Girl, let me tell you something, I am a pro at this. Swiping through add-ons, scooping up the best finds, and not checking the total at the end? Next level. Icon Box is always a bigger buy, of course, because it has significantly more and better choices and add-on options, and I took full advantage. The biggest news about this Icon Box is the curator, Patrick Starrr. I know very little about Patrick, but I’ve heard excellent things about his brand, One/Size, which (if I recall correctly) is based on the idea that makeup is one size and it’s for everyone. I like that idea and theme.
IPSY makes the curator out to be the person who designed and picked out the selection for the box, which I think is a little exaggerated. In my opinion, it’s a person in the beauty space who gets to supply their products for more exposure to more people. And of course, I would also add plenty of my own products to the box if I were the curator and also a brand owner, that’s a no-brainer.
So Patrick allegedly chose the items and theme for this box, and from those IPSY chose me five, I chose three more, and then I added…. another eight. Of the sixteen products I am receiving, four of them are from the brand One/Size. So I’m excited to try them together, and I’m even more excited that they’re mostly makeup instead of skincare; if you read my last post, you’d see that I sort of had a big skincare haul by accident.
So let’s get started!
Benefit Cosmetics
I’m not very familiar with this brand but I have tried a product or two, although nothing comes to mind. This item is their Porefessional Speedy Smooth Pore Mask. It’s a $39 clay mask and I’m starting to think I try too many products, because it’s getting harder and harder to find things that stand out to me in a product. The packaging is alright, but I don’t get heavy brand recognition from it like I do with LYS or Fenty.
I just did a check on Google to see if I could find any of the products I’ve tried in the past, but I didn’t recognize anything… so maybe I haven’t actually use it before.
[Update: I’m wearing a thick layer of this mask now while I finish up the photos on this post, and I’m liking it more and more each time I use it.]
Dermalactives
I have tried one product in the past from this brand. It was their Purifying Toner and it came in a matching bottle to this cleanser. It’s one of the only toners I’ve ever used up, and I’m pretty sure it was mostly because of the packaging. It’s incredibly pretty and has a unique design, so I was looking forward to another item from this line.
The first thing I noticed is that the pump doesn’t work very well. It took maybe thirty or forty pumps to start getting anything, and then afterwards, the pump is so close to the top of the bottle that the product doesn’t go anywhere or get any distance. So if you’re trying to pump it out onto your hands, you might be able to get the angle right, but it’s very hard with my washcloth. Also, I tried to get around this issue by tipping it on its side like you can do with a good pump, but it stops pumping. So you must hold it perpendicular to the ground, and just deal with it dripping down onto the bottle and making a mess. I hope it’s a dud? I don’t know.
Formula
The formula is very nice, it reminds me of the Fenty Beauty cleanser by the texture. The fragrance isn’t anywhere near as intoxicating, but it is nice, subtle, and sweet. I couldn’t get enough product on my hands to get an actual foam, so I can’t really tell what the best application method is. I’ll keep trying. I don’t mind if it is just a cream cleanser, but I don’t get the sense that it is.
This cleanser retails for an astounding $75. The whole brand has similar pricing. Now I’m not one of those people that says, “You should never ever pay more than $15 for a cleanser, there’s just no reason to!” There are incredibly pricy brands that do deliver above and beyond in terms of packaging, product, sustainability, and overall experience. Tatcha comes to mind. Dr. Brandt. Brands that go above and beyond skincare and into a ritual. If the packaging for this cleanser were easy to use like other brands, and they didn’t overengineer, I’d honestly say this is not far off. But for $75, I shouldn’t be struggling to get the product out onto my hand, it’s just basic.
I am looking forward to trying some of their other products that might be more suited to my skincare routine – I don’t know if I’ve explained, but I don’t typically even use cleansers in the morning and I just use my Juno in the evenings to get my makeup off. So this wouldn’t have been a staple either way.
First Aid Beauty
I like FAB’ products! I used to use their coconut smoothie priming moisturizer thingy every single day and I only switched it up when I ran out and couldn’t find more for a good deal. But I still reach for it from time to time. This is their Bounce-Boosting Serum with Collagen and Peptides. Now, we all know, us skincare girlies, that you can’t absorb collagen through the pores on your face. So while it’s an excellent ingredient, it’s better in a supplement than in your skincare. No shade to the brand but collagen in a serum is useless. In any skincare, topical product it’s useless. Peptides, on the other hand, are part of the building blocks for important things like collagen and can be very beneficial to your skin.
