Makeup is in bloom, or something!
Another month, another Glam Bag from Ipsy! (referral link)
glam bag
Ipsy November 2014
Another month, another bag.
Ipsy May 2014
Sorry I’ve been so busy! Review under the jump!
Review: Ipsy October 2013
Ipsy September 2013: Classic Beauty
My Gift to All of You.
Ipsy Bag Review: May 2013
The Bag/Theme: VERY cute, loved that it was blues and orange. I’m not a fan of pink. The theme was “Spring Fling”, which I feel is a little late for the season and a very UGH phrase, anyway. This is the FIRST bag where they’ve confirmed that they chose products based on our website profiles.
Under the cut, because I know some of you don’t care. 🙂
Ipsy Bag Review: April 2013
The Bag: This bag is a white textured material with a pink zipper, and a pink striped silk lining. I don’t think white bags and makeup mix well, so I probably won’t use this. Cute, though!
Two Cosmetics Duo Eyeshadow in Heartache: I think pink eyeshadow is underused. These were two colours that didn’t seem to go well together in the pan. One looks slightly on the orange side of pink and the other is a pearly cool pink. They both were different when swatched… under the cut we go!
Ipsy March 2013: Anchors Aweigh!
The Bag – Very cute nautical print, but it felt a little flimsy. Not sure how much I’d use this in my purse. I prefer slightly more durable bags because I’m pretty rough on my stuff!
The Shipping – The tracking reports that they shipped the piece on the 6th, but I didn’t get the code until the 9th. It was handled by DHL this time, and the piece seemed to move pretty slow. It arrived at the airport early in the morning on the 8th, but didn’t leave until the 9th and I didn’t receive it until the 11th. Meh for this month.
Glam Rx Mini Freestyle Palette – I didn’t know that THIS is what I’ve been looking for in an interchangeable palette until I had it in my hands. It’s a little bigger than a credit card and fairly slim. It’s perfect for dropping in a few pans and actually taking with you! I think this was actually created especially for Ipsy subscribers, and I think it’s exactly the sort of thing brands should be doing. It’s a great taste of what your brand can do and something they’ll actually use–keeping your logo in their bag. The magnet seems to be plenty strong and the mirror is great.
yaby Eyeshadow Refill – Perfect coordinating on Ipsy’s part. Yes, DO give us eyeshadow pans when you give us an interchangeable palette. I got a tealy-green and a pretty muted goldenrod. These are still confusingly similar to the Coastal Scents shades I got–I’m curious about how Ipsy chooses the sample shades now. These have great colour payoff even without primer. They’re a bit small, but it’s a nice sample size.
Juice Beauty Hydrating Mist – I could smell this as soon as I opened my bag. None had leaked, but it was a nice surprise. It’s sort of herby and cirtusy on me. I wouldn’t spray this on my face–sneeze much?–but it would be okay in my hair. This had pretty decent staying power. I don’t know about the “hydrating” part of the equation–I didn’t see or feel much difference. I probably wouldn’t buy this, but it’s a nice freebie.
LA Fresh travel-lite Makeup Remover Wipes – These are okay face wipes. They did a pretty good job of removing the green eyeshadow, which I think is a pretty solid measure of a wipe’s cleaning ability! I noticed a powder fresh scent when I opened them, but no smell really seemed to come with the wipe or stay behind. No stickiness afterward, which I’ve noticed with some wipes.
The Overall: I really liked this bag for the eyeshadow and palette. I feel like ipsy needs to communicate how beneficial it is for a brand to represent themselves creatively. Obviously, generating BRAND NEW products for the ipsy bags isn’t always feasible, but it definitely excites me as a potential customer more than something I could get anywhere. Show me why your brand is unique!
Ipsy Bag Review: January 2013
Not pictured: the mini can of Big Sexy Hair
The Bag: ADORBS. It’s a tall, slightly triangular bag in a smooth navy nylon. The lining is a brighter blue with stars and dots. Very sweet and sleepy.
Big Sexy Hair: First, I was impressed to get a mini can of hairspray. I think Big Sexy isn’t really a new brand to most people–it’s pretty ubiquitous where I’m from, at least. It’s a good, solid hairspray. I’d been needing some, so fantastic.
Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange Body Butter: I got a candle and perfume set from Sephora of this scent a long time ago, and I love it dearly. I was stoked to get a lotion. I wouldn’t call this a body butter, but it is a bit thicker than typical lotion. A 2.5oz tube isn’t shabby for a sample bag! The scent is sweeter and more floraly than a true blood orange, but I really love it.
Nailtini in Bloody Mary: This red is not a Bloody Mary shade. It’s more of a candy apple red and the consistency is almost like a gel polish. The hue matches almost exactly to a $1 bottle of Wet n’ Wild I had when I was 12. The coverage and consistency of the Wet n’ Wild was better, and it was sort of a gel polish. Again, this stuff retails for $13, so go for the Wet n’ Wild.
Josie Maran Argan Oil: There’s that buzz word again. This is an oil, though it doesn’t feel oily in application. I can be used as a general moisturizer, for face, body and hair. I was more impressed that this came in a glass bottle with a glass dropper. I’ll be repurposing that later.
