Hiii again! It’s time for 2023!
Even though my last few posts were in 2023! But these are actually products from 2023 that I’m reviewing in the same year so it feels special.
It’s also special because I’m trying something new with my writing tonight; I am actually writing this from a tavern down the street from my apartment, half a drink in.
This month I went a little easy on my IPSY box and only ordered three additional items, even though ten is also an option. But I made that mistake last month. I also wanted to announce/solidify that from this point on I actually won’t be ordering any add-ons to my IPSY box, because I have decided to try out IPSY Glam Bag X!
This is a quarterly box that’s bigger and has more options, and costs a bunch more than the regular Glam Bag Plus. So instead of spending another $50 a month on a ton of extra add-ons, I’m just going to pay extra quarterly for a MEGA bag of stuff and see how it goes.
Obviously I’m sure once in a while I’ll see something I’ve maybe always wanted to try, and of course I’ll buy it, but I’m no longer going to be giving myself that $50 budged that I had until now been giving myself.
So let’s talk about the IPSY Glam Bag Plus for January of 2023!
The first item IPSY chose for me is the Winky Lux Latte Kitten Palette. What an adorable name, first of all. Like it’s such just blatant cuteness marketing, but like, it works. It’s a nine-pan palette that’s a mixture of neutral-ish matts and lowkey shimmers. I’m sorry I’m attaching the website photo of this instead of my own. In the wintertime, there’s no sunlight by the time I’m home from work so there isn’t any opportunity to photo anything except on the weekends, and I got impatient.
This palette, in my opinion, has a good variety of cool and warm tones. It has a nice light pink blush color, some red and purple shimmers, a lighter highlight, a deeper cool taupe, and a brick orange. But even the brick orange is sort of toned down, like they really were trying to make something very understated. The only thing about it that isn’t super balanced, is there are only three matte shadows and there are six shimmers. But it’s still usable.
So far I am loving the matte shades a lot. I’ve tried the most neutral matte, the taupe, with several blending brushes, some softer than others, but I’ve been getting good results. The shadows aren’t so pigmented that they are hard to blend, you know? So I was able to build them up slowly and get a really good blend.
The shimmers, unfortunately, barely shimmer. Like they’d be great for someone who wanted something more understated and modest, and maybe that’s what they’re going for, but when I have a palette full of shimmers I really want them to be the star. Like the six-pan palettes from Juvia’s place, those shimmers have no chill.
They definitely have a faint glimmer to them, and I’m sure if you really wanted to build it up you could, but applying how I usually do on my lid they come off very toned down.
I will say, I liked this subtle look after I had tried it a few times. I think it’s a palette for someone who uses eyeliner and falsies and dresses up the look in other ways. So I plan to continue using it and experimenting with how to make a subtle look work for me.
The second thing they picked for me is the Skinluminate – Superfine Luminous Blush Palette from Kaleido Cosmetics. This palette has a shade as well: Coral Glow. I swear, is there anything less creative than that shade name?
I was not excited to try this product because I don’t really use powder blushes and I definitely don’t use shimmery powder blushes. Blush needs to stay in her own lane. Blush needs shimmer as much as bronzer and contour need shimmer. Blush needs shimmer as much as concealer needs shimmer. Fight me.
So I didn’t play around with it much. It didn’t make me excited. I will say though, these blushes aren’t very pigmented at all, which is my favorite kind of powder blush. The worst thing in makeup, in my opinion, is hyper-pigmented powder blush. This stuff was very sheer, but I was able to get a lil bit of a pink sheen on my cheeks when I built it up a little. So for a blush, specifically the one that’s matte, it was good.
I do have thoughts though, about the lack of variety in the palette itself. These blushes are barely half a shade apart from each other, the only significant difference between them is whether they have shimmer or not. Especially the two on the right. The one on the left, you can definitely see the difference, but on the middle and right, if you remove the shimmer, it’s the same blush to the eye.
So I probably won’t use this palette, mostly because it’s powder blush and I’m just over it, but also because it’s shimmery which is just so weird to me, but also because it’s like one color.
Aaand on to choices! Since IPSY chose two palettes for me this month, I decided to go more skincare and bodycare focused on the choices. I picked the First Aid Beauty KP Smoothing Body Lotion first. This lotion comes in similar packaging to the primer I use from them, just much bigger.
I actually tried this product immediately upon receiving it, because I had just gotten out of the shower and had no body lotion to wear and was planning on going out. It was very chilly when I unwrapped it because it had been sitting on my porch. So I don’t have a pic of this either. Normally I wait to actually try the products until I’ve photographed them and put everything in the spreadsheet, but I was so dry and needing moisture I just took it out and applied it.
