For anyone not familiar with Ipsy, it's a monthly beauty subscription that runs $10/month (including shipping.) You get an assortment of 4-5 items and a make-up bag every month. The items are chosen for you based on the profile you fill out when you sign up - you can change it at any time. Ipsy has a point based reward system, but it's not nearly as lucrative as Birchbox's set-up (though the value per bag on Ipsy is usually better.) Generally speaking, Ipsy tends to be more make-up heavy, whereas Birchbox tends to be more general beauty items. This month was a bit of an anomaly for Ipsy with only one make-up item. If you're interested in signing up, please use my referral link! Onto the bag contents!
First, the bag itself this month needs to be featured. I'm in love. It's a canvas bag and really fits their theme of "Fresh Picks." It's very appropriate for the month of May. There's no way to put a value on the actual bag, but it's definitely my favorite of the 3 I've received so far!
Onto the actual products - first up is the pur-lisse pur-moist moisturizer. I wasn't too excited to receive this item. My skin is combination to oily, so I don't really need a product that is for normal-dry skin. I may or may not use this, so for now I've set it aside. I've heard good things about the brand, I just question if this is the best moisturizer for my skin,
The Hey Honey Exfoliating Mask is next. I was extremely disappointed to see this in my bag. I have crazy-sensitive skin on my face and the last exfoliating mask I used (which was actually listed for sensitive skin) gave me a bit of a chemical burn on my face - it would have been worse if I didn't wash it off immediately. My skin was red and flakey for several days afterward. I didn't even want to take a chance with this mask. Luckily, it was an item that a lot of people wanted, so I tried out my first trade! I swapped this for the eva nyc Hair Mask. I'm super excited for the hair mask though! So not a total loss!
Next up is the Hang Ten Classic Sport SPF 50 Sunscreen! This is a new-ish brand that is made by the same company that makes Coola sunscreen. I received a Coola sample before in Birchbox and I loved it, so I was happy to see this item in my bag. Living in Florida means you can never have too much sunscreen! I usually don't use an SPF as high as 50 - I find that I'm usually good with 15 or 30. However, the times I have burned in the last year have been the times I go out to lunch, we sit outside, and I burn because I have no sunscreen on anywhere but my face! (I know, you feel really sorry for me eating lunch outside and getting burned, I believe this defines a Florida Problem!) In any event, this is a great size to keep in my car or my purse and quick put on if I'm going to be in the sun and I don't have any other protection. Not an overly exciting product, but definitely useful!
This Pacifica Mineral Eye Shadow is the lone make-up product in this month's bag. It was sent out in two different color duos - I would have been happy with either. Since I have green eyes, I wear a lot of purple eye product. This shadow is okay - it's not very pigmented and without a primer it didn't last very long. So not my favorite product, but still gives a nice shimmer.
Finally, Balanced Guru No Frizz Oil. Originally, I was not excited about this product at all since I really wanted one of the other hair products this month. After I did my trade and got past my initial disappointment, I started to get curious about this product. I mean, there is a bit of a humidity issue in Florida, especially during the summer as we start to enter that season. I wasn't sure about putting oil in my hair - I was very worried about it being too greasy. I also have very thick hair with a pretty good amount of volume, I was worried that a product like this would make my hair stick-straight (which is not my favorite look.) So this past weekend I decided to give it a try - if I didn't like it, I could re-wash or throw my hair up in a ponytail. Turns out that I LOVE this product. Now, it wasn't super humid this weekend (for Florida anyway) so I'm anxious to try it out once the humidity kicks back up. I'll try to remember to edit this post when I do! I used just three drops on my dry hair and stayed away from my roots since I was concerned about grease. My hair was super soft and shiny all day - not greasy and it didn't take away my volume! I had very little frizz going on - it looked like I came straight from a salon. The only thing I wasn't crazy about is the smell of it straight out of the bottle - it kind of smelled like Pledge. But it didn't last in my hair, so it was really a non-issue. I seriously love this stuff right now. It's amazing. Oh - and on it's own, this bottle is worth $13, which means in this one product, my Ipsy bag paid for itself!
Overall, while I wasn't thrilled with my bag overall when I first peeked at my Glam Room this month, I'm pretty happy with it overall (especially once I get my swap!) One of the reasons I signed up for Ipsy is to get me to try products I wouldn't normally try, and look at the awesome Frizz Control product I found! Plus, the thing that I'm amazed at with Ipsy is that the value of this month's bag was $47 - I received $47 worth of items for $10! That's amazing. This is my third bag, and so far, I'm loving Ipsy!
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