Ipsy - May 2013

SPRING FLING

WHOA Ipsy...you have certainly upped the ante this month! Typically Ipsy has 4-5 beauty products with 1-2 variation items and sometimes even a bonus item but THIS MONTH is choc full of variation! Usually I can guess what I might be getting, but I pretty much had NO CLUE! 

So this month's theme is Spring Fling and we've got a fantastic assortment of fabulous fresh Spring style products! So here is the list that the amazing group from Makeuptalk.com came up with....::shout out to the awesome product detectives!::

Set Items:

1) Zoya Nail Polish - Lovely Spring 2013 Collection: One of these 6 colors -

• Julie - a wisteria purple metallic
• GeiGei - blushing cherry blossom pink metallic
• Piaf - forsythia yellow metallic
• Blu - delicate pale baby blue with a glossy crème finish
• Jacqueline - light creamy beige, warm undertones with a glossy crème finish
• Neely - earliest spring green with a glossy crème finish

2) Yaby concealer refill pan - One of 4 shades (in order of lightest to darkest)

• Vanilla (light with pink undertones)
• Buff (light neutral)
• Honey (yellow-toned medium)
• Pecan (yellow-toned medium-dark)

Variation Items:

     - Anastasia Mini Clear Brow Gel
     - Pacifica Bronzing Body Butter
     - Pacifica Luminizing Body Butter
     - Pacifica Perfume Roll-on (either in Island Vanilla or Tahitian Gardenia)
     - Macadamia Hair Healing Oil Treatment
     - NuMe Finishing Serum
     - Mirabella Colour Sheers Lipstick
               In either of these 6 shades:
                 1. Posy - sheer bright berry
                 2. Daydream - sheer soft rosy pink
                 3. Pixie - sheer coral
                 4. Charmed - sheer pink
                 5. Bellarina - sheer pale pink
                 6. Bloom - sheer light pink

      - Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss
               In either of these 3 shades:
                 1. Pink 
                 2. Fig
                 3. Champagne

      - St. Tropez One Night Only Instant Glow Body Lotion
      - Mirabella Perfecting Powder
      - Mirabella Shimmerati Glimmer Gloss
      - Mirabella Lip Luster Liner in either Hypnotic or Charming

BONUS ITEM!!: Urban Decay's Moondust Eyeshadow *There were 3 ways to win this bonus item in your Ipsy Glambag, you could either: 

A) Refer 2 friends to Ipsy using your unique sign-up code (but it needed to be done before a certain date or you will be receiving it in your June glambag;
B) Respond to their giveaway post on Facebook and win
C) Be a Blogger or Vlogger and have reviewed Ipsy's Glambags

In either of these 7 shades:
              1. Moonspun - medium grey with bright silver sparkle
              2. Diamond Dog - deep brown with white/gold sparkle
              3. Intergalactic - medium purple with bright silver sparkle
              4. Space Cowboy - light champagne with bright silver sparkle
              5. Glitter Rock - metallic pink with pink 3-D sparkle
              6. Zodiac - smoky black with blue-green shift and blue-green 3-D sparkle
              7. Stargazer - lime-gold with gold 3-D sparkle
    

WHOA. That's a lot of variation! They're certainly mixing things up a bit! They now have what they call their Ipsy Match, to where you can retake your beauty quiz that now has more detail and specification to perfectly match your style/look/coloring so they can send you the perfect products.

I update my beauty profile before my bag was shipped, however, I wasn't quite sure if it was updated BEFORE my bag was packed/ready for shipment. So I'm not entirely sure if my bag was perfectly matched.

Let's see what I got shall we?

So I received an interesting mix of products! It was so very exciting having no earthly idea what I possible could be getting. Here's what I have!

St. Tropez One Night Only Instant Glow Body Lotion

Urban Decay's Moondust Eyeshadow in Glitter Rock

Yaby Concealer Refill pan in Buff

Mirabella's Colour Sheers Lipstick in Daydream

Zoya Polish in Blu

Juice Beauty Reflecting Lip Gloss in Pink

...and this bag...can we talk about this bag? When I first saw pictures of it, before I received my own, I thought...."Hmmm...I'm not feeling it." Then I held my own in my hands and I was in LOVE with it. Definitely one of the cuter bags they've sent out! The material seems to be thin nylon, but it's still soft and the inside matches the zipper color. Love, love love.  

Let's break it down!

