Review: January Ipsy Glam Bag

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hey gang! I know I missed reviewing the past few Ipsy bags, but I managed to get this month's done! (In case you don't know, Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service that costs $10 and is somewhat customizable. Feel free to use my referral link if you want to try it!)

This was a decent month; I'll definitely be using up two of the products, and probably trashing another two.

1. Eco-Beauty Good Day. Day Moisturizer

This is probably my favorite product in the bag! It feels light and non-greasy, but definitely provides moisture. It has a light natural cucumber scent and contains hyaluronic acid along with several plant extracts that are meant to have anti-aging properties. I also appreciate that they didn't send a teeny tiny sample size. Although the full size is pretty pricey ($40 for 50 g) so I'm not sure I'd shell out for it.

2. Hikari Mechanical Eyeliner in Storm

(Boy, I'm getting really tired of getting eyeliners in my Ipsy bags. Even if I used eyeliner regularly, I'd still have way too many by now!)

This is a metallic gunmetal eyeliner with a twist-up dispenser. The color looks like it could be nice, but I had a really hard time getting it to draw evenly on my skin. It was barely showing up unless I pressed very hard. Judging from the reviews, a lot of people had this problem, so it's not just me being dumb!

3. Manna Kadar Cosmetics Sheer Glo

This was the other let-down of the bag for me. It's an all-over highlighter cream that's supposed to "provide a youthful glow and dewy finish". Now, my life goal is to make my face less shiny, so anything that makes me more "dewy" is a bad thing.

So the swatch above shows the stuff before it's blended in. It has a pink tint with little gold flecks that are impossible to photograph. As far as I can tell, the pink pretty much goes away once you blend it (although I'm already very pink, so it's hard to say for sure). I put it on under my makeup, and at first I definitely looked shiny (er, sorry, "dewy"). Once I got the rest of my makeup on, I couldn't tell that I was wearing a highlighter at all. Plus, it gave me that grimy feeling I associate with liquid makeup (I switched to powder makeup a long time ago for my oily skin). So, yep, into the garbage.

4. Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eyeshadow in Treasure

This is the second time I've gotten a Pacifica coconut eyeshadow in my Ipsy bag. Last time the shades were disappointingly faint, but I think they did a better job with this one. It's a bronzey gold metallic and it definitely showed up well on my lids. I also appreciate that Pacifica tries to avoid including some of the yuckier ingredients that can show up in other eyeshadows. I'll probably wear this again.

5. (MALIN+GOETZ) Mojito Lip Balm

I was surprised how much I like this lip balm. It's in liquid gel form and has a nice subtle, not-too-sweet fragrance. It goes on very thick and velvety, although I've found it can get sticky over time. It adds some shine too. I don't recognize most of the ingredients, so I couldn't say if it's actually doing something good for my lips, but it definitely feels nice. The one thing I don't like about liquid lip balms is that I feel like I use too much, and the full size is $12, so I won't be buying more.

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Review: October Lip Monthly bag

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi guys! Today I have a review of a subscription bag I just decided to try out for a few months. Lip Monthly sends you a variety of lip products each month, plus one other beauty product. It costs $10 per month, but you can get a discount if you buy multiple months in advance. Here's my referral link if you'd like to try it out!

The one downside to this service compared to other ones I've tried is that it isn't customizable, so they don't take your skin tone or other preferences into account. It's still a fairly new service though, so this might change in the future.

The theme for October's bag was "the nude lip". Alongside a lipstick, they included multiple lip care products, as well as an eyeliner to use for a smoky eye look. Unfortunately the star of the bag didn't really suit me, as you'll see!

1. Starlooks Lip Sugar

This product didn't come with an ingredients list, but it smells and tastes like brown sugar, so I'm assuming that's the main ingredient. It works pretty much as advertised to exfoliate your lips and doesn't feel overly rough. A little goes a long way. Will definitely use again.

2. Noyah Classic Lip Balm

(Yes, it's spelled Noya on the tube but Noyah everywhere else.) This is a very simple, all-natural lip balm that feels really great and moisturizing. It contains only coconut oil, beeswax, olive oil, and stevia for sweetening. It's also kosher, if you're into that. That said, I do think the balms are a bit overpriced ($4) so I'm glad I got this one for less. (Although I have mountains of homemade lip balm here, so I never need to buy lip balm again.)

