Review: Ipsy 2013-12
Dec. 20th, 2013 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikoThis month's Ipsy bag has arrived! Up front, I'm going to say: after two months, I'm happily confident that I picked the right subscription service for me. I've been having overnight insomnia and reading a lot of blogs, and Ipsy is the closest to what I want - Makeup, not general products (moisterizers, peels, etc are not of interest to me), and at a reasonable price (even if I think the retail value of makeup is horrifically overpriced) for the level of entertainment.
Seeing my "Glam Room" (aka, Ipsy's website tells you what you're getting when they ship the bag), I was initially concerned that I'd be disappointed in getting the fragrance and false lashes options... but upon consideration, I really wasn't. Pre trying anything, I was still happy at the randomness and pleased to get a fragrance set where I can compare the men's and women's equivalent. No idea if I'll be willing to attempt false eyelashes (hardly seems worth it), but maybe I'll want them for costume some day.
Here's the overall shot of what I got this month:
The bag itself is worlds better than last month's. If I didn't already have a case for my 3DS, it might have been a contender (although it's a little tall, and I'd be bothered by the unsquare top left corner). The little diamonds are actually puffy/squishy, which amuses me to no end and makes it somewhat more protective. The zipper tag says Ipsy, as well.
For reference, here's what my quiz indicated this month:
Change: I removed nail polish, fragrance and bath/shower gels from the "other products" list. I still like nail polish, but I have quite a lot and don't use it that much, so I thought I'd pull it as well.
Be a Bombshell - The One Stick in "Girl Crush" [lip, cheek, eye tint] ($16, 2.5 g)
This product appears as a giant tube of light pink cream stick. It is advertised as usable on lips, eyelids or cheeks.
What's not apparent at that time is that this product is a sheer glitterbomb. Here's a picture of me with it applied, and it is bad:
On lips, it's awkward to apply and makes me look like powdered death - the light pink with a pile of glitter really zombied out my lips. Also, it tastes disgusting. On cheeks, it's just a glitter bomb - unless I applied a huge amount, the colour would never beat out my natural blush, which is what you're actually seeing in the picture. On eyelids... well, you can see in the picture those weird white spots? Yeah, that's the glitter reflecting the flash.
Overall, it looked like I'd fallen into craft supplies. Ick. The only use I can see for this product is if you had something matte that you desperately wished was sparkly. I may try it in some combinations to see if it can work.
POP Beauty - Bright Up Your Life Naturally Bare in "Naturally Bare" [eyeshadow] (assuming full size, £15.50 / 10 in normal palette. Therefore, with conversion, about CAD$8 for three. 0.15 oz according to Ipsy.)
For the sake of expanding my palette, I probably would have preferred the shades of black instead of the brown set... but no matter. I'd never seen POP products, so here's some pictures of the packaging. I'm amused that it says "bob" when open. The last one's for size, though it might actually have the most true to life colour as well.
Unsurprisingly with a name like "Naturally Bare", these weren't particularly dramatic on my face. It's a pleasant enough little palette, though, that mostly just made my eyelids look more shiny than usual. Pictures didn't really capture it, but maybe you can see a little:
Definitely suitable for work. As compared to the random brown eyeshadows in my collection, I'd say that these are a better matched set than the others. I didn't have any trouble making a smooth gradient with them, which was nice. There was a little bit of fallout from the middle one that I brushed off while I was doing the darkest shade.
J. Cat - The Big Lip Pencil in "Caramel Mocha" ($4, 0.18 oz / 5 g)
This lip pencil appears to be a relatively normal sized plastic pencil. I cannot for the life of me figure out if there is more product than just the visible tip... if that's it, it's pretty meager considering the creamy texture uses a noticeable amount of product upon application. The colour is best described as Barbie's plastic skintone.
Here's me wearing it: doesn't really look like much. It's orange-ish, though, if I had thought to compare with my normal lips. Applies pleasantly, so perhaps it will see use in conjunction with other lipstick, since I don't have anything else in that colour spectrum right now.
Alternate product:
NYX - Extra Creamy Round Lipstick ($4)
Ardell - Natural in "120 Demi Black" [false eyelashes] ($4, includes glue)
False eyelashes are not something I know anything about. Something about cutting to fit, and glue? I don't know. Here's the packaging:
And M convinced me that I couldn't rate it without at least poking them, and when I opened the package I realized they were sticky to hold onto the packaging... so I stuck one to my eyelid.
Dorky, but possible for costume or somewhere that I'd have enough dark eyeliner on to hide the base of the false lashes? I'm somewhat more likely to try it now. I'm somewhat concerned with how visible it was in my peripheral vision - that might well drive me nuts.
English Laundry - Signature Pour Femme and Signature ($9 each, 5 mL each)
Pricing clarification: I try to pick the closest size of available product to compare to, but perfume scales with size, and these particular scents don't have an exact retail match. That said, other fragrances from the same company list their 5 mL size as $9, so I think that's probably the best way to price this. If you took the largest bottle and used its per mL price, they would be between $4-5 each, and then there's various sizes in between.
