Let’s get this bread! It’s time for the August Glam Bag review, swatches, first impressions, and thoughts. I’ve been looking forward to this box because I bought way too many add-ons and this is going to be a huge project. I haven’t really explained, but these posts take so much time.
When I purchase or add-on I put a spreadsheet together with names, brands, shades, and deets for each product along with the cost and original retail price. I also check the brand website to make sure the listed discount is accurate, not because I don’t trust IPSY but sometimes you’ll find out that a product is retailing for $50 but it just went on sale last month for $30, so this discount down to $25 isn’t really that excellent. It’s still good but like, you know?
And this is also to check that the listed value of the box is accurate, which it typically is with IPSY. Sometimes this can take a while because products are part of special bundles or hard to find on the website or created specifically for the box I’m reviewing.
Then when everything arrives, all at different times, I unwrap and photograph everything (that’s convenient to photograph) and spend a while swatching and washing my hand, and this has to happen in the afternoon between work and dusk because I really prefer natural lighting. Then I have to get everything organized by box and month, pick out the products from first impressions that I want to continue trying, sort out the ones I want to sell or am not interested in continuing to try, and find places on my vanity for the things I want to test.
The hair and body products I have to plan a separate shower for, because I typically shower every other day. So it’s very fun and very involved.
Sometime I’ll post a start to finish about how I create the reviews and how it looks at home and how I keep everything organized.
Anyway! This box had some hits and misses so we’ll go over everything and then I’ll talk about what I paid – yikes. Since I ordered so many products I’m going to have to break it down by category. I’m trying to decide if it’s better to break everything down into categories of purchase (i.e picked for me, picked by me, added-on, and ordered separately), or in categories of product (face, body, hair, etc). Hmm. Maybe I can have a different outline for each box – like with IPSY there are those four types of products, but they don’t have that with the other boxes, so maybe IPSY will be special.
Okay so for IPSY I’ve decided to break it down by purchase categories since there are four ways to get a product from them. I’ll start with products that the box contains by default, then move to products you choose, then products you pay to add-on, and then products you can order separately (all of which I always do). This will be three total posts.
The first item that IPSY picked for me was from Dew of the Gods, called Froze The Royal Face Wash. At least, maybe that’s the name. The bottle has like fifty different tiles and names on it. I’m pretty sure the actual brand is Dew of the Gods but then I don’t know what Froze is.
Okay I went and looked it up. It is technically called Froze: The Royal Face Wash but on the bottle it looks like Froze is the brand name until you notice Dew of the Gods on there. The website also says it was made with unicorn cuddles. How very Gen Z of them.
This face wash comes in a squeeze tube that’s so colorful and fun-looking it almost hurts. Like the vibes are just so good. And the fragrance is juicy. It is actually as if they did like a frozen rose, it smells like ice and wine and it’s extra sweet and honestly it’s really nice. I love it. I will say the packaging with the squeeze tube that clicks shut did give me a hard time when closing it, I had to go pretty hard.
The product itself is a really nice gooey texture and foams up like no other face wash I have ever used. I’m sure it might foam up less if I wasn’t using my cleansing cookie, because that does help lather things up on my face, but still it honestly almost turns into a mousse. It’s also extremely smooth, to the point where I didn’t feel like using my cleansing cookie was even doing anything because it was so lubed up on my face. >.>
Rinsing it off took a while because it foamed up so much, and my face afterwards felt clean but a little stripped. I do think I used too much though, I’m going to try it with a little less and see if that helps.
I don’t typically use face wash, to be honest. I cleanse my face with my makeup remover, and then I exfoliate a couple of times per week. I also use face masks a good amount because of how I pick my skin when it’s bare. It’s a good setup. But if this wash ends up being good, I’ll use it more often and maybe start double cleansing. I also plan to start using it with my hands instead of my cleansing cookie, to see if that helps with the overflow of foam.
[Edit: I tried using less of the face wash and applying it on my face with my hands and then going in with my cleansing cookie, and that seemed to be a little less overwhelming. I like this product very much and will look for it as an add-on in future boxes.]
This item retails for $24, which isn’t bad for the size and potency of the product. I don’t know if I’d buy it again at that price, because I just prefer creamy cleansers, but I plan to use this up for sure.
The next item IPSY chose for me is a set of three; it’s the Bodyography Lip Pencil 3-Pack in the shades Heatherberry, Timber, and Merlot. I have actually been wanting some more lip pencils because the ones I purchase just keep not being dark enough, so the darkest color in this pack has me excited.
