January ipsy bag

I was really pleased with this month's ipsy bag. There wasn't anything in it that I actively disliked, and only one item I wasn't super excited about. I was also impressed with how many full sized items I got. There was only one trial sized item, which luckily was the one I wasn't too excited about. Hehe.
Shall we have a look then?

The items I received were:
A lovely block colored makeup bag
La Fresh Eco-Beauty - Be Good. Good Day. Day Moisturizer
Elizabeth Mott - All Over Shadow Brush
Pacifica - Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow (Ethereal)
BelláPierre - Shimmer Powder (Celebration)

All the items came in this lovely makeup bag.

The other side is white. It's a two for one color wise with a orange pull tie.

La Fresh Eco-Beauty - Be Good. Good Day. Day Moisturizer View here

This moisturizer has some pros and cons. I used it yesterday and today. It feels pretty light on your skin. I was surprised, that it did smell like real cucumbers. However it did also have another smell to it that I didn't like as much. I did like the moisturizer, but I know for sure, that I am not in a position that I would spend $40 on a full sized jar of moisturizer. Honestly, I'm not sure if I ever will be in that position. haha

So to test out the two eye shadows I received I figured I'd put down some basic makeup as a canvas. This is me without any of the ipsy items. (Except for the moisturizer I used earlier today)

Before putting on makeup I always put my hair back so it doesn't interfere.

Elizabeth Mott - All Over Shadow Brush View here

Here you can see the back of the packaging. Sorry it's not the best picture, there is some glare.

What can I say about this brush, other than I adore it! Brushes are important, but not usually something I geek out over. This brush is different, it is so very soft and easy to use. Of course the fact that it's pink doesn't hurt either, as you may know I adore pink. The back of the brush package says that the brush is ridiculously soft. Gotta say, they weren't lying! Considering this brush is only $10 i would definitely repurchase it and recommend it to anyone! I used this brush to apply the two eye shadows I received.

Pacifica - Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow (Ethereal) View here

It's a very light color.

This shadow is only for sale in palettes.

The shadow goes on very lightly. It's almost imperceptible.You can see a faint shimmer. I chose to put it on the entire lid as I was planning on putting another shadow on my lower lid. It did feel nice going on.

If you look closely you can see the shimmer under the eyebrow.

Here you can see the full lid.

It looks slightly silverish. I like it as a base lid color.

BelláPierre - Shimmer Powder (Celebration) View here

I got the color celebration which is a very vivid gold.

It's a loose powder. So the application was quite messy. But so worth it! The color is very intense. My photos barely do it justice. At $15 a pop, it's a bit more than I might normally spend on an eyeshadow, but I would definitely consider doing it for this, as  the result was quite phenomenal.

Here you can see how it looks with my eyes open, before I added any mascara.

As you can see I also applied some under my eyes. I was planing on doing that anyway, but with how loose the shadow is, some of it went there automatically, so I decided to roll with it.

On my lower lid.

The color looks even more intense in real life than in the pictures. I love the bold color!


Probelle - Into The Blue Nail Lacquer View here

I love the cheerful color. It is a lot lighter than it looked like on ipsy's website. It's not a bad nailpolish for $6. It does need multiple layers though. I put on three to get good coverage. The first one or two layers look pretty streaky.

The color really is so cheerful. A nice bright blue.

So all together this is my look. I also used my red lipstick starter kit that I received from Meyggy and wrote about on my blog in December.

I'm pretty happy with the look. You can also kind of see the eyeshadow sparkle, even when not looking close up.

Just as a disclaimer, I do not receive any free items for reviewing ipsy products on my blog. I pay the same 10 bucks per month as everyone else. However if you do sign up through this link I earn points that I can then later redeem for additional items.

December ipsy Bag

I received my ipsy bag this Saturday. I've been so exhausted and haven't felt up to reviewing it this weekend. I was hoping that my pimple the size of Mount Everest would leave my chin, and take up it's rightful home where it belongs. In other words, not my face! But, alas, now I have given up and I hope you will commiserate with me.
The items I received were:

NYX Cosmetics - Butter Lip Balm

Swissco - Electroplated Eyelash Curler

tarte - deluxe lights, camera, lashes™ 4-in-1 mascara

Pixi by Petra - Fairy Dust

Coolway - Boost Repair Treatment 

My bonus item I redeemed my ipsyPoints for:

L.A. Colors - Chunky Lip Pencil

And they were all  in this bag. I love that ipsy gives you a makeup bag each month. So useful!

 

Since there were no foundation items I decided to use my regular skin care routine so I would look relatively presentable. I used my MaryKay moisturizers etc, their concealer, foundation, setting powder, blush, and since I had heard that the Fairy Dust by Pixi was a challenge to apply I also used my eye primer.
So this first picture here is with only the aforementioned products on. Ha, I say "only" like that isn't already a ton of stuff.

I started with:
NYX Cosmetics - Butter Lip Balm View here

I have two lip glosses from them that my beautiful makeup goddess of a friend Meyggy gave me. I was expecting to like the lip balm. However the color wasn't really my cup of tea. This is a beige/brownish nude color.

