April Ipsy Bag
The April Ipsy bag arrived last week! For those who may not know, Ipsy (formerly Glam Bag) is a monthly beauty subscription service. For $10.00 each month, you receive 4-5 (usually 5) samples (sometimes you'll get one full sized) of beauty, skin care, or hair products. Each month has a different theme but to be honest, I'm not really sure how that affects which products are chosen. April's theme is Beautifully Bohemian (aka hippy).
To get one for yourself, or to find out more info, head over to the Ipsy website: www.ipsy.com
(FYI: I purchase this subscription with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones. I'll always let you know when something is provided, sponsored, forced upon me at gunpoint, etc.)
General thoughts: the bag is much cuter than I thought. It looked kinda weird on the Ipsy website but in person, it's rather adorable. The five products I received are: make-up brush; nail polish; lipstick; eye shadow; and lip balm. Below are pics and reviews!
The bag seems like it's made from the same material as those big floppy beach hats from the 70s. But with colored ribbon weaved throughout. The makeup brush is Crown brand (which I've heard of but never felt or tried). It feels super soft. I just used it for the first time before going out to dinner. I'm not sure how I feel yet. The bristles are very soft but it's a concealer brush so when I put on my under eye concealer, it looked kinda patchy. I didn't have that problem with my other brush so I'll try it a few more times, just in case my skin was a little dry tonight.
I used the Honey and Oatmeal lip balm from Olive once. It's rather hard and dry, which makes me think there must be a lot of beeswax in it. But once it warmed up, it went on nicely and lasted a while. I'm guessing this is a sample size but it'll probably last a long enough time to really get a feel for it.
The nail polish is awesome! Never heard of the brand JulieG before but I got a coupon for it and it's sold at Rite Aid at least. It's very thick and opaque. I put some on over the yellow polish I was already wearing and it covered it in one coat! Granted, the yellow was pretty thin and patchy but still. I cleaned off the old and put this new stuff on the next day and it looks great!
The lipstick is also I brand I'd never heard of. Gallany Cosmetics. I got a little baby lipstick in the color "Petal". Remember those old Avon sample lipsticks? This was a little bigger but not by much. The color is a beautiful rosy nude with a little berry going on underneath. It swatched a bit more pink on my hand than it did on my lips. Very creamy, smooth application, but it only lasted about 2 hours max. If you're looking for long lasting color, this isn't the lipstick you're looking for...move along...but the logo looked a little like a Klingon symbol. Sweet.
Thank the gods I got the purple shade for the eyeshadow sample. If I got one more copper or bronze color, I was gonna beat someone to death with my Ipsy bag. The Balm Cosmetics is a brand I've heard of but never tried. I'm really excited for this shadow. It's Flirty from their Nude Dudes palette: a red purple with a gold duo chrome (I think that's what it's called). It's hard to tell in the swatch but you can sort of see purple on one side and the reflective gold on the other. Not super pigmented but I think you can build it up a bit. Also I feel that eyelid primer will help a lot. Could even put a white cream base under it to make it pop a bit more.
Overall I'm pretty dang happy about this bag. Which makes me nervous because last month was pretty good, too. I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see!