InglotMatte 325 on the outer third of the lid and used as lower lid liner.
Urban DecayBlackout to darken up the outer edge.
MAC Vellum to highlight the brow, also used as an inner corner highlight.
I used Tarte‘s Black gel liner to create a wing, then used Urban Decay‘s Black Velvet pencil liner to tightline and rim my inner lower lash line. I applied several coats of CoverGirl‘sClump Crusher mascara and then popped on a pair of J. Cat lashes in EL13 with some duo lash adhesive.
Rest of the Face
Foundation: Boots No7 Instant Radiance in Cool Vanilla
Bronzer: NYC – Fire Island Tan
Blush: Hourglass – Diffused Heat
Highlighter: MAC – Silver Dusk
Lips: essence – Wear Berries!
Oh Razzleberry… aren’t you BEAUTIFUL!
Eyes
Urban DecayHalf Baked on the inner two-thirds of the lid.
Makeup GeekRazzleberry on the outer corner and through the crease.
MACRicepaper to highlight the brow.
Urban DecayPerversion mascara is on my lashes.
Rest of the Face
Bronzer: NYCFire Island Tan
Blush: HourglassDiffused Heat
Playing around with Illamasqua‘s Alluvium pigment. Not my best attempt at blending!
Eyes
IllamasquaAlluvium pigment all over the lid.
MAC Handwritten in the outer corner and through the crease.
MAC Shroom to highlight the brow.
Urban Decay Perversion mascara is on my lashes.
Rest of the Face
Foundation: Illamasqua Skin Base in 6.5
Blush: Coastal Scents – some kind of peach blush, no idea name or number
Lips: Bite BeautyFig
Subdued, but rather pretty.
MACVanilla pigment all over the lid.
The pinky-bronze shade from the Sleek Sunset palette in the outer corner.
MACHandwritten tapped lightly in the outer corner and used as a liner.
MAC Shroom to highlight the brow.
Make Up For EverSmoky Lash Extravagant is on my lashes.
Everyone’s already talked about how the bag of the month looks like a deflated beach ball… So now that I’ve stolen everyone elses’ much smarter observation than my own, let’s move on to the contents of the actual bag!
The theme was back to school, but as with all Ipsy bags, the theme never really seems to make any sense. I mean it’s all makeup at the end of the day… we wear this stuff year ’round!
Urban Decay Perversion mascara
The big hitting product this month was Urban Decay‘s brand new Perversion mascara. People were absolutely freaking out over the size of this sample on the Ipsy threads, but when I go back and compare it to previous deluxe size samples of mascara I’ve received through Ipsy before, it’s near identical in volume. Most deluxe size samples are between 0.1 and 0.2 fluid ounces (this one is 0.1 fluid ounce). There is nothing wrong with this sample – heck you can even tell they stuffed the tube because the darn thing makes a squelching sound every time I open it. If anything, I think UD just really knew how to package this sucker.
ANYWAY. On to the actual mascara. Plain and simple: I love it. It has a natural, “normal” brush and it coats my lashes wonderfully. It’s smooth, thick and wetter than most mascara formulas, which is something I like in particular. This one is a winner, and I may very well buy the full size when I finish this one.
Dr. Brandt – Pores No More pore refiner primer
I had amazing results with Dr. Brandt‘s microdermabrasion scrub, but unfortunately a primer just isn’t necessary for me. It smells heavily of tea tree oil, which is really nice (if you like the scent, of course!). It has a silicone feel on the skin, which I quite like, but I couldn’t tell you if this does what it’s supposed to do because I never notice a difference with my foundation whether I use primer or not.
LORD & BERRY Black SILK mini kajal kohl liner
This is a black liner that does absolutely nothing. There’s nothing remotely enticing about this product. Lord & Berry say it’s a kohl kajal, but the damn thing is so stiff that it’s hard to get colour pay off (as you can see in my eye shot above). It was difficult to even get that much on my lid. I tried tightlining with it and I swear it smudged off within 30 seconds. I’ve no use for this liner at all.
Absolute – You’re The Balm – Grape
This one wigs me out. Absolute‘s You’re The Balm in Grape looks, feels and smells like a very cheap product. It’s a relatively clear, gelatinous balm with multicoloured sparkles mixed in. Normally the glitter would fill me with glee, but since it goes on the lips rather gritty, I really just feel like I’m wearing a Wet n Wild sparkly balm from the 90s. I’ve only tried it once and was too disgusted to try it again. It’s sitting in a corner on my makeup desk, waiting for the moment that I gather the courage to try it again…
Coastal Scents Forever Blush Sample
These Coastal Scents blushes aren’t too bad actually. The pans are really tiny and I made the mistake of accidentally cracking the product on one of them while trying to get it out of the plastic packaging. It can be a bit difficult to get your blush brush into these products though since the pans are so bloody small. The colours, however, go on my cheeks rather nicely and have lasted throughout and entire work day, so that’s a huge bonus for a relatively inexpensive products.
