Ipsy - October 2013

THE ART OF BEAUTY
      

You face is a canvas....what beautiful things can you create on it? Have you ever just sat in front of the mirror with all of your makeup in front of you...endless possibilities of color, creation and design, brush in hand? I love it! For this month, Ipsy has delved into the Art of Beauty....

If you missed my spoiler post for this month, here is the link - 

October 2013 REVEAL - Ipsy

and here is what I received this month.....

I received: A hair product, eyeshadow, face cream, nail polish, makeup brush

Everyone received a Zoya nail polish in one of three colors, and either Spray Clay or Volumizing Gel from Big Sexy Hair. The other three products were some of many variables.

As for the bag itself, I think it's pretty cute, albeit not my particular favorite. I'm not a big fan of full white bags and this one reminds me very much of the bag sent out in April (white with pink zipper and pink strip on top). Also, I'm kind of sad that Ipsy quoted a great poet on the bag - Ralph Waldo Emerson - and did not credit him! 

Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

To the artsy review!.....

STYLE SEXY HAIR

SPRAY CLAY

"A non-traditional clay in a spray form. With this new innovative aerosol application it allows for a fine and even product distribution to achieve an allover textured look with a matte finish. The product is great for all hair types needing added texture and movement with a dry, non-waxy hold." - from sexyhair.com

I seriously have to say, I think Big Sexy Hair products are my all-time favorites and it's rare that I dislike any of them that I try. I have an obsession with their Style Sexy Hair line at the moment, and I use their Blow It Up Volumizing Gel pretty much every day. The Spray Clay was definitely interesting. I tried it the typical way I usually do with texturizing sprays....I washed and styled my hair as usual, then I sprayed it on at the end before using my hairspray and roughed it up, scrunching, etc. It definitely went on completely matte! You can feel the texture of the clay in your hair and it does every so lightly make your hair feel a bit dry and slightly rough. Did it add texture or volume? Hmmmm.....a bit. With the texture, it's hard to say what big difference it made with my hair since I work the curls/waves regardless. I did provide some thickness on the strands, giving my hair style some hold and oomf, which I love, love, love. The ONLY thing I wasn't too fond of was that does smell exactly like clay. It's a very strong full-force sprayer and it seems to cover quite a bit of area when applied. I don't feel like I have to use a ton of it to give myself good coverage, so I know the product would last me quite some time. In fact, I've used this smaller can over 10 times and there's still a ton of product left! I'm not entirely sure I'd buy this product again though, since I already use volumizing products that work great and smell great as well, but for those of you who don't work the curls/waves as much as I do and want some fun texture/volume, I'd definitely recommend trying this!






BELLA TERRA COSMETICS
 MINERAL SHIMMER
in Navy

"Bella Terra's pure mineral shimmers offers an artist's palette of 60 luminous and luxurious shades. It's easy to create a variety of quintessential looks from classic daytime neutral to chic evening glamour." - from bellaterracosmetics.com

 According to Bella Terra's website, this mineral shimmer is a fantastic product that can have up to eight different uses -

1) Creamy Eyeshadow - moisten the brush to create richer, more intense eye color that doesn't crease.

2) Matte Shadow - mix the Shimmer with Bella Terra's Eye Primer for a matte shadow look.

3) Eyeliner - wet the tip of an eye liner brush and apply around the lash line for a high-intensity eye definition.

4) Lip Color - mix any of our Shimmers with lip balm or lip gloss to create intense lip color.

5) Nail Polish - add to clear nail polish for a unique nail color that matches your eye shadow.

6) Body Glitter - mix with body lotion to create an all-over body shimmer

7) Mascara - dip clear-color mascara or Bella Terra's Mascara Primer brush into the Shimmer for amazing lash colors. 

8) Hair Streaks - mix a small amount of Shimmer with hair gel and apply to a strand of hair for a funky, streaked look that easily washes off later.

Whoa! That's some versatility right there! 

How amazingly GORGEOUS is this shade?! Oh my goodness, I'm positively in love with it! With the dry swipes you can see how shimmery it is on top with a darker shadowing underneath. Over the NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk is positively radiates! It definitely doesn't work as well blended and barely shows up even though I didn't blend that much. It seems the actual shimmer that picks up the light on the top disappears leaving only the shadow effect but WHO CARES when it looks so amazing dry swiped and over NYX's Milk?! I think it's so funny that this particular shade is called Navy when it's so vibrant of a blue...when I think of navy, typically I think darker, but I suppose that under tone that is shadowy is navy!

