Before I signed up for an ipsy bag, I subscribed to Birchbox many moons ago. It was terrible. I basically swore off subscription boxes because of Birchbox. I don’t think I used any of the products; I gave them away to my teenage cousins.
ipsy makes you wait a few weeks before you even get the opportunity to buy a bag for $10 per month. You could, in theory, get a bag faster if you sync’d your social accounts and shared/posted a message on your channels. Meh.
My ipsy Glam Bag Review
Fast forward a few weeks later, I received my January ipsy Glam Bag, themed “All Eyes on You.” It comes in a hot pink bubble wrap envelope, which I thought was cute and easy to spot. I love the makeup bag – absolutely love it! My bag contained:
- the balm eyeliner – Mr Write Now in a dark brown
- Blinkle shimmer eyeshadow – in a “tangerine light” (aka orange/copper)
- Mitchell and Peach – body lotion
- Burt’s Bees cleansing oil
- Beau Gachis – smudge brush
I ended up keeping the smudge brush for eyeshadows, eyeliner pencil and cleansing oil. However, after a week of using the eyeliner, I put it in my donation pile. It is not as awesome as my Kat Von D liquid eyeliner or Japanese brand tattoo eyeliner. I have oily lids and anything but those two brands just bleed.
The brush is great and I do like new tools. I don’t have to stress about which brushes to buy because one was just sent to me.
I’ve since stopped using the Burt’s Bees cleansing oil. Just like its baby diaper cream, their stuff smells. I’m sending that to the donation pile as well.
I didn’t open the lotion because I don’t care for perfumed body lotions. I prefer lotions that have very little scent and can moisturize my scaly skin. The lotion and the eyeshadow went to my cousin who’s way younger than me and could probably use some fun color.
Hands off, Toddler Spawn!
So for my first ipsy Glam Bag, let’s give it a B.
In February, my ipsy Glam Bag was a lot better than January. This month’s theme is “Pretty in Ipsy Pink.” There’s got a be a Blaine in the bag, right?
The bag is awesome. It reminds me of Bren’s pixel heart tattoos. Honestly I’m excited to see what this year’s twelve bags are going to be. $10 is worth just these cute makeup bags. My glam bag contained:
- Theorie – argan oil hair serum
- tre’Stique baby blush stick in bora bora coral
- Modelco lip laquer in Morocco
- Ciate London nail polish – in “hutch” (red)
- IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye concealer in medium
February 2016
I am enjoying the Theorie argan oil hair serum. I use it on damp hair and then style (aka. blowdry). Then I add a few more drops to keep my hair down.
Recently I went on a road trip and brought the treStique blush stick. It’s easy to use and it’s a nice color for me. I’m not usually a stick blush person; I’m still using my Tarte blush from three years ago… (Is that bad?)
I can’t wait to use the red nail polish. I’m missing my Julep red polish so this will be a great substitute. I’ve never heard of Ciate before so I’m curious to see how long the polish lasts on my sad nails.
The IT Cosmetics concealer is a little off in color for me, so it’s going to the donate pile. As you may have surmised, I’m yellow-toned, and the concealer has a bit more pink in it than I do. The lip lacquer is also going into the donate pile. Toddler Spawn is super kissable and I don’t like getting lipstick or lipgloss on her perfect baby skin. So I’m out.
Let’s give this bag a B+.
I’m looking forward to next month’s ipsy Glam Bag. Even if I end up donating half the contents, I’m still ahead with a cute bag and half a bag of products that work for me.
However, if ipsy was an Asian kid and I was a tiger mom, they’d be a complete fail with a B grade. Lucky for you, ipsy, I am way more American than I am Chinese.
I redid my style quiz so I could help its algorithms pick “better” products for me for March. We’ll see if it helps!
Are you an ipsy Glam Bag subscriber? What do you think of ipsy?
Disclosure: Post contains a referral link to ipsy. Other than that, I pay for my subscription.
Haha! Great review! I can totally relate with not knowing how to put makeup on properly. I just joined ipsy yesterday so we ll see what happens. My question is, how long did it take to deliver?
Looking back at my emails from Ipsy… it took four weeks from sign-up to another email that said it was on my way.
I haven’t opened mine yet. Hopefully tonight (It’s very unlike me to not open a package ASAP… what’s wrong with me?!?!) I don’t think I will subscribe to other makeup boxes (I didn’t do much with my Birchbox stuff either). I think I’m going to try out this geeky jewelry line I like. It’s a small business and they are starting a subscription service. I’d like to support them. I’m going to write a post about them soon (Hoping to post it for tomorrow… but I have to take the dog to the vet tonight so we’ll see…)
I’m going to check back to see how you liked March. I’m pretty brand loyal, but those make up bags are super-duper cute!
I subscribed to Ipsy for a couple of months. The bags are adorable, but the contents were meh. I don’t need a dozen adorable tiny bags, so I canceled. I want to try that Japanese eyeliner you mentioned, though. Is it K-palette? That’s what came up with I Googled.
It is! You can usually find them at Japanese grocery stores like Mitsuwa. That stuff… it’s lasts and does not rub off!
I’m with you on the bags. Those are my favorite part. They are a great size. I love the January bag and keep my Polariod Zip print and supplies in it. Just the right size. I think I just like the make up products I like… so I haven’t really been using what’s in the bag. :/
Did you get the same products as me? Do you think you’ll subscribe to other boxes?