the bizarre lip balm, which is so offensive at $10 that I actually find myself getting keyed up and mad.

Did this bag make me feel good? Honestly, not really. It was just sort of another thing, you know? I do love the make up bag—what blogger doesn’t love a bit of marble, huh?—but besides the lipstick, I wasn’t excited to use anything.

Here’s to hoping next month brings me a little bit of joy. I need it, y’all!

Beauty Review: My December 2019 Ipsy Bag

Sometimes, I’m afraid that people think my love of beauty products makes me seem air headed or flighty.

I think that’s a message we all absorb, right? In one way or another, we’re taught that “dumb girls” are the ones who are interested in their appearance, who like beauty products. When I was young, I remember feeling like I needed to keep the fact that I wore foundation a secret (even though it was pretty obvious). Girls might talk privately about make up, but to do so too loud was to admit that you cared what other people thought of you. As I’ve gotten older and society has shifted, that’s changed a lot—but you still see tweets about taking girls swimming on the first date, as if the only reason women use make up to make themselves beautiful in the eyes of others (and that somehow make up changes our entire face to the point of a very good disguise).

In recent months, I moved away from writing about beauty and skincare, not because I don’t like it anymore—but just because in terms of my headspace, I just wasn’t there. I couldn’t. All my energy, both mentally and physically, has gone into starting my freelance business, networking, and taking care of my home and family.

I feel like I finally have the mental energy to focus on myself, and my beauty products, again—but there is still that niggling little fear. What if people think I’m vapid because this is what I like writing about? How can I fully combine the idea that you can be a mom who gets shit done but also is very invested in double cleansing? The truth is we all contain multitudes and the attitudes and ideas we’ve absorbed from society about beauty standards are basically 100% bullshit. You can be an entrepreneur, a high level employee, a badass mom, a very dedicated college student… and still care about the new eyeshadow palette you just bought, or the skincare routine you perform every single day. We all deserve to feel good about the things we like and none of them are vapid, empty, or meaningless.

So this is my way to say: if you want to get Ipsy, but are worried about collecting too many products, or being “too invested” in beauty products, or if you’ve worried about those things and have never really let yourself indulge in a really good, expensive moisturizer… here’s your permission. I’m handing it to you. Go to Ulta, buy the moisturizer, subscribe to Ipsy, luxuriate in your oils to your hearts content. It doesn’t make you less of anything to care about those things if they make you feel good.

Whew! Now that that is out of the way, let’s talk Ipsy, shall we? You can read my past Ipsy reviews here. If you want to try Ipsy, you can sign up using my referral link here.

This month’s bag is sparkly, silver realness. Ipsy has slightly changed since my last review (in October). It now costs $12 a month and you get to choose one product in your bag every month—if you remember to log in and choose it in time. There is only a 24-hour window to do so, so if you, like me, are kind of busy and see the email and think, “I’ll do that later!” it will probably be too late by the time you log in the next day. As a warning.

That’s something I think Ipsy needs to readjust or change; not many of us have time right upon receiving an email to act on it. I try to spend less than 10 minutes in my email inbox at a time, just so I actually work on my to do list instead of, say, constantly reply to emails and click links.

That being said, even though I didn’t get to choose an item this month, I still like everything in my bag. Plus, I got 3 bonus items (which I haven’t included in this review) because they were having a buy-2-get-1-free deal on Black Friday. i love the monthly option to add on items for $3 a sample. I almost always choose one or two just so I have something new to try. I’ll actually be reviewing one of my add-ons at the beginning of January, so stay tuned for that!

Let’s walk through everything I got this month, shall we?

1. Hanhoo Watermelon Illuminator Daytime Facial Oil, $8 value

I love a facial oil! You probably know that by now. This facial oil contains watermelon extract and niacinamide; here’s what niacinamide promises: “niacinamide has been getting lots of love lately—and it’s a star ingredient in this face oil. It helps to refine pores, even skin tone and texture, treat acne-prone skin, and get you glowing.” That sounds… pretty good, right?

This facial oil reminds me a lot of the bliss drench moisturizer; it’s more of a cream-to-oil texture instead of a straight oil and has quite a bit of water in it, according to the ingredients list. I really like how it feels on my skin, but it doesn’t feel like a facial oil at all. That’s not necessarily a problem. It’s a good moisturizer! It just doesn’t contain any actual oil; it contains cyclopentasiloxane, which is a common ingredient to act as a lubricant in things like anti-aging creams and conditioner.

Facial oil is a popular term these days and this strikes me as an example of marketing versus what the products actually is. That being said, I don’t hate the product; I actually really like it! It’s just… not a facial oil.

A full size bottle of this products is 1 fluid oz and costs $16; this sample is 0.5 fluid oz and therefore has a value of $8. Pretty good!

