June Ipsy Graffiti Bag

Again I'm very late in the month. June is almost over and my July bag will be coming in, in a bit. I have to say that for the second month in a row, my disappointment level has been at about a six. Out of my five products, I'll only use about three.

First off, let me start by saying that I do think the bag is cute and colorful. It's "spray painted" in graffiti, make-up graffiti. When I opened my bag, it was drenched in the Marc Anthony Beach Waves spray. The cap was loose and the liquid spilled all over my bag. All of the packaging and note cards were ruined. This was the second time I received a bag and with a broken/destroyed item. I did email Ipsy and they generously sent me a replacement beach spray.

What can I say, I love the smell of the Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray. It smells like coconuts on the beach. I, especially in the summer, hate to blow-dry my hair. I just like to air-dry it. I already use a product from Organix, a spray that hold my waves. I don't have curly, just wavy especially when I air-dry it. This spray seemed a bit tacky. Apparently, you can spray it on dry or damp hair, just spray and scrunch. You can purchase this product at various drugstores across the country. I will use this product, but probably won't purchase another.

Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray

The next product that I will use is the Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Lounge. I know Urban Decay is a cruelty free line. I love Urban Decay and have many of their make-up products. This eyeshadow in particular is very confusing. Is it brown? Is it green? Is it purple? Is it red? It's all four colors in one. The swatch below is horrible. I used this color as an all over shade this afternoon and it looks better on than swatched. In this photo, it looks like a saddle brown. In the pan it looks like a metallic, shimmer khaki brown/green.  This isn't a color that I would pick out for myself, but it's fun and I'll use it up until it's gone. Urban Decay shadows run $19 a shadow.

Urban Decay

The last thing that I will use up for sure is the Juice Beauty Luminous Lip crayon in Zuma, a cherry red.  I know that this product is made with all natural ingredients, something I look for in my products and this is also a cruelty free brand. Because of the natural ingredients, this line can be pretty pricey. The lip crayon in my bag looks highly pigmented, but when applied, it's pretty sheer. You have to build up the color and there is a lot of slip and bleeding into my fine lines. Gwyneth Paltrow is a spokesperson for this line. I know that many people get annoyed by her, but I admire her clean living. The lip crayons run $22 a piece.

Juice Beauty

The next thing that I may or may not use is the Healing Concealer Boo-Boo Cover Up. I'm not a fan of concealer. Concealers sit in my fine lines and actually accentuate the thing they are supposed to hide.  There are only three colors in the range, light, medium and dark. According to the site, these concealers cover up and heal the skin. They contain, vitamin E, green tea, chamomile, and tea tree oil, all great ingredients. The concealers come in two sizes and are $10 and $20.

Boo Boo Cover-up

 The last thing that came in my bag was a nail polish from  Jessie's Girl called Julie G. I'm not a fan of polish because of the ingredients. This brand is free of the "big 3" DBP, formaldehyde and toluene. The scent of the polish is very strong and dries quickly. Two coats are definitely needed. I tried it on one finger and by the next day, it was already coming off. In the polishes defense, I didn't use a top coat. When I do, my polish can last a very long time. This company is a cruelty free cosmetic company, but is not organic. Looking on the site, their products are reasonably priced. This polish is $3,99. The is was cute. It's a mint green/blue. I don't wear polish, so this is something that I won't keep.

Jesse's Girl Cosmetics

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the contents of this bag. Let's hope July's bag is better.

March IPSY: Hello Spring

It's already April and I haven't even reviewed my March Ipsy Glam Bag yet.  I'm so backlogged with reviews.  I have about six, maybe seven more posts I want to write before the end of April, but I digress.

After seeing the "sneak peak" of my bag for March, I think I was probably the most excited I've been since starting this "service". However, when the bag came in the mail, my excitement completely disappeared.

The bag itself was very adorable. The products on the inside a lot less so. 

Peach and Turquoise, very Springtime!  

Let's start with the two products I will never use: The Nail Buffer from Margaret Dabbs and the Pixi by Petra Beauty Blush Duo in Rose Gold.