3. J.cat Fantabulous Lipstick in Honeycrisp

Here is the promised nude lipstick of the bag. I confess, I always thought "nude" lipstick matched the color of your lips, but this one is actually more like flesh-colored (for me anyway). I can see how this could look good with a really bold eye look. Unfortunately, this particular shade is much more yellow than my skintone, so it ended up looking really weird on me.

(Sorry, indoor pic.)

I wasn't too impressed with the formula either--it wasn't very opaque. Definitely won't be wearing this one.

Bottom to top: J.cat Honeycrisp, Look deVine Pinot Noir, L.A. Girl Blue Metallic

4. Look deVine lip shimmer in Pinot Noir

As you can tell from the above swatch, this product adds just a slight tint and shimmer to your lips. I tried photographing it over a lipstick, but you really couldn't see it. I would mainly use this as a lip balm, because it has a ton of natural oils and feels great. It also has a rather strong grape scent. Additionally, it contains resveratrol, which is found in grapes and is supposedly good for you, but there isn't any clear proof of its benefits in humans.

5. L.A. Girl Eyeliner in Blue Metallic

This is the one non-lip product in the bag. It's a standard pencil eyeliner. As you know, I'm not a big fan of eyeliner, but I tried it on and it seemed to work decently. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good photo of it.



OK, so I was happy with 3/5 of my first Lip Monthly bag, and that's decent for a subscription service. I have three more prepaid bags coming, so I'll let you know how they are!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Review: October Ipsy Glam Bag

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Friday everyone! We've had some super crazy weather here lately--intense wind and rain for two straight days. I guess winter really is coming. :-/

Here are my thoughts on the Ipsy bag I got this month! Ipsy is a beauty subscription service that costs $10 per month. Each bag is somewhat personalized to your preferences. If you'd like to sign up, please use my referral link!

1. Figs & Rouge Hand Cream in Rose Berry

Always happy to try new hand creams since it's starting to get cold here! This cream has a very watery texture, so it absorbs quickly. Normally I don't like watery creams, but this one does actually feel like it's doing something. My hands feel smoother afterward. I wasn't a huge fan of the scent though (surprisingly, since I love almost all scents). This one had a weird kind of savory quality to it, kind of like goat cheese or something? I don't know. But on this website they have a variety of other scents that sound nice, and the creams aren't too expensive!

2. Skyn Iceland Glacial Cleansing Cloths

These are disposable face wipes that also contain a variety of plant extracts and oils that are supposed to be good for your skin. You don't have to use any water with them or rinse off afterwards. They foam up, but surprisingly don't leave any noticeable residue behind. I did feel clean after using them, although I didn't try them with makeup on. The big downside to any product like this is that they seem awfully wasteful to me.

3. ECRU New York Acacia Protein BB Cream for Hair

Oh joy, another hair product. As I'm sure you've heard me whine before, I have ultrafine hair, so most leave-in products make it feel grimy and heavy. This particular cream is supposed to improve texture, volume, moisture and shine. "Perfect for all hair types." Yeah, we'll see.

So the tube didn't specify whether to put the product on the entire length of your hair, but I went for it. Go big or go home. This cream is water-based, so it didn't leave behind as much residue as I was expecting. It did weigh down my roots though. In terms of benefits, I saw marginal improvement in texture/smoothness, but as soon as I went outside in the wind, my hair frizzed up like a sheepdog again (as you can see in the pic below). So, overall, not impressed.

4. City Color Be Matte Lipstick in Cappuccino

(Sorry for the indoor pics--again, crazy weather!)

OK, this lipstick has some downsides but I can't help liking it. It has the feel and smell of a crayon, as in Crayola. (I guess that's not a downside if you have some crayon-related nostalgia.) It doesn't spread very smoothly at all. BUT it has great pigmentation and I really love the color! I don't care if it smells like a crayon, I'm going to wear this one. (Swatch on top in pic below.)

5. Jesse's Girl Mineralized Baked Shadow Powder in Graphite Frost

(Swatch on bottom in above pic.) This eyeshadow is meh, just OK. I'm not a huge fan of the color, as I normally go for more natural-looking eyeshadows. Pigmentation is mediocre.

Here's me doing my best "smoky eye" with Graphite Frost in the crease and a little below my lower lid. The lipstick is NYX Ceto, one of my favorite nude shades. (And check out that frizzy hair!)

