March 2014 Ipsy Review

When I got home on Friday, my first Ipsy Glam Bag was in the mail! I was very excited.  It was a nice way to end a rather stressful week.

Ipsy is fairly similar to Birchbox, but there are definitely differences.  It's a monthly subscription service that runs $10/month.  They promise to ship by mid-month, so I got my bag right on time.

 Ipsy promises 4-5 items, plus a make-up bag every month.  If I stick with this one long enough, I'll have a ridiculous assortment of bags.  I think they'll be fun to have though.  I liked this month's bag, it's fun and brightly colored.

I'll start with the item I was the least excited about, the Pixi Primer.  I've been using BB Cream as a Primer, which I like because it has SPF (important down here in the Sunshine State!) and my foundation does not.  This primer does not have any SPF, so I can't see me using it on a regular basis since I don't think I'd use a primer and then BB Cream.  Still, it's a pretty nice size sample.

Next up is the nail polish.  It was a full-size bottle!  It's Nicole by OPI, Roughles in "On What Ground?"  I really like the color, but it's a textured polish.  I'm not sure how I'll like the texture, but it'll be fun to try!  I'm planning on doing my nails tonight so I can try it out.

The lipstick I received is by bareMinerals, Marvelous Moxie in Get Ready.  It's a really pretty rosy hue.  I like the formula a lot.  I'm a lipstick fan over gloss, so I'm glad I got the lipstick variety of this one!

Finally, probably my favorite item this month is Be A Bombshell eyeshadow in a Bora Bora quad.  This item is also full sized, and retails for $18, so it alone completely covers the price of the bag!  I used it yesterday and I love the colors.  The blue I used as an eyeliner, with some of the brown on top.  Looked really nice and lasted all day.

The biggest difference between Ipsy & Birchbox is that Ipsy focuses more on make-up, whereas Birchbox focuses more on skin-care/hair-care.  Full-size products in Birchbox are few and far between, and with Ipsy I received two full-size this month!  The way they do business is very different.  For all the items you get with Birchbox, when you review them, you earn essentially $1 back to spend in their shop (every 100 points you get $10 off.)  You get points with Ipsy for reviewing as well, but they're not worth as much.  Plus, Ipsy doesn't sell you anything directly, you can go to the brand's website and you get discount codes to use.

So there's my Ipsy bag for the month!  Absolutely love it!