2. Jolii Cosmetics Luxe Creme Matte in Lavanda, $18

I love a liquid lip and this one has a great, creamy texture. I received the color Lavanda, which is described as “a vibrant violet shade that’s surprisingly versatile and flatters every skin tone.” Violet is close to how I would describe it; it’s pretty bright in person, and almost grey-beige (greige). It’s really pretty, but there is something about a grey-toned purple lipstick that makes my teeth look yellow as all hell. So I will not be wearing this shade until I get my teeth whitened to roughly the shade of snow.

This is a full size product, though, and I love when I get a full size product in my bag!

3. Cela Black Gold Supreme Coffee Scrub, $3.70 value

I’m not a huge fan of coffee scrubs; I find them messy and slightly useless, as you never receive enough in a sample to really get the job done. That being said, I like this one. It smells good (like coffee, of course). And the packaging is gorgeous. If body scrubs are your thing, this one is a great option.

A full size tube of this product contains 200 grams and costs $37. This sample tube is 0.7 oz or 20 ml. It’s hard to convert between mls and grams as they are two different types of measurement, but in this case, it’s most likely a 1-to-1 ratio. Therefore, this sample tube, at 20ml or 20g, has a value of $3.70.

4. Space Case Cosmetics Blush in It’s Not Me, It’s My Sign, $9

I love blush! It’s my favorite thing to receive in my Ipsy bag because it’s my favorite step of my make up. The funny thing about make up, for me, is that I spend a lot of time taking all the color out of my skin via foundation, then I have to put a little bit of color back so I don’t look like a corpse. Hence why I love blush so much.

This blush is in the color It’s Not Me, It’s My Sign, which is a cute name. The shade is described as “an orchid pink with a semi-matte finish.” However, I would call it closer to a true pink—not necessarily floral or natural. I have a lot of rosey blushes like it, but I do quite like this one. It’s a bit more sheer than the average blush.

This is another full size product. It is sold out on the Space Case website, but the other blushes are also valued at $9 each and look just as lovely.

5. Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess, $3.33 value

This is the funniest little product. I don’t wear bronzer and no matter how many times i tell Ipsy not to send me bronzer, they tend to lump it in with blushes. To them, they’re the same sort of product, so why wouldn’t I want both? This one is from the Amazonian Clay line, but comes in a package totally different from other sample blushes I’ve received from the same line. It’s tiny! It clocks in at 1 gram; a full size is 9 grams! The packaging is a cheap plastic and the unit of bronzer itself is pretty small, more of an eyeshadow size really! In terms of color, it’s quite yellow for a bronzer and very light.

I can’t imagine being someone with a darker skin tone receiving this product. It doesn’t look like this bronzer is offered in any other shade, at least on Sephora; it’s just one shade of bronzer and maybe 20% of the population can wear it. It’s so light! This is probably the biggest disappointment of the bag because I just won’t use it.

A full size clocks in at 9 grams for $30. (WHEW!)

Final Thoughts

The total value of this bag is $42.03. In terms of value, that’s one of the lowest valued bags I’ve ever received, but I do like 4 out of the 5 products! I can’t complain too much, but for $13, I feel like I do expect a slightly higher value.

Did you receive an Ipsy bag this month? What did you think?

My October 2019 Ipsy Glam Bag

Well, well, well, I’m back again with an Ipsy review!

I had kind of resigned myself to stop doing these, as I haven’t been that dedicated to anything beauty. However, after a long think about it with myself, I think it’s incredibly valuable (at least to me and my mental health) to write one thing that brings me joy every once and a while.

Spending all my time trying to craft evergreen content that benefits my blog and my niche and everyone else… it can get really exhausting and I’ve been experiencing a pretty significant period of burn out since probably January. Work has been hard (for all the reasons I’ve written about and others!); blogging has been hard; doing anything other than sitting on the couch and scrolling through Twitter has been hard, honestly.

But part of getting myself out of that slump has required some creativity and motivating myself with something other than building a career (which is overwhelming and exhausting). For me, that means writing about beauty. Even if it doesn’t fit my niche! That’s fine! It’s ok to do things just because they are fun. Not everything has to be about growth and making money. I think this is the issue with blogging for me right now, that the onus is so much on “what’s going to make me grow and make me money” instead of on doing something you enjoy that other people enjoy.

Anyway, thoughts of blogging aside, I’m excited to start doing Ipsy reviews again. You can read my past Ipsy reviews here. If you want to try Ipsy, you can sign up using my referral link here.

1. Beau Cachis Concealer Brush, $11.95

I love a good brush, as I’ve said a few times, but I’m not sure I’ll ever use a concealer brush enough to make it worth it. This is a nice one: nice soft bristles, good handle. I use it to spread my concealer a bit before blending with my Real Techniques sponge, but that’s about it. A nice brush, worth $11.95—not bad! I like it, but I’ll probably not use it too much.

