juara
ipsy Glam Bag Review – August 2015
I got a fancy thing and it is super cool! Many moons ago I was subscribed to Birchbox and it was pretty fun, It was like getting a little random present every month. But I believe that those were the early days of the subscription box trend – now there are so many out there with so many different things that you could basically get one for every day of the month if you wanted. I discontinued my Birchbox subscription because I just kept getting samples I wasn’t at all interested in trying, there was no way to customize what you got.
So I just recently signed up for Ipsy and I have high hopes. You get to take a fancy quiz and one of the questions was even “How comfortable are you with using makeup?” Perfect – I could tell them upfront that I am a complete idiot and have no idea what I’m doing! This is my very first “Glam Bag” (already an improvement over getting a cardboard box every month), and here’s what I got –
Not as Yellow as I Expected Mask
(JUARA Skincare – Turmeric Antioxidant Radiance Facial Mask)
When I saw “Tumeric,” I was expecting this mask to be super yellowy-orange and I was kind of disappoint when it was just a pale peach. I really wanted it to be like orange face paint. It’s got the consistency of a thick body lotion or butter which I really hate when it comes to face masks because it makes them SUPER hard to get off. This mask was a little stingy, which also isn’t my favorite thing. I want a mask to feel cooling and calming, not like I just rubbed icy hot all over my face. It was because of this that I was concerned it would irritate my confused skin, but I noticed no redness or blemishes the next day – it really just left me feeling moisturized without oiliness. There was enough in this sample tube for one application, it went on very thick and I had to use the whole thing to cover my whole face. Its recommended you use it 1-3 times a week, so it would have been nice to get a sample with enough for at least 2 applications.
I looked up some of the medicinal/topical uses for Tumeric and did find that it’s active compound curcumin is BELIEVED to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumour, antibacterial, and antiviral benefits but I didn’t find any records from clinical trials, so I’m gonna file all of that under “meh, maybe.”
Purple Cement Nail Polish (Trust Fund Beauty – Nail Polish in Elegantly Wasted)
Okay, I was super stoked to get what is essentially a full-size nail polish in this bag. Very like. Much wow. But the color? In certain lights it looks cute and eastery-purple… but in most lights it looks like I painted my nails with dingy cement. And boy did this stuff SMELL – mind you I am aware that it is not unusual for nail polish to smell a little chemical-y, but for something that’s touted as being non-toxic, vegan, and “7 Free” (that apparently means it doesn’t have 7 scary-sounding chemicals that I am assuming are found in normal nail polish?), it was rather pungent. Much smellier than regular nail polish. It also had some serious chippage after only about 48 hours of wear, but that’s probably my fault for not applying a top coat. I don’t think I’d buy it, but I’m definitely not going to throw it away. I think the band and color name is rather clever (heck I wanna be “Elegantly Wasted,” that sounds awesome) and I can probably layer the color with something else to make it more wearable.
Red Eyeface Pencil
(Skone Cosmetics – Luxe Doubler Eye/Lip Pencil in Wine)
This was my favorite thing of all the things! I really dig it. Another full-size product. 2 in one bag? I am pleased. I felt this was a very good color for my skin tone, its somewhere between wine and rose – a rosé perhaps? It wasn’t chalky and stiff like I’ve noticed other lip liners to be – mayhaps because it can also be used as an eyeliner? How about that – a twofer! Honestly, unless I was going for the I-just-cried-my-eyes-out-for-three-hours-because-I-watched-Bambi look, I would never use a red eyeliner. I wore it under a tinted balm and it blended nicely, but the color on the inner parts of my lips did fade a bit after about 2 hours and a Latte
Hobbit Lipstick! (noyah – Natural Lipstick in Desert Rose)
I could care less about the color – THIS. THING. IS. ADORABLE! Its miniature! It’s like the lipstick a hobbit lady would have in her purse on her way to the Green Dragon for a half-pint! Its what a feisty dwarf woman would have tucked between her enormous breasts for a date in Erebor (before Smaug trashed the place. <-Nerd) I have never seen a lipstick sample packaged like this… but that may be because I’ve never had a lipstick sample? Again – idiot, no idea what I’m doing.
It didn’t look too great with my skin tote, kinda made my lips disappear into the rest of my face. But it wasn’t too bad layered over the aforementioned red Eyeface pencil (that shot not pictured).
Spiked Gingerale Hair Stuff
(Briogeo – Blossom & Bloom ™ Ginseng + Biotin Volumizer)
Not kidding. Smelled like ginger ale with a tip of white rum and maybe some orange liquor? Freaking yum. I wished my car smelled like this stuff. What’s it for again? Oh yeah…
So, I was unable to properly field-test this guy because you’re supposed to spritz it on wet hair before you blow-dry and… I do not own a blow-dryer. Actually, I hate blow-dryers. With a passion. They’re loud, they’re hot, they make me all sweaty, my arm hurts after a while holding them up, and I inevitably clock myself in the head with the scorching hot end. Nothing like goose-egg to go with those victory rolls (Lol, oh Marina, like you can actually do victory rolls. Shut up). I would rather hop in my car and drive to Circle K for a Polar Pop with my head stuck out the window than blow dry my hair.
So I did the best I could and on hair-washin’ day I sprayed it in my freshly washed, still damp hair. This is how it looked straight outta bed the next morning. A little more volume than usual perhaps? Sure smelled good. I dunno, maybe I’ll give this to someone who has a better relationship with blow-dryers and see what they think.
In Conclusion
I’m a fan. I already like this subscription service way more than Birchbox. I like that it comes in a not-too-shabby bag instead of a box – those Birchbox boxes piled up after a while. I used them as gift boxes, but I feel like I’ll have more uses for these bags. I paid $10/month for Birchbox and it’s the same for Ipsy, but I feel like I am getting more full-sized products with Ipsy than I did with Birchbox, and I really like that I took a quiz and review the products I get on their website to help them better tailor what they send to me. Already excited for my random present bag next month!
How 2: "Girl" 