It's time to dive into another ipsy Glam Bag. This month, ipsy actually beat Birchbox out in delivery time, though that's partly my fault for not getting my billing information updated when I got my new debit card last month (oops). Birchbox will hopefully be shipping out my June box in the next few days, but in the mean time, let's crack open this month's bag of goodies from ipsy!
For those of you who are new, ipsy is a beauty sample subscription service--for $10/month, you get a cute little bag of 5 or so beauty products, ranging from sample size to deluxe sample size, with the occasional full size product thrown in. This is only my 2nd bag from ipsy, and I've been pretty pleased with my products so far. If you're interested in checking out ipsy for yourself, click here to sign up.
Let's get this show on the road, eh? I'll start out with giving you a brief tour of this month's actual bag (and the still useless card that tells me nothing about the products it holds).
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| Pink! Shiny! (And thankfully sealed nice and tightly this month.) |
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| The material this month is almost a sort of swimsuit type material. Very soft. |
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| Since it's hard to see in the previous picture, here's a close-up of the fabric. |
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| The zipper is cute, and totally coincidentally coordinated with my nails. |
The card. I'm still trying to figure out why they even bother with it when it serves no real purpose.
Onward to some beauty sample goodness!
Product number one:
OFRA Cosmetics
Turquoise Eyeliner
Appears to be full size (0.4oz)
Product Value: $13
Went ahead and swatched it for you:
This is a very pretty color, though I'll tell you that the swatch I got was only obtained after quite a few swipes--this is a typical eyeliner pencil and it's a little on the hard side. I actually wore it on my eyes the same day it arrived--I'll share that with you in a little bit. I'll play with it some more this month and give you more thoughts after that. Moving right along...
Product number two:
LAVINILA LABORATORIES
The Healthy Body Butter in Pure Vanilla
Full Size, $19
Sample Size - 0.85 oz
Sample Value - $2.41
This is a nice body butter--it's not quite as thick as other body butters I've tried out, and the scent actually reminds me a lot of the Candlenut Body Cream I received in last month's Birchbox. It wasn't crazy about the scent then, and I don't love it now, but it seems to be less potent in this instance. I can handle the scent as a light fragrance, so I'll probably try throwing this into my purse to use this month.
Product number three:
Smashbox Cosmetics
Photo Finish Foundation Primer
Full size, $36
Sample Size - 0.25 fl. oz.
Sample Value - $9
This primer is the stuff of legends within the world of makeup. Smashbox is a quality brand that's known for putting out high quality products. As much as I've heard about this primer, I hadn't yet been able to try it out, so I'm excited to have received this sample. I tried it out on my skin the day it arrived, and I do have to say that it's a bit slipperier than I expected. I also have to be careful about using primers like this on my forehead, because even though the rest of my skin generally is oilier in nature, my forehead gets flaky and dry and primers like this can highlight sometimes. I'm stoked to play with this more this month and to see how it goes as I learn where to best use it on my face.
Product number four:
Formula X
Nail Color
Shade - Power Source
Full Size, $10.50
Sample Size - 0.13 oz
Sample Value - $3.41
Again, this hot coral nail shade is remarkably like the shade that's already on my nails--no, I don't already own it. But I'm excited to have this little bottle to try out. Formula X is another brand that I've heard buzz about but haven't had the chance to try out personally, so this will be a fun color to play with this summer. I'm definitely glad to have it!
One more to go!
Product number five:
treStiQue
Mini Shadow Crayon
Shade - Kona Coffee
Full Size - $26
Sample Size - 0.02 oz
Sample Value - unsure
The main reason I was unsure of what the value of this sample is has to do with the fact that I can't seem to figure out how big the full size is. Almost any product will tell you somewhere how many ounces it is, but I couldn't find that out for this one. This product is pretty neat, though--the packaging makes it look ready to use, but the faux pencil cover reveals the actual eye shadow underneath. The shade is pretty deep, and I don't know if I'll love it as an eye shadow, but I did use it to fill in my brows and really liked it for that purpose. Just so you can see that and the eye liner in action, here's a shot of how that all came together:
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| The eye liner looks pretty good in retrospect. Maybe I was a little quick to judge the color payoff. |
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this month's bag. Total value is estimated at around $28 without accounting for the unknown value of the eye shadow crayon, so it's definitely worth the $10 price tag for the subscription. I'm looking forward to seeing how Birchbox stacks up to ipsy once it arrives, as well.
I took an impromptu trip to Ulta and got a couple of pretty nifty kits. I'll be throwing together a short blog with some swatches to share that mini-haul. Until next time, don't forget to be awesome, my friends.
Best wishes,
Marlee
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