Apparently I got lucky in that there was no cracked or leaking perfume containers in my bag - the internet tells me that a lot of folks were not so fortunate and have some very smelly makeup to show for it. Mine were fine, though, with no scent outside of the bottles notable except when I literally sniffed the bottles themselves. The men's was somewhat more filled than the women's. I wrapped them in a bag anyway, because I don't typically cope well with scents.
Signature Pour Femme: This perfume smelled like fake flowers, then alcohol, and then once it dried it made me think of what it would smell like if you were burning roses. I have no idea. Sniffing my wrist now, I think if I encountered this scent in someone's home I would assume they were someone's aunt who children would be terrfied of because there are stories about her murdering her husband.
Signature: This cologne smelled like alcohol and burned my nose initially. Once dried, it smelled like composting leaves (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it reminded me of damp woods). Now when I sniff my wrist, I can't smell anything strongly enough to free associate, but if I walked into a room that smelled like this I would be suspiciously looking for the source.
After a while, both smelled kinda the same.
This experience has taught me: do not sniff perfume until the alcohol burns off. Also, there's a good chance I'll like men's cologne better than women's perfume, if only because it's less scented.
Interestingly, a scent was noticeable on the cologne when I took it out of the bag (I was checking for breakage) and at that time, it reminded me of my grandfather's colognes. However, upon trying it, I did not notice this - uncertain if I burned my nose on trying the women's one first or if it was really a combination of the two that caught me at that time. Also weirdly I realized that it in no way reminded me of Grandpa... just how the cologne bottles he had smelled. Apparently he didn't actually wear it by the time I came around.
Alternate products (could have replaced the fragrance or lashes):
Starrily - Top Coat in "Bzzz Bzzz" ($5)
Jesse's Girl - JulieG Holiday Frosted Gum Drops [nail polish] ($4)
Nicka K New York - Nail Color ($5)
Salon Perfect - Perfectly Natural [false eyelashes] ($5)
Andrea - Strip Lash [false eyelashes] ($4)
Demeter - Snow Perfume Oil Roll One ($10)
Mirabella Beauty - Eyeshadow brush ($27)
Summary:
- Date received: 2013-12-16
- Cost: $14.95 + conversion
- Value: $50
Overall, I'm amused by this bag. Sure, some of the other options might have worked out a bit better for me, but I got random stuff and I tried it and that's all I needed.
If you're inspired to sign up and would like to use my referrer link (it gets me some points that can be redeemed for extra products), you can click through to Ipsy here: http://www.ipsy.com/r/1tpj
Seeing my "Glam Room" (aka, Ipsy's website tells you what you're getting when they ship the bag), I was initially concerned that I'd be disappointed in getting the fragrance and false lashes options... but upon consideration, I really wasn't. Pre trying anything, I was still happy at the randomness and pleased to get a fragrance set where I can compare the men's and women's equivalent. No idea if I'll be willing to attempt false eyelashes (hardly seems worth it), but maybe I'll want them for costume some day.
Here's the overall shot of what I got this month:
The bag itself is worlds better than last month's. If I didn't already have a case for my 3DS, it might have been a contender (although it's a little tall, and I'd be bothered by the unsquare top left corner). The little diamonds are actually puffy/squishy, which amuses me to no end and makes it somewhat more protective. The zipper tag says Ipsy, as well.
For reference, here's what my quiz indicated this month:
| Personal Style: | Classic, professional, vintage/retro, natural, simple |
| Stylist: | Michelle |
| Comfort: | Somewhat comfortable |
| Adventerous: | Very adventurous |
| Beauty brands you love / want to try: | elf, Urban Decay, MAC, theBalm, OPI, NYX, smashbox, tarte, LORAC, Too Faced |
| Makeup products: | Eye Shadow, Eye Liner, Lipstick, Brushes, Tools |
| Other products: | Hair Styling, Hair Tools |
| Usual place for buying beauty products: | Mass retailers |
| Skin tone: | Medium |
| Skin concerns: | None |
| Eye colour: | Brown |
| Hair colour: | Dark Brown |
| Hair concerns: | Split ends |
Change: I removed nail polish, fragrance and bath/shower gels from the "other products" list. I still like nail polish, but I have quite a lot and don't use it that much, so I thought I'd pull it as well.
Be a Bombshell - The One Stick in "Girl Crush" [lip, cheek, eye tint] ($16, 2.5 g)
This product appears as a giant tube of light pink cream stick. It is advertised as usable on lips, eyelids or cheeks.
What's not apparent at that time is that this product is a sheer glitterbomb. Here's a picture of me with it applied, and it is bad:
On lips, it's awkward to apply and makes me look like powdered death - the light pink with a pile of glitter really zombied out my lips. Also, it tastes disgusting. On cheeks, it's just a glitter bomb - unless I applied a huge amount, the colour would never beat out my natural blush, which is what you're actually seeing in the picture. On eyelids... well, you can see in the picture those weird white spots? Yeah, that's the glitter reflecting the flash.
Overall, it looked like I'd fallen into craft supplies. Ick. The only use I can see for this product is if you had something matte that you desperately wished was sparkly. I may try it in some combinations to see if it can work.
