There have been some true Spring days this week and I am blooming along with the flowers by my house. I am imbibing spring. I am driving slowly and taking my time going places. I found a little bank by the stream over the train tracks at the nature reserve behind my neighborhood and sat in the sun watching leaves roll down along the little hill and fall into the water. I got a little sunburn but only on my right shoulder because I wasn’t facing the sun directly. I got a little scrape on my ankle climbing back out of the woods. I got a little perspective, stepping out of the trees onto the pavement.
I had been really looking forward to this IPSY, since it’s full of heavy hitters and the last batch of products turned out so well too. There’s more light to take better photos … it’s just a better time of year to do these posts!
F.A.R.A.H
I am not super familiar with this brand but I recognize the name for sure. This is their Highlighter in the shade Zahra. It’s a powder highlighter that comes in a white compact, nothing special there but pretty and functional. I was worried from the photos that it would lean too yellow, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was more of a platinum silver than a gold highlighter! As you might know I tend to prefer white and silver over warm tones in my highlighting products, and I highlight more in the spring.
It is not a buttery product, you know how highlighters and eyeshadows can be very thick and rich. This has more of that flaky, eyeshadow topper texture, very lightweight and plenty of fallout. It looks super pretty on, although nothing at all revolutionary. Definitely just a very good daytime casual highlight.
It retails for $22 on their website and other sites are selling for more like $19. That’s not bad for the product, honestly, I’d recommend getting it.
Feel Beauty
I sure do! This is a new brand to me – and what a weird package for a moisturizer to come in. You’d expect a mask, a scrub, a something else. It even has one of those caps that you need to open by flipping the cap and piercing it. Very interesting.
The product is so nice. It feels literally refreshing on my skin, like spring rain. It’s almost one of those moisturizers that feels like you did your entire skincare routine – like, I can put this on without my essence, serums, eye cream, and still feel like my skin got a lot of good hydration. It’s a thick face cream and I intend to mostly use it in the evenings, although today I used it before my makeup and it still just feels so nice.
$48 is the retail price. I’m feeling like that’s a pretty typical price for 50ml of product. I can’t afford to pay full price for this type of thing right now, so I’d recommend it only if you can get it off Poshmark or find a good deal.
Fenty Skin
Welcome back Fenty! This is their Pre Show Glow Instant Retexturizing Treatment and Applicator. My impression is that this is like a very intense face wash that’s intended to really get in there, especially with the applicator. It foams up and you can feel that it’s a very intense formula. It claims to loosen up dirt and dead skin and brighten the complexion. I did feel after like my skin had had a good scrubbing that even my normal exfoliators don’t give me.
The bottle is adorable and I’m not exactly sure how to use the applicator. They could have just made it a tiny washcloth instead of a weird circular thing. It doesn’t fit any whole number of my fingers, and they only come in whole numbers. I do have to wash my face more in the spring, because I’m oilier and sweatier, so I’m glad to have such an intense face wash available to me.
The cloth also doesn’t help the product foam up very well, leaving me wanting more after using it. I really want this product to foam up and get really in there, and the cloth doesn’t really make it feel that way.
It retails for $48 so the jury’s out on that. I need to spend like a month using it to know if I think it’s worth that, especially where it says to only use it a few times a week. So I’ll continue and check back in.
Dew of the Gods
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve played around with DOTG, I think it was the spring before last. I will never forget that face wash. These are their Filla Nitro Caffeine + Retinol Under Eye Pads. I love an undereye pad or mask or little rubbery thing! I was so excited to try these.
The packaging is very modern and to the point, it’s supposed to give 5-hour energy or nitro brew coffee. The packets are incredibly easy to open, thank goodness! Companies just cannot figure out how to make the little mask packets simple to open. I’m in the middle of my skincare routine, I can’t need dry hands.
They go on very sticky, not liquidy at all. Like once they’re on they’re stuck, it feels like a piece of tape. Also they’re very thick, so I have to place them a little further down on my face than I usually would. But they don’t wander at all, even if I’m up and about and cleaning or something. So I sort of forget they’re there easier than the other kinds I’ve tried.
After pulling them off my skin underneath looks conditioned, brighter, and firmer. $20 for a pack of 10 is a really good deal, you should go get some of these.
Dallas & James
I’m not super familiar with this brand although I do remember a nice serum from them a few months ago. This is their Watermelon Dream Saltwater Scrub. I was hoping it was a body scrub but turns out it’s for the face. I really need a good scrub as we move into spring and summer, what a bummer.
Saltwater scrubs for the face are rare, since salt is a very rough abrasive. Traditionally sugar and salt scrubs are for the rest of you. Although I’ve had facial sugar scrubs before, I’ve never run into a facial salt scrub.
It is very rough, and starts to dissolve pretty quickly in the shower, so it’s hard to feel like I got an even scrub all over my face. It stung a little as well, because I did have some texture and acne. I think it might be good for drying out that type of acne, but I don’t typically have it.
I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re not very used to salt scrubs. I plan to use the rest of it on my body, since I do really like body scrubs. This will unfortunately only last me one or two uses on my body but at least it will be used up!
Rare Beauty
So I don’t use eyeliners really, it’s something I’m not very good at and don’t think it looks good on me. Also, everything I’ve tried always transfers to my lid, no matter what. My skin just melts it off. This is their Perfect Strokes Longwear Gel Eyeliner in the shade True Black.
This is a rich, black eyeliner with a good sized tip and easy applicator. It’s pretty firm so it’s hard to get a perfect line, but I did play around with it and got a darker lash line. I’m thinking of trying it with a thin brush and seeing if I can get something wispier.
It definitely transfers onto my upper lid, like really badly, especially now that spring has brought some warmer weather. But there’s not a product that doesn’t.
I don’t really have much else to say about it, it’s a good product, I’ll pull it out from time to time to do something specific. It retails for $20, which I think it about the industry standard. Rare Beauty keeps its products at decent prices.
Grown Alchemist
This brand is growing back on me! After I tried their day cream I was like nope, no more, I’m done, this is so bad. But this product has me coming back! This is their Age-Repair Lip Treatment. It’s a really nice thick lip balm, super firm, doesn’t just melt off and leave too much on my lips. The compact is black and simple, and my lips feel refreshed and moisturized.
I’m super lucky to be a fan of my lip color, so I don’t use a lot of lip products with color. This is really nice as an addition to my clear lip products.
[Update] I have been reaching for this little lip balm a lot! More than I expected. It’s coming around with me to both jobs and I catch myself reapplying after drinking something. As someone who doesn’t take great care of her lips, it’s super refreshing to know that a good product can help with that.]
Something to note: the tinted version of this item is on sale on Grown Alchemist’s website for $32 from $40, and this un-tinted version I cannot find on their site at all. It must be discontinued. I guess I’d be okay with the tinted version, but it’s a little sad if I can’t find this one again.
Thanks for coming by! I’ve already gotten May’s items in and OOOh boy, lots to go over. See you in the next one!
Talk soon,
Dani