Welp, another month, another Ipsy bag. I haven't gotten a nail polish from Ipsy in a long time, but I know other people are getting them! Grrr!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Review: NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

So one interesting thing I've noticed since I started getting into nail polish is that I've gradually become more interested in other kinds of makeup too. I used to only wear makeup (other than foundation etc.) on special occasions. Then I started expanding my eyeshadow collection and learning how you're actually supposed to apply it (I'm still working on that one!). Now I'm starting to experiment more with lip color. It took me a long time to feel comfortable wearing colors other than nude!

So all that is to introduce the fact that I recently bought a set of five NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams for 50% off from Ipsy. Matte lip products (or highly pigmented lipstick of any kind) are pretty far out of my comfort zone, and these looked really pretty, so I went for it.

The five I got are all on the lighter end of the color spectrum. Since the formula on all was the same, I'll describe it here. As the name suggests, these products have a creamy consistency--more liquid than a lipstick (they apply with a doe-foot applicator) but more solid than a lip gloss. They are nicely pigmented and don't feel too dry, although they don't feel moisturizing like their site claims.

The lip creams do tend to settle into the lines on your lips. I'm not sure if they'd still do this over a lip primer, as I don't own one (shocking!!). As for durability, I'd give them an average rating. You can lick your lips or take a drink without really fading the color, but they also wipe off pretty easily and don't leave any sort of stain behind. So be prepared to reapply if you're planning to wear one of these for a long time.

OK, on to the colors!

From left to right (the descriptions come from the NYX website):

• Sydney: soft lavender
• Istanbul: clean pink
• Milan: mid-tone blue-toned pink
• Antwerp: mid-tone yellow-toned pink
• Stockholm: mid-tone beige pink

While these are all pretty, I think Stockholm was my surprise favorite. At first glance I thought it would look too brown, but it doesn't stand out as much as I expected and actually makes for a nice alternative to nude. I really like Istanbul too. I think Sydney is the only one I wouldn't really wear--it's so pale, and I'm already pale enough! It would look great on someone with darker skin.


The NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams are available at the NYX website for $6 each!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Review: September Ipsy Glam Bag

Good morning all! Today I'm going to show you what I got in this month's Ipsy bag! If you're not familiar with Ipsy, it's a beauty/skincare subscription service that sends you 4-5 samples and full size products per month for $10. You can customize your bags to a certain extent. If you'd like to sign up, please use my referral link here!

I got some nice products this month, although they sent me eyeliner AGAIN!! This is like the third or fourth month in a row...just goes to show you that the bags really aren't fully customizable!

1. Mitchell and Peach Luxury Hand Cream

I was excited to get a hand cream, since I am pretty rough on my hands, but I wasn't terribly impressed with this one. It felt thin and not particularly luxurious. On the bright side, it didn't leave much greasiness behind. It has a light floral scent, primarily lavender. The full size is pretty pricey (17 pounds), so definitely not something I'd buy.

2. Cailyn Art Touch Tinted Lip Gloss in Love Affair

I really like this gloss! It's well-pigmented but not vampy, and it feels nice and smooth. It starts out very shiny, but after a while looks more like a lip stain.

3.  Nourish Organic Moisturizing Cream Face Cleanser

This is the second Nourish Organic product I've gotten from Ipsy, and I've been happy with both. (I actually bought a full-size bottle of their lightweight moisturizer because it's perfect for summer!) This cleanser makes me feel clean but not over-dry, and that's really all you can ask for. It's on the thin side (I'm not sure I'd call it a cream), doesn't foam up much, and has a faint natural scent.

4. Crown Brush Infinity Shadow/Crease Duet Brush

I'm no makeup brush expert, but I'm a fan of this one! I especially like the crease end, because the bristles are stiff and tightly-packed and allow for pretty precise application. The brushes are made of synthetic fiber.

5.  Pacifica Natural Water-Proof Eye Pencil in Gun Metal

Ahh, my old nemesis, eyeliner. I was a good sport and tried this one on. As far as I can tell, it's decent for a pencil liner, although I still had trouble getting it to go on evenly.

On me it looks pretty much like silver. I used the Crown Brush duo on my eyes here; the shadows are from the Coastal Scents Revealed palette.

That's all, folks! Did you like your Ipsy bag this month?

