My first Glam Bag X from IPSY came this month! I spent way too much money on it! And I need to write about it. I’ve never had a box I liked this much, full of things I’ve loved trying. I can only think of a few items I didn’t absolutely love.
So the Glam Bag X is a quarterly option. It replaces my Glam Bag Plus four times a year, which is just another thing to look forward to. It’s also usually linked to a celebrity, who is the “curator.” So they’ll say, you don’t want to miss this Glam Bag X, it’s such and such curating it, they selected all their favorite items, etc. This one was curated by someone named Bailey Sarian. I recognize her from her thumbnails, they say she founded the Murder, Mystery and Makeup genre on YouTube. I don’t follow her content because I’m more into watching actual interrogation footage than commentary and true crime stuff. But she’s gorgeous and of course they’d pick people like this to curate a box.
I will say, the presentation for this box is way beyond anything else so far; it came in with a newspaper-esque insert, the front page of which is literally Bailey’s face under this fishnet sort of veil, like when you’re too sexy at your husband’s funeral. Totally lady killer vibes.
The other pages are full of interesting information about like old-timey women who did cool things with makeup, but crime? Like a woman who sold poison disguised as cosmetics for women to kill their husbands and stuff? Or I think I remember one about a girl who was helping slaves escape somehow? Or something. I actually found myself reading through them and laughing, even though some of them were horrible things, but it was a long time ago.
Anyway! The Glam Bag X is bigger, for sure, and the argument is this makes it better. The cool thing is that it only replaces my Glam Bag Plus, so I get charged for a few Glam Bag Plus’s and then a few times a year I get charged for the X instead. Glam Bag Plus has two pre-selected items and you choose your other three items and you can shop add-ons, so a minimum of five items and a max of fifteen if you select all ten available add-ons (not that I’ve ever added all ten add-ons. That would be ridiculous. Now that I think about it, I don’t even know for sure that you’re only allowed up to ten. I don’t know why I would say that 🙃).
The X Bag is four or five initial items you get, and you get to pick your other three, all full-size. And maybe it’s just my imagination, but the selection for add-ons for this box was so much better. There were just some really interesting brands and packaging, some stuff I recognized from watching makeup content, things I hadn’t seen in a while but had always wanted to try? I can’t remember any now, next time I’ll take screenshots, but just there were more complexion products and stuff from brands that came from pro MUAs, and stuff from more brands that are hot topics?
I don’t know if it was just luck that the selection felt better though, I don’t actually know. Maybe this month is just a better month.
So first, like always, we’ll talk about the items chosen for me. I think these are the most indicative of the value of the box, to be honest, because they’re the ones I have no say in.
First up is the Protini Powerpeptide Resurf Serum from Drunk Elephant. This is a brand I have heard of many times, and have rightfully thought it to be one of the pricier skincare brands out there that’s still in the mainstream.
The first thing that jumped out at me about this serum is the packaging. It is the most unique bottle I’ve ever used and I’m going to try to explain it in words but if I can’t I do have a decent video of it.
Okay, so I tried to upload a video but the interface is really not great. Hopefully I can just explain what I’m trying to get across instead.
So you can see from the photo that it’s a white bottle, in a square shape, with a green cap. What you might not be able to see is that the green portion turns, and when you turn it, out pops the actual pump. So you rotate what appears to be the cap about 90 degrees clockwise, and the pump pops out.
SO FREAKING COOL! There are like ten thousand things about this that I love. First off, it makes it so this serum stores better and has less chance of the packaging breaking because the pump is sticking out. Also, spillage is just not an issue either, since you literally can’t push the pump without “unlocking it.” Third, no clutter with the cap, because the cap doesn’t come off it just twists.
It’s just a wonderful thing. It’s so smart and thoughtful and I can see why this is one of the most respected and expensive skincare brands.
Another thing I like about this product is the actual formula – thank goodness. It’s a very standard texture for a serum – maybe a little more watery than some, but still sticky. It spreads out fine, but does have that sort of oil mixed with water feeling. It makes my moisturizer very liquid when it goes under it.