2. Betty Boop x Ipsy Blink & Wink Mascara, $7

Ipsy has restructured recently: it’s now $13 for a regular Glam Bag, you pick one item per month, and they do monthly add-ons. They’ve also started doing their own collabs, which is fine, but these collabs have dominated glam bags for the past few months. The Tetris palette was in my second Ipsy Glam Bag Plus, and I hated it. I don’t mind this Betty Boop mascara—it’s a good formula, but this is the 4th mascara I’ve received in as many months. GOOD GOD! Stop sending me mascara.

The worst part is I think they use these collabs to boost the value of the bags beyond what they should be. This mascara isn’t for sale in full size or at all, so there is no way for me to know how much its worth. The new Ipsy Glam Bags have a guaranteed value, but I’m not sure how they actually calculate that. This mascara is only 5ml; on average, a sample mascara that size would never be valued over $10. Considering this isn’t from a prestige brand, just Ipsy, I’d put it at $7, being totally generous.

But like I said, it’s not a bad mascara; I would just prefer to get known brands from my Ipsy bag.

3. It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream with SPF 50+, $7.50

This tube is about 1/2 the size of the travel size, which retails for $15; so, I’ve decided to value it at $7.50 ish.

I really like It Cosmetics; I use their powder. I knew I’d probably like this CC+ cream and I do. The color is slightly off for me, but I fully plan to repurchase a full tube once I’m done using it (I use my way-too-light Colourpop Concealer to make it lighter) and I’ll get a better color match then.

It’s really lovely! It has SPF 50 so if you struggle with daily sunscreen (YOU SHOULD BE USING IT!!!) this is a great option. It’s fully coverage, but lighter, and sets really well with the It Cosmetics powder that I love.

4. Soo Ae Panda Eye Brightening Mask, $4 each

I really like these masks! The brand Soo Ae is sold at some Wal-marts, Walgreens, CVS, and the like, but mainly is available from k-beauty websites online. That being said, they are really nice. I like that they are half-size, which means they don’t go over your mouth. They’re cute and they seem to genuinely work. I received 2 in my bag; I originally thought it was 3 (I can’t count), so I was disappointed to pull out the second mask and realize… oh, it’s the only one left. These are something I was definitely repurchase if I ever encountered them in the real world.

5. First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads, $4

I love these! They are an AHA pad, which helps with texture and acne. If you struggle with either of those things, adding an AHA to your routine is key. However, I try to avoid things that come on disposable pads; I prefer to use a reusable pad (or spritz it onto my face without using anything). That being said: they are really good. I actually noticed significant changes to my skin within 3-4 days of using these once a day (at night, as AHA can make your skin sensitive to the sun). God, they’re good! A pack of 28 pads costs $16, however, and the larger pack costs $30+. So for a full month, you’re looking at $16 minimum. That’s quite a bit!

I am valuing these around $4, as 28 pads costs $16. There are about 8-10 pads in this sample pack.

Bonus: Betty Boop x Ipsy Be Cheeky Powder Blush in All Dolled Up, $6

I added this as an add-on because I quite liked the color; online, it looked like a peachy, autumnal color. However, in person, it’s basically bubblegum pink. A perfectly fine blush color, but I have a million of those! I was disappointed to say the least. However, I do quite like the formula; it’s slightly shimmier. It reminds me of Milani blush actually, so I priced this similarly. Again, to reiterate what I said early, I’m naturally suspicious of these Ipsy collections, but I do like both products I received from them, so really, who’s the fool here? It’s me.

Final Thoughts

Final value of around $36.45.

Oof! That’s pretty low. Actually, I think that’s one of the lowest valued bags I’ve ever gotten. Part of that might be that I’m not going to let Ipsy get away with valuing their own products super high; again, ipsy isn’t a well-known make up or beauty brand (besides being a subscription service), they are not a prestige brand, and you can’t buy the two ipsy exclusive products anywhere at all. They aren’t made with another brand. It’s just Ipsy!

I also don’t love that the October bag is Betty Boop’s face; Betty Boop has a slightly problematic history and in general, I just don’t like her, so color me not impressed when we could have had, like, pumpkin anything to better effect.

I realize these all seem like nitpicks, but it’s something to consider when you’re picking a beauty subscription! I did like nearly everything I received, even if I had reservations about it. So while $36 is a very low value, I did like everything, so I can’t complain.

Again, you can read my past Ipsy reviews here. If you want to try Ipsy, you can sign up using my referral link here.

Beauty Review: My August Ipsy Glam Bag Plus

This is my third Ipsy Glam Bag Plus and will probably be my last.