Review: August Ipsy Glam Bag

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Labor Day weekend! I hope you all in the US are doing something fun over the long weekend! I'll also mention quickly that there's a sale going on right now at my shop!

Today I finally got around to reviewing my Ipsy bag for the month. If you're not familiar with Ipsy, it's a monthly beauty subscription that sends you 4-5 sample and full size products. It costs $10 per month and is roughly customizable. If you're interested in signing up, here's my referral link!

This month was decent, although I wish Ipsy would stop sending me eyeliner!! I give it a low rating every time, yet it keeps showing up in my bag! Anyway, here's what I got:

1. Absolute New York You're the Balm in Grape

Since I make my own lip balm, I think I'm allowed to be extra critical of other lip balms! This one feels nice on my lips (a little thin though), but I have some problems with it: first, I hate balms that come in tins like this rather than tubes, because you either have to get lip balm/spit all over your finger or you have to carry a brush around with you. Plus I find it harder to get the application I want with my finger. I also wasn't a fan of the scent--it's very fake grapey, like a Jolly Rancher. Third, the ingredients are practically all artificial, which isn't a dealbreaker by itself, but you can get more benefits from natural oils/butters in terms of vitamins.

On the upside, I think the price is very reasonable: $6 for two tins of 12 g each.

2. Coastal Scents Forever Blush in Fresh and Elegant

I'm already a fan of Coastal Scents because of their awesome Revealed eyeshadow palettes, but I'd never tried their blush before. Elegant is a pink sparkly blush, and Fresh is a peachy-tan matte blush. Unfortunately neither of the colors looked great on me; I'm too pale for Fresh, and Elegant just made me look like I'd had a few too many glasses of wine (I'm part Irish after all). The wear time on these arm swatches wasn't terrific. I think I'll stick with the blush I use now (L'Oreal True Match Naturale in Rose Glow, in case you're curious).

3. Dr. Brandt Pores No More Pore Refiner Primer

I'm always excited to try a new primer, especially one that reduces shine and oil. Overall I was fairly happy with this one. It does seem to have a blurring effect on pores, and is definitely matte. I think it did even out my skintone a little bit too. The downsides for me were, first, application was sometimes flaky (not sure if the flakes were primer or dead skin), and second, the primer didn't do a great job at slowing down my skin's oil production. So I'd give it maybe a B- overall.

4. Urban Decay Perversion Mascara

Just when I thought I was getting tired of trying new mascara, this product really impressed me! I thought it did a great job lengthening my eyelashes, and I didn't have issues with clumping. Definitely will use again.

5. Lord & Berry Silk Kajal Kohl Eye Pencil in Black

Hey Ipsy, STOP SENDING ME EYELINER!! Seriously. Even if I was a fan of eyeliner, I don't think I'd like this one. The color payoff doesn't seem to be that good, and it wiped off my arm really easily.



Did you like your Ipsy bag this month?

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Review: Makeup by One Direction in Up All Night

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Hope you're having a lovely week so far! Today I have a brand-new makeup kit to show you. It's a limited edition One Direction set called Up All Night! I have to confess that I can't name a single song by One Direction, so I had my husband sing me one (he keeps up on pop culture much better than I do). Anyway, I'm sure there are a ton of One Direction fans out there who are dying to hear about this kit!

The set comes in a tin with a plastic sleeve, which you have to remove every time you open the box--slightly annoying.

Here's the inside of the tin. You can see all the products are in there pretty securely.

Let's look at all the makeup you get in here!

Nail Polish: Na Na Na

Makeup by One Direction Na Na Na. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Na Na Na is a teal/green shimmer. As usual my camera is making it look more blue than it actually is. In real life it's a pretty mermaid green. The formula was pretty sheer for my taste; even at three coats there is still visible nail line. Other than that I had no problems.

Eye Products

From left: Stand Up, More Than This, Gotta Be You, Save You Tonight, Another World, Up All Night

Stand Up eye and body crayon: This is a fat denim blue crayon that can be used as eyeshadow, liner or for body art (along with the included stencils). In my opinion the crayon is a little too fat for eyeliner, but hey, I'm old. The pigmentation seemed good; the arm swatch lasted through 24 hours and a shower.

More Than This: A peachy pink eyeshadow with slight shimmer. It was hard to tell how pigmented this was because it matches my skintone almost perfectly.