Also, the fragrance. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first, but after dinner the other night I finally figured it out! It smells like sushi rice ^-^ Like, it smells exactly like very fragrant sushi rice. Or like sushi in general, but specifically the type of rice they use. I love it.
I’ve been using it every morning after my Fat Water and before my FAB Primer. Like I said, it does turn my FAB primer a little too liquidy, so I’ve been having to leave it for a few extra moments before applying products on top.
I have really enjoyed this product and will absolutely use it up.
The next item curated for me is actually a toner, called the Rose Clarifying Toner from a brand called Georgette Klinger. I’ve never heard of this brand, but even though I don’t use toners in my regular skincare routine, this is by far one of my favorites I’ve tried. It doesn’t smell of alcohol, and it leaves my skin feeling very hydrated and soft. I’m assuming that’s due to the “botanical extracts” and everything else that’s in there.
The packaging is just like a shampoo bottle from when we were kids, like a round tube with a littler round tube for the cap, and you push one side of the cap and the other side opens. It’s not exciting really.
The fragrance is strong, but because on the occasion that I do use toners I tend to use them then re-rinse my face, I don’t smell it for very long except when I’m initially applying it. I add a few drops to an already wet cleansing cookie, and apply it by spreading from the center of my face out or up or down or whatever direction. But since I don’t use toners in my routine, I haven’t had a ton of opportunity to try this out.
I did test it for makeup removal, and it did a slightly better job with my makeup than the toner I got from my Allure Box. I obviously had a tough time with my mascara, because I hate rubbing toner in my eyes and would rather use my cleansing balm.
I will probably gift this or possibly try listing it on my Poshmark, since I’ve only used it a little bit and the packaging allows someone else to use it without it being gross.
It also retails for $26, which seems like a lot for a bottle of toner, but it is a massive bottle, so maybe it scales.
Anyway, it’s a yes from me, if I liked toners.
Next up, the Nurture Deep Moisture Mask from JVN Hair. Another brand that’s new to me – but that’s the point of these boxes, so nothing wrong with that.
From the packaging and the name, I actually had to pause and check to see if this was a cream for the hair or the face, but the name of the brand gave it away. The tube is definitely hair-esque in retrospect, as the material is very hard and metallic and doesn’t squeeze easily. I actually never got the chance to try it, honestly. I don’t understand hair masks. >.>
Awesome! Next, I was assigned the ….
I don’t want to type all this. Are you ready for the name of this product? I have to actually type this out. Watch this.
It is the Rouge Artist For Ever Matte 24hr Longwear Liquid Lipstick in the shade 240 Rose Now and Always from the brand Makeup For Ever. Of course it’s from MFE. Like, the name?
The packaging for this item is so adorable, and super unique. Like, it’s a liquid lipstick, and it looks like a fountain pen or like a quill? Like it looks like something you put on before you burn down a house. Like the vibes are just mischief. Opening it is a little bit of a struggle, not because it sticks but because the actual applicator is sized so you have to really pull from the inside of the jar. I think it’s like one of those designs for cream products to not gloop all over the wand when you take it out, but it scares me because I feel like I’m pulling so hard that if there is a gloop on the end, it might fly off with the force I’m using after it’s out.
The good thing is, the formula is thick and heavy enough that this hasn’t happened yet.
So the color is definitely bright but not so red that I feel uncomfortable with it. The only thing I have struggled with is finding a lip liner that’s dark enough to stand out and make it a look. The formula is obviously that matte matte, reminds me of the Fenty Beauty matte liquid lipsticks, just putting it on and you can immediately feel the drydown start.
I don’t typically wear matte lipsticks because 1) my look is so much more like glowy and glistening and the matte tends to stick out a little, and 2) because it tends to accentuate the texture on my lips – I have some pretty difficult lips, honestly. I used to pick them and tear the skin off them and bit them from the inside when I was younger, and even though I don’t necessarily have scars, I still have very dry, sometimes flaking lips, and once in a while I’ll get a sore. Matte lipsticks tend not to stick very well over all this texture, and it looks uneven and dries them out more.
