Hiiii again! I wanted to talk a little bit about the 2022 IPSY advent calendar I bought. This is my
first year purchasing it and I have thoughts. They’re not organized thoughts yet, maybe they
will be by the time I’m done writing.
Couple of basics: This is a makeup and skincare (and hair/body/lifestyle?) advent calendar that IPSY curated. It’s a 25 day calendar and is a mix of full size and sample size products. It originally cost $115 if I remember correctly, but I bought it when it was $95.
I should also disclose that I actually ordered it from BoxyCharm, another subscription service that IPSY owns. I only did this because of the extra discount.
This isn’t going to be a breakdown of every single item like my regular posts, I just want to talk about what the variety looked like, the mix of brands and sizes, the packaging, and whether I think it’s worth the price and whether I’ll try it again next year.
The first thing I want to touch on is the time it arrived. I ordered this about a week before December started, which I knew was a little bit late but I figured if I get it a few days into December, you know, it’s no big deal it’s not like I’m sitting down and recording myself opening it every day or anything.
It got to me on December 19th. It came from only a few states away, as far as I know, but it took a month. I was so disappointed, but since I work in shipping I knew it wouldn’t make sense to bitch about it to anyone. Once it’s been picked up by the carrier, it’s in their (and God’s) hands.
But that really did get me down. All my beauty boxes were delayed in December, so I barely have anything prepared to post this month.
But it is what it is.
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| The First 12 Days |
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| Both layers on display |
More interesting, I think, is some of the packaging. I’m attaching photos of everything I received, and a few shots of some very large daily containers with some very tiny pieces of makeup in them while we go over everything.
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| All the products together |
So the first twelve days only take up a thin layer of the box, so I figure that’s what they sent out as the other available twelve day calendar. This first layer did have a good number of “full-size” products, but these were mostly small items like lip products, liquid eyeshadows, a “highlighter” we’ll talk about. Nothing really jumped out at me except the face wash from Fenty Skin. I’ve tried it before and always loved it, so I’m happy to have a little. It was only the trial size, but still nice. There was also a mascara, but like I said, nothing that made me like … excited.
The second row did have stuff that got me excited. There were more lip products, but there was also a full-size makeup removing balm, a pack of sheet masks, a replacement for my Complex Culture bronzer, and a sample face cream from Tatcha.
So the only thing that made me actually gasp was that day 25, Christmas day, the gift was a heated hair brush, the kind that you straighten while you brush I think?
That was like whoa for me, honestly. It’s like an actual full-size tool.
So I was a little underwhelmed overall. Specifically because the full size products were mostly full-sizes of little things like lip glosses or single eye shadows. Like yeah, that’s a full size item, but it’s a micro-item. Like a lot of the sample sizes of things were bigger than the full-size ones. Or like, a sheet mask being full-size. I mean the way it’s used, sheet masks are like single-use serums. You’d need a bunch of sheet masks to be considered “full-size” in my opinion.
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| Okay so is this a “full-size?” |
Also because the Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint was in this box, but in the shade I already have, that I already didn’t love. So I can easily resell it, but I wish it had been another shade I could just have.
A couple of notable “Full-size” disappointments;
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An IBY highlighter that’s just the size of a large eyeshadow pan
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An actual single eyeshadow the size of my thumbnail^
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An old-looking liquid shadow that was maybe a little stale
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Several lip balms
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A matte lipstick
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A regular lipstick
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Lip glosses
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A Physician’s Formula highlighter for very deep skin tones
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A tiny lil petri dish candle?
The overall trend for full-size products is lips. Six of the full-size products were lip products. Zero of the lip products were sample sizes. The other three full-size products were single-eyeshadows. On the flipside, more expensive items like skincare and hair care were sample sizes. With the notable exception of the full-size cleansing balm I got, that I actually love a lot.
So I’ve been able to spend the last few weeks trying a good chunk of the items and making some decisions about the ones I won’t be trying out. Going to briefly go over which are which.
I’m going to list some of these on my Poshmark, I think. That’s one of my new year’s resolutions for 2023, to actually put these things up for sale and follow through and all that stuff.
The stunna lip paint from Fenty has to go, I already don’t use the one I have too often because it’s a little more red than I’d prefer. If I do my lips for work it’s something nude, never something very bold. I don’t have time at my job to touch up, so what goes on is as good as it gets all day. Bold lips leave me a lip line and that’s just not something I need in my life.
The single use shadows and most of the lip products are going. The little candle I do not need. The “highlighter” – the thing that actually would have made a great review because people absolutely rave about the butter bronzers – is gonna go. A lot of the lips are going actually.
A couple of things I have already tried and like so far! The Mint Mud Deep Pore Detox Mask – it was Day 1 and I tried it the moment I opened it, back when I was thinking I could do things day by day. It’s a sample size, so blah, but it’s nice to get to try this lil mask. It stings a going on, but dries down and feels nice on for an hour or so.
The kitsch hair ties 🙂 they work, they tie my hair!
The fenty beauty wash, like I said.
The Tatcha face cream. It is incredible, it is the most luxurious-feeling cream I have ever used. The smell, the texture, the look and feel of it, all scream that it’s thousands of dollars. Feels like I’m laying on a cloud at sunset soaking in the last rays of daylight. It’s completely something else. It has me considering buying the full-size.
The sheet masks were very nice, nice and sticky and full of serum.
Nothing else really stands out as a wow item that I want to talk about.
So: will I try something like this again? Probably. Since it’s my first year buying it and I did enjoy some of the products, I think I’ll order it again next year and try to get a sense of the general value. Would I recommend it to a friend? Probably not. Maybe the 12 product version, if I was right that the shallow layer of the box is what is in that one. But this isn’t really something I’d say is good for anyone but the most intense makeup lover.
All in all, the box felt thrown together, and not designed with any specific products in mind. The sizes of the boxes did not have to be that big, and the overall box was massive compared to the maybe twenty-percent of it that was taken up with product. The items were also not packed properly inside their boxes, and I’m surprised that nothing broke. Maybe it’s because nothing was expensive enough to be made of products you’d have to think about.
Some of the biggest boxes in the package had some of the tiniest teeniest items in them, and were disappointing to open. It could have been a box half its size but also could have felt packed to the brim with goodies like a stocking at the foot of the bed but – it wasn’t. It was a loud empty house or something. Open a door – ah, not much in here.
It also gave me the sense – I’m sure I could do some research to confirm or disprove this but I haven’t – that the items were just thrown around haphazardly and not one single item was meant for one single number. Like here, fit these in this box in these smaller boxes. Just make sure you put at least X amount of minis and X amount of “full-size”.
Alright, I’m done ranting. TLDR; I found some good items, but mostly a disappointment. Will buy again, but only to get a good feel for the whole program. Felt a little sketchy which items they picked. Thinking they buffed their full-size numbers with little items to make it seem like the thing would be backed full of the good stuff.
I appreciate you reading! Look out for the actual December Reviews. They’ll be late. Everything will be late. I do not know how to catch back up. I might just have to skip a month XD
Dani