Gotta Be You: A taupe-grey shimmer. This one barely showed up on my eyelid when I tried it.

Save You Tonight: This one is my favorite shadow in the palette. It's a shimmery light turquoise. I found that this one went on my eye nicely, but tended to fade when I blended.

Another World: A sparkly royal blue. This one had MAJOR fallout problems. The bits of sparkle basically don't cling to skin (even with primer), so as soon as I blended the shadow it lost all its color.

Up All Night: Blue glitter in a clear base. I didn't try this on my eye, but I'm skeptical about how well it would stay on.

Little Black Dress mascara: Forgot to take a picture of this one! It's a pretty decent mascara. Not the most amazing one I've ever worn. More on the wet side than the crumbly side.

Lip Products

I Should Have Kissed You: A bubblegum pink creme lipstick. Good pigmentation, but on the dry side; after a little while I got creasing. Seems to be long-lasting. I thought the stick was a little too wide, as I had some trouble staying in the lines.

Taken: A hot magenta lip gloss with tiny glitters. This one glows orange under UV light, although unfortunately I couldn't test that! Formula seemed typical for a lip gloss, not too sticky. The glitters are really hard to remove!



My Verdict: The eyeshadow palette was a disappointment, but everything else seems to be of decent quality. While the nail polish is sheer, it could be pretty over a base color. The colors in general definitely skew toward a younger crowd, not surprisingly!


The three Makeup by One Direction kits will be available at the following stores in the US:

Macy's - now available!
Stage Stores - August 25th
Dillards - August 25th
Beauty Brands - August 25th
Lord and Taylor - August 25th

You can also like Makeup by One Direction on Facebook!


The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Review: June Ipsy Glam Bag

Good morning! Today is my and Mr. ALIQUID's first anniversary!! I can't believe a year has gone by so fast. Trudy and I have the best husband/dad on the planet!!


Anyway! Today I'm finally getting around to reviewing this month's Ipsy Glam Bag. If you're not familiar with Ipsy, it's a beauty product subscription service that costs $10 per month. You get 4-5 sample and full-size products each month that are customized (more or less) to your preferences, as well as exclusive deals from all the featured brands. Here's my referral link if you'd like to sign up!

This was an OK month for me (no nail polish though). Only one total dud, I think! For $10 that's pretty good. I'll start with my favorite product!

1. NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel

This is a really nice lip gloss! It feels slightly sticky but generally very smooth and luxurious. The color intensity was just right for me--not totally invisible but not horrible candy pink either. I've already used this gloss multiple times.

2. Laneige BB Cushion

This BB cream came with a lot of literature, so I'll let this sexy lady explain it to you (click for bigger). Basically it's a BB cream with SPF 50, which is obviously a very good thing. It comes in the form of a soaked sponge with a puff to use as an applicator. I guess this gives you more control over the amount you want to use. I got samples of all three shades, so I was a bit grumpy about only being able to use a third of the sample pack.

Obviously, "light" is my shade (are we surprised?? no). I wonder whether "dark" would really work with very dark skin tones, but I can't test that.

Anyway, I found the coverage of this product to be pretty typical for a BB cream, i.e. not as heavy as a foundation. It was neither matte nor shiny on me. Not too greasy. It seems to have good wear time too, which is a plus for a sunscreen product. On the negative side, I did find that it tended to accent any dry spots on my face. It's also pretty pricey: $34 for half an ounce. So probably not something I'll be buying.

3. Be a Bombshell Lash Out Mascara

This seems to be a pretty basic, no-frills mascara to me. It works OK, I didn't have a big problem with clumping, but it doesn't do anything extraordinary either. I found it to be flaky by the end of the day, and not particularly waterproof either. I'd say it's equivalent to my $5 tube of N.Y.C. mascara, but it costs three times more.

Here are the before-and-after shots:

I think my eyelashes are kind of sparse and would probably benefit more from a finer/denser mascara brush.

4. Nicka K Shimmer Eyeliner in Blue

Ahhh, eyeliner...the one eye product I just can't get right. I think this would look really cute for a bolder look, if only I could draw in a straight line. Maybe I'll try it tonight for our anniversary dinner.

5. Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray

Come on, Ipsy, I thought we'd discussed this...don't send me hair products! They don't work 99% of the time. My hair is ultra fine and pretty stubbornly straight. But I tried this stuff anyway, because I guess you never know.