That being said, this lipstick with some gloss over it looked so good. I felt like I finally achieved the instagram lips look, like the dark outer line and the ombre to light pink in the middle and subtle shine. But with the gloss came the transfer of the lipstick onto my coffee mug, so actually I don’t know.
I won’t use this very often probably, but I’m excited to try it and find other lip liners that will work better with it.
Alright! Last up for items selected for me by IPSY is the Odacite Le Blue Balm Chamomile + Shea Butter Repair Balm. This is supposed to be some kind of moisturizer I think? But I don’t like it and I’ll explain.
So at first, the packaging made me really excited because it’s another dark, brooding jar and the product is supposed to be blue and it’s just an aesthetic. But I realized as soon as I actually looked a the product that I wasn’t going to enjoy it.
A “repair balm” to me is like what they market for use on tattoos, like on the body. Unfortunately, nothing on IPSY’s website indicates whether this products is for the face or the body, so I suppose I’m meant to assume it’s for the face?
But even the littlest bit on my face and I just feel like a greasy mess. Like honestly, it feels like makeup removing balm. Like it was marketed wrong or labeled wrong or something. Like I feel like I haven’t rinsed my face off. But I swear the product description says it’s a moisturizer.. Why would anyone want something with this texture on them at night? Or remaining at all for any period of time?
Don’t know. I may actually try it out as a makeup remover because it’s so oily and greasy and feels awful.
Also, I’m going to try it as a body moisturizer, even though with a 50ml jar there’s no way it’s designed for that. But like what else am I going to do with it?
It also retails for $48, which there is just no way I would ever buy it again. I think it might be the only item in this month’s box I didn’t like, and I think it’s also in my top five least liked items.
So that’s it for the items they picked for me! Next are the ones I liked the look of most and wanted to try ^-^ For the Glam Bag X, like I said, there are still only three. I don’t know why I thought it was 2 and 3 vs 5 and 5, but I guess I was wrong.
The first one I picked for me is the Watermelon Glow AHA Pink Dream Body Cream from Glow Recipe. I don’t take care of my body as much as I do my face, so I make sure to select body creams whenever I can, especially in the wintertime.
The packaging being just solid pink was attractive to me, it was like the classic millennial pink. And a pump was also something I was liking the idea of. But when I got it, the packaging was only causing problems. I spent at least five straight minutes trying to find out why the pump wasn’t … pumping. And I pumped it for a while, and eventually I got product out, but I had to work sooo hard. I don’t want to work hard.
And even after it started pumping, it has this weird click that happens halfway down and it’s like the product skips? Like when you’re running out of drink in a straw so you start getting air bubbles. But like, it’s a new bottle, I can see that that isn’t happening, so the pump must be the issue I guess.
That being said, the product that does come out is very nice. It’s a pretty color, same as the bottle, and it does smell nice. Actually, it smells exactly like the double bubble watermelon bubblegum from when we were kids. It does not smell like a refreshing watermelon fruit salad. It smells like that powdery, slightly sour bubble gum.
It sinks in pretty well on my skin and I do feel very soft and hydrated. The scent doesn’t linger unless I immediately get into a change of clothes, and it will linger on that. I definitely do not enjoy it as much as the body butters and lotions from The Body Shop, but I like it a lot more than the stale cotton candy trend in body moisturizers right now that’s for sure.
So this was a win and I plan to definitely use it up ^-^
Next up is one of the only fragrances I’ve ever gotten in a subscription! It’s from a brand called 5 Sens, which I had never heard of before but which has the very first alluring, attractive, connective website I’ve ever visited during one of these posts. It’s simple and to the point, explains the founder’s vision, and goes into detail about the materials and inspiration used to put the perfumes together.