They look just like typical lip pencils, nothing crazy special, but they’re lip pencils they don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, just an easy to apply formula. The thing is, when I took them out to swach, the tip of Heatherberry broke. I wasn’t swatching super hard, but it was at a bit of an angle. I’m curious to see how they’ll hold up. The nice thing is, that shade is the lightest. But it worries me about the deeper shades that the formula is too buttery. We’ll see. I currently have some texture around my mouth that’s making lip products a little painful so I have to give these a try when that’s healed or maybe put an update at the bottom of this post.
[Edit: I waited a few days until I was just finishing up the edits on this post and am very happy with the formula of these lip liners and haven’t had any other issues. The darkest shade looks very good with my nude lipstick, and the formula is slippery and buttery, making it easy to practice overlining my lips. The lighter shades are a little more subtle, but they all look good with my skin tone.]
The products I chose for my box were all skincare items. I’ve recently been leaning towards skincare more because my skin is more healthy and I’m trying to take better care of it now that I’m not constantly causing bruises and flaking.
I’ve been crazy into masks recently, because they help me not to touch my face and they feel clean and purifying, so I got one of those, a serum, and a moisturizer.
The first item is the Farmacy Filling Good Hyaluronic Acid Plumping Serum. I chose this for a bunch of reasons; recently I received a product by this brand called the Honey Grail Ultra-Hydrating Facial Oil. I didn’t like this one single bit and it’s actually up on my Poshmark right now (a brand new bottle, not the one that was used). My sister tried it as a body oil and said it was magnificent, so hopefully someone can get good use out of it.
So I selected this item because I wanted to try out something else from the line to give the company a fair shake, since it was the first time I had ever tried anything from Farmacy. I love this serum. It’s super smooth and goes on and sinks in really well and it has a subtle honey fragrance that I’m really enjoying. When I’ve used it overnight, my skin feels very smooth and soft in the mornings and it doesn’t seem to leave a dried residue like some other serums and moisturizers do when you use them overnight.
The packaging for this item is pretty cute and ties into the rest of the line; it’s a pump bottle with a very tall top, and in a heavy container. The unit carton is also really pretty, just like with the other facial oil.
This product retails for $48. I probably wouldn’t purchase it at this price, but I’d buy it again through IPSY. The overnight serum I use right now from Juvia’s place is a fifth of that cost and has a similar texture, and I’d probably just go for that one to be honest.
The next item I chose is a mudmask, which I was so excited for; it’s the Ahava Purifying Mud Mask. I plan on using this again when I get home from work tonight, I liked it a lot. The packaging is a squeeze tube and really easy to use, and the texture is so good. It’s almost a little gritty when you apply it, but it doesn’t dry and chip off throughout the afternoon.
I enjoy it so far and plan on using it all the way through. My skin feels a little dry when I wash it off, but that’s probably because I use it for a lot longer than they recommend. I leave mud masks on for a few hours at a time because they help me to leave my skin alone.
It retails for $35 and came with the box, so I’m already feeling like I got a great value this month. It’s not on any kind of promotion online.
I also added on the Dr. Zenovia Aloe Vera Soothing Moisturizer. I added this for a few reasons; last month I received a Dr. Zenovia hyaluronic acid serum that I liked a lot and I reviewed it positively for July. So I liked the idea of having a serum and moisturizer from the same line that I could try together. I was also looking forward to having a lightweight aloe moisturizer to try out too.
The packaging is super similar just a little larger. This brand seems to go kinda clinical with their packaging, which is nice, it looks official.
The texture is almost more like a primer, like the silicone feeling that’s a little slippery. Sort of like a fusion between a cream and a gel moisturizer. Like when I pump it onto my hand, it stays still. Just look at the photo.
The fragrance is subtle and not perfumy or overwhelming.
I like this product but it does pill up a little bit if I use as much of my serum as I’m accustomed to. My routine is spaced out over about ten minutes in the morning and I typically give my serum a long enough time to sink in, but this product does seem to pull it up a little. For this reason I’ve been using it with just a small amount of serum underneath and it’s been much better.
It doesn’t appear to pill any of my makeup though, which is nice. I do plan to use it more as a nighttime cream because of the silicone-ish texture.
This moisturizer retails for $38. I might actually pay that much for it, especially in summer when I’m out in the sun so much.
That wraps up the main box and selections. My next post will be five more items I added-on to my box, and that’ll wrap up the product reviews.
The main box and selections totalled up to $178 retail, and I only pay like $30 for it. Honestly it’s such a good deal. I know sometimes things are on promo, but even still. It’s a really good deal either way.
I realize that most of these items are skincare – in the future, I need to keep an eye out and maintain a better balance in my selections. It’s just like I said, recently I’ve been wanting more skincare because it doesn’t sting. My next post about add-ons has more makeup mixed in.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to stay tuned for the next and last posts in this series.