As for it's staying power, as an eyeshadow, used with a good primer, the color stayed vibrant for almost 9 hours (with setting spray)! As an eyeliner using the directions above, it lasted about 7 hours with primer and setting spray. I have yet to try out the other 6 options, but I probably will get to them all at some point!

My only issue with this product is the jar itself. If you look at the picture above of the jar you can see the shimmer fell all over the material underneath it. That happened as I was taking the top off even though I slowly removed it and it happens EVERY time I do it! To make the shimmer accessible, you have to flip the jar upside down so it can shake through the holes in the sifter. However, when I do that some of it gets stuck underneath the edge inside the lid, so when you open it it goes everywhere. I have other mineral shimmer jars that are made essentially the same way and look very similar that do not have the same issue so either my jar is slightly defective with a large gap between the lid and jar or the jar design is not as well made as other brands. Either way, it's NOT a huge issue for me, and I shall HAPPILY be continuing use of this!

Tips and Tricks! - I've been asked this before, and I thought I'd share....I had a friend who has so much trouble with mineral eye shadows saying that she always gets so much on the brush, even when she shakes it off or taps the brush just because the powder is so fine. The best trick I've learned with mineral eye shadows in jars is to flip the jar lid upside down and lightly swirl the shadow you've picked up on the brush on the bottom part of the lid on the inside. Sometimes you don't even need to pick up any product on the brush beforehand, just swirl the brush directly on the lid as it can have a light layer of the shadow already powdered on it!

COASTAL SCENTS

CLASSIC SHADOW MEDIUM NATURAL BRUSH

"This medium sized, versatile brush is ideal for applying any type of eye shadow. The pony haired bristles are both wide in shape and condensed, while remaining evenly distributed. This allows the artist to uniformly cover the whole eyelid in just a few simple strokes, which saves not only time, but eye shadow as well. This professional cosmetic brush can also be used for shading the crease and highlighting the brow bone with complete precision." - from coastalscents.com

Speaking of brushes! Haha! Well here is a brush I am VERY familiar with as it's one I pretty much use every single day...and I even mean the BRAND as well! I am certainly no stranger to Coastal Scents and they too are an absolute favorite of mine (seriously, I have a bad, bad problem with their eyeshadow palettes...as in I might need to start a 12 step program to stop loving them and buying them! Haha!). This brush is possibly one of my absolute favorites of theirs mainly because I wear so much eyeshadow and it can be so great for patting on some vibrant color or even blending it out. It's size makes it great for getting into the inner corners of the eyes easily but it's still large enough to cover larger areas quickly.

 

The bristles are very soft although very dense and I've never really had any trouble with my Coastal Scents brushes shedding. They do have a synthetic option for this brush if you're opposed to using natural hair brushes! 

OLE HENRIKSEN

TRUTH CREME ADVANCED HYDRATION

"Proper hydration is the way to achieving a youthful complexion. As we age, our skin loses the ability to retain moisture making it even more important to maintain proper hydration. Our NEW mega-moisturizer, truth crème advanced hydration combines nature’s finest ingredients with cutting edge technology, providing you with unmatched moisture and superior anti-aging results." - from olehenriksen.com

This bag is just chock full of my favorite brands...alas...this is the ONE and ONLY Ole Henriksen product that I do NOT like! Oops! I actually use the Truth Serum Collagen Booster almost every other day, so when I was running out I decided to purchase a gift set of Ole Henriksen samples that included this exact Truth Creme jar in this exact size. I excitedly opened the jar, with very high hopes of absolutely adoring it...and OH MY...the smell. For me, this is possibly the worst smelling moisturizer I've ever tried. What I'm smelling is some sort of pungent orange juice that has gone bad. What's funny though, is the Truth SERUM smells exactly like fresh oranges to me! I know I didn't just have a bad batch of the creme because when I opened this one that I received in my Ipsy Glam Bag, it smells EXACTLY the same. ::sigh:: I've spoken to other ladies who have tried it and not all of them are smelling exactly what I'm smelling, but some are, so it basically boils down to chemistry from one person to the next. What smells great to me might not smell great to you! In this particular case though, I'd definitely recommend finding someone who owns this and sniffing it for yourself before you decide to buy it as I do know more than a handful that are smelling the same thing I am. 

As far as moisturizing goes, this product DOES rock! A little goes a long way, I've barely used up a 1/4 of my original sample jar (I decided to use that one and save the other for a gift if I can find someone who likes the smell) after about 10 applications. It's a light creme, but covers the face well and goes deeply into the skin. After applying it the day I noticed my makeup went on smoothly from the good moisturization, and after applying it at night I woke up with super soft skin! Sometimes I can overlook a scent of a beauty product if it has amazing results and I can only count on less than a hand-full of products that I seriously just CANNOT use because there's no way to overlook the fragrance...unfortunately, this is one of them. I do, though, highly, highly recommend finding someone who has this or finding a sample somewhere and smelling it yourself, as I said, because it's hydrating properties are fantastic for a lighter creme! 

