Review: Ipsy 2014-01
Jan. 18th, 2014 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikoThe Ipsy community, such as it is, can be so weird. The past two months I've seen people complaining about always getting red lipsticks and purple eyeshadows, and how they want different products and different brands... and then this month, they come out with something quite different and everyone complains that they signed up for makeup, and how could Ipsy do this to them.
People are the worst.
Anyway. From the selection it showed on the website, I figured I'd be okay with this bag - I was getting the two relevant makeup products, two hair and skin products that were likely usable and one random thing. I did find I was a little disappointed in the product sizes when I got it - as you'll see in the pictures, the samples are almost all tiny. It's probably for the best in the sense that I don't usually use things up, but it definitely felt less exciting than the previous bags for that reason.
The bag itself is okay. It smells and feels like a 90s waterproof jacket, but I don't really mind since it makes it feel like a more functional bag: I'm pretty sure I could get it wet or get products on it and still clean it and use it, unlike the cloth bags. It's pretty much a small toiletries bag. Amusingly, because so many people online are complaining bitterly about it ("I had to throw it out, it smelled so bad" type stuff), I actually like it more. It's just a plastic smell, after all, not something gross like perfume.
Here's what I got this month:
For reference, here's what my quiz indicated this month:
No change from last month.
All the photos here are with the new-old camera and a different hilarious lighting set up, so if you have any advice on improving them, feel free to pass it along. I can't do much about the fact that I only take pictures in the middle of the night, at least not 'til we get some more light here in the spring, but I'm definitely still learning to use the RAW images and the camera settings.
Elizabeth Mott - Smooth Shadow in "Penny" [eye pencil] ($7, 0.7 g)
It's so little! Just under half of the full size version. I wasn't terribly impressed when I got it out of its box to look at, since Ipsy hadn't shown a picture of the sample size and I was a bit surprised. The colour is a bright copper, and apparently you can sharpen the plastic to reach the rest of the product, which I find spooky. I continue to find soft eye pencils kinda weird to apply as they pull against my skin, and I managed to get it on my eyelashes again.
I realize this picture on my face doesn't show much, but it was so hilariously artsy that I still wanted to use it. I wouldn't say the copper showed that much on me (obviously), except when the light hit it. Still, nice to have something that's a different metallic than the golds I have on hand, so I imagine this will have utility in my eyeshadow collection.
Alternate product:
yaby - Liquid Foundation
Nourish Organic - Liqhtweight Moisturizing Face Lotion ($6, 0.5 oz)
This is a small sample. Like, hotel-sized. Packaging is cute, but white packaging with an off-white product always makes the product look gross and dirty. More surprising, this smells like I applied peach schnapps to my hand... thankfully, that disappears after not too long, and the formulation is non-greasy and a pleasant enough lotion. I didn't try it on my face; that seemed too risky in case I reacted to it, and I didn't want to smell peach schnapps constantly.
It's an okay moisturizer and I'll probably use it, but not near my nose despite it being marketed as a face lotion. Far overpriced for what it is, though, since it's not appreciably better than a good drugstore lotion (my currently favourite being about $10/16oz, aka, $0.625/oz versus Nourish Organic's $12/oz).
Alternate products:
ALTERNA - Caviar Anti-Aging Dry Shampoo
Apothederm - Bright Skin Serum
Balanced Guru - Balm Me Up Organic Sweet Cocoa & Tangy Body Balm
Épicé - Purifying Exfoliant
Faith Aromatherapy - Tahitian Monoi Anti-Aging Sugar Scrub
Absolute! - Makeup Cleansing Tissue
Proactiv+ - Mark Fading Pads
skiin - Soothing and Smoothing Eye Cream
willa - on the go face towelettes
LeeAnni Eco - 3 in 1 Revolotion ($4, 0.35 oz)
For some reason I couldn't parse the name of this product the way they wanted and nor could M, so we kept saying "Relovotion" instead of "Revo-lotion". It looks like a typo anyway rather than something clever, though I see that on the full sized product they at least capitalize the L to make it more obvious.
This product looks sketchy! Random white plastic container with a little label stuck on, with no real details... and goodness it was gross looking when I opened it. It's liquidy for a lotion, and the colour & consistency made me think of that layer at the top of yogurt when it separates. Additionally, there's almost no product in the container (as you might be able to see in the picture). And it suffers the "off-white lotion in a white container", making itself look vaguely like sick-day mucus. Pleasant.
