Ipsy January 2017 Review

As far as this subscription goes, 2017 is not off to bang up start. Yes, first world problems, I know. For those who are new here, Ipsy is a monthly subscription service. For $10 each month, you'll receive 4-5 sample sized (sometimes full) makeup, beauty, and skin care products. Check them out here: IPSY

I pay for this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones.

The theme for this month is Metropolis or some ridiculous bullshit. Whatever. The bag is...odd. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It's a soft plastic with a grey satin finish. The holed outer sheath over a solid bag is rather interesting. Definitely the most unique one so far. The products themselves are okay.

Crown Brush Beaute Basics C405 Contour Blush Brush: Whew, that's a mouthful. I love Crown Brushes. Super soft, the handle is ergonomically designed, and it's cruelty free. I don't contour but this works great as a blush/bronzer brush for me. Full size this goes for $7.50. If you need brushes but don't want to spend a shit ton of money, I recommend this brand! (CF)

Temptu Base Smooth & Matte Primer: Again with the airbrush products. Granted, you can use their stuff without one but the design of the bottle makes it a little more difficult. I'm not sure how this one works yet so I'm excited to find out. Full size is $35 for 1 ounce so this 1/4 ounce sample is approximately $8.75. (Site claims CF status but they sell to China).

Clarisea Instant Glow Lavendar Powder Exfoliant: I don't know about you guys but I really don't want to put a SALT scrub on my face. I've used sugar ones before, mixed with honey and oil, but that's as rough as I like to get on my face (wow...dirty). So I don't imagine I will be using this at all. Plus the top is cracked and the safety seal came off in the top like it had already separated from the jar. Um...no. Full size at 5 ounces is $14. This 1 ounce sample goes for $2.80. (CF)

TheBalm Bahama Mama Bronzer/Shadow/Contour Powder: I've always wanted to try this product because the beauty community on YouTube goes APE SHIT for it. I do love the brand so I was double excited to get this. Unfortunately as you can see from the swatch, this basically looks like a mustard based poop stain on my skin. Ick. It does blend out nicely so it's not terrible but I don't think I'll be turning to this for bronzing again. I don't contour so maybe I'll try is as an eye shadow. Full size (7 grams) goes for $20 so this .5 gram should be somewhere around $1.50. (CF)

Manna Kadar Cosmetics 3-in-1 Fantasy Eye Shadow: Apparently this can work as an eye shadow, blush, or highlighter (hence the 3-in-1 claim). The swatch doesn't do it justice. It looks like a champagne light tan gold but if you turn a little it definitely had a rose gold vibe to it. It's pretty pigmented and soft. It comes in one shade that's supposed to be good for all skin tones. Full size is $19 but can't find any pan amounts. I did find the travel size on Amazon, which is the same as what I've got, so it's worth $7. (CF)

This whole bag is about $27.50. Not a super value, Ipsy. I really only like the Crown brush and the Manna Kadar shadow. *le sigh* Perhaps February will be better. 

Ipsy March 2016 Review

For those who may not know, Ipsy is a monthly subscription service for beauty, skin, and hair care products. For  $10 each month, you will receive 4-5 samples (sometimes full size) to try. It's a nice way to test drive a new brand without committing to the full price.

(as always, I purchase this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones)

This month's theme is Hello Spring, however useless that may be. The bag is okay. The print is nice enough but the material is really weird. Almost feels like those LeSac bags that were popular in the 80s. Yes, that just dated me. Shut up.

Living Proof Dry Shampoo - I like a good dry shampoo. Don't know if this is one but I've another hair product from this brand that I like quite a bit. So fingers crossed! This 1.8 ounce can goes for $12.

Nourish Organics Body Oil Mist - Not exactly sure how this can be a mist via squeezie tube but I'll give it a shot (full size is actually a spray bottle - okay, that makes sense). I've only tested it on dry skin. Not that great. I bet this works better on damp skin, like right after a shower. I'll let you know! Full size (3 ounces) is $20 so this .5 ounce tube is about $3 (UPDATE: Yes, it works much better on damp skin and it's pretty awesome)

Me Me Me Loose Powder Brush - I am NEVER mad at getting a brush in these subscriptions. And though I've never heard of this brand, the brush is super soft. It's the perfect size for putting loose powder on my face. I've already used it a half a dozen times. Love. It goes for 14 pounds which is $20 US.

Temptu Brozer - I think this is supposed to be for those airbrush machine thingies. I got a highlighter from this brand early on in my subscription service. And while I don't have one of those airbrush machine thingies, I can still use this. It's a liquid so a little goes a long way. It looks kind of orange in the swatch but it blends out even further so it looks very natural on my skin tone. Full size, 8 ml, goes for $35. So this .25 ounce bottle (which, if I did my math correctly, should be just over 7 mls) is pretty comparable in the price point. Holy crap.

NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick - for those of you who've been reading my posts for a bit already know how I feel about these. Ugh. Disappointed that I got one in my bag this month. I thought maybe because this color is lighter than the one I originally purchased it might be better. Not really. It definitely doesn't look as shitty as the darker color and it sure as hell isn't as drying. But it's patchy and wears off weird. I may not have put an even layer on, though, so I'll play with it a few more times. I got the color Pink Lust and while it's something I don't normally wear, because neon, it is strangely appealing. This is a full size, though, and it goes for $7.

Damn. The value of this bag is about $75 (give or take a few for conversion oopsies). That's pretty good. Whoop!