Before applying the lip balm. Please don't judge me too harshly. The resolution of my phone camera may just be too high for me. I really need to learn photoshop. On the other hand, at least you can see what it really looks like on a real person without editing.

Ack! Oh, well.

Now here it is with the tinted lip balm:

You can see it looks almost a bit goldish in the picture. I rarely use such nude tones, but it goes on smoothly and feels like it is hydrating my lips. I may get it in a different color for myself. Not too bad for 4 bucks.

Next I used:
Swissco - Electroplated Eyelash Curler View here

And unpackaged:

To be fair, I never use an eyelash curler. So it is harder for me to review this item as I don't have much in comparison to go on.

Here is the picture before I used it:

Now while using it:

And after:

Honestly I don't see much of a difference myself. I may need to use it more often or learn how to really do it properly. I guess this is the reason I've never used it regularly. I'm hoping to do a beauty day with my friend Meyggy and have her teach me all her secrets.

Next we have:
tarte - deluxe lights, camera, lashes™ 4-in-1 mascara View here

It is a small sample sized tube.

The mascara gives more length and volume. I do quite like it. The only drawback preventing me from possibly purchasing this item is, that it doesn't do a good job of separating the lashes. I don't like them to clump and go all spiderweby. I will use this mascara until it runs out though.

Time for that:
Pixi by Petra - Fairy Dust View here

Reading the reviews many people complained about this sponge applicator:

In the reviews I read people complained it was very messy to apply and that the built in sponge applicator wasn't the best way to apply the eyeshadow. So I decided to use a tissue to catch any straying powder. My poor husband had to come and take a picture of the process.

I was surprised that I didn't really have a problem with the powder straying. It went on pretty well and provided a decent amount of coverage.

 I actually like the color. It is very understated.

Usually I would apply this before the mascara. Some of the dust sparkled onto my eyelashes. I just went back over it with mascara this time around. I would however suggest adding the eyeshadow before the mascara. That's a good rule of thumb anyway. Also I checked and even after a few hours I had no issue with creasing.
From looking at the reviews I was expecting to like this least, but it's actually turned into one of my favorite items from this grab bag.

I'm going to interject my bonus item now because this is kind of the order in which I applied them. I used 500 of my ipsyPoints to have this added to my bag:
L.A. Colors - Chunky Lip Pencil in the shade wine View here

 I wanted to see what this would look like, so I wiped off the tinted lip balm and applied the chunky lip pencil.

I like the color. I also like the feel. It does go on smoothly and feels moisturizing. However the downside is, that while the pencil is retractable it starts out being too far out and mine partially broke off. It got kind of bent. I wasn't terribly happy about that. It made me be hesitant when applying it. It did dry out after a while. Considering the price tag of $3.50 and how much I liked the intense color I would probably get it again.

Here is what the look looks like with all of these products:

Last and also least is this hair product:
Coolway - Boost Repair Treatment View here

This is a type of hair mask. You apply it after shampoo and have to let it sit for at least 4 minutes.

It did make my hair very soft, untangled, and smooth. It does the trick. However I couldn't get over the smell. It smelled like gingerbread with hair dye. Yuck. I did not enjoy smelling like a hair salon. I just couldn't do it. But I'm pretty sensitive to smells. I doubt I'll even use what's left in the tube.
Here you can see my hair though, it is really shiny:

And now we're done. I hope you can find some of this information useful. As always I welcome all input and thoughts from anyone reading.

Now I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go:

I don't make any money or receive anything in return for posting about the ipsy items. However if you choose to sign up at ipsy with my link I do get points I can redeem for additional products like the lip pencil. Everything I write here is my personal opinion.

Makeup Purge

So, last weekend I decided I needed to clean my bathroom. Really clean it, not just wipe off the counters, etc, but also go through all the drawers and sort through everything. I discovered I have an excessive amount of makeup. Some of it is so old I brought it over from Germany when I moved to America 6.5 years ago. So some of it must have been pretty yucky. I also discovered that I got really tan (for me) over the summer. So a lot of the powders were too light.

Ok, so I spread it all out on my counters. I mean, look at all of this stuff!

 Crazy! And now from another angle:

All those mascaras in the bottom right corner... Oh, goodness! I think only one of those was still good. I also noticed I have duplicates, see those two cucumber peel off masks? All those makeup bags? I think that's like 7 powders. On the left is all my MaryKay stuff too.

So I did a bunch of purging. Got rid of the stuff I didn't think was really still good. I also made myself a couple specific bags:
A bag to keep in my purse for work with a few necessities, lip gloss, powder, lipstick, eye shadow.
A grab bag for trips, a bit of everything I might need to do makeup on an overnight trip.
A tiny Clinique bag with powder, blush, and lipstick.
And a bag with my every day items to do makeup.

Here's what my counter looks like after organizing.

