Ipsy Glam Bag: January 2018

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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?

BeautyFix: December 2017

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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. On to the December box!  

Eminence Organic Skin Care: Bamboo Firming Fluid | Full-Size: $58

I’ve been using this fluid before bed the last few days and have really enjoyed the formula and its feel on the skin - however, this is again one of those occasions where the sample is so small that I really can’t tell if the product is actually working for me! 

Erno Laszlo: White Marble Double Cleanse Travel Set | Full-Size: $28

Although this travel set is adorable, the first thing I always think when I see sets like this is how impractical they are for actual flight-based travel! I prefer to travel with only carry-on bags and that means that any liquids have to be separated into a different bags, pretty much making this little set moot. I love the idea of double cleansing and think this is a very effective set for in the home - I just won’t be using it as a travel set. 

Lancer Skincare: Volume Enhancing Lip Serum | Full-Size: $42

As someone who has pretty large lips, a volume enhancing lip product isn’t something I’ve ever thought to try! I was both excited and nervous to try this product since I’ve heard that plumping lip products can sting! I didn’t notice this one stinging much at all, but at the same time, I also didn’t notice any difference in the lip plumping department either. :P  

First Aid Beauty: Facial Radiance Pads | Full-Size: $28

BeautyFix is probably the reason I’ve become a little bit obsessed with First Aid Beauty! I’ve just found their products to be so effective, yet not too harsh on the skin. These gentle exfoliating pads are just another example of this! They aren’t irritating and are full of natural ingredients which is doing a world of good for my skin. If you’re looking for gentle skincare products, First Aid Beauty is 100% the way to go. 

Juliette Has a Gun: Not a perfume Eau de Parfum | Full-Size: $100 (1.7 oz)

My least favorite thing to receive in subscription boxes is always perfumes!! It’s always frustrating to me that perfumes are included in these boxes so often. Despite this, I can’t deny that I actually love the scent of this perfume :P 90% of the time I receive a perfume sample it ends up being too strong for my taste but I was pleasantly surprised by this one! It’s light, not too strong, and good for people who want a subtle scent. 

Trufora: Triple Action Exfoliator | Full-Size: $45

My favorite high-end skincare products tend to all be exfoliators and this one is no different! A lot of times in skincare products, you can’t always tell the difference between a drugstore and a high-end formula but with exfoliators you can almost always tell the difference. This exfoliator has a high concentration of very small beads that leave your skin so smooth! I’ve enjoyed this so much I might even splurge on the full-size product!

Bioderma: Hydrabio Serum & Cream | Full-Size: $25 each

The BeautyFix box tends to send a lot of Bioderma products and honestly, I can’t complain! So far, I’ve really enjoyed Bioderma’s products. This serum and cream both feel so smoothing on the skin and despite being moisturizing products, do not leave skin greasy at all - which is more than I can say for most moisturizers out there. Again, this is a product I might be purchasing in a full-size soon!

Lilah B: Divine Duo Lip & Cheek | Full-Size: $46

This lip and cheek duo included three beautiful colors: a pink, red, and a nude-y coral. I enjoyed all of the shades and have really enjoyed their creamy formula but I find that the pigmentation on these is a little too strong to serve as a cheek product. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, since I’m thoroughly enjoying using them on my lips! They act as nice lip stains that you can easily build to a fuller color. 

At first, I wasn't super impressed with this month's BeautyFix but after using the products for a couple of weeks, I've grown to love a lot of the products from this month! If you are someone who doesn't want to splurge on high-end products without trying them first (me!), then BeautyFIx is the perfect box! Although it's a little more pricey than other beauty boxes like Birchbox and Ipsy, it's worth its price tag for the higher quality products you receive. Have you ever tried BeautyFix? I'd love to hear your thoughts!   

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!

Codage Paris: Scrubbing Cream | Full-Size $46.62

Ling Skincare: Double Moisture Emulsion | Full-Size $68.00

Glamour Dolls x Lisa Frank: Bitten & Bronzed Matte Bronzer | Full-Size $4.99

MAC Prep and Prime: Natural Radiance Base | Full-Size $42.00

Bang Beauty: Lip Gloss in Spice | $18.00

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!