Ipsy August 2014 Breakdown (all prices in USD)
Urban DecayPerversion mascara (0.1 fl oz @ $5.50, full size is $22 for 0.4 oz)
Dr. BrandtPores No More pore refiner primer (0.25 fl oz @ $11.25, full size is $45 for 1 fl oz)
Absolute You’re the Balm Lip Balm in Grape ($2.99, full size)
Coastal ScentsForever Blush Sample Duo (2.5g @ $2, full size is $7.95 for 10g)
Lord & Berry Black SILK Kajal Kohl-Liner (0.6g @ $7.50, full size is $15 for… double the size? – just a guess, I can’t find sizing info anywhere)
BAG VALUE = $29.24
My Thoughts
Kalyn basically summed up my thoughts in her own post on this month’s Ipsy bag, but in essence… aside from the mascara, this bag bored me. After such an amazing last month, this bag was just an absolute downer. It was so offputting that I’m considering whether or not want to stay subscribed to Ipsy. I think I’m at this point where I’m realizing that some of this is really just unnecessary products that I use, but never really fall in love with. I’ll see how next month goes and then make a solid decision.
This is my first month as an Ipsy subscriber. Being in Canada, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay the additional $4.95 USD just for shipping (the bag itself is $10 USD which includes the cost of shipping if you’re in the USA). However, after seeing years worth of Ipsy haul videos on YouTube filled with so many good things, I finally decided it was worth it.
When I originally looked at spoilers for my bag, I was little “meh” about it all, but I have to say I’m pretty happy with what I got in my first bag! I had the opportunity to test out all the products before I made this post, so you’ll not only see what I received this month, but you’ll also get an idea as to whether the products are actually any good.
Enough talking, on with the goods!
The first item didn’t fit in the blue makeup bag, but was just sitting inside the foil packet.
Coastal Scents Small Foundation Brush ($4.95 USD, full size)
In spite of the fact that I absolutely love makeup, I’m really not one to purchase many makeup brushes. Reason being that I dislike spending my money on tools. I’d rather spend my cash on actual products! So because of this, while I have enough brushes to bust out a look, the reality is that I just don’t have a wide variety of them. All this to say… I was really pleased to see a brush in this bag (especially since my bag also came with foundation). The photo above makes it looks smaller than it actually is (it actually looks like a MAC 232 above, hah), although this IS a smaller face brush. Coastal Scents‘ Small Foundation Brush is a synthetic brush and this is full size, which thankfully means no shortened handle. It’s also pretty densely packed, which is not something I expected for a $5 brush.
As you can see in the shot above, it definitely is sized for the face. I do like how it applied my foundation, but I’m not a fan of flat brushes to apply my foundation. I tend to prefer larger buffing brushes if only because it takes me less time in the morning when I’m trying to get my butt out the door to work. That being said, I’ve only used it once so I’ll give it a few more tries and see if I can adapt to using flat brushes. If it doesn’t work out for me for foundation, I’m sure I’ll find another use for it.
MICA Beauty Cosmetics in Natural ($30 USD, full size)
I’m completely unfamiliar with MICA Beauty so this is an all new experience for me. The first thing I did was look up this tinted lip balm to find out how much this retails for and my eyebrows just about shot off my face. This little 4g pot sells for $30 USD. Now, I don’t know who is actually paying $30 for this because that is an extremely high end price for something being touted as a tinted lip balm.
But is this really a lip balm? Not so much. This is more like a potted lipstick. The sensation of this is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s smooth and… well, it’s not slick, but it’s not creamy either. It’s not uncomfortable… it’s just totally different than anything I’ve ever worn on the lips.
MICA Beauty Cosmetics in Natural
I received the colour Natural and it looks pretty brown in the pot but goes on the lips rather rosy. It’s rather shiny when first applied, but it dries down to a satin finish. This does not feel remotely like a lip balm to me. When it dries down, it tends to make your lips feel like they’re shrunk a bit and yet it’s not utterly uncomfortable to wear. The dry down will actually help increase the longevity of the product. You’ll be able to touch your lips without transferring any colour – it isn’t until you actually rub your lips where you’ll notice a colour transfer. I don’t feel it’s particularly moisturizing, but it didn’t dry out my lips either.
