Sometimes, I’m afraid that people think my love of beauty products makes me seem air headed or flighty.
I think that’s a message we all absorb, right? In one way or another, we’re taught that “dumb girls” are the ones who are interested in their appearance, who like beauty products. When I was young, I remember feeling like I needed to keep the fact that I wore foundation a secret (even though it was pretty obvious). Girls might talk privately about make up, but to do so too loud was to admit that you cared what other people thought of you. As I’ve gotten older and society has shifted, that’s changed a lot—but you still see tweets about taking girls swimming on the first date, as if the only reason women use make up to make themselves beautiful in the eyes of others (and that somehow make up changes our entire face to the point of a very good disguise).
In recent months, I moved away from writing about beauty and skincare, not because I don’t like it anymore—but just because in terms of my headspace, I just wasn’t there. I couldn’t. All my energy, both mentally and physically, has gone into starting my freelance business, networking, and taking care of my home and family.
I feel like I finally have the mental energy to focus on myself, and my beauty products, again—but there is still that niggling little fear. What if people think I’m vapid because this is what I like writing about? How can I fully combine the idea that you can be a mom who gets shit done but also is very invested in double cleansing? The truth is we all contain multitudes and the attitudes and ideas we’ve absorbed from society about beauty standards are basically 100% bullshit. You can be an entrepreneur, a high level employee, a badass mom, a very dedicated college student… and still care about the new eyeshadow palette you just bought, or the skincare routine you perform every single day. We all deserve to feel good about the things we like and none of them are vapid, empty, or meaningless.
So this is my way to say: if you want to get Ipsy, but are worried about collecting too many products, or being “too invested” in beauty products, or if you’ve worried about those things and have never really let yourself indulge in a really good, expensive moisturizer… here’s your permission. I’m handing it to you. Go to Ulta, buy the moisturizer, subscribe to Ipsy, luxuriate in your oils to your hearts content. It doesn’t make you less of anything to care about those things if they make you feel good.
Whew! Now that that is out of the way, let’s talk Ipsy, shall we? You can read my past Ipsy reviews here. If you want to try Ipsy, you can sign up using my referral link here.
This month’s bag is sparkly, silver realness. Ipsy has slightly changed since my last review (in October). It now costs $12 a month and you get to choose one product in your bag every month—if you remember to log in and choose it in time. There is only a 24-hour window to do so, so if you, like me, are kind of busy and see the email and think, “I’ll do that later!” it will probably be too late by the time you log in the next day. As a warning.
That’s something I think Ipsy needs to readjust or change; not many of us have time right upon receiving an email to act on it. I try to spend less than 10 minutes in my email inbox at a time, just so I actually work on my to do list instead of, say, constantly reply to emails and click links.
That being said, even though I didn’t get to choose an item this month, I still like everything in my bag. Plus, I got 3 bonus items (which I haven’t included in this review) because they were having a buy-2-get-1-free deal on Black Friday. i love the monthly option to add on items for $3 a sample. I almost always choose one or two just so I have something new to try. I’ll actually be reviewing one of my add-ons at the beginning of January, so stay tuned for that!
Let’s walk through everything I got this month, shall we?
1. Hanhoo Watermelon Illuminator Daytime Facial Oil, $8 value
I love a facial oil! You probably know that by now. This facial oil contains watermelon extract and niacinamide; here’s what niacinamide promises: “niacinamide has been getting lots of love lately—and it’s a star ingredient in this face oil. It helps to refine pores, even skin tone and texture, treat acne-prone skin, and get you glowing.” That sounds… pretty good, right?
This facial oil reminds me a lot of the bliss drench moisturizer; it’s more of a cream-to-oil texture instead of a straight oil and has quite a bit of water in it, according to the ingredients list. I really like how it feels on my skin, but it doesn’t feel like a facial oil at all. That’s not necessarily a problem. It’s a good moisturizer! It just doesn’t contain any actual oil; it contains cyclopentasiloxane, which is a common ingredient to act as a lubricant in things like anti-aging creams and conditioner.
Facial oil is a popular term these days and this strikes me as an example of marketing versus what the products actually is. That being said, I don’t hate the product; I actually really like it! It’s just… not a facial oil.
A full size bottle of this products is 1 fluid oz and costs $16; this sample is 0.5 fluid oz and therefore has a value of $8. Pretty good!
2. Jolii Cosmetics Luxe Creme Matte in Lavanda, $18
I love a liquid lip and this one has a great, creamy texture. I received the color Lavanda, which is described as “a vibrant violet shade that’s surprisingly versatile and flatters every skin tone.” Violet is close to how I would describe it; it’s pretty bright in person, and almost grey-beige (greige). It’s really pretty, but there is something about a grey-toned purple lipstick that makes my teeth look yellow as all hell. So I will not be wearing this shade until I get my teeth whitened to roughly the shade of snow.
This is a full size product, though, and I love when I get a full size product in my bag!
3. Cela Black Gold Supreme Coffee Scrub, $3.70 value
I’m not a huge fan of coffee scrubs; I find them messy and slightly useless, as you never receive enough in a sample to really get the job done. That being said, I like this one. It smells good (like coffee, of course). And the packaging is gorgeous. If body scrubs are your thing, this one is a great option.
A full size tube of this product contains 200 grams and costs $37. This sample tube is 0.7 oz or 20 ml. It’s hard to convert between mls and grams as they are two different types of measurement, but in this case, it’s most likely a 1-to-1 ratio. Therefore, this sample tube, at 20ml or 20g, has a value of $3.70.
4. Space Case Cosmetics Blush in It’s Not Me, It’s My Sign, $9
I love blush! It’s my favorite thing to receive in my Ipsy bag because it’s my favorite step of my make up. The funny thing about make up, for me, is that I spend a lot of time taking all the color out of my skin via foundation, then I have to put a little bit of color back so I don’t look like a corpse. Hence why I love blush so much.
This blush is in the color It’s Not Me, It’s My Sign, which is a cute name. The shade is described as “an orchid pink with a semi-matte finish.” However, I would call it closer to a true pink—not necessarily floral or natural. I have a lot of rosey blushes like it, but I do quite like this one. It’s a bit more sheer than the average blush.
This is another full size product. It is sold out on the Space Case website, but the other blushes are also valued at $9 each and look just as lovely.
5. Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess, $3.33 value
This is the funniest little product. I don’t wear bronzer and no matter how many times i tell Ipsy not to send me bronzer, they tend to lump it in with blushes. To them, they’re the same sort of product, so why wouldn’t I want both? This one is from the Amazonian Clay line, but comes in a package totally different from other sample blushes I’ve received from the same line. It’s tiny! It clocks in at 1 gram; a full size is 9 grams! The packaging is a cheap plastic and the unit of bronzer itself is pretty small, more of an eyeshadow size really! In terms of color, it’s quite yellow for a bronzer and very light.
I can’t imagine being someone with a darker skin tone receiving this product. It doesn’t look like this bronzer is offered in any other shade, at least on Sephora; it’s just one shade of bronzer and maybe 20% of the population can wear it. It’s so light! This is probably the biggest disappointment of the bag because I just won’t use it.
A full size clocks in at 9 grams for $30. (WHEW!)
Final Thoughts
The total value of this bag is $42.03. In terms of value, that’s one of the lowest valued bags I’ve ever received, but I do like 4 out of the 5 products! I can’t complain too much, but for $13, I feel like I do expect a slightly higher value.
Did you receive an Ipsy bag this month? What did you think?