The packaging is a whole mood. The bottle is shaped sort of like someone’s shoulders, and it feels old and wooden and stamped and like something you’d find in one of those movies like A Secret Garden, sitting on a vanity in a hidden room where the floor is covered in dead leaves and there are broke picture frames on a mantlepiece. Or something. >.> The cap comes off and you can see that it’s jut like any other component, and spritzes the same, but when the wooden cap is on it feels like a bottle of perfume oil, like something really precious.
The fragrance just made me happy. It’s sweet and happy and flowery and juicy and made me feel like a woman and that my tastes have matured and I should go out dancing in a real dress with my hair down and stand on a balcony in a late spring breeze and feel like myself again.
I like it a lot. No I don’t know how to explain it any better than that – but I’m genuinely considering buying the travel size of a few other fragrances on the site, specifically the ones that the fragrance finder told me I would like best. The scents are marketed really well, like they’re for a time and place – wear this one to go out for coffee, this one is for a breakup, this one is for love, etc. And it makes you want to try them all, like they’re different outfits.
I have never fallen in love with a product or a brand so hard so fast before, I really think I’d like to buy some of these others.
The 30ml retails for $65, and the 10ml for I think $26, so they aren’t that bad for the small sizes I don’t think. I don’t know. I don’t buy perfume.
Anyway! This is one of the best things I’ve ever chosen and I’m obsessed. I’m going to wear it every day that I remember to wear it ^-^
My last choice for my first Glam Bag X is the Evercalm Gentle Cleansing MIlk from Ren Clean Skincare. As I’ve mentioned before, all this nonsense about ❇️💖clean💗🌸 skincare and 💕non-toxic☀️ and 🌟chemical-free❣️ products is really tiring me out, but I do love a gentle cream cleanser and something about having plenty of face wash just makes me feel good.
Nothing much to report though – the packaging, just like you’d expect, the formula is definitely nice and milky and does feel extremely gentle. Fragrance was alright, nothing really jumped out at me. I’m oilier so I typically go for a more foaming cleanser, but this feels like a good option in the wintertime and I plan to keep using it up. I’ll update if I find anything interesting about it though.
So far, aside from the lipstick, it’s all been skincare and haircare and bodycare, and I feel you, where’s the rest of the makeup – it’s coming. We got a little more skincare to get through but there is makeup I promise.
Okay, so these are the items I added on to my box this month. I know I said I wouldn’t – I just got excited okay? The selected was so much better than I expected, the deals seemed nicer, I just got overwhelmed 😀 Going to do more of a rapid fire for these and just write whatever I want to write.
I added eight items onto my box. Please don’t hate me as much as I hate me. I just wanted to experience the whole box without like worrying about … like, money.
So!
First item I added is the Limitless Glow Sheet Mask from JLO Beauty. At $18 for a sheet mask, I expected it to make my skin feel like absolute silk – not that I paid $18 for it, I think it was in the $12 category. Obviously this didn’t happen. It was a nice sheet mask, two parter with hooks that go around your ears to hold it on. So like the top goes on and you hook it around your hears, then the bottom goes all the way like past your chin even and you also hook it around your ears. I find these unnecessary, since when you have a good sheet mask that’s very thin and covered in product, it’s not hard to keep it on.
Also, I have a very round face and this thing was designed for someone more almond – duh, right? So it actually got painful keeping it on my ears, it was incredibly tight and gave me a headache, I almost decided to just rip the stupid things off my ears, but the fabric was too heavy and didn’t have tons of product on it to make it sticky so it would have fallen off.
Nothing particularly wow after taking it off, and I would never spend $18 on this. I’d maybe pay $5, if it fit my face.
Also picked up the Dew of the Gods PWRNP Retinol Mask. It’s an overnight mask in stick form, which I found so so fascinating. It’s also minty or something when it goes on? Unclear why. So I’ve used it a bunch of times instead of my nighttime cream, and I like it, I wake up very smooth. Also just that it’s in a stick form is funny. It melts onto my skin really well and I def plan to use it more. Also I liked the Dew of the Gods face wash from last summer.