Last month, I was in a very weird place in my life (my Glam Bag Plus review actually cracks me up; I won’t be editing it, let it stand as a testament to not review amidst personal crisis), but this month, I’m feel a little more stable in my work life and my emotional life. So I’m ready to review with the mindset of whether or not $25 for these products is fair.

Obviously, $25 for 5 full size items is always going to be a good deal. However, is it worth it in terms of… am I getting things I like using? Do I feel like the customization works?

With that in mind, if you’d like to sign up for the Glam Bag Plus, click here to use my referral link. And as always, you can read my past reviews here.

Let’s talk products.

1. Thrive Causemetics Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara, $24

I hate getting mascaras in my subscription boxes!!! I swear, I do set everything to NOT receive mascaras and yet, here I am, second month in a row with a full size mascara. The It Cosmetics mascara is still one of my least favorites ever (it is so clumpy and gross looking), but this one might be a close second: it makes my eyes itch intensely. I have worn in 3 times and I legitimately worry each time whether I will go blind. And it doesn’t even make my eyelashes look that good.

Props for being an ethically focused company, but oof.

2. F.A.R.A.H. Brushes 5-Piece Eye Perfection Set

I’m always a little suspicious about anything I can’t find on the brand’s website. This is no different: I cannot find anything similar to this brush set on their website. If I had to estimate it based on similarly priced sets, I would say anywhere from $25-30, maybe up to $40. I always lean more towards the lower estimate; in combined brush sets (like a set of 4 face brushes and then these same 5 eyeshadow brushes), the cost is $50. If it’s an even 50-50 split. $25 makes the most sense to me.

Anyway, I have received FARAH brushes in the past and I do like them. These do stain really easily; I used and washed them once and they are permanently pink, purple, and brown… respectively. They are perfectly fine brushes and since I use eyeshadow brushes a lot, I appreciate a variety.

3. Tarte Dream Big Eyeshadow Palette, $30

I have suspicions that this palette is just a leftover holiday or New Years season palette launch from Tarte.

I’ve never heard great things about Tarte palettes. They are never really on my radar. I do like this one; it’s relatively small (about the size of my hand) and I like the color story. At first, I was utterly unconvinced, but I do like the shade All In, the mauve-pink metallic in the top middle row. The rest of the palette is pretty generic, but it does have some additions I don’t have in other palettes, so I’m willing to forgive it.

Swatched shades from left to right: Hustle, All In, Happening, You Can, and This is It.

All the shades swatch really well (I would say Happening, the purple shade, is one of the weakest). The black metallic, Hustle, did stain my arm really badly. So there is that at well.

At $30 for the entire palette, it has 8 colors. That evens out to $3.75 per eyeshadow, which is a little high to me.

4. Purlisse Blue Lotus Essential Daily Moisturizer with SPF 30, $45

I really like the brand Purlisse and so this moisturizer is probably one of the things I’ve been most excited to receive. It has SPF 30 (YES) and on my skin, does not leave a white cast. However, I saw “on my skin” because it is impossible for me to determine if it would on darker skin tones. If you have any input, I’d love to hear it; I know finding SPF moisturizers that don’t leave a white cast is much harder for POC.

I do really like the moisturizer. It does have a faint SPF smell, but I don’t mind that whatsoever. I haven’t noticed it making my skin worse in anyway. It’s been all positives.

5. Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser, $40

I have wanted to try a Murad product for years, but baby, they are expensive. So getting this exfoliating cleanser was like a gift from the skincare gods. I was so excited for this product and I was not disappointed. Does it smell a little funky? Sure. Does it make my skin feel bomb though? Absolutely.

It’s $40 for the full size bottle and it is big baby. I cannot imagine using this entire thing in a year. You’re only supposed to use it 2-3 times per week, as it is an exfoliant; no skin damage here, baby. I feel like, knowing how good it is now and how big the bottle is… $40 seems pretty fair. And you guys know I don’t say that a lot.

Final Thoughts

I estimate the value (thanks to the brush set) of this box to be $164. That’s… pretty good, for $25.

Like I said, $25 for 5 full size products is always going to be a good deal. But is this providing value to my life?

Of the 5 products I received, I hate 1 (that mascara), I love 3 (the cleanser, the moisturizer, and the brush set), and I’m meh on the 5th (the eyeshadow palette: like it, but don’t love it). To me, that evens out pretty good; I now have 3 full size products that I can use for a fair amount of time, all for $25. Even if I bought just those items, I’d still be spending $110.

More importantly, is getting my Ipsy Glam Bag Plus fun? Yes. Of course it is! It’s fun to get new things!

I do think this will be my last box, however. Even though these products are valuable, for me right now, $25 per month is a little steep just budget wise right now. (I did get laid off a month ago!) I will be switching back to the $10 a month bag. I’m glad I tried it! I’m glad I went for it and got to experience it, but for the price, it’s just not my thing.

