Hi everyone! It’s time to review the March BoxyCharm by IPSY, my smallest IPSY yet but – possibly the best one! Not a single miss in this box. Let’s get started!
Elemis
First up, IPSY chose the Peptide 4 Eye Recovery Cream by Elemis. I received one of their products a few months ago, a face cream that I really liked, so this one was already exciting. The packaging is very pretty, white into blue, and it’s a little squeeze tube with a silver cap. The formula is creamy, doesn’t have a heavy fragrance, and I like that it pretty much stays put under my eyes. There are eye creams that just seem too smooth, and after applying moisturizer they just sort of wash away in it. This one, it applies and stays where you put it, and absorbs there.
This eye cream is also incredibly expensive at $50 for15mil. I looked at the website and they list a trademarked ingredient from a genetically engineered flower, which is actually hardcore, and also other fatty acids and peptides, as well as vitamin E. So it does appear to be full of good stuff. But that’s still a ton of cash to spend on an eye cream.
I will definitely choose/add this in the future as well as other products from this brand, especially if it shows up in the $18 or $12 sections, because it’s a product I will definitely get a lot of use from.
Wander Beauty
Next item IPSY picked for me is the Trailblazer Eyeshadow Palette from Wander Beauty. So – I’m a little over these palettes from this brand. They all seem just redone, reused, same vibes, same recycled colors, etc. But this one seems to be a batch of new shades, and they didn’t do the annoying, one-crazy-bright-color-just-because thing that they do. However, the images for this palette online and then the photos I took seem a little different, so I want to go over the shades.
It’s a ten-pan palette with 4 mattes and 6 shimmers, named (I’m assuming) for different members of the team. That’s kind of adorable actually, and one of them’ my mom’s name. Hi mom ^-^ However, only one of the mattes, the shade Mandy, is what I’d consider a good midtone shade. The others just don’t fit; one is very light, one is very dark, and one is very green. The shimmers are a really good variety, going from incredibly sparkly to rich and sultry.
See the difference?
It’s the two Lindsays and Mackenzie giving me the problem. Lindsay P is pictured in the marketing image to be this bright golden champagne color, but it’s actually very much a rose. Mackenzie is supposed to be a light pinkish purple but actually is sort of a dusty ruby color. And Lindsay E is shown as this emerald green, sort of lily pad color but actually is dark as moss. The website’s Noreen shade is closer to the Lindsay E I have, and the real Noreen is much lighter and brighter than the image.
It’s all a little disappointing, because these light, bright shimmer shades in the marketing photos are much more likely to be on my radar for toppers than these deeper shimmers I actually use.
Formula
As for the actual product, it’s very good. Wander Beauty has expert formulas for their eyeshadows – even if their formula for palettes is a little repetitive. The mattes are pigmented but easy to blend, and the shimmers are stunning and buttery – easy to apply with a finger but not so full of shimmer that you get fallout. You can tell they use good ingredients and aim for a usable product.
SONÄGE SKINCARE
This is a new brand to me; I think I’ve seen the name before, but this might be my first product of theirs. It’s the Vitality Nourishing Facial Oil. First off, the packaging is very pretty, a silvery white bottle with a white cap. It is just a really pretty bottle. The dropper is also very efficient and pulls plenty of product, unlike other press droppers that feel useless and redundant. A pump is typically the way to go, honestly.
The product is a very smooth oil, not incredibly heavy like a nighttime treatment but I definitely wouldn’t use it during the day. I have been putting it over my night cream before bed and it smells and feels so relaxing, I have to just remember not to overdo it. I notice that when I wake up after wearing it to bed, my skin feels – not oily, but … like, conditioned? Softened. Less textured.
The facial oil retails for $48 which is a lot less than the oil I was using overnight, so if I need to repurchase, I’ll probably go with this one.
Girlactik
TYS Beauty
Next up is somehow the star of this month’s Boxycharm. Even though every item I got was good, this one made me be like OHHHHH. You know? It’s a whole new world of – lip gloss. This is the Lip Butter by TYS Beauty – what do you think it stands for, by the way? I’m guessing “Treat Your Self” but I’ll look it up and report back.
I was right, it stands for Treat Yourself.
The packaging is the cutest thing, it’s a clear oblong bottle, like a perfect skipping stone, with a white cap. It’s just really pretty, aesthetic package design. The applicator is also nice and wide! And again, the handle, the cap, is a good shape to hold in your hand.
The formula though, and the softness of the cap, are what stunned me right off the bat. I’m pretty sure I made a verbal “Ohhhhhh” sound when I tried it. It might just be how freaking soft the fabric of the applicator is, but it could also be the buttery formula, I don’t know, but I’ve never had a gloss like this before. I haven’t let it out of my sight, it’s been with me since I got it, and I am thinking of ordering the other shades, although this is the perfect shade for me. The others are a little deep, this is like bubblegum pink so that’s what I want.
It retails for $21, which is at the same level, if I remember correctly, as brands like JSC. Considering it’s the best lip gloss I’ve ever tried, I’ll concede that this is a fair price. I will definitely replace this one when I run out, which will be quickly. Also, it’s apparently a brand from a town near me? Or they say, we’re from X town! and there is one of those near me. They don’t say the state though. I don’t really know.
Danessa Myricks Beauty
I have only gotten the chance to try a few items from this brand, but I have loved them all, every time. This month’s BoxyCharm, I decided to add-on their Dew Wet Balm in the shade Rose Water.
The packaging is beautiful, it’s a circular, clear package that the product color can shine through. There’s a little lip that you can get your fingernail under to open the package, but be careful not to slip or your finger can go right into the product, which is soft and will never look the same again for photographs….
Ahem. Once you have opened the packaging it’s a stunning product. it reminds me a little of a lip gloss in texture, and warms up to the fingertips well. I don’t really like applying with my fingers because it’s so sticky, but I also don’t like gumming up my brushes and blenders… so my fingertips it is.
Shade
Now Rose Water is not my shade. Any of these other shades, like Holy Water or Morning Dew or even Clear would have been more of a highlight on my skin. On my fair neutral skin, this is a blush color. HOWEVER: It is a beautiful blush. It’s the kind of blush that also has some shimmer to it, which I typically don’t like, but it just looks so pretty on me. I can’t even imagine how cute the actual highlighter shades would be on me. This is the product that the Super Dew Highlighter is trying to be.
I have been using it very regularly and have even considered purchasing the other shades, to get a better understanding of what the creator was trying to do with the product.
Glow Recipe
Last but not least! Glow Recipe is a brand I’ve been coming to really like, and this product is no exception. It’s the Strawberry BHA Pore-Smooth Blur Drops. You can use this product one of two ways, as per their site: as a serum, to address pores, before moisturizer, or as a primer, right before makeup. I have been using it as a primer mostly, since I am currently testing so many other products.
The packaging is super adorable, a little pink round package with a lid that twists off. The product comes out easily and I might be crazy, but the same amount, a perfect pea-sized amount, comes out every time. I don’t know if the package is designed that way or not but it’s very easy to get out exactly the amount they want for you.
It has a divine strawberry fragrance, and the texture is like a very lightweight moisturizer. It’s white, spreads onto my skin very smooth and then absorbs incredibly quickly. It’s a little tacky after application to allow makeup to stick, but I also use my oil primer as well.
A good product, I probably wouldn’t repurchase but I like the feel and will use it up for sure.
And that’s all for March’s BoxyCharm! I love every item I got, and even though it’s my smallest box, it’s the biggest win! Thanks for reading and check back soon for April!
Love, Dani