I didn’t wear this for a great deal of time (only about an hour or so), but I do really like the shade. If I can get used to the sensation of the product, I’m sure I’ll end up keeping this in my desk at work for the days when I forget to bring in a lip product.
Nourish Organic Lightweight Moisturizing Face Lotion Argan + Rosewater (0.5 oz for $6.47, full size is 1.7 oz for $21.99)
Nourish Organic‘s Lightweight Moisturizing Face Lotion with Argan + Rosewater is indeed a pretty thin moisturizer. It feels incredibly liquidy, which doesn’t give me the feeling it’ll be moisturizing enough. It took a bit of rubbing to get the product into my skin, but it did sink in eventually. However, once it dried, it made my skin feel slightly tight, almost as if it had formed a shell over my skin and it needed to be cracked. I realize that sounds incredibly dramatic, and it’s not like it formed an entire plaster over my face, but it didn’t feel great. I’ll finish up the deluxe sample, but I wouldn’t ever purchase this product. Also… this smells like apricots even though the product says it’s the argan and rosewater variety. Odd.
Thin moisturizerAbsolute! Make-Up Cleansing Tissues in Pomegranate Extract ($2.49 for 10 wipes, full size)
I received the Pomegranate Extract scent/flavour of the Absolute! Make-up Cleansing Tissues in my bag. They claim to remove all makeup, including waterproof mascara. Since I wear waterproof mascara daily, I was more than happy to try these out after a day at work.
So I came home yesterday and swiped off my makeup. And rubbed at it. My foundation came off without a hitch, but I did have to rub a decent amount at my lashes, including a lot of wiggling of the tissue *on* my lashes. It’s not something unusual for a makeup removing wipe, but it’s not something I particularly enjoy doing. In the end, they did work, but not as good as some other wipes I’ve used (Neutrogena springs to mind).
The other thing about these is that they smell kind of off. I don’t know if it’s just relegated to the pomegranate scent, but they initially smelled like an alcoholic froufy drink… and then the more I rubbed it on my skin the more nauseating the scent became. I’m glad there’s only ten in this pack because the smell of them would do me in if I used many more than that. I wouldn’t re-purchase these with my own money, but I was happy to try them out and I’ll finish up the package.
Yaby Liquid Foundation Natural Finish in Buff ($13.55 USD, full size)
This was incredible! I’ve heard about Yaby before, but didn’t own anything by them and don’t ever recall seeing them in stores. I was a bit skeptical about receiving a foundation because blind colour matches can be almost impossible. But this shade in Buff is a PERFECT match for my skin right now. It also looked and felt incredible on my skin. It was one of those moments where you step back from your mirror and go “whoa”. It was THAT good. I also like that the foundation is so small (although this is a full size tube) and has a nozzle end. This makes this the absolute perfect foundation for travelling with and I intend to save it for those occasions.
Keep in mind that ounce for ounce, this is a very expensive foundation. Since the full size tube is only 8 ml (versus the normal 30 ml in most foundations), if you were to buy a full ounce of product, as most foundations come, this would set you back about $50 which is on parr with high end foundations.
Yaby foundation in Buff under two different sets of lighting
To me, this foundation actually feels pretty similar to Revlon‘s Colorstay. It seems to have the same long lasting effect and it does make my skin feel a bit tight (not an issue for me now that I’m a bit more used to wearing foundation, but it is a bit annoying around the 12 hour mark). I love this and I would definitely repurchase this when I run out. As a side note, I was pleased to find out that Yaby is actually a Canadian-brand, developed in Toronto!
Ipsy January 2014 Breakdown
Coastal Scents Small Foundation Brush – $4.95 USD (full size)
I do have to say box’s overall monetary total is greatly inflated because of the tinted lip balm – I really don’t know who would pay $30 for that, it seems totally out of line. Regardless, I am really quite pleased with this bag. I enjoyed getting a new brush and I was SO HAPPY with that foundation that those two right there made the whole bag for me. The moisturizer wasn’t to my liking, nor were the wipes, but that’s really just a personal preference. The lip tint was interesting to play with although not a complete winner for me.
I’ll definitely be staying subscribed to Ipsy in the coming months. It really is a steal at $14.95 USD (for Canadians, $10 for Americans). If you’d like to sign up and would like to give someone a referral credit (I receive points I believe, not compensation of any kind), you can use my referral link.
If you received something different in your bag, let me know what you got and whether or not you like it!