I suffered applying it anyway, again to my hand since I was frightened to put it anywhere else. It's greasy, which never goes away, and it smells like... homemade play dough? Or something else homemade that's just not quite right. Unfortunately, that smell does remain. I felt severely like I needed to wash my hands after applying it. Ick.
...
Oh my god, I just read the website and they are marketing this as something you would apply to your face. That is disgusting. I wasn't going to spend more time talking about this, but now I want to show you all the warning signs that this is a terrible product. Here's the text from their website:
"Toner, Serum, and Moisturizer in One. This Revolutionary Lotion will save your time during busy morning rush and moisturize your face all day long!
Properties of ingredients: Help tighten Skin, reduce breakouts, relieve dark circles under Eyes, moisturize, fight Aging, treat sun damages, and calm irritated skin.
Gluten-Free * Handmade * Natural
Ingredients : Water, Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Vitis vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Olea europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60 , PEG-150 Stearate, Steareth-20, Honey, Tocopherol, Corylus americana (Hazel) Seed Oil, Rosa canina (Rosehip) Fruit Oil, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Distillate, Limnanthes alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Citric acid, Potassium sorbate, and Lavandula officinalis (Lavender) Oil.
All ingredients are edible except wax (used to combine oil and water), rosehip oil ( for Anti-Aging, Photo-aging Protection, and Scar Treatment effect), and Lavender Oil."
Okay, warning sign #1: "properties of ingredients". I don't know the rules down in the states, but for natural health products here they're allowed to make claims as long as one of their ingredients has that property - regardless of whether it works in the formulation or whether it's at high enough concentration to be relevant. I'm pretty sure it's also regardless of whether it works via that route (eg, if it has oral studies they could still put it on dermal applications), but don't quote me on that.
Warning sign #2: "handmade" "natural" Oh geez, what did I even put on myself? Hell if I know whether a company like this has quality control, but I'm guessing no based on their website. And we all know natural != healthy, of course.
Warning sign #3: The ingredients look a lot like someone picked them out of a "natural products" store based on their names, not based on actual testing. Okay okay, I know this one is partially who they're marketing to - I hate the "and the ingredients are all things I can pronounce" commercials aimed at women. I can pronounce chemical names just fine and would rather you picked out the actual active ingredients and refined them rather than mushing plants and all their impurities into your product and claiming that makes it safer.
I clearly haven't experienced any ill effects from my application to my hand, but I won't be using this product again. It's sketchy and ineffective.
Alternate products:
ALTERNA - Caviar Anti-Aging Dry Shampoo
Apothederm - Bright Skin Serum
Balanced Guru - Balm Me Up Organic Sweet Cocoa & Tangy Body Balm
Épicé - Purifying Exfoliant
Faith Aromatherapy - Tahitian Monoi Anti-Aging Sugar Scrub
Absolute! - Makeup Cleansing Tissue
Proactiv+ - Mark Fading Pads
skiin - Soothing and Smoothing Eye Cream
willa - on the go face towelettes
MicaBeauty - Tinted Lip Balm in "natural" ($20, 4g. Slight estimate, since this is a sample but the full size only seems to be 1g larger at $30... I think the sample part is largely that it doesn't have the built-in brush of the full size, so I knocked the sample down a little further than the weight warranted.)
My initial feeling was that this was a *tiny* amount of lip balm. As you can see from the next picture, there's not much in that container at all, though it's at least attractive enough packaging. The only caveat to that is that I also didn't use very much when I applied it, so this would probably last a while.
It feels so weird on my lips, though. It's quite matte, and pretty much the colour of my lips when I applied it... but makes them feel weirdly... powdery? Like I had icing sugar on my lips? Not to say that the product actually is powdery, but that's how it feels. I applied it with a little lip brush I had and was surprised to see that it was a fair bit more pink under the top layer. The colour didn't seem entirely even, either, as I kicked up at least one brighter pink spot while I applied.
It's usable, but slightly inconvenient being a pot balm and me not being very good with a brush. The texture is also pretty eerie, though maybe I'd get used to it. It's my only really matte option at the moment, so I'll be trying it again.