ITEM 1 - JUICE BEAUTY REFLECTING LIP GLOSS in Pink
    

 I really liked this gloss! It's smooth, not sticky and has a sweet light scent. As far as pigmentation goes, it doesn't provide much color saturation. Once again, as I've mentioned before, my lips are naturally berry colored, so it just provided a soft pink sheer tone. Don't be intimidated by the color of the bottle. It IS called pink and even though it looks more of a mauve, it does go on with a pinkish tone. The tube is nice as well, good quality, and sleek. I'm curious to try out the other colors for a nice variation in sheens! Here's a picture with the gloss! -

ITEM 2 - MIRABELLA'S COLOUR SHEERS LIPSTICK in Daydream
     

Gorgeous! I was a tad disappointed when I looked at the name of the color and opened it, I was hoping for Pixie which is a coral shade (I loooove my corals) but then I put it on and wowza! I certainly don't have anything in my stash that looks like this! It looks a lot more purple in the tube that it does swatched or on the lips and it has a gorgeous pearlescent glimmer barely lingering on a frosted appearance. It's glides on nicely, excellent soft texture and lasted about 2.5-3 hours before needing touch-ups (this is with eating and drinking).

I was pleasantly surprised at the pigmentation since these are supposed to lip sheers, and it makes me wonder with wild curiosity at how pigmented their normal lip sticks are! I may just have to find out. ::nudge nudge wink wink::. What did I say again? Oh yes...GORGEOUS.

ITEM 3 - YABY CONCEALER REFILL PAN in Buff
    

When I took my first look at the color I thought NOooooooo. It's too dark, it's too yellow! ALAS. HEAVENS. OH MY. SADNESS....OK maybe not quite that dramatic, but you get my point. HOWEVER, it works on me! The consistency is super creamy and very easy to work with. It doesn't smudge or wipe off easily when you apply it though! I typically use a concealer brush and dab some on whatever I need concealed (blemishes), then I gently use my fingertip to blend it lightly. It also didn't rub off throughout the day! I've had concealers that tend to fade off, or start looking cakey, so I am superdupes happy to finally find one that I feel confident in using. This is definitely going to be my new favorite concealer! I've popped this baby into it's new home in my GlamRX palette from my March 2013 Ipsy Glam Bag!

Here is a pic showing the amazing difference in my old concealer vs. the new Yaby:

On the left is Maybelline's Coverstick Concealer in Ivory and on the right is the new Yaby. I was pretty shocked, I mean, the Maybelline matches me perfectly, but once I put on the Yaby it looks fantastic, stays all day and blends so much easier. You can even see how much softer it looks just in this photo!

Size-wise, here is a shot of comparison for the refill pan:

So it's about nickel sized, but I've been using it for 4 days now (I know, I know, I'm so late posting this!) and I think it's going to last me quite some time! I guess, obviously, it depends on how much concealing you need to do! I only use it for blemishes. I use something completely different for under my eyes. This will probably last me a couple of months, but I'm certainly going to get a jumpstart and use my Ipsy coupon code to order another one!

ITEM 4 - ST. TROPEZ ONE NIGHT ONLY INSTANT GLOW BODY BUTTER
   

My dearest darling followers....please do not be angry with me. I simply cannot review this item. I was rather shocked when I received it. It's a one-night tan cream. I am as ghostly Irish pale as you can get and I have no intention to ever get a tan, fake or real (I obviously cannot naturally get one...I'm serious, I've tried all spectrums of SPFs and I burn instantly and go straight from lobster red to peeling skin and back to snow white). I, personally, love my fair skin and so does my hubby! So when I received this, I was shocked that Ipsy didn't match me better! I know for a fact I put down in the original quiz that I don't tan and I also know in the new updated quiz that I answered the same...so who knows. Another strange beauty sub mystery. BUT I don't want to let my readers down, so I have collaborated with an awesome beauty blogging friend of mine, Jorden from UNBOXING BEAUTY and she has graciously accepted doing a review for me! She did not receive one in her Ipsy glambag this month so I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for her to do a fun review if she was so inclined! I would have swatched this for all of you lovely ladies, but I wanted her to have a completely wrapped, brand new bottle to play with. So keep your eyes out for her review of this St. Tropez product and here is her incredible blog! - unboxingbeauty.blogspot.com

ITEM 5 - ZOYA POLISH IN BLU
    

DEFINITELY one of the most exciting items in the Ipsy glambag this month, a full bottle of Zoya Polish! From their new Spring collection called Lovely, I received this darling bottle Blu. (It's so awesome, it doesn't need the letter "e"!) It's a charming soft baby blue crème that has a smooth glossy finish. It was very easy to work with, and only needed two coats for full opacity. The only thing I'll say I wasn't 100% happy with was the size of the brush. I have larger hands and therefore, larger nails and using the brush to do the typically brush-down-the-center, brush-down-the-left, brush-down-the-right, etc. doesn't quite cover my whole nail as nicely as larger fuller brushes do. Even with this in mind, though, the consistency was so nice to work with, it was still quite easy to cover my nails and not get sloppy/goopy or uneven. The first coat can look a tad streaky, but the second coat evens it all out perfectly. Drying time is the typical 15-25 minutes (when still with no drying fan). Yes, I have pictures and no you don't get to see them till the finale at the bottom! ::grins::