So you're supposed to spray this on damp hair, scrunch it, and then either let your hair air-dry or dry it with a diffuser (which I don't have). The problem is that when my hair air-dries, it poofs out into a mane of frizz. So that's Issue #1. Issue #2 is that as soon as I brushed my hair, all the waves basically collapsed. So instead of having wavy Beach Goddess hair, I had Slept On It Funny hair. Issue #3 was the grimy residue this product left behind. Soooo yep, it's a dud. If anyone wants the rest of my bottle, I'll send it to you!



Did you get an Ipsy bag this month? Did you like it?

Review: May Ipsy Glam Bag

Good morning! I'm skipping the Neverending Pile Challenge for today because I don't have any untrieds that fit the theme. Instead, I'm going to show you what I got in my Ipsy Glam Bag this month!

If you haven't heard of Ipsy, it's a $10-per-month beauty and skincare subscription service. Each month you get 4-5 full size or sample size products. You can review each product to help Ipsy customize your next bag. You also get exclusive deals from all the featured brands each month. Here's my referral link if you're interested!

You might remember that I was slightly disappointed in last month's bag, but luckily this time Ipsy got back on its game! I only had one real dud, and it's a doozy. I'll start with the good stuff though...

1. Nailtini Straight Up Color Nail Lacquer in Bloody Mary

Nailtini Bloody Mary. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Yay, nail polish! I've known about Nailtini for a while but never actually owned any until now. Bloody Mary is a vibrant scarlet that I would call a crelly or very thin creme (you can still see my nail line a little after two coats). It's a bit darker in real life than it appears in my photo. The formula was thin but not too runny. The brush was a little wide for my tastes--I think if you're going to go with a wide brush, you should pair it with a thicker formula that stays in place on the nail, or people will make a mess of their cuticles (as I did). On the whole I would try Nailtini again, although with a more exciting color than red!

2. Hang Ten Classic Sport SPF 50

Since we're rapidly approaching summer (although it still feels like April here today), I was glad to try some new sunscreen. This stuff is a more natural take on sunscreen and has lots of organic ingredients. I especially like the fact that it uses only natural extracts for fragrance; it has a nice subtle tropical scent that's a far cry from the usual overwhelming fake coconut smell of most sunscreens. And it was definitely less greasy than your average sunscreen. I tried it on my arms and could barely tell I was wearing anything. Good stuff!

3. Pacifica Mineral Eyeshadow Duo in Celestial/Opal

I have been on an eyeshadow kick lately, especially for warm neutrals, so I was excited to get this duo. (Note: I'm not actually sure which shade is Celestial and which is Opal, so let's just assume the pink one is Opal, OK?) They're "coconut-infused", whatever that means (there's no coconut in the ingredients list, so I'm assuming it's some coconut derivative). Sadly the color payoff on these shadows was not great, as you can see from my swatches. Opal is a peachy pink shimmer which you can just barely see on my arm, even though I slathered it on. Celestial is a light warm brown with metallic gold highlights. I had a lot of fallout on my cheeks from this one.

Here's a crappy picture of me wearing these shadows over primer. I used Opal on my inner eye and browbone, and Celestial on the middle of the lid--on the eye the brown kind of disappears and you only see the gold, so I used an additional brown shadow on the outside corner to round everything out.

So these eyeshadows were not too exciting, but I will probably still keep them around for subtle looks.

4. Pur~lisse Pur~moist Hydra Balance Moisturizer

I love trying out new moisturizer! Even though this is for "normal-dry" skin and I'm on the oily side, my skin tends to be dehydrated due to my acne treatments, so I love super hydrating stuff. This moisturizer has a gel-cream consistency, spreads on very nicely and feels great. It doesn't sink in completely on me, but I wouldn't say it feels too greasy. The scent is very light and reminds me of my grandma for some reason!

I should note that despite the natural additives it boasts (if you can't read my bad picture, it's got "blue lotus, white tea, soy proteins, sea silk, lupine peptides"), this isn't an all-natural moisturizer. But it does avoid a lot of unpopular ingredients like parabens, petrochemicals, and artificial colors/fragrances. Those natural additives are supposed to do all sorts of good things for your skin long-term, which obviously I can't comment on.

The full-size product is a whopping $55 for 1.7 ounces, so even though I like this moisturizer, I won't be buying it anytime soon.