This packaging has incredible brand recognition. Even though they all look different, I can instantly identify a FAB product. The formula is a little thicker and heavier than what I typically associate with a serum. I picture an item with a dropper, and a formula that’s drippy and liquid. This item is more like an eye cream texture, not heavy and buttery like a moisturizer, but when I pump it onto my hands it stays in that form until I touch it.
It is a very fast-absorbing and cooling formula. Even after my Fat Water toner from Fenty, this doesn’t sit very long on my skin before absorbing. It feels very smoothing and lightweight, and even though it has a heavier texture it behaves like any other serum I’ve used before.
It retails for $44, which is not a terrible price. It’s obviously a smaller bottle than the Fat Water or the Byroe toners, but I know you’re also meant to use a little less of this item so I’ll just be sparing with it. I would definitely choose it in the future or add it on when it’s an option. Again, there’s no point with collagen in a skincare product, so it’s a little patronizing, like they think their customers don’t know much. But it does seem like a good product either way.
One/Size
Our first item from One/Size is their Fantasize Lifting and Lengthening Mascara. I really enjoy this product! First off, Patrick also has an excellent grip on brand recognition. This red is iconic. I am really happy with the size of the applicator, even though I typically prefer smaller brushes. The tapering off makes it easy to get in the corner which is my typical complaint.
I have two coats on the top and one on the bottom, and at first the applicator sort of applies a glob of product, and then I brush it through. It does a lot more for the bottom lashes than a lot of mascaras I’ve tried. It also seems not to smudge onto the lid as much either. By the end of my 12-hour workday, my eyelids look like barcodes from all the mascara that has transferred, but with this mascara I’m not struggling as much.
It retails for $25 which is on the higher end of what I’d pay for a mascara, but it’s not completely out of the range of possibility. If I need to pay that amount, I’ll probably just buy my favorite mascara from Beauty For Real. But I’d pick this again if I got it in add-ons or something.
Saturday Skin
I received this face cream last year, or maybe the year before. It’s called the Pretty Pop Probiotic Power Cream. I’ve tried a couple of products from this brand – although admittedly, nothing very memorable – and I looked forward to trying it again after a little while to see if I still enjoy it. I remember being pretty meh about it at the time. I like it a lot more now! The packaging isn’t the cutest in my opinion; the color scheme is adorable, but the flat flip cap is a little difficult to get my fingernail under to open.
The formula is the same as I remember it, although possibly a little less full of the little grainy things that pop. I remember this face cream having those little capsules in it that felt a little grainy then would pop on the skin, but for some reason this one is smoother and there are fewer of them. Maybe they’ve switched it up in the formula.
The cream is a little thicker than most of the ones I gravitate to, but it doesn’t leave a cast. It does take a little more time than other creams to feel completely absorbed and ready for makeup on top, so I’ve been using it mostly in the evening when a heavier cream is more fitting. If anything, a thick cream like this should be in a jar with a lid. There’s going to be so much product left over.
It retails for $45, which is a lot more than I’d pay for the product to be honest. If I’m spending $45, I’m going to grab the Lotus Youth Cream from Fresh or put it towards a Tatcha product. But if it shows up under the $18-24 range in add-ons, I’ll snag a few more!
5 Sens
I tried my first scent from this brand last winter. It was called Catch Feelings and everything about it stunned me, from the packaging to the scent. I wore it every day for months. It was sexy, inviting, warm and luxurious, and it came in a beautiful bottle that looked to me like shoulders.
Then a few months ago I received their Lit fragrance, which smelled like if grass could be somehow sour and rotten. It was the nastiest, most disgusting thing I have ever smelled. It stunk up the room I sprayed it around in and it stunk me up for the rest of the day too.
So third time, maybe it’ll be somewhere in the middle? Or maybe it’ll solidify me as a huge fan of the brand. Here we go:
This is their fragrance, Life of the Party. I like it! It’s got that multifaceted smell like you’re looking at a painting of lots of colors. It’s definitely sweet and lighthearted and fruity, and lives up to its name, and reminds me of the color purple, which is obviously what they were going for when you look at the packaging and color scheme. I love it and I’m excited to use it out this summer!
These fragrances retail for $65. I think there is a mini available for like $32, but I think if you’re spending the money just get the regular size. The packaging is cuter, and you get so much more. I’ll definitely choose this brand in my future boxes and might even start getting these as gifts!