          

ITEM 6 - BONUS ITEM! URBAN DECAY MOONDUST EYESHADOW in GLITTER ROCK
       

I was so thrilled to find that I was a lucky receiver of an Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow! Apparently because my blog is linked to my Ipsy account page and I've reviewed their bags, I qualified as a winner of one. I LOVE my eyeshadow! It was one of the ones I would definitely have picked for myself. This shade is a little more on the pinkish side as far the the glimmer/glittering goes, but the shadow itself shows up as a brownish-mauve on the skin. The sparkle is 3-D, so when you move your face around it picks up all the lights and shines like it's wet! I found it was much better to use your fingers to achieve a more pigmented effect and make it more easily layered, but if you lightly brush it on or just apply one coat with fingers then it gives you this soft shimmer that brightens up your eye and draws light into it. Obviously, when applied wet, you will probably gain even more brighter pigmentation. Once again, yes I have pictures....nonono...you must wait for the finale. Be patient!



          

SWATCHES:
        

You didn't think I'd leave you without swatches!

Left is Yaby, next to that is the UD Glitter Rock, then Mirabella Lip Sheer in Daydream and  ending on the right with Juice Beauty's Lip Gloss in Pink. Everything was swiped 3-4 times. 
       

See how the Moondust Eyeshadow appears brownish-mauve but notice how pink and shimmering the sparkles are! Almost like they are coming out from the shadow and towards you. Definitely an impressive 3-D shadow effect. The lipstick sheer looks beautiful swiped, albeit, a tad streaky, but when applied on lips, it doesn't look that way at all. The lip gloss was a tad strange swiped...it looks brown toned on my skin, but goes on pink on my lips. I've heard several others say the exact same thing. Very unusual, but, well, gracious, you're not going to wear it on your hand, of course, so as long as it looks great on your lips, no biggie!
  
        
       

WORTH AND PURCHASE:
  

Juice Beauty Reflecting Lip Gloss in Pink: Full-size is $15 (0.28 fl oz), I received the deluxe size of 0.14, so $7.50. 

Mirabella Colour Sheers Lipstick in Daydream: Full-size is $22 (3 grams)!

Yaby Concealer Refill Pan in Buff: Full-size is $4.85 (3.50 grams)

St. Tropez One Night Only Instant Glow Body Butter: Full-size is $18 (5 oz), I received the deluxe size of 1.69 fl oz, so $6.08 roughly. 

Zoya Nail Polish in Blu: Full-size is $8 

BONUS* - Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Glitter Rock: Full-size is $20! 

TOTAL WORTH OF BAG: $68.43!!! 

That is crazy! I'm doing my happy little Ipsy dance as I type (yes it's possible, I'm female, I multitask!) I am so excited to have such a high worth bag this month, as I said, Ipsy definitely upped the ante! 

They also included this very generous gift certificate from NuMe for $110 off their website for all hair styling tools, hair extensions PLUS you get a free thermal pouch with purchase! OH yes, I already have my eye on some awesome looking styling tools. LOVE their designs and looks!



FINALE:

We've reached the finale! I've got quite a few pics to show you here!

This is Zoya's Blu in filtered sunlight. This is just two coats and I love it. Super smooth, very soft and delicate but still with a little pop! This is also WITHOUT top coat!

Here it is again in shade. I love how it kind of has a soft day-glow effect in the shade. That color certainly doesn't dull, it stays bright! Again, this pic is without topcoat. That glossy finish works wonders!

When you've got a lipstick and a lip gloss to wear...what do you do? Why, wear them BOTH of course! I layered the gloss over the lipstick! I'm also wearing the UD Moondust. Notice how in filtered light it appears more mauve-brown, but it definitely brightens around your eye area.

   

Here's the Moondust in more direct sunlight. See how it light ups the eye? I love that it's brighter in the center but darker towards the sides.

 

 This eyeshadow was being SUCH a pain to photograph. It's so much more gorgeous in person. I was trying to stand under strong sunlight so you can see the sparkle, but it did not want to cooperate. You can somewhat see it, I apologize that it doesn't show off it's full glory. As I said, the shadow looks almost wet with sparkle when you turn it into the light. 

I really loved this look, it felt fresh, Springish and cool! I think this is certainly one of the best bags that Ipsy has come out with, now there will absolutely be some that hate the new Ipsy Match method and some that love it. I for one, am very intrigued by it and I can't wait to see what new prospects it will have in store for us. Very exciting!

     

Happy Makeuping and I hope everyone enjoyed Spring Fling time of year!

       

Love, Cookie