Alternate product:
(MALIN+GOETZ) - Mojito Lip Balm
Sexy Hair - Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner ($6, 50 mL)
Excessive product name is excessive, geez. At least I know what it's meant to be, though. This was the only substantial sample this month - I guess it's the travel size of the product. It's a very watery conditioner, presumably because they think I will spray it at my hair. I'm kinda terrified of spraying things at myself, so that doesn't have much functionality for me.
This is the first time I've been able to talk about a product type with actual experience behind me! Leave in conditioner is often worthwhile to me, especially in the winter. As it goes, this one is okay for detangling when combing (its suggested use), but not good for weighting down dry ends to avoid static through the course of a day.
It's pretty much like any other conditioner but with more water, and in a spray bottle. Since that's the case, I fully expect to use this conditioner and be satisfied with it, but also never to purchase it because it's terribly overpriced. For comparison, a normal consistency leave in conditioner of sufficient quality can be picked up on sale for about $3/300mL, aka $1/100mL versus this product's $12/100mL where you're paying mostly for water.
Oh, and it does smell - like a fruity shampoo, kinda like the old Garnier Fructis (not the current formulation... it smells weird). Not the worst, but it's still noticeable in my hair a while after use, so that's something to be aware of if you're sensitive to scents. As it happens, this one doesn't bother me.
Alternate products:
Marula - Pure Marula Facial Oil
Briogeo - Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask
Coastal Scents - Small Foundation Brush
Benefit - the POREfessional
Summary:
- Date received: 2014-01-13
- Cost: $14.95 + conversion
- Value: $43
The tinyness of the sample sizes made the value lower in this, except that we all know makeup prices are goofy anyway (eg, that tiny tinted lip balm being $20... what), so the other bags were just overvalued. It did feel like less of a bag because of the little samples, but four of the five products are useable, so it's actually better that previous bags from that standpoint.
I don't know. I think this was possibly a bit more Birchbox in style (T can confirm or deny), which isn't really what I wanted from Ipsy, but I don't feel particularly put out that they sometimes do a bag like this as well... I just also don't feel all that excited about it. I did get one truly tragic product, so at least that makes for a fun review.
And the tiny samples meant I could try my makeshift light box! I'll learn to use this camera yet.
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
People are the worst.
Anyway. From the selection it showed on the website, I figured I'd be okay with this bag - I was getting the two relevant makeup products, two hair and skin products that were likely usable and one random thing. I did find I was a little disappointed in the product sizes when I got it - as you'll see in the pictures, the samples are almost all tiny. It's probably for the best in the sense that I don't usually use things up, but it definitely felt less exciting than the previous bags for that reason.
The bag itself is okay. It smells and feels like a 90s waterproof jacket, but I don't really mind since it makes it feel like a more functional bag: I'm pretty sure I could get it wet or get products on it and still clean it and use it, unlike the cloth bags. It's pretty much a small toiletries bag. Amusingly, because so many people online are complaining bitterly about it ("I had to throw it out, it smelled so bad" type stuff), I actually like it more. It's just a plastic smell, after all, not something gross like perfume.
Here's what I got this month:
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 |
No change from last month.
All the photos here are with the new-old camera and a different hilarious lighting set up, so if you have any advice on improving them, feel free to pass it along. I can't do much about the fact that I only take pictures in the middle of the night, at least not 'til we get some more light here in the spring, but I'm definitely still learning to use the RAW images and the camera settings.
Elizabeth Mott - Smooth Shadow in "Penny" [eye pencil] ($7, 0.7 g)
It's so little! Just under half of the full size version. I wasn't terribly impressed when I got it out of its box to look at, since Ipsy hadn't shown a picture of the sample size and I was a bit surprised. The colour is a bright copper, and apparently you can sharpen the plastic to reach the rest of the product, which I find spooky. I continue to find soft eye pencils kinda weird to apply as they pull against my skin, and I managed to get it on my eyelashes again.
I realize this picture on my face doesn't show much, but it was so hilariously artsy that I still wanted to use it. I wouldn't say the copper showed that much on me (obviously), except when the light hit it. Still, nice to have something that's a different metallic than the golds I have on hand, so I imagine this will have utility in my eyeshadow collection.