That being said, if you’re someone who wants to start using skincare and make up, but have no idea where to start, the $25 a month price is really good and gives you a variety of products to try for a long time. Not just samples.

Beauty Review: Ipsy Glam Bag Plus, July 2019

Ipsy, Ipsy, Ipsy… what am I going to do with Ipsy?

I was so excited for the Glam Bag Plus—in fact, I was so excited, I kind of threw myself into it without really thinking about it. I mainly just wanted that sparkly glamour of 5 new products every month without fretting about the sizes.

But it’s not really all it’s cracked up to be, is it? Sure, I get the thrill of trying new things without spending an arm and a leg. But at what cost? To my sanity that is.

That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I wasn’t sure how else to start this blog post. I swear, I will write a life update soon. Just not now. I have a lot to look forward to in the next month: I’m heading on a vacation (somehow the worst AND the best timing at once) next week, then I’ll be hopefully working on some fun, exciting projects and not sitting at home watching Queer Eye and wishing Jonathan Van Ness would come and just hold me and tell me I’m pretty and it’ll be ok.

The products I got this month from Ipsy feel like a hodgepodge—and not necessarily based on anything I’ve shared with Ipsy. (More on that…) Sometimes, I get this feeling there isn’t a lot of personalization here, but more grabbing and shoving and sending. But that’s just a suspicion, I have nothing to back that up, please don’t send me an email Ipsy. (Did I mention a brand sent me an email refuting a review of mine? Yeah. That happened.)

If you’d like to try Ipsy Glam Bag, you can sign up here. Without further ado, let’s talk this month’s picks.

1. Huda Beauty 3D Highlighter Palette in Pink Sands, $45

When I finally got my Ipsy product sneak peek (it took until the day before the thing shipped), I was on the edge of my seat. Would I get one of the Huda Beauty eyeshadow palettes I’ve been lusting after? I was so hopeful I would. After all, I’ve said repeatedly for Ipsy not to send me highlighters, I have it marked on my quiz and everything.

Imagine the punch to the gut it was to see that I got the highlighter palette.

Yeah. Ipsy did that. I swear they do it on purpose.

It’s a perfectly fine highlighter palette. It’s pretty! I won’t use it, except for maybe Ibiza. I don’t wear highlight. I’m not interested in it. I’m so tired. I feels so lame to say it, but I was so genuinely crushed by this being in my Ipsy box, I almost canceled the entire thing. I’m giving them one more month and then I’m done.

2. IT Cosmetics Superhero Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara, $24

A few years ago, Ulta did a birthday give for the July-September birthdays (since the gifts change quarterly) that was an entire eyeshadow palette. They got an ENTIRE EYESHADOW PALETTE. When I went to get my gift in October, I thought, “Gosh, I bet we’ll get a different palette.” No! It was a mini tube of mascara. Even the associate looked embarrassed as she handed it to me; she knew they’d just been handing out 12-shadow eyeshadow palettes and here she was tossing me a tube of old mascara.

That mascara was IT Cosmetics Superhero Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara. I hated it then too.

3. Purlisse Watermelon Energizing Aqua Balm, $24

I’m not a total cynic. I love this product! I love a good moisturizer and this balm smells like watermelon, so I immediately love it. It is a great moisturizer for summer when you need a little moisture, but also don’t want anything heavy on your skin. Forrest keeps trying to steal it off my bathroom counter, saying, “It’s watermelon flavor!” Not really.

4. Pixi by Petra Glow Mist, $20

I love a good mist and I love Pixi products, so this was the perfect thing I needed in this box to keep me from throwing in the towel. It is essentially an oil mist with a lot of nourishing ingredients. It recommends using to set makeup, but I’m oily enough, thank you. I use it before bed to cool down and for an extra amount of moisture.

5. Feel Balanced Moisture Balancing Cream, $28

I was initially so annoyed by the highlighter palette, that I was ready to say, “a BODY lotion!? They sent me a body lotion!” I have so much body lotion, I didn’t need another… but this one is so, so nice. I gave myself a blister on my elbow a few weeks ago doing embroidery (stitched too hard, I guess) and so I’ve had a big dry patch on my elbow ever since. This fixed it up in just one use, so honestly, that’s pretty great. It’s also been helping my raggedy cuticles from washing my hands too much and too hot. All-in-all, a 10/10.

Final Thoughts

This box has a $141 total value. Whew! That’s pretty good. It’d be nice if I didn’t get two absolute dud products that I will never use in my life. On the plus side, I know I will use all of the Glow Mist, Watermelon Balm, and Balancing Cream, so that’s a plus.