ZOYA

NAIL POLISH

in Giovanna

"Zoya Nail Polish in Giovanna can be best described as a stunning emerald green metallic. The "IT COLOR" right now (Originally designed for Zang Toi/AW13)." - from zoya.com

Me? Love nail polish? Hahahaha.....::blushes:: I'm no stranger to Zoya as well, as I have a few in my collection so I was very excited to receive a new one! Giovanna is positively STUNNING!

It's a beautiful deep rich green with a ever so slight lean towards teal. I did apply it to my nails to check out it's consistency and it did not pool or run. It was almost opaque with one coat and only needs two for full opacity. It dries with a soft, shiny finish as you can see in the swatch picture above, and I had no trouble with chipping when I had it on my nails for about 4 days! I think this color is beyond gorgeous and is very elegant and perfect for the Holiday season coming up!

WORTH AND PURCHASE:

 1) Style Sexy Hair Spray Clay:

• Travel Size (1.4 oz) - $8

      

2) Bella Terra Cosmetics Mineral Shimmer in Navy:

• Full-size (2.5 g) - $14.99
• I received a 2.0 g sample jar - $11.99

    

3) Coastal Scents Classic Shadow Medium Natural Brush:

• 1 Brush - $2.49

     

4) Ole Henriksen Truth Creme Advanced Hydration:

• Full-size (1.7 oz) - $45
• I received a 0.25 oz sample jar - $6.62

    

5) Zoya Nail Polish in Giovanna:

•  Full-size (0.5 fl oz) - $8
• I received a full-size! 

    

Total Paid for Bag:  $10
    

Total Worth of Bag:  $37.10
      

Not bad, Ipsy, not bad! Almost four times what I paid! Given that two items were $8 each and the Bella Terra was worth MORE than what I paid, I'm very pleased with my bag's worth! Especially since the Zoya and brush were full-size, the spray was travel-sized and there were no foils.



    
       

FINALE
     

Did I use that fabulous blue mineral shimmer? YOU BET I DID!

Did I mention how madly in love with this blue I am?! It is SO much fun to wear! I wanted to go with big, bold blue eyes so I brushed it all over my eyelid, lightly blending it below my eyebrow with some matte nude shadow. Underneath I lightly brushed the Navy from the outer corner of my eyes in to about half-way. I also used a blue eyeliner on my waterline that is a few shades lighter than the shadow to brighten up the eye a bit.
         

I die. The blue is so PRETTY! By the way, yes, I recolored my hair and changed it a bit! I changed my auburn tone to a more coppery red and added in some coppery highlights to give it a festive fall shading. I love it! To achieve this vibrant blue eye, I used Urban Decay's Primer Potion (Original), then blended NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk over it. I then lightly brushed on the Navy until I was happy with the brightness/opacity and softly blended below the eyebrow with a nude eyeshadow to soften the edge of the blue. I then used a black liquid eyeliner for a thin cat-eye and soften lined the very top of that black with a blue eyeliner than matches the Navy shade perfectly just so the black liner wouldn't be so stark against the blue. I finished with a few coats of mascara along with my usual face makeup routine and voila! When I do a bolder eye I typically don't go crazy with the bronzer/blush and lip products because I'm so fair, it would just be too much color on my face. I do always make sure to color in my eyebrows because they are SO darn light, you can hardly see them! Haha! In fact, in an upcoming post, you'll see (or rather not see) my invisible brows. I know, you can barely contain your excitement!

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this month's Glam Bag products, and aside from the Ole Henriksen I'll be using them all often! I have yet to decide what I want to use my Glam Bag for as I usually have a special task (hehe, task?) assigned to each one I receive. One is for my dotting tools for my nails, one holds my stamping plates, one is an emergency sewing kit, one holds face sample foils I receive in orders online, one is for hair foil samples, one is for my travel mani kit with a buffing tool, cuticle eraser, clippers, file, etc., one holds miscellaneous buttons I find or that come with new blouses as extras....what about you? If you are an Ipsy subscriber, what do you do with your Glam Bags?

Thinking of joining Ipsy? Please feel free to use my referral code to sign up! Click HERE to start to subscription sign-up process!

     
        

Happy Makeuping to all my fab makeup artists or just artists with makeup!