A few moments ago, I watched the mail man deliver my mail in the snow. There was no telltale pink envelope, and I was sad. Ipsy should have arrived! But... but... there's no mail on Sundays! OH NO! I'll get it Monday. The horror.
But, a minute later, he came trudging down the side walk with the pink bubble mailer gleaming through the flurries. He put it in the mail box, and then slogged back to the truck, probably cursing me under his breath. I shoved my feet into my boots and ran outside! Yay! A momentary distraction from the snowy gloom encircling most of the northeast!
Summary: I need to make my mail man cookies and give him a gift card to Dunkin. RI runs on Dunkin.
On to the review!
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| Ipsy, The bag. December 2013 |
Glam bags went up before today, so of course I peeked. This month we got 5 items, 2 of which were constant (minus color variations), and three that varied.
Everyone got a POP Beauty Bright Up Your Life Eyeshadow Trio.
I got a shimmery set of light gray, medium slate gray, and a charcoal color. This set is called "Smokin' Hot" and I'm not keeping it. It would make a much better gift!
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| POP Beauty Smokin' Hot Trio |
POP Beauty's site sells a palette of 10 shadows for $24.00, making three shadows (0.15 oz) worth $7.20.
The other consistent item from Ipster to Ipster was a Be a Bombshell The One Stick. I got this in the color, "Flustered," which is a very bright warm-toned pink.
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| Be a Bombshell The One Stick in Flustered |
I have gotten quite a few products from this brand though Ipsy! I was expecting this stick to be really thick and sticky and creamy for some reason. I'm not sure why? It went on smoothly, and was powdery to the touch when I blended it in with my fingers. I'm not sure if I am willing to use this on my lips, I have too many dedicated lip products, but it would make a really nice blush! Just be careful, because a little bit goes a really long way with this.
This sells for $16 on the Be a Bombshell Cosmetics site.
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| NYX Round Lipstick in Sky Pink |
Everyone got a lip product, either a J.cat lip pencil or an extra creamy round lipstick from NYX. I got the NYX lipstick in sky pink. NYX describes this color as a, "light blue-toned pink with silver shimmer (pearl)." Yeah. It's a pale pink pearl lipstick. Hey NYX, frosty pink lipstick died in the 80's, let's not bring it back. Ipsy? Are you taking notes?
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| The lighting makes it look better than it actually is |
$4.00 is too much for a throwback to the year I was born. Oh well. Win some, lose some.
This month, there were three different sets of false lashes and three different nail polish brands being sent out. I was sent one of the nail polishes from Nicka K New York in Ripe Apple.
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| Nicka K Ripe Apple |
This is a darker red than I expected. It reminds me a little bit of Julep Coco, but more of a true red than a brown-leaning one. I like the design of the bottle, the top seems really sleek and elegant. The formula is decent, and covers in two coats without any difficulty. The problem lies within the brush. For some reason, I don't like it at all! It is very long and square and it was difficult to control. There wasn't a flat side like some brushes, and it didn't have tapered edge bristles like others. I'm sure I've used brushes like this before, but I can't ever remember having this much trouble. Maybe it's just me.
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| Nicka K Ripe Apple Swatch, true to life. |
$4.99 from Nicka K's website.
Some of the other either/or items were a Mirabella eyeshadow brush, a Demeter roll-on perfume, and this set of perfume samples from English Laundry. The set came with their Signature fragrances for him and for her.
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| English Laundry samples. |
I haven't tried out the men's fragrance yet, but the ladies' version smells like if you sprayed yourself down with Luv's Baby Soft and then rolled around in a pile of fresh-cut grass trimmings. I actually like it.
Scratch that, I sprayed myself with the men's version. #YOLO. (Someone, come save me from myself). It's not that bad! It's heavy on the lemon, sandalwood, and cedar, and to me, smells like if you just spent a lot of time cleaning your log cabin with lemon pledge. Honestly, I'll probably wear this one. Who cares what the label says? Gender is irrelevant when it comes to spraying fancy things on yourself.
The two vials were glass and I'm amazed they didn't break! The sample sizes are quite generous, but neither one of my bottles were full. Signature pour femme was about 2/3 full and pour homme was about 3/4 full. I don't really care, this is still more than the normal freebie perfume sample size. I'm just glad I like both scents and that they won't go to waste.
Each version sells for $72 for 1.7 fl. oz. The samples were supposed to be 5 mL (0.17 fl. oz.) each, making them worth $14.40 for both.
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| Swatches: Top (left) Flustered blended out. Middle, Flustered not blended. Bottom, NYX in Sky Pink. |
Total Value $46.59.
Not a bad month, but not my favorite. I really like the bag, the quilted black is quite a step up from the cheap-looking bags of the past! I'm pretty ambivalent toward everything I got this month. I'll probably end up giving most of it away. Except the lipstick- that will probably end up in the garbage if I don't go as an 80's whatever for halloween in 10 months.
If you want to sign up for Ipsy, please use my link here. It costs $10 per month and you will get 5-6 full or deluxe sized (mostly makeup) items each month. If you like makeup, I would pick Ipsy over Birchbox. You definitely get more bang for your buck this way! If you sign up with my link, I will get 250 points which can be used toward a bonus item. Each bonus item costs 1000 points.
No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me. This post contains a referral link, see above for details.