The TonyMoly Moisture Boost Something Something Eye Cream comes in a little whale tub!! He’s precious and he’s adorable and he loves me. And the formula is really nice and lightweight, it’s like a gel. I have texture, so putting this cream on I sometimes feel like something’s pilling under my fingers, but it isn’t, it’s just my skin.
I picked pretty hard the other night. Not as bad as I have in the past, maybe a four on the scale. I had a stressful week, I was lying in bed, I couldn’t sleep, I was overthinking, I just started tearing away at my skin. I felt awful in the morning about it and haven’t made it worse, but on those nights I feel gross and disgusting and I don’t keep up really well with my skincare.
But this eye cream made me so happy, and using it I do wake up with tighter and less baggy undereyes. Things look a little more snatched. And I look a little happier ^-^
The Luna Magic lip liners in Bonita and Mamacita are some of my most reached for lip liners. They roll up, instead of sharpening, which is good because I find those formulas to be creamier. The lighter one (straight up don’t ask me which is the lighter one because I do NOT know) I don’t use so much but the deeper berry shade is perfect on so many levels for so many of my lipsticks. I may purchase these in other shades.
I have consistent issues with my lips and try to just toss gloss on them and let them heal from whatever’s happening this week, but these are so smooth I feel like they don’t irritate my lips at all and I can use them consistently.
KAB Cosmetics redeemed themselves in my book when I got to try their Tinted Lip Oil in the shade Borderline. I have not stopped wearing this. There’s just something about the simple packaging, the formula that’s so thick but not sticky, it’s just slightly tinted but mostly just a nice lip gloss, it fits in my purse, it’s just perfect. It’s my favorite gloss I’ve ever used and I’m obsessed.
The Wonderwand mascara from Ciate London is alright! It’s a small size, like the mini, and I still like my other mascara better. I need a couple coats of this stuff before I get the look I’m thinking. The wand is very good for the outer lashes though, it’s just a little big and hard not to hit my lids with it. It did sting a little bit the first time I wore it for a long day, I think a little bit got in my eye and it did sting. But strangely I haven’t had that issue since that day, and I’ve worn it a bunch, so I’m not sure.
I also purchased an MOTD Slanted Tweezer that was Pink, since I have the black one and I liked the pink better and my black one is covered in mascara since I used to use it to try and separate my clumpy lashes before I knew how to apply mascara.
And last up is the Foundation X from Natasha Denona – I didn’t know they had foundations! I was so excited to see this in the add-ons. I got the shade 05N – Fair. I’m so glad I bought this with my bag – it is such a perfect shade match for my winter skin.
The packaging is cute but nothing super unique, it’s the frosted glass with the white pop off cap and pump. The only thing about it that stood out to me is how incredibly watery the formula is. Like I can’t put this directly on a brush or sponge because it pours through it like water – maybe not water, maybe like light cream. So I have to do it on my fingertips and dot it on my face unless I want my brush to get gross with constantly pouring it everywhere, you know?
It’s funny, the texture of this foundation is a lot like what I thought a skin tint would be. Like super watery and lightweight. But it’s got great coverage and it’s not a skin tint at all. Straight up, I thought the Eaze Drop by Fenty would be this type of texture with super light coverage, but that stuff is goopier than this.
Ayup, I did say goopier. I know the word is viscose but goopier communicates it better I think.
So I have been wearing nothing but this foundation since I got it and I’m so happy I discovered it. The finish is natural, not super matte or super dewy, and my other products blend with it so perfectly. If anything it’s a little too light which is just wonderful because in the wintertime I can never find anything that works.
And that’s everything! That’s everything. Phew. I’ve never had a beauty box that I liked this much, I’m so excited to keep using all this stuff and integrate it into my routine.
Thanks so much for reading such a long post, I didn’t mean to go so crazy this month. I plan to do another post this month about the BoxyCharm and IPSY merge, so keep an eye out for that. Gotta do some research 😉
Talk soon!
Dani