Beauty Review: I Tried Ipsy Glam Bag Plus So You Don't Have To

I waited patiently—anxiously, even—for this: I finally got off the waiting list for the Glam Bag Plus.

I’ve been an Ipsy Glam Bag subscriber for over a year now—probably 18 months total, minus a few months where I skipped or put my membership on hold. I have reviewed nearly every single Ipsy bag I received; I quite liked a lot of them, but started to find them boring in the last few months. (You can read all my Ipsy reviews here.)

When they announced the Glam Bag Plus, I immediately signed up for the waiting list; I knew I wanted to try it, even if $25 was a bit steep (compared to $10 a month that is!) Mostly, I just wanted to see what they would actually send.

The Glam Bag Plus is, like Boxy Charm, 5 full-size products every single month. The regular Glam Bag promises a mix of sample size, deluxe sample size, and full-size products. The full size products in the Glam Bag are usually masks or single eyeshadows. The Glam Bag Plus is $25; comparatively, Boxy Charm is $21 per month and seems to be primarily name brand products.

How does the Glam Bag Plus compare? Let’s see what I got in my first box.

(As a note, I did receive 2 bonus items that I received through trading in my points on Ipsy. I will include small reviews for them!)

If you’d like to try the Glam Bag Plus, you can sign up here.

1. Tula Major Glow Cooling & Brightening Sheet Masks, $26.25

Here’s an interesting note: these Tula masks usually come in a pack of 4. I received 3 (and the package says “pack of 3 masks”). Now, to me, if the standard pack includes 4 masks and this pack includes 3…. that’s not full size. I don’t know what size it is, but it’s not full size, that’s for sure. Already, that makes me highly suspicious about the “full size” aspect of this box! But I digress; a pack of 4 masks costs $35, making each one worth $8.75. That makes 3 worth $26.25.

The plus side of all this: I really like these masks! I love masks that are two pieces, because they tend to fit better. I also really like the hydrogel feel of these masks. It’s been pretty hot already this summer, so I like to pop them in the fridge and wear one in the evening while I watch TV.

2. Suva Beauty Hydra Liner in Grease & Six Twenty Brush Set, $26

This is interesting because this “item” is actually two items: a Six Twenty Brush (for eyeliner) and the Hydra Liner in the shade Grease (black). The brush is $12; the liner is $14. They might be sold as a set, but I can’t find that option on this brand’s website. So, I guess that’s pretty nice; it’s technically two full size items. Personally, a $12 brush is a bit much for me, especially as it is a teeny tiny liner brush.

This eyeliner is activated by a wet brush. It seems nice, but I haven’t gotten a chance to experiment with it a lot yet. I love winged eyeliner, but I personally prefer an all-in-one tool; it’s just easier for me, especially as I won’t have time to wash a brush every single day.

3. Tetrix x Ipsy Game On Eyeshadow Palette, $15

This is an interesting one: an eyeshadow palette specifically by Ipsy. Not any other brand, but… Ipsy.

This is a big of a rankle for me. To me, the point of this beauty subscription is to receive either indie brands or major brands… not Ipsy products. It’s like signing up for a beauty subscription and getting Target’s generic brand items in it. They’re great, but I can buy them for cheaper on my own.

As well, apparently there is a second palette that has colors I would much prefer.

I estimated this price at around $15. If I’ve being generous, that’s about $2.50 per eyeshadow (the cost of Ulta Beauty’s individual eyeshadows, for comparison). However, the full Tetris x Ipsy Collection retails for $158 total. Since this palette isn’t sold anywhere else, I have nowhere else to link to!

It is a fairly decent palette. I quite like the shade Game Day, which is foiled; Stack It Up is pretty and so are Block Party and Game Night. However, I don’t wear navy eyeshadow, so Game Over is a bit much; and orange eyeshadow makes me look ill. I’ll use a fair number of the shades so it’s not a total waste, but I am disappointed to receive essentially a generic palette. C’est la vie.

4. Tréstique Matte Color + Shiny Lip Balm Lip Crayon, $25

This one is actually pretty nice, if a bit gimmicky. In the picture on Ipsy, it looked like it was actually 3 products in one. But when it arrived, I realized the packaging is literally just shaped like a giant lip crayon with a smaller lip crayon inside and then the teeny tiniest little lip balm to ever exist. Both are quite nice; I like the color of the lip crayon and the lip balm feels nice. My only annoyance is that I have to carry around a giant lip crayon to use a little balm! The shade I received is: Belize Bordeaux & Grenache Balm. The pictures look absolutely nothing like the color it is. The website make it seems like a dusty rose pink; it’s more like… red wine. Burgundy.

5. Sunday Riley C.E.O. Vitamin C Rich Hydration Cream, $65

OK. OK. OK. Maybe… maybe it’s worth it just for this. An ENTIRE tub of Sunday Riley C.E.O. Vitamin C cream! I can’t! Miraculous! Marvelous! Extraordinary!

