Ipsy Glam Bag Review: February 2019

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Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription that gives subscribers 4-5 sample and full size products for $10 a month. All of the beauty samples also come in a handy little makeup bag.

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Box Faves:

  • Hey Honey CC Cream: I was pleasantly surprised by this product because I am a die hard IT Cosmetics CC cream fan (my rave review here) so I wasn't expecting to like any other CC Cream as much as I like the IT Cosmetics. I find that most CC creams do not have enough coverage and even separate in the bottle so that you get a pretty oily mixture if you don’t use it quickly enough. This Hey Honey CC Cream is the closest thing I've found to the IT Cosmetics. Although I still love the IT Cosmetics a touch more, this one rivals it on coverage and moisturization and has been awesome for throwing in my bag on busy days!

  • Seraphine Botanicals Highlight: This highlight does exactly what its name suggests, it's a very natural radiance boost! I was expecting to not like this product (in the package, it looks like a pretty opaque silvery color) but I was pleasantly surprised by how natural and subtle it looks on the skin. I've been using it on days where I'm not wearing too much other make-up and I think it provides the perfect bit of glow without going too over the top :)

Box Flops:  

I didn't have any specific box flops this month since I've used everything and have been happy with how they’ve performed, but I have to admit that when I opened the bag, there wasn't anything I was especially excited about. Sometimes, I'll get excited about trying a brand I've heard of but never had the chance to try or a product I've seen reviews of - but this month, nothing really stood out to me.

Overall, this month was just an okay bag. I wasn't disappointed by it in any way - in fact, I am relatively happy with everything I received, however, there wasn't anything that hit me in the face as especially amazing either. That being said, what I love about Ipsy is that they now allow you to customize the frequency of when you receive their glam bags. You can select to receive a glam bag every month, one every other month, or even less frequently than that - although in my experience, some of these less frequent options don't show up until you are trying to cancel your subscription. For the last 6 or so months, I was on the every other month ipsy subscription, but recently, I've been playing around a lot more with different types of make-up so I've switched back to receiving my ipsy glam bag every month. For me, my ipsy bag is definitely worth it because when I look back at the different glam bag products I've received, I can confidently say that I either used up or am still using at least 80% of the products I receive in my glam bags - how crazy! If you feel like you don't have time to go out and shop for new makeup but want to try out new formulas and brands of makeup, I think ipsy is an awesome option.


What did you think of your ipsy glam bag this month? Are there any other subscription boxes you think I should try? Leave me a comment below!

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ESQIDO Gel Eyeliner Review ♥

Disclaimer: This blog post is in partnership with ESQIDO. ESQIDO sent me a free product for review. Opinions are 100% my own. Thank you to ESQIDO and thank YOU for supporting my blog!

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Hello everyone! I'm happy to be sharing with you today my review of the ESQIDO gel eyeliners. I've previously tried the ESQIDO false lashes (you can check out my review here!) and really enjoyed both the lashes and the lash glue in particular, so when ESQIDO reached out to see if I'd be interested in trying one of their newly released gel eyeliners, I was happy to give it a test run!

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ESQIDO's new gel eyeliner comes in both brown and black and sells for $12 per eyeliner. I'm relatively new to gel eyeliners as I'm mostly a liquid eyeliner user, but I think the main reason for this is because I find that many non-liquid eyeliners tend to pull at my eye uncomfortably! While there is a bit of pull with these gel eyeliners, they are miles better than a lot of the pencil eyeliners I've used in the past. These gel eyeliners also come with a sharpener built into the base which I absolutely love. You have no idea the number of times I have come across an eyeliner I love only to find that I can't sharpen it until I find a sharpener that actually fits it. Because of this problem alone, I'm now the not-so-proud owner of 6 sharpeners - eek 😂

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I will admit, at $12 per eyeliner, ESQIDO's gel eyeliners are more expensive than drugstore eyeliners I've purchased in the past, however, I do think that the price difference is fair given the superior quality of their gel eyeliners. You might be able to buy a drugstore eyeliner for a couple of dollars, but based on some of the drugstore eyeliners I've tried, it might be unreliable, uncomfortable to put on, and might dry out faster than an ESQIDO liner. Plus, even at $12 an eyeliner, ESQIDO's prices are still much more affordable than high-end make-up products - they're kind of a happy medium between drugstore and high-end.