The nail buffer I will never use, EVER. I have a horrible, disgusting habit of biting my nails. I know it's a bad habit, but most times I can't help myself. When I signed up for Ipsy, I took a test of products I wasn't interested in sampling. Nail products were the only things I was unwilling to try.  Don't get me wrong, I tried the buffer and I worked great. My nail was super shiny. I just know this isn't something I'll use, ever. The company I've never heard of. The nail salon is located in the UK. The price of the buffer is 7 pounds or $9.96, almost the price of the bag, which makes my heart hurt. The salon looks very classy

 I can't find if the products are free of animal testing. I do know that everything is made in the UK and they ship all over. If they ship to China, they may test on animals. Margaret Dabbs

The next product that I will NEVER use, and not because I don't want to, is the Pixi by Petra.  This was one of the products that I was very excited to try, but it came to me completely shattered. I think this was a full sized sample too.

I emailed the customer service and they were quick to respond and send a new blush duo, but that one came to me completely shattered too, from dust to dust, literally.  It was nice of them to send me a new blush, kudos to Ipsy, but it was trashed.  The color was Rose Gold and looked really pretty. It was a sheer pink blush and white gold highlight. The texture (broken powder) seemed velvety enough?

The new one sent to me was worse

If I could have used it, I would have, I'm obsessed with highlighting right now (blushing too). I may have even liked it more than the Gwen Stefani Urban Decay blush set.  The blush duos retail for $18.00. Ugh, I'm so sad about this, because I'm obsessed with highlighting right now! They don't test on animals and they use natural ingredients.  Pixi Beauty


In March, I also got the NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in the color Kitten Heels. I love the name, it's very sexy. The NYX site says it's a bright red.  I was hoping to get Pink Lust (Hot Pink), so I was a little disappointed in the red. Apparently, they sent out a few different colors. It's a pretty color and I'll use it.  It's more on the warm red side for my skin tone. I love NYX products. I know the NYX line is cruelty free and I love their matte lipsticks. This is a liquid matte lipstick and therefore is a bit drying. This was a FULL SIZED SAMPLE, which was very cool.  Make sure to use a lip liner with this color. 

I do have an issue with the flat doe foot applicator. I don't like it. I feel like product gets all over the place. The NYX site claims that this is a long lasting, velvety soft, waterproof, liquid lipstick. I just took a drink of my water and there was product on my water bottle. Kiss test: quite a bit came off there too! It does transfer quite a bit actually. You can buy these on the NYX site for $7. They vary in price at the drugstores. NYX Cosmetics

UPDATE: The lipstick had a lot of transfer, even a few hours after I put it on. It will stain your lips, but it's not entirely "long lasting" 

In my bag, I got a Aphrodite Skin Care eye cream.  These products are made in Greece. They claim to use all natural ingredients. I used the eye cream quite often and it wasn't spectacular, it didn't wow me by any means. It was a nice sized sample and I'll continue to use it.  I have other eye creams I like better though. I will say, this was the perfect size to take with me to Florida.

I don't know it these products are cruelty free. They have an online catalog, but I don't see pricing or how to purchase/order.  Aphrodite Skin Care. 

The last thing I got in my bag was an eyeshadow by Vera Mona, in Clover. On the website, Clover comes in an eight shadow palette for $32.99. I don't see the shadows sold individually. To be honest, I haven't used this color yet. I will try it, though. It seems to be more of a peachy color and peach really isn't my style. Some of the other colors in the palette I liked better, for example, Hibiscus and Hydrangea. But that's just looking online at the colors. I got a pretty large sample of product and I'm always happy about that!

I can't find whether or not these products are cruelty free. I looked throughout the site and I couldn't find much information about the company except it's from Temecula with a 626 number. Isn't 626 Hacienda Heights? Vera Mona

 Overall, I wasn't too impressed with my bag. There were some hits, some serious misses and some that sort of fell in between. 

Always remember "Spring is natures way of saying, "Let's party!" Robin Williams