One/Size
I’ve been so excited to try these One/Size products! This is the Eye Popper Sparkle Vision Eyeshadow and I was able to get it in two shades, P House and Everything and More. P House is a pink color, and Everything and More is a nude. The photos on IPSY made both shades out to be much brighter, so I was expecting the pink to me more of a baby pink, and the nude to be more silvery. Both shades came in a little deeper, but it turned out alright because they aren’t just highlighters, I can use them as base colors and add on.
Packaging
The packaging is absolutely iconic, and One/Size does a great job keeping everything cohesive. The first time I opened each one and twisted the top to get the product out, it gave me a really hard time. But after that it was easy to twist on and off. The wand is very simple and round, but it pulls out a good amount of product. I’ve been using it as a sort of liquid liner, just a thin line above my lashes, but it’s very pigmented and I can layer it to make it brighter.
It takes a few minutes to dry down, just like the ones from About Face from Halsey. I am able to go over it with a soft liner, but it will peel up and start fraying off the skin if I go too rough with additional shadows. So it’s going to work best as a topper or on its own as a shadow.
These retail for $24, which is $8 more than the ones from About Face. So they’re a little much in my opinion. I’d pay $16-18 for them, and I really wish there had been a matte option to try with the glitter ones.
LYS Beauty
This product, their Glossy Lip Treatment Oil, is just a really good lip oil. There isn’t a ton to write about it I guess? It comes in their signature triangle packaging, and the cap can go on in any direction. It’s a squeeze out and spread on gloss, so it’s a little middle school, but I understand that this makes it easier and cheaper to package and sell so maybe it is good for a smaller budget. Anyway I like them, but I might give them to my little sisters.
$24
Glow Recipe
This product is a duplicate that I just wanted another of. It’s the Strawberry BHA Pore-Smooth Blur Drops.
I picked this because I have it and love it! It’s a primer, I think. You can read more about it on my original post if you want, but to summarize; it’s satisfying to pour a few drops out since the bottle has some mechanism where you never pour too much. I swear it’s magic. The fragrance is like summer strawberries and it’s a pretty sticky finish for makeup after.
It’s $32 retail, but obviously on IPSY I didn’t pay that much. I think it was a $12 add-on and that’s an awesome deal.
Glow Recipe
This item, the Watermelon Facial, didn’t arrive, and I’m pretty upset about it. It was one of the items that I was majorly looking forward to, especially because of what a hit the Plum Plump Hyaluronic Cream was. This item is a “non-drying clay mask” that’s supposed to help clean out the pores and smooth out skin texture. Doesn’t that sound like something that’s perfect for me? Smoothing out texture?
But unfortunately, it didn’t arrive. I reached out to IPSY Care, and they informed me that the item was “Out of Stock.” That’s incredibly irritating. Why don’t they have a method of alerting customers that they won’t be receiving all the items? When they’re packing the box, don’t they notice it’s missing two items? How hard is it to reach out and let the customer know that they’re not getting their items or – here’s a thought – ask if they want to pick something else?
So I won’t be able to talk much about this item until one day when I do buy or receive it – for now, it’s still just a mystery.
TYS Beauty
I was raving about this formula when I received this product two months ago, and now I got to pick another shade! I was over the moon. This is TYS Beauty and the product is their Lip Butter. This one is in the shade Honey. Funny that it’s called Honey when it looks nothing like honey. It’s not a light color, or golden, or anything like honey is. It’s a very deep, dusty rose color. I would have called it something else.
Just like the other shade, which I’m wearing as I type, the packaging is incredibly cute, and the formula is heavenly. I know I already went over everything in my other post but I can’t stop. The wand is pillow soft and I’m excited to apply the product. The formula is non-sticky, juicy, and long-lasting. It also smells like a cookie. It’s just the best gloss I’ve ever tried and now I have another shade!
Shade
This shade isn’t better suited to my skin tone, the light pink was actually better, but I’m glad I got to try it out. I need to always have one of these on hand. One thing I noticed is that this shade stands out better on my skin. I can’t tell if it’s more pigmented than the other shade, or if it’s just deeper and there’s more contrast. So right now I wear the light pink during the day and I wear the deeper rose color in the evening.
These glosses retail for $20, which I would absolutely pay for them. No doubt. I’d buy one of every shade they have if they had more shades. I need one that is actually honey colored, and I need one that’s a light beige, and I need one that’s a bright silver… I need this to come in more shades.