The first thing that jumped out at me – literally 👀 – is that it’s a very watery formula and actually seemed to spill out of the spout when I opened it. It applied to my skin really well other than this – like it was nice, kind of like a body yogurt or just a lotion that’s drippy.
It initially did leave what felt like a film, but this didn’t stay very long and eventually it just felt like very smooth skin. The film was initially just like, that encased feeling you feel when you moisturize. But I think after exfoliating really well it won’t give that feeling.
It isn’t as thick and rich as a body butter, but I understand what they mean about smoothing, like your skin does definitely feel smoothed over. I get the sense that alongside the other products in this line, this is probably a massive hit.
It retails for $28, which is on the high end for its category. Body butters from The Body Shop, some of the richest and thickest moisturizers I’ve ever tried, go for a chunk less than this. I think maybe it’s because it’s marketed to help with a specific skincare concern, i.e Keratosis Pilaris.
They do claim it directly combats the look of these keratin plugs, and so I assume the cost is due to this. Not having this concern, I certainly wouldn’t pay this much for this product. But I do like it, and I intend to use it up (mostly because I have no other body lotions atm).
[Edit: I’ve used this lotion two times and it’s already half empty. It’s lightweight, but it’s almost too lightweight to where I feel like I need quite a bit to get that rich, moisturized feeling.]
Next is the Nourishing Cleansing Balm from a brand called Keys Soulcare. I’ve never heard of this brand, but this product is totally fire. Remember in my last post how I was talking about the cleansing balm that came in my Kinder Beauty Box? And how it was so dense and oily that water couldn’t take it off, and it wasn’t easy to get out of the jar, and all that? This product is everything that one should have been.
The packaging is very cute, little dark package with a dark jar with a dark product. You get the sense they’re going for very mystical, tuned in, deep thoughts skincare. Their website is full of things like “Playlists to go with your soulcare” and blog posts about connecting and vibrations.
The product itself is a very soft formula, and it’s funny, it’s a dark color. Like you know those toothpastes that are dark and it’s like charcoal and you’re like ooooh cool it’s a thing but it’s like (Dark Mode) that’s sort of how it felt opening this. It’s soft, but not as soft as my Juno. And it doesn’t do that thing where there’s some oil sitting at the top when you open it.
It comes away on my fingers really easily, and it doesn’t give much resistance. It goes on and melts onto my skin and starts to break down my makeup quickly. I did have to work it into the mascara I was wearing, but that’s nothing new with any makeup remover or cleansing balm. It did a good job on the makeup I was wearing the first few times I used it, and unlike the other more annoying cleansing balm, it dissolved properly in water and wasn’t like vaseline on my face.
It has a nice musky fragrance, nothing overpowering. It’s relaxing, kind of like DARK SPA or something like that, but I dig it.
I still have to use it a few more times with other foundations to get a good sense of how much of it I need, because ideally I don’t need to use a ton of product to get a face off.
My skin doesn’t feel stripped or dry after using it, and feels conditioned and hydrated. If it came down to this and the balm I’m already using, I’d still probably pick mine just for the price and the fragrance. This cleansing balm retails for $30, where my Juno only costs about $12 and comes with fun extra items if I order it in bulk.
That being said, it’s a good product and I’d definitely reorder it if I saw it in the extras. I do plan to use it up and I’ll keep an eye on how it performs.
The last item I chose this month is the Love+Craft+Beauty face primer, called … the Face Primer.
Fun.
Do you guys ever think about how funny this is? The primer I’m using right now is the First Aid Beauty Fucking Coconut Skin Smoothie 5000x Pro Brightening Priming Moisturizing Hydrating Smoothing Version 2.0.10.17 and this thing is called Face Primer.
I chose this item because LCB is not a hugely known brand to me, but I’m obsessed with their eyeshadow primer and how well it works with the shadows I use, and I’ve been crossing my fingers that this stuff is just as good but for the face. Not that my face is full of creases and covered in powder like my eyes are, but you know. It could help.
It’s a very lightweight primer, which surprised me because the eyeshadow primer I use from them is much thicker and has some more substance. So it’s almost a little milkier than I like for a primer, I’d really prefer one that’s stickier. That being said, after it had settled onto my skin a little while it was tackier. I think maybe it has to “dry.”
I checked my foundation at the end of the workday the first time I used it and I definitely think it helped keep things in place. My other primer is very glowy and glisteny and almost feels more like a moisturizer, so I liked having this too to give my makeup more hold.
Both of my current foundations blend over it very well, it doesn’t give a lot of resistance like some primers, you know where you put it on and it’s so tacky that you really have to buff and buff and buff – yeah, none of that.
I definitely plan to play around with it more, but so far I’m a fan.