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If you're looking for a brand that has a ton of products across the board, then ESQIDO is probably not for you - they mostly focus on false lashes and are just now introducing their gel eyeliners, however, I don't think that should deter anyone from trying out the brand! I often find that brands that choose to focus on one or a small group of products tend to have better quality products than brands who might spread themselves too thin. I thoroughly enjoyed both the lashes, lash glue, and eyeliners I've tried from ESQIDO.

I hope you enjoyed this little review! Have you tried ESQIDO products? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Twenty Nineteen Word of the Year ♥

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Hello, everyone! Today, I thought I’d share my word of the year for twenty nineteen! In case you haven’t already guessed by the photo above, the word I’ve chosen for this year is impermanence.

The timing of this post might seem a little strange since it’s the middle of February and not January 1st (when most people would be posting and sharing their new year’s goals), however, I actually think this is the perfect time to re-focus because I find this is about the time during the year when all my ambitious new year’s goals fall to the wayside! 

I gave up setting (usually giant and unachievable) new year’s goals a couple of years ago. Through instagram, I found a little community of people who choose to set words of the year rather than lists of goals. This really resonated with me because, frankly, a word of the year is much easier to remember than a whole list of goals! I have anxiety, and when there are too many things to do and not enough time, my anxiety loves to show up and remind me of how stressed I should be :) Setting a word of the year has helped me simplify things, has forced me to decide what truly matters to me, and allows me to set a more holistic theme that I can use to approach any decision or situation in the upcoming year. 

Last year, I chose balance as my word of the year and it truly shaped my year for the better. Remembering to keep things balanced really allowed me to be kinder to myself. In areas where I might’ve beat myself for not working hard enough, having this overarching theme of balance reminded me that not every day was about working day in and day out! While I might work my butt off one day, the next day, I might lounge around the house with very little motivation - and that’s completely okay! The idea of balance helped me treat myself with more compassion and allowed me to enjoy my down time rather than feeling guilty. 

This year, I settled on the word impermanence because it’s really struck a chord with me after my first semester of graduate school. As much as I tried to prepare for the intensity that is a PhD program, nothing can truly prepare you for the onslaught of work and high expectations it throws your way! Through the more difficult exams, projects, and research roadblocks, knowing that nothing will last forever has helped immensely. That feeling of not knowing what I’m doing and feeling like I’m so far behind? Impermanent. That feeling of anxiety before a big presentation? Impermanent. The 100th freezing cold, snowy day in Wisconsin? Also impermanent! I’m really happy with what I’ve chosen as my focus for twenty nineteen. The concept of impermanence as already helped me immensely and I know it will continue to help me keep things in perspective throughout this year. 

I also wanted to share that I didn’t settle on this word until the end of January! I think it’s incredibly important to give adequate time and thought to what you want the focus of your year to be. At first, I thought I’d continue to focus on balance because it had been working so well for me, however, it didn’t resonate with me the same way it had a year ago. I felt like I’d grown past the idea of balance and already adopted it fully into my life. Learning to let things go and overcoming the anxiety that’s come with graduate school is a new challenge I’ve faced over the past couple of months and the idea of impermanence felt like a more appropriate starting point. All of which is to say, take your time deciding on your focus for the year! There’s nothing special about January 1st so don’t put so much pressure on yourself and choose a focus that truly resonates with who you are and what you need this upcoming year. 

What are you themes for the new year? How do you plan to grow and challenge yourself this year? I’d love to hear about your twenty nineteen plans!

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