Fenty Skin
Fenty is back! And this is their Thicc n Smooth Rich Peptide Eye Cream. I have been very excited to receive this item, as I love eye creams and think they’re so important.
First off, I love the packaging. It’s a roll-up stick kind of like deodorant and it dispenses the product on the top, which is covered with a cap. So to open the product and dispense it, you do need to twist off two caps. This gets very difficult due to the size of the product, cause it’s tiny, and the fact that there is serum all over my hands when I apply eye creams and it’s hard to twist to prevent spillage! So make sure it’s your first step of your skincare routine or you’ll catch yourself having to wipe your hands off before reaching for it.
The formula is very heavy for an eye cream! It’s like a buttery soft, very rich cream and it does take a moment to spread it. I take some of it on my index finger and then tap it with my other index, and then go in at the same time to both eyes. You don’t need basically any product to feel like you’re spoiling your eyes. It’s so rich that I prefer to use it in the evenings instead of at the start of my day.
One/Size
This is the Turn Up the Base BBB Cream by One/Size in the shade Light 1. I’m very excited to talk about this item! The only thing is … I didn’t receive it. It was left out of the box. “Out of Stock” which somehow, I struggle to believe. I even pushed back on the IPSY Care person about it, saying it’s the curator’s brand, how is it out of stock? Surely this is the one brand that you make sure you have enough of?
But nope. She refunded my money, and I don’t get to try it or talk about it. So.
TYS Beauty
This brand keeps popping up for me and I’m here for it! This is their Lip Treat. I made a mistake and I thought it was just another regular lip gloss and I wondered why the packaging was different, but it’s a lip plumper! Woo. I noticed as soon as I uncapped it, that it had that spicy smell. I gave it a couple tries, but this isn’t my type of product really. My lips have plenty of surface area honestly.
That being said, this plumper has a lesser sting and seems to work a little faster than the ones I’ve tried from other brands like Fenty and Buxom. I like how it looks and I’d definitely use it on days that my lips are in good condition. The packaging is way more standard than their other glosses which did throw me off. I’d rather they put the effort in for both products – but maybe they’re trying to make sure the different glosses are distinguishable?
Anyway, this plumper retails for $30, which is so crazy. There’s no lip product in the world I would spend that amount on, and I feel like I speak for a lot of us. Like isn’t that nuts? I would spend maybe $15 on this if I wanted a lip plumper at all.
Rare Beauty
I’m so glad I finally get to give some feedback on these highlighters! Rare beauty is a brand I’ve been wanting to try for a long time and I’m starting to actually receive their products. You might remember a few months ago I got the opportunity to try their cream contour products in a few shades – now these are their highlighters!
This is the Positive Light Liquid Luminizer Highlight in the shade Mesmerize. I will say, right off the bat, the shade threw me off. On IPSY’s website it appears to be a very light silver with a hint of a pink tone, but when I opened it, I could more clearly see that it is a very bright pink. I don’t usually choose pink highlighters; I usually choose more silver and gold tones. Rose gold is pretty, but I just don’t enjoy it as much on me.
So the packaging is very pretty, a little clear jar like you’d find a serum in, but with a wand instead of a dropper. The wand is absolutely huge and pulls a lot of product out, so I actually wipe it off on the rim. And good thing I do that because you do not need that much product, you absolutely don’t. The formula is incredibly shiny and a thicker texture, so it will spread out but it covers a lot of area with a heavy shimmer. I really enjoy tapping it out with my finger and then giving my nose a tap with the excess.
It retails for $25 which is absolutely worth the price, I plan to check and see if they do have a shade that’s more to my preference. I do wish IPSY would stop turning up the exposure and brightness on all the products and show the real color.
[Edit: So I looked on their website and they have a ton more shades, and they put this one in the box because it’s “Selena’s Go-To Shade.” I think that makes sense; they want the customers to try the shade that Selena loves most. However, knowing what my skin tone is, it would have been better to receive Enchant or Enlighten or Outshine. Anyway if I want to try those, I’ll buy them.]
Outro
Thanks for reading! This ICON Box was – ahem – a mixed bag. Especially with items being left off, I don’t really vibe with that. They should not be just surprising us with items we aren’t receiving, they should be reaching out to us to let us know what happened.
The products I did receive were mostly good though! I’m excited to start working these into my routine with all my other staples.
Placing my next Boxy order tomorrow and I’ll write again after I get those!
Talk soon,
Dani