Alternate product:
yaby - Liquid Foundation
Nourish Organic - Liqhtweight Moisturizing Face Lotion ($6, 0.5 oz)
This is a small sample. Like, hotel-sized. Packaging is cute, but white packaging with an off-white product always makes the product look gross and dirty. More surprising, this smells like I applied peach schnapps to my hand... thankfully, that disappears after not too long, and the formulation is non-greasy and a pleasant enough lotion. I didn't try it on my face; that seemed too risky in case I reacted to it, and I didn't want to smell peach schnapps constantly.
It's an okay moisturizer and I'll probably use it, but not near my nose despite it being marketed as a face lotion. Far overpriced for what it is, though, since it's not appreciably better than a good drugstore lotion (my currently favourite being about $10/16oz, aka, $0.625/oz versus Nourish Organic's $12/oz).
Alternate products:
ALTERNA - Caviar Anti-Aging Dry Shampoo
Apothederm - Bright Skin Serum
Balanced Guru - Balm Me Up Organic Sweet Cocoa & Tangy Body Balm
Épicé - Purifying Exfoliant
Faith Aromatherapy - Tahitian Monoi Anti-Aging Sugar Scrub
Absolute! - Makeup Cleansing Tissue
Proactiv+ - Mark Fading Pads
skiin - Soothing and Smoothing Eye Cream
willa - on the go face towelettes
LeeAnni Eco - 3 in 1 Revolotion ($4, 0.35 oz)
For some reason I couldn't parse the name of this product the way they wanted and nor could M, so we kept saying "Relovotion" instead of "Revo-lotion". It looks like a typo anyway rather than something clever, though I see that on the full sized product they at least capitalize the L to make it more obvious.
This product looks sketchy! Random white plastic container with a little label stuck on, with no real details... and goodness it was gross looking when I opened it. It's liquidy for a lotion, and the colour & consistency made me think of that layer at the top of yogurt when it separates. Additionally, there's almost no product in the container (as you might be able to see in the picture). And it suffers the "off-white lotion in a white container", making itself look vaguely like sick-day mucus. Pleasant.
I suffered applying it anyway, again to my hand since I was frightened to put it anywhere else. It's greasy, which never goes away, and it smells like... homemade play dough? Or something else homemade that's just not quite right. Unfortunately, that smell does remain. I felt severely like I needed to wash my hands after applying it. Ick.
...
Oh my god, I just read the website and they are marketing this as something you would apply to your face. That is disgusting. I wasn't going to spend more time talking about this, but now I want to show you all the warning signs that this is a terrible product. Here's the text from their website:
"Toner, Serum, and Moisturizer in One. This Revolutionary Lotion will save your time during busy morning rush and moisturize your face all day long!
Properties of ingredients: Help tighten Skin, reduce breakouts, relieve dark circles under Eyes, moisturize, fight Aging, treat sun damages, and calm irritated skin.
Gluten-Free * Handmade * Natural
Ingredients : Water, Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Vitis vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Olea europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 60 , PEG-150 Stearate, Steareth-20, Honey, Tocopherol, Corylus americana (Hazel) Seed Oil, Rosa canina (Rosehip) Fruit Oil, Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Distillate, Limnanthes alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Citric acid, Potassium sorbate, and Lavandula officinalis (Lavender) Oil.
All ingredients are edible except wax (used to combine oil and water), rosehip oil ( for Anti-Aging, Photo-aging Protection, and Scar Treatment effect), and Lavender Oil."
Okay, warning sign #1: "properties of ingredients". I don't know the rules down in the states, but for natural health products here they're allowed to make claims as long as one of their ingredients has that property - regardless of whether it works in the formulation or whether it's at high enough concentration to be relevant. I'm pretty sure it's also regardless of whether it works via that route (eg, if it has oral studies they could still put it on dermal applications), but don't quote me on that.
Warning sign #2: "handmade" "natural" Oh geez, what did I even put on myself? Hell if I know whether a company like this has quality control, but I'm guessing no based on their website. And we all know natural != healthy, of course.
Warning sign #3: The ingredients look a lot like someone picked them out of a "natural products" store based on their names, not based on actual testing. Okay okay, I know this one is partially who they're marketing to - I hate the "and the ingredients are all things I can pronounce" commercials aimed at women. I can pronounce chemical names just fine and would rather you picked out the actual active ingredients and refined them rather than mushing plants and all their impurities into your product and claiming that makes it safer.
