It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve written an Ipsy post… Okay, it kind of has been forever. My last Ipsy post was in January! Can you believe that? I think I stopped posting my Ipsy bags because I realized that I’m not really a beauty blogger. I leaned off posting so much about beauty and makeup because that’s not the kind of blogger I want to be and now I’m going to try to incorporate it more because makeup is such a big part of my life!
When I open the mailbox and see a metallic pink envelope sitting there I still get so excited! I had seen a few June unboxing kind of reviews and there weren’t really nice things being said so I crossed my fingers and jumped in!
If you don’t know what Ipsy is, check out some of my other Ipsy posts but I’ll sum it up super briefly, Ipsy is a $10 subscription service. You pay on the first of the month for a makeup bag and five deluxe product samples. Before you receive your bag you’ll get peeks inside, which I think defeats the purpose but what do I know!
The theme this month is “Volume Up” and when I see that I think super outrageous colors, dark smoky eyes with neon pops of color, night life in Miami kind of looks.
The bag definitely reflects the theme, it’s a cloth bag, and like most of the bags it’s fairly well built. It has an Ipsy zipper pull, a pair of red lips and yellow polka dots! I actually really love this bag and I’ll be using it to replace the Ipsy bag I currently use as a pencil pouch.
The first product I notice is the Kokie nail polish. I already have a Kokie nail polish in a dusty blue color. I don’t mind getting nail polish but it seems like Ipsy gives out a sh*t ton of the stuff. The is the shade ‘Gone Rio’ and it’s a coral shade of pink which I mean, I’m not personally down with but I don’t have anything like it in my collection so… It’s a neat addition. This nail polish is worth $6 and I know I will never wear it.
Alright, hoping for a win I picked out the only higher end product I recognized. Aqua XL Pencil Eyeliner from MakeUp Forever in matte black… Now, I love getting eyeliner samples. I found my favorite eyeliner in one of these subscription bags… But this eyeliner sample is not a ‘deluxe’ anything. I’m actually kind of salty about this and I’m sure I’m probably the only one but… The bottom doesn’t twist up, the plastic pencil [read: probably] doesn’t sharpen… There’s a decent sized tip on this pencil but I’m prone to breaking those and then I’m out a sample. Thumbs down. I don’t know who is more at fault, Ipsy or MUF, either way. Boo. No value added.
Giving up on this bag I looked at the NYX whipped lip and cheek color. Stop. Number one, why is it whipped? Number two, I know that I have told Ipsy eighteen hundred thousand million billion times not to send me blush. I do not wear blush. My face is a tomato, I want to cover that sh*t up. Alright, deep breath, it can be a lip color… I swatched this on the back of my hand and it disappeared… I cannot imagine it having any kind of wear time on my lips. No value added.
So, I wasn’t salty about this product when I opened it but now I am. Let me just start with : $15 eyeshadow pan. One pan. $15. Get out of town. I understand, Urban Decay, KVD, they’re up there in price but they have a huge platform for selling their incredible cosmetics… What is so special about this eyeshadow that I should pay $15 for it? This is the Luna by Luna eyeshadow in the shade Jace. On the website there are three shades of shadow and this one is a matte dusty pink color maybe? The website gives no details.
Side rant for just a second : If you’re going to ask me to pay $15 for a single pan of eyeshadow it had better be a beautiful, highly pigmented formula. This isn’t. Or your company should have an incredible story. Luna by Luna says that “when wearing our products, you feel nothing less than a Goddess” and “what is more feminine than feeling sexy and empowered?” I don’t like that kind of mission statement. I’m not a feminist by any means and maybe one day I’ll dive into that story but I still don’t like it when a company is like “ooh, sexy, woman, feminine, buy our product” too many buzzwords, not enough substance.
And the last thing in the bag, two face masks from BioRepublic skincare. There is an aloe aftersun mask and a green tea detox mask. These are both around $5 from what I could gather, making their combined total $10. I like sheet masks fine so I’ll give these a whirl.
All in all, this bag kind of sucked and it definitely didn’t live up to the “Volume Up” theme… Hope next month is better! Do you subscribe to Ipsy? What is your favorite sample this month? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time! Xx
Team Santana 