June 2017 Ipsy Review

Hey guys. My Ipsy post is way late this month because I had to get some shit settled through Ipsycare. I had collected enough points over the months to redeem like 11 items, of which I only got one. After a ton of back and forth and fighting the temptation to tantrum quit Ipsy I finally got almost all of my points back minus two foundations and a concealer worth (which I'm calling bullshit on but I digress). And by back and forth I mean a shit load of angry one-sided emails that were completely ignored.

My bag itself was pretty strong this month. Items included:

Beauty For Real I-Line 24-7 Eyeliner in Chocolate Fix - $14.00 FULL SIZED, CF
skyn ICELAND Glacial Face Wash with White Willow Bark - $4.00 CF, V
Vasanti Cosmetics Power Oils Lip Gloss in Super Mom - $5.85 CF, V
theBalm Cosmetics INStain Blush in Pinstripe - $3.38 CF
Doucce MaxLash Volumizer Mascara - $4.58 CF

CF = Cruelty Free, V = Vegan

The bag this month was cute enough. It had a retro vibe with bold red lips, some black color blocking and white polka dots on a tan canvas bag. The contents in the bag weren't even bad. I will definitely get some use out of everything in the bag. I'm just stuck in leftover tantrum mode right now. Most of my points have been refunded to me, aside from those spent on two foundations and a concealer (grrr...) plus I didn't get the items, which I was going to use to save myself a trip to the store. To date my best points purchase was my Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint from last June that I'm pretty near running out of. Ranting aside, I liked the items in the bag this month. All swatches will be at the end of this post including a horrific, poorly lit, foundation/concealer-less photo of me trying on the items from this month's bag.

At first I was not thrilled with the Beauty For Real eyeliner. The only colors available this month were gold and brown. I was not overly thrilled about gold because 1) I do not know how to create looks and 2) it is such a bold color, but at least it would be fun to play with. I was somehow even less thrilled with brown. I think my exact thought was "Oh yay, something that will entirely blend in with my skin!" I will admit I was very wrong though. Breaking news in Morgan's world: We are now allowed to wear light makeup at work, which includes eyeliner and mascara. Thanks to subscription boxes I now have a ton of eyeliner to burn through. Its great having a brown eyeliner now. This has actually been my go-to at work since I do not feel comfortable yet wearing obvious makeup. I love that it blends after the first few seconds of applying if I wanted a smoked out look-it's-exactly-my-skin-tone look but once it sets, it's not going anywhere. Application is also very smooth and I feel like brown is far more forgiving than black if I have the DT shakes in the morning when trying to apply.

After my experience with the skyn ICELAND Antidote lotion you bet I'm going to be excited to see this brand in any subscription box. That being said, this cleanser was a little lackluster. It's definitely serviceable: it cleans, it isn't drying, it's light weight yet foams. However there is nothing special about it. I might be biased after my discovery of a https://shop-us.skinfixinc.com/products/foaming-oil-cleanser. Still though, I can and will always use a new cleanser. And this product doesn't make me any less excited for this brand.

I had my reservations regarding the Vasanti Cosmetics Lip Gloss. Mostly because of the shade "Super Mom." It turns out my concerns that this would be too pink of a shade were unfounded. Its actually probably the pinkest I would feel comfortable going while maintaining the my-lips-but-better aesthetic. The color is pretty opaque, but a liner would definitely help give it a little more oomph and the formula is only slightly sticky. It also took a few hours for the shade to fade to about half-life.

theBalm Cosmetics INStain Blush in Pinstripe is probably the superhero of my bag. In all of my years of perusing their site, I could never bring myself to drop that kind of money on their products, sight unseen. I always get tempted by their packaging, but of all of their face products, the INStain blushes were the only items to get my attention. Of these, the shade Pinstripe was the only visually appealing swatch available on their website. Oh blessed day, when this tiny little sample wandered into my mailbox. Not only is it larger than previous samples I've received from theBalm but it is just the perfect blush shade. Less brown than a blush I received in April while still being a perfectly cool toned plum/pink that will flush beautifully on my cheeks. It's as if this blush was designed with me in mind. I will definitely buy the full size if I can ever manage to kill this little guy off.

The unfortunate thing about Doucce MaxLash Volumizer Mascara is that I already have two open deluxe sized mascaras. Hopefully I will be able to blast through them at a decent clip right now-I'm struggling to love my Smashbox Full Exposure mascara and I have married my It Cosmetics Superhero Stretch mascara. MaxLash isn't a bad formula... It's just a very wet formula. Perhaps as it dries over the next couple of months it will be easy to use. I noticed minimal flaking but then I still haven't given it much love to be able to give an accurate review of it. I did notice that because it is such a wet mascara, it tends to weigh down lashes and transfer to the upper lid if I blink within 5 minutes of applying. I did not notice any volume and only a modest amount of lengthening.

The only bonus item I received was a Multi Purpose Powder Brush by Royal and Langnickel ($9.99 CF, V). It's super cute, very soft and has a no slip handle which is probably not necessary but feels awesome. I'll be honest though, I have yet to use it. I plan to get a setting powder in the near future. I'm novice enough that it just hasn't come up yet.

Left to Right (no flash): Beauty 4 Real Liner, theBalm Blush and Vasanti Lipgloss

Left to Right (with flash): Beauty 4 Real Liner, theBalm Blush and Vasanti Lipgloss

Awful picture wearing only this month's glam bag items and a shiny post-work face.

All in all it was a good bag valued at $31.81, which is rather on the low end for Ipsy (not including the brush). I got all items I would actually use (at work even) and the most beautiful plum blush I've ever encountered. The bag was curated very well and all of the items work well together to give me an awake, put-together-but-I-didn't-try-at-all look. Great for a no makeup makeup work look. I'm trying very hard to pull up my big girl panties and not remain salty about the few non-refunded points, as well as the hassle of going through customer service and now having to go out and drop cash on a foundation on my own. Yeah, I truly am that lazy that I was hoping to put off foundation shopping for a little bit. On that note, I have high hopes for this month, at least as far as curated products go.