Am I being dramatic? Yes. But a tub of this alone costs $65. I can see why they perhaps cheaped out on the eyeshadow palettes and masks (I see you, Ipsy), because whew, $65!

This is one of those creams I’ve dreamed of trying but didn’t have the actual cash. I’m never going to drop $65 on just a moisturizer. Especially one that is all about Vitamin C.

Oh, have I mentioned? Vitamin C makes me break out. Bad. I’m still going to try this ($65!!!) But I don’t have my hopes up. In fact, my hopes are… low. I’m probably going to break out. But who knows? Maybe this will be the vitamin C cream of my dreams; I have heard excellent things about it.

A word on my points items! I received the Neogen White Truffle Oil Drops and the Billion Dollar Brows Eyebrow Brush. I love an oil on top of my moisturizer at night to help with my dehydrated skin and I am so far loving these oil drops. I’ve been meaning to get an eyebrow brush for ages, but just never got around to it; I like that this one is angled slightly and has both types of brush that I need. In total, I traded in like 1200 points for both of these and the brush alone is worth $16. Worth it.

Final Thoughts

In total, the value of this first box is… $157.25. Ok, DANG! That’s pretty good!

Let’s compare, however. If we review my “One Year of Ipsy” blog post here, we know that in July 2018 I received a bag that had a value of $93. That’s a difference of about $64. If a $10 Ipsy bag has the potential to be worth $93 (and that was a slight outlier of a bag; my lowest was a $45 value bag in October 2018). The average value of my Ipsy bags has been $65, which is pretty good for a $10 purchase.

Looking at it logically, of course a $25 box is going to have a higher value than a $10 bag; but I actually don’t feel like it has enough comparative value. In this first Glam Bag Plus, I only received one recognizable brand (Sunday Riley) and the value of that product greatly inflated the value of the bag. Remove the $65 cream and this Glam Bag Plus is only worth, wait for it, $92. So 4 products total is worth the exact same as a 5-product Ipsy bag that cost only $10. I feel like, again, this is a box of filler products with one extreme high end product thrown in to inflate the value.

However, that being said… despite my criticisms, I do quite like every thing I received. Was it worth the $25? Sure! I’m really happy with everything, even if I’m suspicious of it all as a whole.

If you’d like to try the Glam Bag Plus, you can sign up here.

Have you received the Glam Bag Plus? What did you think? What did you receive?

Beauty Review: My May 2019 Ipsy Bag

She’s back, baby!

By “she’s back,” I mean, I caved and started getting Ipsy bags again because I like paying $10 for 5 products every month because it’s just… easy. And I get to try lots of things. And also they have the Glam Bag Plus now, which is $25 for 5 full-size products and I’m very intrigued. Listen, that’s a lot of excuses, but let’s just go with… she’s back, baby!

Giving myself a break from Ipsy (and trying out Birchbox in the interim) honestly felt like a really great choice. When I restarted my Ipsy, I felt refreshed and ready to get some new products. And as a bonus, I happened to restart just in time to snag a few of the deluxe samples they usually sell for $3-6. Last time that I happened, I tried the super popular Sand + Sky clay mask. I’ll share what I got in that sale at the end of the box, but otherwise, let’s jump in to this Ipsy bag review!

As aways, you can read all my Ipsy bag reviews here. You can also sign up for Ipsy using my link here.

1. BAD Gal Bang! Mascara from Benefit - $13

This mascara is the reason I don’t trust beauty gurus (especially the huge ones on YouTube). This mascara sucks. All Benefit mascaras suck! Can we stop pretending they are good? They are all gloopy, flaky, and nasty. I’m tired of the propaganda! Benefit does not make good products and I’m tired of talking about them and their shtick. Anyway, I knew I wasn’t going to like this and surprise, it turns my lashes into absolute spiders legs, so let’s just chalk this up to they had to include this sample due to a contract. This travel size (deluxe) sample costs $13 (seriously, $13 for mascara that is worse than something you’d buy in a drug store). (Someday, I’ll write an entire post about how much I dislike Benefit, but alas, today is not that day.)

2. Translucent HD Finishing Powder from BellaPierre Cosmetics - $35

I love a powder and so I was very excited to try this one from BellaPierre, a brand I’d seen in a few YouTube videos, but nowhere else really. This powder appears to be a full size; it weighs 6.5g and the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores comes in at about 6.8g, so that seems right to me for full size. Comparatively, the It Cosmetics Powder costs $29 for 6.8g and this powder costs $35 for 6.5g, making it quite spendy. It is a decent powder: not as mattfying as It Cosmetics (my ride or die), not as pretty on the skin as the Hourglass Veil powder (but still more effective). It’s a good in-between powder for when I’m having a day with very dry skin or the weather is quite dry already.

