Ipsy - March 2013

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Oh Ipsy Ipsy Ipsy....I just love Ipsy. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Ipsy, it is a beauty subscription service in which for $10 a month they will send you a little bag with 4-5 beauty sample products inside. They also have a website in which you can create "looks" that can feature anything you'd like from style to makeup to cleansers to hairdos. You add youtube videos (usually tutorials) to your "looks" and they're shown on your profile page and sometimes featured on Ipsy's homepage. They also have contests related to their monthly bags and the product brands featured in that specific bag. 

Every month has a theme and for this month it is The Great Escape, which is something like a beachy-breezy-vacation-getaway theme. 

Here is a picture with all of the products I received for this bag! - 

 As you can see the bag is nautical with navy blue and white stripes with anchors. It's cutesy and there have been a lot of complaints on Ipsy from subscribers about not having bags with designs on them. The November 2012 bag was plain brown, the December 2012 bag was dove grey, the January 2013 bag was navy blue and the February 2013 bag was black, so I'm guessing they decided to kick it up a notch with a decorated bag. Here's my little kicker though...not everyone likes anchors/nautical (eep!) myself included! Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty decent quality bag and for $10 a month, yes indeedy-do, but I much preferred the solid bags that can actually go with more. My Nov brown bag goes in my brown purse, my Dec grey bag is in my living room (which has grey in it), etc., you get my drift (no joke for the nautical theme, har har!). I DO however, think it's fabulous that Ipsy has listened to their subscribers though! I almost wish there was a way to personalize bags a bit further though, say, you get to pick one of three choices if it's going to be a very theme specific style bag. For example, I would have loved a bag with a pretty decorative compass on it instead! 



ITEM 1 - LA FRESH MAKEUP REMOVER WIPES

 I love makeup remover wipes, I HAVE makeup remover wipes, a few variations lol, however, I'm a goofball, I'm picky about my scents...these smell like baby powder to me, which I'm not a fan of. The pack comes with 8 total and from what I understand, are travel carry-on friendly (a plus!) and are a cute tiny little size, but I'm just not that excited about them. They are supposed to be moisturizing and have vitamin e in them though! Packaging is pretty darn adorable with that chic little lady and her flouncy ponytail though, right? The product itself is normally $2 per pack (same size as received) on La Fresh's website, but as of today they are having a special of $1.50 per pack. 



ITEM 2 - JUICE BEAUTY HYDRATING MIST

You must excuse my lack of photo for this product, unfortunately I let my Mother borrow my camera and she has yet to return it, so I have been trying to take decent photos with my iPhone 4...alas...the silly product would not focus given the liquid behind the small print! lol
 Anyhow...this is a very interesting product. According to Juice Beauty's website it says: 

 Tone and hydrate with this refreshing blend of rosehip, ylang ylang, resveratrol grapeseed oil and antioxidant-rich organic juices for a fresh, radiant complexion.
 Hint: Spritz your face, your hair and everyone around you. In the hot summer months, put it in the cooler for a refreshing cool spritz.
  
This product is very intriguing. I'm not entirely sure what I want to use it for yet. First of all, I wear BB Cream, concealer and translucent mineral powder when I go out, and I NEVER go to the beach (just call me Miss Irish Peaches-n-Cream!) which I think this product is probably better for....travel. I've spritzed it on my face and it does have toner it it, so you will feel a slight tightening/tingling sensation. The thing that turns me off to it though, is it has a potpourri-ish scent. I sincerely wish it smelled more like citrus or fruit, THAT would be SO refreshing to me! (Imagine dragonfruit infused with a hint of kiwi...oooo tropical vaca!) It also made my face a teensy bit sticky feeling. What I'm curious about, though, is whether this product could be used when wearing makeup and/or having a makeup setting spray on? Would it make a difference? Or would it ruin it my makeup...Hmm. The size given in the bag is 1 fl oz. Online at Beauty Juice's website it retails for $22 for a full size bottle (6.75 oz).



ITEM 3 - GLAMRX PALETTE

 For those of you who are familiar with Zpalette, here is essentially....the same thing...minus a see through top and plus a mirror inside lol. If you are not familiar with Zpalette, then what this particular product is, is a magnetic empty palette about the size of a credit card, that flips open to reveal a mirror on one side and a empty space on the other that you can fill with de-potted eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers, potted lipsticks etc. I much prefer Zpalettes. 
I own a large size leopard printed Zpalette and honestly, I do prefer that I can see through the top, so I can quickly glance at what I have in there. The GlamRx palette is only good if you can remember what you put in there! lol Size-wise it's perfect for your purse. Design-wise....I'm not keen on the quirky hospital-glam look. Online, GlamRx palette retails at $16.50, but that seems to include an insert with a concealer, tinted lipbalm, shine erase powder and black eyeliner sections on top, and it can be lifted up to show the empty compartment below, however, we did not receive the insert with the extras, only an empty compartment. 



