Ipsy? What's That? - For those who don't know, Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service that provides you with 4-5 products (mostly makeup, but sometimes hair/skincare as well) that are either deluxe sample-sized or full-sized. It's been pretty hit-or-miss for me lately, but if you decide to sign up, I would greatly appreciate it if you did so via my referral link.
On to this month's bag! This month's theme was"On the Wild Side," which sounded really awesome. I was picturing myself exploring a South American rain forest with one of those cute little explorer hats. I was going to be wild! Well, not so much. Ho hum.
As usual, in came in a hot pink mailer (that I always reuse for trading products with the lovely women on the Subscriptions Anonymous Facebook group). It also came with a card stating the theme, and on the back it offers discount offers for the brands in this month's bag.
I think this month's bag is so-so. It opens on the side like my pencil case in middle school used to. I'm not a huge fan of the print, but it seems durable enough. I save all of the makeup bags for organizing my free sample collection (because I have a problem), so I'm sure I'll put this to use eventually.
Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil ($18 ~ Full size at .05 oz)
I really like this pencil! It's very creamy and makes a great browbone highlight. I tried it as an inner corner highlight, but I've found that I wind up wiping it away throughout the day (maybe it was too thick?) so I think I'll stick to powder for that. My favorite way to use this product was in my waterline, since it brightens my eyes just a bit. Plus, my eyes water all the time, and at the end of the day you can't see this product smudged under my eyes!
I really liked Chella's brow gel from an Ipsy bag months back, so I'm not surprised I like this as well. I also like the packaging, because the clear cover for the pencil tip also fits over the end of the pencil, which is really convenient because I'm always losing caps to things! If you're interested, you can purchase this product on Chella's website.
JCat Beauty Sparkling Cream Palette in Volta ($4.49 ~ Full size)
When I first heard we would be getting a cream palette, I was really excited. I've always wanted to try cream eyeshadow. When I heard they were glittery, my excitement was dampened, because look how glittery they are: 1) I would look like a disco ball, and it's not New Years' Eve, and 2) glitter that big is definitely not safe to be around the eye area. I was especially wary of it because I wear contacts and that glitter can easily scratch them.
After doing some research, I realized that this is not an eyeshadow palette as Ipsy promoted it as, but a body glitter palette. A body glitter palette? Really, Ipsy? What am I supposed to do with this? And what's with the two sponge applicators that are so eyeshadow-esque? Again, it is not New Years' Eve. I am not Ke$ha. Maybe I could have let this slide back in December's bag, but certainly not now.
Slowly, a huge uproar rose up all over the Ipsy community, because no one wants body glitter (some of your subscribers are in their 40s and 50s--they don't want body glitter any more than I do, but at least I could kind of get away with it). Did Ipsy not consider its subscribers at all? Also, multiple subscribers commented on Ipsy's website how dangerous this palette is to use as eyeshadow, as the glitter chunks are so large that they could scratch the cornea. Ipsy then began to create posts like this on their Facebook page that showed their subscribers it was body glitter. But why didn't they do that sooner? They did not make it very clear that it was body glitter. How long before they even knew it wasn't cream eyeshadow? Though one look at this and you can definitely tell it's unsafe, but I digress.
When I got the bag in the mail, I decided to try using them as body glitter, just to see how they work. Maybe they're the best thing ever. And I do like glittery and shimmery things. Well...
And these are the swatches. It's not even good body glitter. Sure, there's glitter throughout the whole palette, but there's also this gross oil substance that is supposed to allow the glitter to transfer to your skin. Well, it doesn't work. I had to layer on multiple swatches of each color to get these results, and they're not even good. I'm pretty disappointed. I could have done better with Elmer's Glue and craft glitter. How did Ipsy even achieve those results with this palette? It's horrible!
Though, apparently the glitter does stick to you after you wash it off. I washed my arm and hands in multiple attempts to get the swatches off, but it left quite a bit of residue that didn't go away until I took a shower. No fun and all clean up? Count me out. If you want to be disappointed, you can purchase this product on JCat Beauty's website.
JCat Beauty Eyelashes in EL46 ($4 ~ Full size with one set of lashes + glue)
I don't wear false lashes. I guess it's a combination of my laziness and naturally long lashes, but I just don't have the desire to wear them. I would have tried them out if they were from a company with a good reputation, but after the catastrophe I mentioned about with the other item, I didn't even want to put these anywhere near my face. I like how they included a mini tube of glue, because people who don't normally wear lashes will not have it on hand. I don't know how good it is, but I'm glad they included it.
This was one of the "either-or" products this month. Normally, Ipsy doesn't do two products from the same brand, but I would have let that slide if JCat was a better brand. I would have let that slide even if it wasn't, because what I am especially upset about is the fact that the other item I could have received was an eyeliner worth $20. $20 vs. $4. How is that fair? And I really wanted that darn purple eyeliner, too! If you're interested in buying eyelashes, I've heard that Ardell ones are the best quality for their great price, but if you really want to try these, you can purchase them on JCat's site.
NYX Powder Blush in Pecan ($5 ~ Full size with .14 oz of product)
I normally love NYX blushes. They're inexpensive and incredibly pigmented. However, out of all of the colors Ipsy was offering, why oh why did I get this one? Why are we even required to take a beauty quiz detailing our skin tone if we're not even going to get one to match? This is way too dark for me to use as a blush, or even a bronzer (you can't really see it here, but it's a little more shimmery than I prefer my bronzers to be).
I could use it as an eyeshadow, I suppose, but I decided to trade mine with a fellow Ipster. Her skin is much darker than mine and she got a very light pink, so it works out that we're trading. Still, we shouldn't have to trade because Ipsy didn't get our skin tones right. You can buy NYX blushes at Ulta or on NYX's website.
Starlooks Lip Pencil in Bare ($12 ~ Full size)
This is probably my second favorite product in this month's bag (not that I have too much to work with). This is a matte, nude lip liner. The packaging is nice and sleek, but a bit cheap feeling in my opinion. Also, again, the cap fits over the end of the pencil for convenience and to make sure you don't misplace the cap.The lip pencil isn't drying, but isn't moisturizing either, so be sure to wear a lip balm underneath. Still, I like Starlooks' products and find them to work well.
Based on the swatch (above), i thought this would be super dark. Actually, this is the perfect amount of color to cancel out my natural lip color (which are very pigmented). I think this will come in handy either to do a nude lip with a black smokey eye or just to wear it under other lip products so their true color comes out (by cancelling out out my natural lip color). I had actually wanted one of the other two colors, but I'm happy I got this. I was considering signing up for their monthly subscription box (I believe it's $15/month) after looking at some blog reviews on the boxes. If you're interested in purchasing this eyeliner, you can find it on Starlooks' website.
Overall, here's what I thought:
My favorite: The Chella Highlighter. I've really been enjoying it so far.
My least favorite: Definitely the JCat Glitter Palette. Geez, what a mess.
My verdict: I was pretty disappointed with this month's bag. Even though many items in this bag were full-sized, I think I would have preferred smaller sizes of better quality items that might have been a little more expensive, rather than full-sized products that I found to be not very good. I'll be sticking with Ipsy because the value of the items I did like in this bag (the lip liner and the highlighter) still valued over $10, and because I have gotten some really great items in the past. Still, I am not a happy camper.
What did you think of this month's Ipsy bag?
Disclaimer: I purchased this bag with my own money. I am not affiliated with, nor sponsored by, Ipsy, but if I was, they would surely kill me for this post!
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