3. Bio Fresh Mask with Real Calming Herbs from RE:P - $4.92

I love a clay mask and I love that this one is soothing! During my cycle, I have a few days where my skin gets very flushed, sensitive, and red. I am so excited to use this mask then to help calm down my skin a bit. It smells really herby, for lack of a better word, with a lot of chamomile. I have worn it once and quite liked how it made my skin feel, but I’ll need to test it a few more times throughout the month to see. A full size tube is 130 g for $32—this sample tube is 20g, which is fairly sizable and I will get quite a few uses out of it.

4. Prep + Prime Natural Radiance in Radiant Yellow from MAC - $4.93

I’m not a huge fan of MAC products, but I have heard good things about their primers. I was a bit flummoxed by this primer as they sent me the color “Radiant Yellow”. Now, on the skin, I don’t notice any color, but on the Sephora website, it says specifically that Radiant Yellow is intended for deeper skin tones. They have a pink shade that they recommend for Fair to Medium skin tones. This isn’t MAC’s issue, but just one of those times where I find myself saying, “WTF Ipsy!?” I haven’t noticed that this makes a huge amount of difference to my foundation; I am not a primer user, I don’t find it effective for my skin type (and I think many skin types would benefit from not using primers), but I wanted to give it a fair shot. On the upside, it hasn’t completely wrecked my skin or made my foundation slide off. A full size tube is 1.7 oz and costs $42; this sample tube is 0.2oz, which is fairly large considering the amount you use.

5. Lip Icing in Drip from Estate Cosmetics - $10

I could not find this exact color on the Estate Cosmetics website, but all of the other Lip Icings are $10 per tube. Which is fairly affordable for a really nice lip gloss. I don’t love lip glosses, but I’ve been getting a ton of them in subscription boxes (and recommended to me) lately, so clearly the tides are turning against me and my matte lipsticks!! I’m not prepared for that to happen, but whatever. I do like this gloss; it’s a pink shade, like most glosses, and looks like… lipgloss when you put it on. I’m so biased against lip glosses, I survived the lip gloss trend of the early 2000s, and I don’t want to repeat it because they all look the same. It doesn’t matter what color the lip gloss is, it’s going to look like shiny lips once you put it on and it’ll be gone in 20 minutes!

6. Pore Clearing Clay Mask from Innesfree - $6

This was a bonus item which I bought for $6. I’m so glad I bought this because it’s just like the Aztec clay mask that everyone gets from Amazon, but doesn’t wreck my skin nearly as much. It dries down so tight and sucks everything out of your pores. If you have a break out, you need a mask like this to help those suckers dry out. I’ve already worn this twice and I’ve gotten compliments on my skin within 24 hours each time—which never happens. I have bad skin, guys, but this really takes the care in terms of clay masks. Will absolutely be buying a second one.

7. Black Magic Liquid Eyeliner from Eyeko - $6

I’ve been looking for a Kat Von D Tattoo Liner replacement for actual years. KvD is a mess and if you don’t know the story, hop onto your friendly neighborhood Google and take it for a spin. She’s been a mess for a long time, but it’s been aggravated in the last few years and especially the last year. I don’t want to tell anyone what they should spend their money on, but I vote with my wallet and it’s a “no” from me. That PSA aside, I’d heard good things about the Eyeko Liquid Eyeliner, so when I saw a sample for $6, I went for it. And honestly, it might be better than Kat Von D! It’s black, matte, and a brush tip, which means it’s 100 times better than a felt tip (I said what I said). I’ve worn it every day for a week and the only downside is that, unlike Tattoo Liner, it is water soluble, which means it wipes and comes off much easier.

Final Thoughts

In total, this Ipsy bag, without my special items, comes to a total of $67.85 in value, which is highly inflated by the powder sample and the Benefit Mascara. I really don’t think that mascara sample is worth $13—I’d say about $5, tops, and that’s being very generous—and while I like the powder, it feels like such a small amount. $35 does seem a bit… outrageous, and I frequently pay $29 for powder! Am I hypocrite? Anyway, that’s a fairly standard value for a bag, but I feel like they added the powder purely to bring it up. I like a lot from this bag: the gloss is middle-of-the-road, I like it, but I resent it; the primer is ok; I love any mask that comes my way; the powder is good; and the mascara is going straight into the bin.

All-in-all, a fairly OK bag. I’m hoping next month, things pick up thanks to my reviews. As with any Ipsy bag, I always find myself thinking, well, I didn’t like these things, but at least it only cost $10 for me to try it. It’s not like I bought a full size Benefit mascara only to find out it sucks; it’s also not like I paid $35 for a tiny amount of powder! That’s the beauty of Ipsy, really.