Unboxing Beauty Subscriptions: Ipsy July 2014
I receive to two beauty box subscriptions every month, Glossy Box and Ipsy Bag. I'm generally quite pleased with the Glossy Box, but I'm always considering canceling Ipsy Bag because they end up being quite lackluster. Every time I think about actually canceling it something arrives that changes my mind. Can you fall in love with a new product after having it for a mere 3 hours? Well that just happened for me with the July Ipsy Bag!
The Products (from most to least excited about)
#1 Marrakesh Endz - Argan & Hemp Oil Therapy Split End Mender & Preventer: This is the product that I fell in love with at first sniff. Then I used it. It smells divine and the tiniest bit gave my dry and damaged ends shine, softness and smoothness almost immediately. I used it on dry hair but am excited that it supposedly works on wet hair too. Also it isn't tested on animals, appears to be vegan and doesn't contain parabens or alcohol among other things. Checking on the ipsy website (which annoys me since they add a couple of inserts every month, but nothing with a description of products) the 1 oz. I got is worth $5.99 and a full size (4 oz.) is $17.99.
#2 Whet - Refined Nail Lacquer in Facetious: This is a gorgeous royal blue color that is now next on the roster when I switch up my nail polish color. Which should actually be soon because it's looking pretty chipped right now. So this got the number two spot because I'm always excited by new polishes, but also because it is vegan, 7-day chip resistant, and "three-free" (a term that I just learned about which refers to the absence of three very toxic chemicals). I got a sample size (10 mL), the full size (15 mL) is $15. So we are in Butter London territory here. Let's see if it's as good though. I love Butter nail varnishes, but I still can rarely bring myself to spend that much
#3 Lord & Berry - Mini Kajal Kohl liner in #1001 Black Silk: THE TINIEST EYELINER SAMPLE EVER. This does not please me. But it ended up middle of the excitement pack just because I am a sucker for eyeliners. I tested it a bit on my hand and I'm not too impressed. It doesn't really smudge that well. About 75% of it disappeared instead of smudging, but the grayish leftover lines have stayed put on my hand. Is that a good thing? I'll reserve full judgement for when I use it on my eyes. The Lord & Berry site is down until 8/1 for maintenance, which seems a little bit silly, so I had to search out the price on another site. BeautyBar.com is selling it for $20 (0.12 oz.) compared to the 0.02 oz that I got. And it also looks so much cooler and not pencil-like in the full-size. V. confusing.
#4 bareMinerals - 5 in 1 BB advanced performance cream eyeshadow in divine wine: it was hard to rank the last two items because I'm just not enthused. But I might be warming up to this one a little bit. When I first swatched it, I was impressed by the color payoff. Then I tried blending it and it disappeared into nothingness. Disappointing. Upon trying this again and gentling blending the result is much better. It actually looks a little more purplely and has a bit of shimmer, but I can only imagine using it in the crease or maybe one of the other colors as a primer. Once again I'll reserve full judgement until I try it on my eyes. It looks like it might hold up well against creasing and I'd like it a whole lot more if that is the case. A full size (0.1 oz.) is $18 at Ulta. My sample size is 0.03 oz.
#5 Hang Ten - Dark Tanning Oil: I am not impressed on principle alone. In truth I'm a fan of tanning oils because I like smooth, shiny legs and their usual coconut smell gives me memories of the beach. I also like that this particular oil is paraben-free among other things. BUT SPF 8, really????? I didn't know SPF 8 even existed any more, because of the whole skin cancer thing. Oh well. Sunscreen then this maybe. Or it will go in my giant drawer of samples.... $11.99 for 6 oz. My sample is 1 oz.
So those are my thoughts, and maybe just maybe it is possible that I have two additional June Beauty Box subscriptions waiting at my Ann Arbor apartment. I'll be back there to finish packing in a couple weeks, so there might be another fun subscription blog post SOON! Get excited.
If you're interested, join ipsy bag here!
