Ipsy Glam Bag Review | November 2019

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Ipsy Glam Bag is a monthly beauty subscription box that gives you a personalized bag of full-size and sample size beauty and make-up products for $10 a month. All of their products also come in a cute, handy little make-up bag!

Bareminerals: Bounce and Blue Blush in Mauve Sunrise | Full-Size $29

L.O.C.K. Color Boundation in 5 Medium Buff | Full-Size: $14

TheBalm Cosmetics: Mary-Dew Manizer | Full-Size $14.50

IT Cosmetics: Confidence in a Cream | Full-Size $16

Veriphy Skincare: Power Trip Facial Serum | Full-Size $105

Faves:

• IT Cosmetics: Confidence in a Cream - Honestly, in my eyes, IT Cosmetics can do no wrong! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every product I’ve ever tried from IT Cosmetics and just find all of their products extremely effective yet not too heavy or “make-up-y” on the skin (if you know what I mean!). Plus, I’m always pleasantly surprised by their price points for how clean and effective their products feel.

Flops:

• L.O.C.K. Color Boundation - This product was a huge bummer for me because I actually got to pick this product! Ipsy recently started allowing subscribers to pick one product out of every bag and in an attempt to try a new brand, I selected this BB Cream. Unfortunately, this BB Cream was a huge disappointment. The shade was a little dark for me but on top of that, it came across looking like a pretty heavy foundation rather than a light BB cream. I only use a small pea-sized amount of foundation usually and even with that amount, this BB cream looked super cake-y and heavy after half a day. I might keep this in my office make-up bag for emergency touch-ups but other than that, I don’t think I’ll be using this product much.

Shop Products:

Overall, this month’s Ipsy was a bit of a dud for me - especially the product I chose! I love that Ipsy is now allowing subscribers to choose one product for each month, but from here on forward, I’ll plan to choose products from brands I’ve actually heard of. Although Ipsy has a lot of well-known brands in its bag mix, it often throws in brands that are relatively unknown - and unfortunately, might not turn out to be so great. What did you think of your subscription boxes this month? Let me know in the comments!

BeautyFix Review | November 2019

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BeautyFix is a monthly skincare, makeup, and haircare subscription box created by Dermstore. A monthly subscription is $24.95 per box and a one-time box purchase is $34.95. Most items in the box are either full or deluxe sample size products. 

Glytone: Mini Peel Gel | Retail $64

Sanitas: Detoxifying Scrub Mask | Full-Size $68

Dermalogica: Intensive Moisture Cleanser | Full-Size $69

Neostrara: Bionic Face Cream | Full-Size $60

Arcona: Magic White Ice | Full-Size $62

Sachajuan: Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner | Full-Size $28, $31

Herbivore Botanicals: Coconut Body Oil | Full-Size $36

Emma Hardie: Cleansing Balm | Full-Size $49

Box Faves:

• Herbivore Botanicals: Coconut Body Oil - I’m usually not a huge fan of coconut scented products (I often find them to be a little too strong) but this body oil was a pleasant surprise! The scent on it is very faint and not overpowering at all - plus, it’s been perfect to use on the dryer areas of my skin now that winter has hit Wisconsin.

• Emma Hardie: Cleansing Balm -

Box Flops:

• Sachajuan: Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner - This isn’t a knock on the specific product as much as it’s a knock on this product category - I don’t love receiving shampoo and conditioner products in my subscription boxes because it’s not really an area where I’m interested in discovering new products - I’m pretty set in my ways as far as shampoo and conditioner goes!

This month’s BeautyFix was unfortunately a bit of a flop for me overall - While I did really enjoy a couple of products, there was nothing I was absolutely dying to try (which is usually the whole reason I go for subscription boxes in the first place!). What did you think of your BeautyFix box this month? Let me know!

Nutree Amazonliss Hair Straightening Treatment Review

Disclaimer: This blog post is in partnership with Nutree Cosmetics. Nutree Cosmetics kindly sent me a free Amazonliss Hair Straightening Treatment for review. Opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for your support!

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Happy Tuesday, friends! I’m so happy to be sharing with you today a little review of a product I've been testing out over the past couple of weeks. Nutree Cosmetics sent me their Amazonliss Smoothing Hair Straightening Treatment to try so read on for my review of the product!

Product: The Nutree Amazonliss Straightening Hair Treatment is a 3 part set that includes a smoothing shampoo, a smoothing conditioner, and, the most important bit, a one-step smoothing treatment that aims to de-frizz and leave your hair smooth and shiny.

Cost: The initial Amazonliss Straightening Hair Treatment set costs $55 on the Nutree cosmetics website. This price includes the shampoo, conditioner, and the actual treatment itself.

Process: Overall, I had a fun time trying out the whole straightening process but I do have a couple of gripes that I want to be honest about! Nutree offers lots of helpful information sheets and YouTube videos about the process but it's still a bit more complicated than the "one-step" that they advertise. You start with shampoo and end with their conditioner but the one step straightening treatment actually involves drying your hair 85% of the way, sectioning it into 6 equal parts, applying the treatment from roots to ends, drying it with a hairdryer, then straightening each of those sections with a flat iron and then rinsing out your hair. That's a lot more than one step! I'm not opposed to the process necessarily, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would, especially given the length and thickness of my hair.  

Effectiveness:  I think the effectiveness of the straightening system likely depends on your natural hair type. I have naturally straight Asian hair that tends to get a little frizzy at the ends. When I have shorter hair especially, my ends tend to flick outwards/inwards/in all directions. I wanted to try the Nutree system in the hopes that it would help to straighten out, or at least somewhat tame, the flicky bits I have at the ends of my hair! Although I do think that the Nutree system did have some effect on the straightness of my hair, the effect was very subtle. The ends of my hair do feel a little healthier and seem a bit straighter but for how much of a process it was, I actually expected the effects to be more pronounced.  

I think if you’re someone who has pretty curly hair naturally, the effect of the Nutree system would probably be more clear, but if you have hair that’s (for the most part) straight, like I do, then it may not be worth your time and money to go through the whole straightening process just for such a subtle effect. Plus, I think that there are other keratin treatments and hair masks I’ve used in the past that require less time and effort but leave my hair with the same level of straightness and smoothness.  

If you’re interested in trying out the Nutree Cosmetics Straightening Treatment for yourself, you can use the code FOLLOWME for 15% off your purchase. Have you tried a straightening treatment? What did you think? Drop me a comment - I'd love to hear about your experience!