Dr. Brandt: Pores No More Luminizer Primer / Retail $38
I’m a little mixed on the specific formula of this primer (I don’t love glowy primers), but when it comes to receiving primers in subscription boxes, I really can’t say no! I think they’re one of the easiest products to give in subscription boxes because almost anyone can use them and you don’t have to worry about it not matching your skin color. I have an exfoliator from Dr. Brandt that I absolutely love so I know this primer is a high quality one!
It Cosmetics: Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil / Retail $24
I’m honestly so impressed by the brands represented in this month’s Boxycharm. I already love the IT Cosmetics CC Cream and have always wanted to try more of their products, so this brow pencil is perfect! The spooley is incredibly soft and the shade (universal taupe) is a good fit for my brows. I love that this brow pencil isn’t too pigmented since this makes the brow strokes look a little more natural.
Pur: Bronze and Brighten Cheek Palette / Retail $34
This bronzer, blush, and highlighter palette is absolutely beautiful and so pigmented. If you love palettes that are glowy, then this is the palette for you! Although I'm definitely a bigger fan of matte bronzers and blushes, this palette will be absolutely perfect for the summer months.
Grande Cosmetics: Grandelips Hydrating Lip Plumper / Retail $27
This lip plumper doubles as a lip gloss with a little bit of color and claims to improve lip volume in 3-5 minutes. Although it seems like lip plumper are all the rage right now, they just really aren't the product for me. I find that they seem to do very little and are usually in more of a lip gloss formula. This was one of the varied items in this month's box and I would have much rather received the other item, a matte lipstick. This one was a dud for me :(
Crown Pro: Glam Metals Palette / Retail $25
One of my biggest motivators for trying out Boxycharm was the fact that they are known for giving out palettes! I loved receiving this item and seeing what Boxycharm sends out to its subscribers, despite the fact that this really isn’t the product for me.
Products Mentioned:
My overall impression of this month’s Boxycharm is that it really just wasn’t the right theme for me. With a “Rock 2018” theme, most of the products were all about being glowy and glossy, whereas I tend to prefer matte foundation, matte lips, matte eyeshadow - pretty much matte everything. Although this month’s box wasn’t a great fit for my personal preferences, I’m still incredibly impressed with the value of the box and I’m super excited to see what next month’s box has in store!
Ipsy Glam Bag: January 2018
The 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!
The Balm: Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter | Full-Size $24
This little highlight is so cutely packaged (I appreciate the fact the The Balm still makes an effort in packaging their samples!) and the highlight itself is a beautifully subtle shade. I’ve been using it to highlight both the cheekbones and brow bone and love its versatility!
Dermelect: Microfacial Exfoliating Masque | Full-Size $38
Another item that I was thrilled to receive - especially since I’ve noted in my ipsy profile that I love receiving skincare products! I’ve been a huge fan of exfoliating products lately and this one is no different - it leaves the skin feeling so smooth!
Lue by Jean Seo: Balance Hydrating and Calm Serum
Always love receiving a good skincare product in my subscription boxes! This serum feels so nice and gentle on the skin and has one of my all-time favorite skincare ingredients - hyaluronic acid! Although I've never heard of the brand, I tend to be pretty clueless when it comes to skincare brands so part of the reason I love beauty boxes is the opportunity to discover new brands!
Seraphine Botanicals: Raisin + Cream Long-Lasting Lip Stain | Full-Size $24
I love experimenting with lip colors so this product was a perfect fit, plus, the rich mauve-y shade is perfect for winter. Although this product’s staying power was not quite as good as the liquid lipsticks I tend to favor, it has an extremely light-weight, moisturizing formula!
SLMISSGLAM: L36 Tapered Highlight Brush
I love how unique this brush’s design is! I’m 100% a girly girl and I think a pink, sparkly brush is every girly girls dream. I’ve specified in my ipsy profile that I enjoy receiving make-up tools and brushes, so I love that Ipsy has actually listened and now sends me more brushes! I’ve been using this brush as a highlight brush but love the fact that it’s a versatile size and could easily be used for eyeshadow or blush as well.
Overall, I’m really happy with this month’s ipsy bag! I love that they are truly sending me products that I enjoy testing out. Although no subscription box will necessarily be perfect at predicting each person’s preferences, I think my ipsy bags have continuously improved over time and I definitely appreciate that about them! What did you think of your first ipsy bag of the new year?
Ipsy Glam Bag: November 2017
Happy November everyone! It’s been a little while since my last blog post - almost a month, woah! Sometimes, life just gets insane and something has to go in order for me to maintain my sanity! Since it’s been a bit, I thought I’d throw it back to my favorite types of blog posts - a review of my subscription boxes! Subscription box posts are close to my heart since they are truly what introduced me to the blogging world. If you’re looking to try a new subscription boxes, blogger reviews are your best friend! Since then, I’ve tried a million and a half subscription boxes and now subscribe to only a handful, although I’m always up for trying new ones if you have any suggestions for me!
The 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!
Glamour Dolls x Lisa Frank: Bitten & Bronzed Matte Bronzer | Full-Size $4.99
Box Faves: The packaging on this Lisa Frank x Glamour Dolls bronzer was probably the best part of this ipsy! As a kid, I was obsessed with Lisa Frank stationary and I think the company is doing a great job of appealing to 90s kids like me! The bronzer itself was also a nice warm shade which goes perfectly with a lot of the autumnal tones appearing in my outfits lately! I also absolutely loved the emulsion moisturizer from Ling Skincare, although with that price tag, I probably won’t be re-purchasing. I do appreciate, however, that ipsy has put products from both high-end and inexpensive brands into their bags.
Box Flops: Definitely the lip gloss and the scrubbing cream. I don’t have a real use for scrubbing cream and I am a 110% matte lip kind of girl so lip glosses are always a dud for me. Ipsy’s algorithm seems to be getting better and better over time so I reviewed these products saying I don’t like these types of products. Fingers crossed that this helps to further personalize my ipsy bags in the future!
True story: I have never actually purchased a bronzer because I receive so many in my subscription boxes. Bronzer is one of those products that I use pretty sparingly so it’s nice that my ipsy bags keep me stocked up! This month’s ipsy bag was just a middle of the line one for me. While there were a couple of items I absolutely loved, there were also a couple of products that I don’t really have a use for at all. Although the products themselves weren’t bad or anything, I just can’t say that I love every product in the box :( What did you think of your November ipsy box? I’d love to hear your thoughts!