ITEM 4 - YABY EYESHADOW POTS

 In this picture is the inside of the GlamRx palette with the two Yaby eyeshadow pots I received. Usually Ipsy will have an either/or or variable item in which you could receive a color/shade or even whole item differing from others. In this case there are four different shades of Yaby eyeshadows being sent out. Everyone will either receive two shades of the four, including Sand Dune, which is a yellowish-tan or Seashell (pale pink tinged tan) and either So Vein (teal oceanic blue, which is what I received!) or Azalea Petal (dull mauve). I had such high hopes for these cute pots of shadow (I'm a sucker for eyeshadows!) but I was a tad disappointed. They just aren't very pigmented! I'm not afraid to burst out with some color on my lids...so these fell a little flat in my opinion.

In the picture above I swatched both colors and on the left of the each color I added a primer and directly to the right of it, no primer. You can see the difference much easier with the teal shade than the tan. I had to use quite a bit of shadow to give it that much depth in coloration. Given the fact that I'm much more a pinkish skin tone, I think Sand Dune is too yellow to use alone on my eyelids. It would be more ideal as an under color for gold perhaps...make it pop more. As for the teal, because it's not as deep, I think I'll use it as an inner eye color to give my eyes a hint of brightness OR wet it and use it as an eyeliner shade! 

As for the sizes of the pots...here ya go!

 They're pretty darn cute lil fingertip shadows! I'm so sad they're not as bright and pigmented as I'd hoped...they look so promising in their pots! However, I am happy I received So Vein...as you can teal, ahem TELL by my blog, I just adore that shade ;-)

Downside of this product is the PRICE...O GRACIOUS...For a SINGLE pot...it's $3.15! Plus shipping is $25 in the US! NOOOOOOoooooooooo. Oh the drama. Very generous of Ipsy to give us two of these shadows, but I think that's all the Yaby I will be wanting! 


PRODUCTS COUPON

 Another generous gift from Ipsy is product coupons for products included in your Ipsy monthly glambag. This month, however, seems kind of useless to me to a degree. GlamRx seems to ONLY sell that same palette. Yaby is just too darn expensive regardless of 25% off...they should have included free shipping! lol and I don't think I'd be wanting anything from Juice Beauty or La Fresh...alas....but look how adorable that whale is...frolicking in his fluffly swirly ocean! 

Overall, the value of this bag is quite amazing! As always, Ipsy gives you serious bang for your buck...erm um...$10 bucks lol! The Yabi pots are $3.15 each, La Fresh wipes (using sale price) is $1.50, the value of the Juice Beauty Hydrating Mist is about $3.50 and the GlamRx Palette, without the insert, I'd guess to be around $10ish. So total is around $21.30, and that's not counting the value of the actual bag! Definitely one of the best subs out there with a fabulous price!

This month's Ipsy products fell a little flat for me though...alas...usually I'm all over Ipsy. Even when subscribers are disappointed and upset about this or that, I'm upbeat and excited, but I'm not all pizzazzed about this one. HERE'S a little quick perk-me-up positive beat though...the GlamRx palette WILL be fabulous for putting away any little eyeshadow, blushes, etc. samples I receive from any of subs, instead of them floating around in my makeup bags! I've already put my Meet Matt(e) eyeshadow sample I received in Ipsy's November bag in there! Tada! Way to gather my Ipsy goodies ;-) Poor Matt(e), he was lonely in his little box...the sad thing is I'm kinda gonna miss his adorable sexy face on the packaging...oh well lol...maybe I should cut it off of the front and tape it to the inside of the GlamRx! Kind of like a "Hey Sexy...how's that makeup-ing going? Hm? Looking good!"....No? Well a chic girl can dream, right? Hey now that's a good idea...a recording every time you open a compact with a handsome man giving you compliments...gracious, I'm sure there is one out there already...I must go find it now!

Hope you enjoyed this review...let me know if you have any questions or want more swatches! I took pictures of all of these at night in somewhat off-white light with my iPhone 4, so they're not the best quality. Hopefully I'll have my camera back soon! 

Happy Makeuping!
Love, Cookie <3