I am still using my Tom's box to keep a lot of my makeup in it. I need to find a better way to organize my makeup though, obviously! Who else keeps their makeup in a shoebox?
Not pictured is that on the side I kept my ipsy bags separate. I don't know why, but I like to keep my ipsy products in their individual bag. Maybe that's just an odd tick I have.


Anyone have any good organizing tips for makeup? I'd love to hear from you all in the comments!

November ipsy Bag

This month's glam bag was interesting. The items I thought I'd love didn't measure up, and those that didn't look as promising surprised me! At the same time I tested all my ipsy products, I also tested some Lancome products I was given by a friend who works at the Lancome counter at Macy's. I will be doing a write up on those separately though. I'll add a link to it in here when I'm done. :)

All of the products together.

 I love, love, love, the hot pink metallic bubble wrap bag!

So, here is my sparkly bag for the Girl Meets Glam edition.

So much sparkle!

Here was one of the first items I tested.

Be A Bombshell Cosmetics - Eye Base (Color: Submissive)

Full sized

This is a creamy eye shadow base that can be layered for color. It is a nice gold color. I was excited for it and thought I would love it. I actually have quite a few gold cream eye shadows and use them often. I'll admit, I also liked the brand name and thought it was cute and fun.
Here you can see it applied:

I applied one layer on the whole lid, and about three on the bottom lid. I like the color, I like how it looks, buuut. Yes, there's a but. I tried it again the next day and even used eye shadow primer and it still creased. It didn't last long. It was a bummer for me to see it all disappear in the eye lid creases and not keep the color on the rest of the lid.
I may use it on the future as a base when I apply other shadows above it, but other than that it was a bust. I was pretty disappointed.


Next Item
J. Cat Beauty - Wonder Lip Paint (Color: Red Potion)
Full sized

I was hoping I'd get the lighter shade Mad Splatter, but I got the darker Red Potion. I was not expecting to like this at all. I thought it would be waaay too dark, but, surprise, it was actually really nice. Beware, I didn't know what I was doing the first time around, and put it on with my finger. That was crazy messy and went everywhere! So you should definitely use a lip brush like I did now in these pics. I do need to get a better one. I definitely will continue using this!

It's darker here, and was a bit strong for me, so I blotted it some.

I like the color both ways. It stays on for quite a while. Once you blot it, it's very matte. I wore it the next day too, and then put some gloss on it which looked really nice. Keep some makeup remover handy with q-tips in case some goes awry.

Number 3

Starlooks - Gem Eye Pencil (Color: Ultra Orchid) 

Full sized

I was hoping I'd get this color, and not the Ultra Olive. I like purple, and purple and plum colors go really well with green eyes.

It went on really smooth. I was really happy at first, but then I saw the eye pencil was also really crumbly. I had crumbs of the color all over my cheeks and face. Because it's nice and creamy, it was hard to just brush it off without leaving streaks all over my face. That was kind of sad. But I like it enough to use it despite that. Possibly this was a one time thing, but I'll be careful to try and avoid it when I use it.

You can see it applied to my lower eye. I really like the color. I applied it to my eye lid over the bombshell eye shadow base. It doesn't show up terribly well in the picture, but it does add a hint of color.

And now you can see the effect on my eyes when they are open. I wish I had been able to take better pictures, but it's kind of hard. Perhaps next month I'll conscript someone else to take the pictures. :)

Hmm, I think I need to pluck my eyebrows. (I used the Lancome mascara, as I said, I'll post about that later on.)

Almost done.
TEMPTU - S/B Highlighter
Tiny tester size

This was different for me. I have a highlighter pen, and a highlighter powder. But it's still something I am learning about. This one is very liquid and shimmery.

I like the shimmer, but shimmer can easily turn to shine, which makes you look like you have greasy skin. I used this twice, and didn't notice much of a difference. Judge for yourself. I applied it to the tops of my cheekbones and from my forehead down over my nose bone.

Last but not least...
Marc Anthony - Oil of Morocco Argan Oil Volume Shine Hairspray
Travel sized

Apparently I forgot to take a picture, and since my sister is in town I lent her my camera and cell phone, so I can't take another one. I used a stock photo from the internet instead.
Now about the product: I'd like to preface this post by saying I very rarely use hair spray, so I might not be able to give you the most educated review. This is the first hairspray I've used that actually smells pleasant. I know that's super subjective, but it didn't stink. It made my hair feel a little crunchy, but not as much as others. It didn't give really good hold though. I tried to use it to set curls and they didn't hold well. This is unusual. My hair usually takes curls really well without having to use hair spray at all.
So all in all I'm undecided on this since it smelled nice and made my hair feel ok, but didn't hold the hold really well. Give it a try. I'd love to hear what others think about it.

And here the other side. It looks slightly frizzy, but my hair may have not been all the way dry.

So, using all of the products this was my look at the end of the day. I am pretty happy with the products I got. Considering I paid then bucks for all of it, I can't complain!

I am not getting paid anything by ipsy for posting about the items I receive. To be frank though, if you do sign up through my link I do get awarded points, that I can use towards getting free items. Just wanted to make sure I was upfront with you. I'm really happy with the service and can definitely recommend it!