5. Avene Thermal Spring Water

OK, time for the most bizarre product I've ever gotten in a subscription box. Kindly direct your attention to the ingredients list...yes, this is a spray-can of water. An 18-dollar spray-can of water. It is supposed to sooth irritation after cleansing, skin treatments, sunburns, etc. and otherwise be all-around good for your skin. I read through their entire brochure attempting to find out what made this water different from...y'know, regular water (special minerals from the spring?), but somehow they managed to completely avoid saying anything concrete about how this is supposed to work.

I dutifully tried this product anyway (several times!), for the sake of my gentle readers. I sprayed it on my face after cleansing, let it sit for a minute, then patted dry as directed. Of course, it felt nice and cooling on my face, but so would tap water. I don't have sensitive skin, so maybe I'm not the target audience for this stuff, but I didn't notice any actual effects on my skin. I was surprised to read so many positive reviews on Amazon, and I wonder if there really is something to it or if it's just the placebo effect (I mean, it's French, so it must work, right?).


OK, so aside from the overpriced water, I was satisfied with this Ipsy bag. Don't forget you can use my referral link to sign up if you're interested!

Review: April Ipsy Glam Bag

Well, I'm finally getting around to reviewing my Ipsy Glam Bag from last month! It took me forever to try out all the products! If you're not familiar with Ipsy, it's a beauty subscription service that sends you 4-5 sample or full-size products each month. Bags are somewhat customizable according to your preferences and reviews. Ipsy costs $10 per month; if you'd like to try it out, here's my referral link! (If you use my link, I get points to spend on free stuff!)

This month's bag was a little disappointing for me. There were a couple products I won't use, plus there were a few others in the monthly collection that I really wanted but didn't get (including nail polish!). I'm hoping that my reviews of this month's bag will help me get better stuff next time!

1. Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion

This is a good physical exfoliator, although I have to say it's the most painful one I've tried. It does get the job done though, and my face felt really smooth after use. It smells kind of like lemon drop candies. Given how expensive the full size tube is, I think I'll just use up this sample and then go back to my old exfoliator (Dermadoctor Physical Chemistry, which is both a physical and chemical exfoliator!).

2. Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Apple Pink

It took me a little while to figure out what was going on with this funky container, but then I realized that there's a brush in the cap! Unfortunately the brush is so tiny that it takes forever to get my lips covered evenly. This lip balm definitely doesn't feel very balm-y; it's pretty dry and matte. It contains only synthetic moisturizers, no oils or butters that we might look for in a lip balm. It does have nice pigmentation and seems to be fairly durable. This one gets a "meh" from me.

3. Sexy Hair Root Pump Volumizing Spray Mousse

I let out a sigh when I saw this stuff in my bag. My hair is ultra ultra fine ("like baby's hair", a hairdresser once told me) and basically every leave-in product just weighs it down and makes it grimy. But for the sake of my gentle readers I tried this mousse anyway. You're supposed to work it into your roots and a few inches down from the roots when your hair is damp, then blow-dry.

My first hint that things were not going well was that I had a hard time brushing my hair as I blow-dried it. Sure enough, my roots were sticky and had a visible residue. I did notice a slight increase in volume below the roots (where I put less of the product), but the volume was mainly horizontal and not vertical. My roots themselves remained flat. Oh well!

4. City Color White Gold Shadow & Highlight Mousse

This eyeshadow mousse is a bright, sparkly light gold. It has really nice pigmentation--probably a little too bright for my taste actually. Unfortunately I found it to be a bit sticky and hard to spread, so it wasn't easy to get it diffuse enough for a more casual everyday look. I'm not sure if you could really use this as a highlighter in areas besides the eye because of how pigmented it is.

5. Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-on Eye Pencil in Black Velvet

If only I used eyeliner, this would be the star of my bag! Unfortunately, as I've said before, I'm hopeless with eyeliner because I flinch so much. But I might keep trying with this pencil! It has a really soft, almost liquid-feeling application, and the color payoff was very nice. As you can see, it doesn't make an ultra-sharp line, as it's intended especially for blended-out looks. I think eyeliner fans would really like this product!



So there you have it. Only two, maybe three products that I'll probably keep using. It is a nice consolation that I only spent $10 for all this, and Ipsy is still the best subscription service I've tried, so I'm not going to quit yet!

Did you like last month's Ipsy bag?