SOHO Get a Grip Eyeliner Brush: If this is supposed to do eyeliner, I’m a bit confused. The line of bristles is much too wide and much too flexible. The package instructions show how to use it for concealer, blush and more. It retails for $10, but I think you could find a much better eyeliner brush for the same price. As a general eyeshadow brush? This is great. I wouldn’t use it for concealer or blush ever, though.
The Verdict: Decent bag altogether! The theoretical value is around $40, so not bad. The products felt a little mish mash to me. The theme was “Super Stars”, but I didn’t get a cohesive feel. The lotion smells summery, the polish and hairspray is red carpet/40s bombshell, the argan oil is sort of naturey, the brush is whatever, the bag is more sleepy time dream land. Am I overthinking that?
LOOKIT THIS LINING
MyGlam/Ipsy Bag Review: November 2012
It’s that time again! I got Ipsy bag in the mail one day after I got my tracking code, which was generated about three days before I received it, and two days before the projected delivery day. I’m guessing their strategy is now to hold back the tracking numbers to give the illusion of speedy delivery?
L-R: full size Starlet pencil in black, full size Nailtini nail polish in Millionaire, (guessing) deluxe sample bare mineral Marvelous Moxie gloss in Dare Devil, deluxe sample Chella eyebrow defining gel, bag and sample size the Balm Meet Matt(e) in Matt Batali.
The bag – Pretty much the same bag as last time but in a deep chocolatey brown with a little more satiny with a shiny patent trim. It’s totally okay, but a little confusing that the bag is so similar when in the past, they’ve been so wildly different. I’m thinking that they got really good feedback on the last bag, though. So why mess with a good thing?
Starlet eyeliner pencil in black – The color in this is fairly solid and makes pretty consistent marks. The label reads “Black total absence of light”, suggesting a deep, inky black. The tip even looks like it would make that level of black, but it definitely doesn’t draw that way. It’s got a slightly brownish lean to it and I just don’t feel like it’s an $11 eyeliner. I’ll pass on buying.
Nailtini nail polish in Millionaire – This is a glitter polish. The base is a super-fine pinky gold glitter, followed by small sticks of gold, followed by long sticks of blue green. I don’t care for polishes with stick glitter because it always seems to hang off the nail. One coat of this goes on pretty sparse, two coats seems to fill out a bit better. It appears to apply very clumpy, but evens out as it settles and dries. The company’s concept is that their polishes should be layered, and I’d definitely do that with this. The biggest grr? I just scraped this off with my fingernail. For $13 a bottle, that’s a real shame. If you’re apt to shell out this kind of money on nail polish, just skip this brand and head to Chanel.
bare minerals marvelous Moxie in Dare Devil – When I saw previews of this, I was horrified. Wine-hued lips are a big mini-trend, but it’s often done far too heavy for real human use. I put this on without a mirror, just waiting for my boyfriend’s reaction. He didn’t react at all. When I checked the mirror, I was pleased to see that this went on fairly sheer and it was a generally pleasing shade for me. Whew! Unfortunately, this has a mintiness to it, which I hate. Why should lipgloss make my lips cold all day? It’s got a little stickiness and sandiness that seems to be standard for lip gloss, so it’s not a huge detractor I can’t get a handle on how big the full size of this is, but it’s $18 a tube. That’s pretty on par with similar products, so I think I could comfortably recommend this for anyone wanting to dip their toes in wine hues without going overboard.
Chella eyebrow defining gel – When I saw this, I was afraid is was a pigmented product. It wasn’t, and I was deeply relieved. It’s a clear eyebrow gel with a mascara wand applicator. It also comes bearing a weird chemical smell that was sort of disconcerting. When it dried, I noticed it felt a little stiff at first. I didn’t get tremendous brow-taming results out of this. A full-size is $18. I spent far less on Covergirl clear mascara and got similar (if not better) results. The downside to Covergirl is that it doesn’t dry as quickly.
the Balm Meet Matt(e) in Matt Batali – Apologies to Mario, I’m quite taken with this Batali. This is a matte shadow in a deep brown colour, headed towards black. It went really well with this pencil. I just dabbed a bit at the outer corners of my eyes without any primer and got great payoff and a nice smokiness. I totally dig matte shadows, so I was really hoping the Balm offered these in singles. And they don’t. I’d love a replacement for my now-defunct Urban Decay Revolver. The palette the Balm offers is $35 (but Ipsy users get a half off offer, soooo… maybe…)
The verdict? This month was a little safe, a little boring. One of Ipsy’s biggest problems is its users constantly complaining about the products they get, whether it’s the wrong colour or the size. Ipsy definitely needed a few totally unhateable bags in its corner to get their subscribers happy. And what better time than after open sign-ups? Do I hate a safe, no-way-to-hate-it bag? No way! New glitter nail polish, perfect sultry party look, more eyebrow tamer, another bag for Christmas gift dispersal. I can’t complain, and that’s the way Ipsy likes it!