I clearly haven't experienced any ill effects from my application to my hand, but I won't be using this product again. It's sketchy and ineffective.
Alternate products:
ALTERNA - Caviar Anti-Aging Dry Shampoo
Apothederm - Bright Skin Serum
Balanced Guru - Balm Me Up Organic Sweet Cocoa & Tangy Body Balm
Épicé - Purifying Exfoliant
Faith Aromatherapy - Tahitian Monoi Anti-Aging Sugar Scrub
Absolute! - Makeup Cleansing Tissue
Proactiv+ - Mark Fading Pads
skiin - Soothing and Smoothing Eye Cream
willa - on the go face towelettes
MicaBeauty - Tinted Lip Balm in "natural" ($20, 4g. Slight estimate, since this is a sample but the full size only seems to be 1g larger at $30... I think the sample part is largely that it doesn't have the built-in brush of the full size, so I knocked the sample down a little further than the weight warranted.)
My initial feeling was that this was a *tiny* amount of lip balm. As you can see from the next picture, there's not much in that container at all, though it's at least attractive enough packaging. The only caveat to that is that I also didn't use very much when I applied it, so this would probably last a while.
It feels so weird on my lips, though. It's quite matte, and pretty much the colour of my lips when I applied it... but makes them feel weirdly... powdery? Like I had icing sugar on my lips? Not to say that the product actually is powdery, but that's how it feels. I applied it with a little lip brush I had and was surprised to see that it was a fair bit more pink under the top layer. The colour didn't seem entirely even, either, as I kicked up at least one brighter pink spot while I applied.
It's usable, but slightly inconvenient being a pot balm and me not being very good with a brush. The texture is also pretty eerie, though maybe I'd get used to it. It's my only really matte option at the moment, so I'll be trying it again.
Alternate product:
(MALIN+GOETZ) - Mojito Lip Balm
Sexy Hair - Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner ($6, 50 mL)
Excessive product name is excessive, geez. At least I know what it's meant to be, though. This was the only substantial sample this month - I guess it's the travel size of the product. It's a very watery conditioner, presumably because they think I will spray it at my hair. I'm kinda terrified of spraying things at myself, so that doesn't have much functionality for me.
This is the first time I've been able to talk about a product type with actual experience behind me! Leave in conditioner is often worthwhile to me, especially in the winter. As it goes, this one is okay for detangling when combing (its suggested use), but not good for weighting down dry ends to avoid static through the course of a day.
It's pretty much like any other conditioner but with more water, and in a spray bottle. Since that's the case, I fully expect to use this conditioner and be satisfied with it, but also never to purchase it because it's terribly overpriced. For comparison, a normal consistency leave in conditioner of sufficient quality can be picked up on sale for about $3/300mL, aka $1/100mL versus this product's $12/100mL where you're paying mostly for water.
Oh, and it does smell - like a fruity shampoo, kinda like the old Garnier Fructis (not the current formulation... it smells weird). Not the worst, but it's still noticeable in my hair a while after use, so that's something to be aware of if you're sensitive to scents. As it happens, this one doesn't bother me.
Alternate products:
Marula - Pure Marula Facial Oil
Briogeo - Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask
Coastal Scents - Small Foundation Brush
Benefit - the POREfessional
Summary:
- Date received: 2014-01-13
- Cost: $14.95 + conversion
- Value: $43
The tinyness of the sample sizes made the value lower in this, except that we all know makeup prices are goofy anyway (eg, that tiny tinted lip balm being $20... what), so the other bags were just overvalued. It did feel like less of a bag because of the little samples, but four of the five products are useable, so it's actually better that previous bags from that standpoint.
I don't know. I think this was possibly a bit more Birchbox in style (T can confirm or deny), which isn't really what I wanted from Ipsy, but I don't feel particularly put out that they sometimes do a bag like this as well... I just also don't feel all that excited about it. I did get one truly tragic product, so at least that makes for a fun review.
And the tiny samples meant I could try my makeshift light box! I'll learn to use this camera yet.
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
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-20 06:33 am (UTC)It does seem more Birchbox in style: Thus far, I seem to get at least one moisturizer or hair product in each box, which bodes well for me using all the products, but does not make for as many entertaining makeup looks from any given box, since that leaves fewer visible makeup products per month.