(I apologize for the inconsistency in lighting. I did two looks with these bags, nighttime and daytime. So the level of natural light will differ drastically. I tried to use the flash to even things out, but I don’t know if it made things worse or not, haha)
“What are you thinking about, Tia?”
“I’m thinking that the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl!”
– circa 2015
We make a Bills and Patriots household work so, literally anything is possible! 🙂
Here’s how ipsy works:
ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription. Each month you recieve a themed makeup bag stuffed with five (mostly sample sized) products. I can’t emphasize enough that they are sample sized, although at least one item will be full sized. It’s a “try before you buy” type of subscription, and a generally fun way to find new things that you love (or hate). Every person’s bag is a different variation based off of the style quiz they complete upon signing up. That means you probably won’t get the same thing as your friends, which is pretty cool!
The cost is $10/month or $110 for a year.
Ready to take the plunge? Use my referral link —> ipsy
Bag #10 (November 2017) – #1 (Makeup)
Yup! You read that title correctly! I got two bags this month! ipsy has been randomly giving out free bags to their customers to give away to new subscribers and I scored one. Here’s the disclaimer: I chose to do two bags because I was excited at the prospect of having one bag mainly for makeup products and one bag mainly for skin and haircare products (which worked for the most part as you will soon find out). Every month I’m always ecstatic for my ipsy bag, but like most of us, I also think “what I wouldn’t do to have one of these other products as well.” Five never seems like enough, am I right? I did NOT do two bags with the intention of selling extra products to make any sort of profit (and I do not condone it).
This month’s theme is: All You. In the spirit of Thanksgiving it’s about being thankful, and ipsy is thankful for all of us!
This month’s bag is two-toned featuring a glitter-esque top and a felt-feeling solid colored bottom. I had mixed feelings about this bag. There are two bags, gold and yellow tone and blue. On a side note, I feel like this blue bag is the new “dress.” Everyone seems to think it’s a different color, from teal to green. Just a funny observation! This inside lining of the bag is the same color as the bottom outter half, and the zipper says ipsy in a metallic color. I prefer the gold and yellow bag way more than the blue bag. But that’s just because I’m a yellow kinda gal!
Too Faced Hangover 3-in-1 Replenishing Primer and Setting Spray
Okay, let’s just say what everyone is thinking.. this sample is tiny. Now that we’ve gotten that off of our chest: I really like this item! I already own the Hangover Primer, so I was excited to try this new product. It smells amazing and feels really refreshing. My makeup stayed in place all day, which is what I’ve come to know from my Primer so I’m glad I can expect the same from this product as well! The only issue I had with this item (and maybe it’s because of the size of the sample) is that instead of misting my face like I’m sure it’s supposed to, it kind of hit me like a jet of water, which was a little unpleasant. I’m definitely interested in purchasing the full size of this!
Naked Cosmetics Mother Nature #06
(Don’t kill me) I didn’t really like this shadow. Not only do dark colors scare me, but this was a loose pigment which I’ve never had experience with before. Fortunately I didn’t end up making that big of a mess. I also didn’t experience as much fallout as I was expecting, which I achieved by first spraying my brush with setting spray. I did feel like it was a more difficult to blend pigment, and I had to apply a lot. It kept disappearing on me, if that makes any sense? I tried a dark smokey eye look and my husband definitely liked it better than I did.
Crown Brush C141 Small Chisel Brush
I REALLY like this brush. It felt firm, but still very soft. It picked up a lot of pigment when I used it to put on blush. I think the finger dents are an interesting touch too. I’m seriously considering picking up more of these for my collection!
Manna Kadar Lip Locked Stain in All of Me
I own a full size of this product in another shade, so I was pretty certain that I was going to like it almost instantly. I wasn’t wrong. Stain? Eh, not so much. More like a matte, in my opinion. It has pretty good stay power. It lasted through a hibachi dinner date night, and the next day it lasted through lunch with friends. I found that this lipstick applied easily and felt comfortable on the lips. It’s a beautiful, wearable, every day kind of color.
Tarte Deluxe Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Feisty
I really love the brand Tarte, so I was super excited to see that I had this coming in my bag. When they say 12-hour, they mean it. I found this blush to be super pigmented and it had amazing stay power. I really loved the color, it’s a little orangey. Kind of like a coral. I don’t own any of the full sized blushes yet, but if what everyone says is true I think that this sample might last me a VERY long time.
#2 (Skin and Haircare)
Oribe Hair Care Gold Lust Dry Shampoo
I’d never used dry shampoo before, so I was really excited to try this new product. My hair is a combination of dry and oily. I have to use a special shampoo to keep my scalp from being so dry that I have dandruff (yuck!), but the down side is that my hair gets really oily after only 24 hours without washing. So I was ecstatic to finally try something that might help me achieve a happy medium. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice any differences after using it. It smelled great and was easy to use, but I still felt like I looked oily (which may have been all in my head, because I secretly knew I hadn’t washed my hair?). I’m not ready to give up on dry shampoo yet, but think that I would like to try another product!
IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream with SPF 50 in Fair
As you can tell from this swatch, they did a pretty good job at matching my skin tone. I guess it’s not that hard, just send the lightest you have, haha. It felt lightweight once applied and gave me pretty good coverage overall. I’ve attached a picture of the CC Cream on half of my face so you can see how well it corrected the natural redness I carry across my nose and cheeks. One thing that I didn’t like is that it didn’t have good stay power. Just touching my face left visible fingerprints, which is obnoxious because do you even KNOW how often you touch your face throughout the course of a day? I found that it was a little better once I added finishing powder, but I don’t think I’ll be picking up a full size of this item.
Skyn Iceland Berry Lip Fix with Wintered Red Algae
I didn’t think that I was going to like this as much as I do, but I really love it. It smells amazing, like berries as the name would imply. I love that it’s thick, and sort of tingles a little bit when I apply it. Sort of like a Burt’s Bees product, but not as intense. It makes my lips feel super soft. I’m totally buying more!
ColourPop Cosmetics Pressed Powder Shadow in Come and Get It
I was sort of hoping for Paper Tiger, but I’m not at all disappointed with Come and Get It. It’s a beautiful light pink with a shimmer to it. It was smooth and I found that I got the most pigment payoff when applying it with my finger. I tried a brown smokey eye for a subtle day look, and I really liked it! (Obviously I need to work on my blending, but otherwise I thought it turned out pretty cute)
So here is my take on having two different profiles. It totally worked. I love my makeup bag and I love my skin and haircare bag. I would rate bag #1 4 out of 5 stars. I loved almost everything, except for the Naked shadow. I would rate bag #2 3 out of 5 stars, only because I’m not a huge fan of the IT Cosmetics CC Cream and I don’t think the Oribe Dry Shampoo worked for me. I’ve already decided that I’m going to keep both bags and just see where this crazy train goes!
Here are the two looks that I created with these bags. The first was for date night, and the second was for lunch with the girls (also, this is the first time I’ve ever attempted to contour! I did it really lightly because I was so afraid of messing it up, but I think it came out okay! Thoughts? Tips?):
Thanks for taking the time to read my little blog! 🙂
– Tia
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