POP Beauty - Bright Up Your Life Naturally Bare in "Naturally Bare" [eyeshadow] (assuming full size, £15.50 / 10 in normal palette. Therefore, with conversion, about CAD$8 for three. 0.15 oz according to Ipsy.)
For the sake of expanding my palette, I probably would have preferred the shades of black instead of the brown set... but no matter. I'd never seen POP products, so here's some pictures of the packaging. I'm amused that it says "bob" when open. The last one's for size, though it might actually have the most true to life colour as well.
Unsurprisingly with a name like "Naturally Bare", these weren't particularly dramatic on my face. It's a pleasant enough little palette, though, that mostly just made my eyelids look more shiny than usual. Pictures didn't really capture it, but maybe you can see a little:
Definitely suitable for work. As compared to the random brown eyeshadows in my collection, I'd say that these are a better matched set than the others. I didn't have any trouble making a smooth gradient with them, which was nice. There was a little bit of fallout from the middle one that I brushed off while I was doing the darkest shade.
J. Cat - The Big Lip Pencil in "Caramel Mocha" ($4, 0.18 oz / 5 g)
This lip pencil appears to be a relatively normal sized plastic pencil. I cannot for the life of me figure out if there is more product than just the visible tip... if that's it, it's pretty meager considering the creamy texture uses a noticeable amount of product upon application. The colour is best described as Barbie's plastic skintone.
Here's me wearing it: doesn't really look like much. It's orange-ish, though, if I had thought to compare with my normal lips. Applies pleasantly, so perhaps it will see use in conjunction with other lipstick, since I don't have anything else in that colour spectrum right now.
Alternate product:
NYX - Extra Creamy Round Lipstick ($4)
Ardell - Natural in "120 Demi Black" [false eyelashes] ($4, includes glue)
False eyelashes are not something I know anything about. Something about cutting to fit, and glue? I don't know. Here's the packaging:
And M convinced me that I couldn't rate it without at least poking them, and when I opened the package I realized they were sticky to hold onto the packaging... so I stuck one to my eyelid.
Dorky, but possible for costume or somewhere that I'd have enough dark eyeliner on to hide the base of the false lashes? I'm somewhat more likely to try it now. I'm somewhat concerned with how visible it was in my peripheral vision - that might well drive me nuts.
English Laundry - Signature Pour Femme and Signature ($9 each, 5 mL each)
Pricing clarification: I try to pick the closest size of available product to compare to, but perfume scales with size, and these particular scents don't have an exact retail match. That said, other fragrances from the same company list their 5 mL size as $9, so I think that's probably the best way to price this. If you took the largest bottle and used its per mL price, they would be between $4-5 each, and then there's various sizes in between.
Apparently I got lucky in that there was no cracked or leaking perfume containers in my bag - the internet tells me that a lot of folks were not so fortunate and have some very smelly makeup to show for it. Mine were fine, though, with no scent outside of the bottles notable except when I literally sniffed the bottles themselves. The men's was somewhat more filled than the women's. I wrapped them in a bag anyway, because I don't typically cope well with scents.
Signature Pour Femme: This perfume smelled like fake flowers, then alcohol, and then once it dried it made me think of what it would smell like if you were burning roses. I have no idea. Sniffing my wrist now, I think if I encountered this scent in someone's home I would assume they were someone's aunt who children would be terrfied of because there are stories about her murdering her husband.
Signature: This cologne smelled like alcohol and burned my nose initially. Once dried, it smelled like composting leaves (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it reminded me of damp woods). Now when I sniff my wrist, I can't smell anything strongly enough to free associate, but if I walked into a room that smelled like this I would be suspiciously looking for the source.
After a while, both smelled kinda the same.
This experience has taught me: do not sniff perfume until the alcohol burns off. Also, there's a good chance I'll like men's cologne better than women's perfume, if only because it's less scented.
Interestingly, a scent was noticeable on the cologne when I took it out of the bag (I was checking for breakage) and at that time, it reminded me of my grandfather's colognes. However, upon trying it, I did not notice this - uncertain if I burned my nose on trying the women's one first or if it was really a combination of the two that caught me at that time. Also weirdly I realized that it in no way reminded me of Grandpa... just how the cologne bottles he had smelled. Apparently he didn't actually wear it by the time I came around.
Alternate products (could have replaced the fragrance or lashes):
Starrily - Top Coat in "Bzzz Bzzz" ($5)
Jesse's Girl - JulieG Holiday Frosted Gum Drops [nail polish] ($4)
Nicka K New York - Nail Color ($5)
Salon Perfect - Perfectly Natural [false eyelashes] ($5)
Andrea - Strip Lash [false eyelashes] ($4)
Demeter - Snow Perfume Oil Roll One ($10)
Mirabella Beauty - Eyeshadow brush ($27)
Summary:
- Date received: 2013-12-16
- Cost: $14.95 + conversion
- Value: $50
Overall, I'm amused by this bag. Sure, some of the other options might have worked out a bit better for me, but I got random stuff and I tried it and that's all I needed.
If you're inspired to sign up and would like to use my referrer link (it gets me some points that can be redeemed for extra products), you can click through to Ipsy here: http://www.ipsy.com/r/1tpj