Sunday, March 25, 2018

Ipsy Review for January 2018



I will just skip the preamble and address the pool noodle sized running shoe in the room. While I appreciate the spirit of January’s bag it is pretty goddamned hideous. I get it: to each his own, but I’ve never appreciated the aesthetic of tennis shoes outside of Converse, Vans or late 90's-early 00's Airwalks (i.e. any stereotypical skater shoe). When I first saw the January bag I first thought “fuck me, it’s a shoe” where elsewhere I kept hearing it was a pool toy. Fair point but seriously, New Balance. At least the bag contents fared somewhat better than the bag itself.

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I am a scrub snob and though coffee is a rare drink for me, I love the scent of a good coffee shop. What’s better than a coffee scrub then? Being able to reach below my kneecaps. I’m already starting off with the disadvantage of having all the flexibility of Kirk Douglas in a hot yoga class but add on a bump the size of an African elephant in late term pregnancy and you have a recipe for disaster in the shower. That said, I’ve only been able (willing) to use this scrub on my ultra dry hands. This scrub by The Coffee Scrub arrived in brown, non descriptive packaging in the scent coconut. I’ll be honest, the coconut scent is mercifully mild. While I love the smell of coconut, it doesn’t play well with coffee, but that’s just personal preference. I was also a little bummed that I couldn't find anything stating that this product is cruelty free. The company didn't even lazily lie saying they were cruelty free without a Leaping Bunny logo or PETA accreditation anywhere so it's pretty blatant there are a bunch of caffeinated bunnies and monkeys running around somewhere. ...And so my guilt deepens.






 


I know I changed my profile up recently to try to score more adventurous shades and colors. It I may be having second thoughts about that decision. I received the Furless Loose Pigment Eyeshadow in the shade Sneaky and while it is a beautiful satin indigo shade, it might be too dark for my geriatric hooded eyes. I was never into the super sultry smoky eye, mostly because I’ve never been able to master it, and I feel like this might force my hand in learning the technique. It pulls more blue than my Naked Cosmetics in Heavy Metal #5 but it has the same amount of shimmer. It also applies far more smoothly than my Meet Matt(e) Moskowitz shadow from theBalm I received once upon a time. As an aside, while looking up the size and value, I realized the full size of this product is 0.28oz which is 8g which is pretty ridiculous. After perusing YouTube for about 5 seconds I realized I'm an idiot, the full size is in fact 8g, and what I received and had erroneously thought to be full sized in my bag is only1/4 of that volume. If you do happen to buy this product, be aware of how much pigment you will actually be acquiring.


 


The last thing I need right now is another liquid eyeliner pen but Ipsy had other ideas for me. The Ciaté London Fierce Flicks Eyeliner is your basic black, felt-tipped liquid eyeliner and damn, do I wish I had lid space for these things. The formula is a very inky black and has some serious lasting power. It isn’t removed from the eye area and my arm swatches lasted through 2.5 showers before completely disappearing. 


A mud mask is always a nice addition to a bag for me and I’ve seen Global Beauty Care and its various brands around for a while now on places like Hautelook and Amazon. There is nothing special about this mud mask. In fact, the mot remarkable thing about this sample is the packaging itself. I love how the pouch has a resealable cap and lends itself to being able to squeeze out as much product as possible. The mask did not have a scent, applied easily and was not irritating at all. It was on the thicker side and dried in about 10 to 15 minutes. I didn’t notice much beyond some mild tightening of the skin after using it. I claimed a second one recently using Ipsy Rewards Points and gave that one to a friend who is concerned with her acne. 




The superhero of January was the NYX Lip Lingerie in the shade Beauty Mark. I love this shade. I was originally concerned that it would be too close to the Liquid Suede lippie I have in Brooklyn Thorn. That concern was quickly replaced with the worry that Beauty Mark would be too much of a true brown shade to actually be wearable. I've since learned that my concerns were unfounded and Beauty Mark has actually become my favorite brown, above even the grayish brown of Brooklyn Thorn, which is cool toned enough that it only works in certain scenarios. The application of this lippie is very smooth and it lasts for hours. I do find the Lip Lingerie formula a little more drying than the Liquid Suede formula but the payoff is that this lippie is actually transfer proof which I cannot say about Brooklyn Thorn.

The photos below are of me wearing Beauty Mark on my lips and some other crap that was so long ago that I genuinely cannot remember what it was. I believe it was the Maybelene Fit Me foundation in 330 mixed with Esteé Lauder Foundation in the shade 4W1 Honey Bronze, Marcelle Nano Mascara from the December Birchbox, The Beauty Crop Glamazon highlight stick from the September Birchbox, NYX Slide On Eyeliner in Brown Perfection from the December Ipsy bag and I'm honestly not sure about the eyeshadow but it was either Marsk You're Toast from my February 2017 Ipsy bag or the Smashbox Golden Hour duo on top of the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Au Naturel (both from the December Sephora Play box). Please mind the shine, The photos were taken in O'hare after a full day of work and travel.


Swatches Left to Right: NYX lippie, Furless pigment, thin and thick swatch of Ciaté London Eyeliner
Upon typing this up I realized how well I actually made out in January. I received two full sized items; the lip product will sure as hell get used to its dregs. The eyeliner will be useful but perhaps not for half a decade considering how many similar items I currently own. My bag value was $37.04 this month. Pretty average and well worth it considering my $10 investment. I've noticed that over the course of the past year or so the value of the bags have decreased significantly. I cannot complain though because of the number of items I've claimed as rewards points and the number of items, both full and sample sized, that I've been able to use for myself. The minority that I can't use, perhaps 40% at most on a bad month, I just end up gifting to a friend or coworker. The running shoe of a bag also happened to get gifted, albeit reluctantly. Though I hated it, it was unique enough that I would have rather donated it to a shelter and let it brighten somebody's day than give it to a coworker.
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