[Edit: So I do not like this primer as much as my tried and true. Just something about how it dries down, like it dries down a lot like the eye primer. And I feel awful saying that because that’s what I was excited about but it turns out that the things that work best for powder on your eyelid are not the best thing to use for a face full of cream products. Go figure. So I’ll probably use this product more in the summertime, when it’s better for me to have a more mattifying routine. This time of year though, I need all the moisture I can get my hands on.]
And last but not least, the three items I added on this month! The first one is the Wake up Beautiful Overnight Retinoid Cream by Pacifica. I’ve used some of Pacifica’s products before, like their perfumes and soaps, but never their skincare. I never really had much interest in them as a brand, just because – I don’t know, they just always came off as more candles and soaps and stuff like that, I didn’t start to think of them as an actual skincare brand until … well I still don’t.
So this cream is designed for overnight treatment – duh. Wake up Beautiful is a really clever name by the way, I like the marketing.
It comes in a little blue box that contains a little blue jar that contains the product, it’s very standard. The texture is very interesting, kinda reminds me of the Yoplait Whips yogurt texture. Like creamy but whipped. Hybrid.
It does, however, take some time to sink in. It might just be that the white color is more opaque than my other skin creams, which appear to absorb right away, but this does take some rubbing in. I put it on and it stays white at least an extra ten seconds.
Like I said though, this may be less to do with the formula not sinking in and more that the white color is actual pigmentation that makes the cream look harder to rub in.
It has a pretty medicinal smell, like not super unpleasant but it doesn’t give me those luxurious skincare vibes. You’d think something they were marketing as all tropical and fun and gen Z would maybe have a tropical smell, like pineapple or some kind of incense or idk something other than whatever this is.
Next up is a skin tint from Ciate London. Technically it’s called the Dewy Skin Tint and I got shade 010. I’m assuming this is the lightest shade, which would be pretty disappointing. I went to look it up online, but apparently it’s been discontinued? It’s not on their website anywhere. I guess I wouldn’t be super mad if that were the case, considering it’s an item I added on and asked for and not a base item they’re trying to actively promote.
So unfortunately I’m not able to tell 100% whether it’s the lightest shade, but I still had to mix it with my white concealer to get the shade light enough for my skin tone.
The formula is a little stickier than the Fenty Beauty skin tint, like it’s a little more like honey than chocolate syrup? If that makes sense? It mixed with my concealer very well. I will say I’m not a huge fan of the fragrance, not that I specifically go for fragrance when I buy foundations. But it does sort of smell a little weird.
Today I wore it under cream bronzer and blush and concealer on my face, and actually got complimented on my face at work, which was so nice and made me feel so confident.
The finish is definitely dewy, probably more than the Fenty tint. I think I’ll like it with other primers, since the primer I use right now actually also gives my skin a slight shimmer, so today I was certainly beaming. I’d have to try it out later into the spring when I’m that color to talk about the coverage, because mixing my full-coverage concealer with it is kinda cheating.
Since I can’t find it online I can’t go into the price and how it stacks up, but I’d definitely purchase this or a lighter shade again if it came up on add-ons.
And last but not least I added the Frank Body Rose Gold Shimmer Scrub to my bag this month.
I have used one of their scrubs in a bag before. Loved the scrub, not the bag. I don’t know why they have to package them this way, honestly. Like, is it just so we think there’s more product? Or is it because it’s supposed to make you feel some type of way? There’s no benefit that I can see to putting the product in a zip-lock bag.
These scrubs are very good – and very rough. Like, so rough that your hand starts to hurt from scrubbing it in. But sometimes that’s what you need, you know? They also say in the instructions to leave the product on your body for a few minutes before rinsing, which I continue to do with no explanation why. Never have I seen a body scrub that says, leave it on for a while. Like sure, you leave it on for a moment while you’re scrubbing it. But these specifically say scrub, then wait, then now you can rinse. Ooooookay. >.>
This particular scrub made me feel so so so pretty though while I was using it. It gave my skin this rose gold hue and everything looked all sparkly in the shower, and it appeared to also even out my skin tone while I had it on. Obviously this effect didn’t last after it washed off, but the shimmers did! This is actually a scrub that leaves you with a body shimmer.
I liked it a lot, my skin felt smooth and was glistening after use. I think I’ll save it for the summertime so I can use it the night before a beach day or something. High marks from me. Just take care, as again, the scrubs from this brand are extremely rough.
And again, it’s super important to me to say, these scrubs are immensely, ridiculously rough. They do start to physically hurt your hands. They wouldn’t be good for sensitive skin or if you just want a light polish. It’s like sand. I think it might be supposed to feel and look like rough, shimmery sand.
And that’s my IPSY for January! A little shorter, a little sweeter, but more successes than I think we usually have. And I found that I still had plenty to say ^-^