Well if it isn’t really rainy! I have just gotten in my hands on one of the most exciting boxes IPSY has gotten to me so far and I have some gushing to do! Sure, there’s a miss or two like always, but I’m overall super happy with the following:
Lauren’s Skincare
I recall this brand and receiving a face scrub from them that I didn’t love. I’m pleasantly surprised to be able to say that I am enjoying these Brightening Skin Pads! The packaging, for starters, is just what it should be. A little jar with the pads stacked face up, ready to go. I can already see myself swiping one of these as I’m leaving the gym, or to take my makeup off in an emergency – let’s say, a rainy day.
They do not sting, and I would know – recently I’ve been breaking out a little due to circumstances well within my control. I used one of these last night to just clean up my skin a little and it felt nice, and refreshing, and left me mattified and soft. There did actually appear to be a lot of dirt and oil on my skin that came off with the pad.
They retail for $38, which is a lot for what you’re getting. You can find comparable items from other brands for less. But this is a good one! I plan to use these up completely, and I’d buy them again if I saw them in the shop or could get a good deal online. As an IPSY pick, this is what I’m talking about.
Chica Beauty
Again, this is what I mean by, IPSY should be choosing cool items from brands we don’t know for our power picks. This is the Chica Glow Highlighting Duo, and it’s a really interesting and new type of highlighter to me.
The packaging is a standard double set of products on a stick, but the interesting thing is that although one side is a cream shadow and one is more of a liquid shadow, they appear to be exactly the same color once applied, which I have never seen before – and which is so refreshing. How many times I’ve thought, why can’t I have two ways to apply the same shade?
Part of me wonders if it was an error in production, since it’s so rare.
The cream side rolls up just like a lipstick and it’s a nice small applicator size. I haven’t used it much directly on the skin, I prefer to warm it up on my fingertip first. It feels very lightweight and “dries down” (I hate that term, because it’s not like it dries down like to being dry, just dries down to staying put) slowly enough to blend out.
The other side is more like how you’d expect a shimmery liquid shadow to be, it’s in the little tube, pull the applicator out, swipe it on, looks pretty. That side is a little more usable in places like the eyelids. But yeah they come off the same shade and I can’t get over it.
This duo retails for $20 – and it’s a good deal, I’d buy it at that price if it was something I was specifically looking for. I’ll need to keep an eye on this brand, seems like they make good stuff.
Glow Recipe
What a staple! I’m always a little extra excited when a box has some Glow Recipe in it. This is their Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Hue Drops. This product completely shocked me, because when I pumped it out it was this rich dark brown color and I thought I had gotten some wrong thing. But it turns out it’s just an incredibly sheer liquid bronzer.
So the texture is much thicker and more sticky than their serums, which is fine since it’s not meant to spread around as much. It looks like a drop of molasses, but when applied and brushed out it’s just a really nice smooth sheer bronze. I’ve been using it instead of my contour, now that I’m in the middle of spring and it’s getting warm. It’s really pretty but it doesn’t shimmer it’s just a nice beachy bronze.
The pump, I don’t love. While the packaging is cute and on brand, the pump is one of those ones designed to dose out for you, and it doesn’t easily allow me to carefully get out the amount of product I want. The amount it pumps out is just a little more than I would need and I wish it would trust me.
This retails for $35 – and I’m honestly not mad. If I were buying a bronzer, I’d get this one. I love the way it melds with my other products and leaves my skin looking smooth while giving me a light tint.
Morphe
We see more and more of each other these days. I chose their 18T Truth or Bare Artistry Palette in this month’s box, because it’s been a little bit since I’ve tried a new palette (right?) and I have genuinely liked the Morphe products I’ve tried so far. This palette is really pretty, lots of cool tones that look good with my skin, but also a little bit of a letdown in terms of shimmers.
So the matte shades are gorgeous, but have a little more pigment than I was expecting, especially with the lighter shades. I went to use one to set my eyelid, and those usually just blend into my skin, but it actually put down color and I was pleasantly surprised. Cool tones aren’t exactly what I’d usually go for, in spring, but I’m thinking this will be a nice palette for just everyday.
The shimmer formula is good too, but the ones included are mostly deep shimmer shades that I wouldn’t use. Like I mention every time I get a palette, I don’t understand deep shimmers. I guess the best use I can think of for them would be, if I were doing a halo? And I did a deep shimmer on the whole lid with a light shimmer in the middle?
Okay, I’ll try that. In the meantime, where are all my bright, white silvery blue and purple and iridescent green shimmers at? Or even the nice bright tawny shimmers, the two-tone purple gray, etc. These are just blah compared to the Beauty Bakerie shimmers. I get that it’s an artistry palette, maybe it’s not designed to give big huge anime eyes and is supposed to be more subtle?
Anyway, I like the product and I plan to continue using it. If you’re not big into makeup and want something easy to use that won’t be too shiny or pigmented and just want to do light things and play with color and dimension, I think it’d be perfect for you.
It also retails for $20, which is a good deal for this many shades. I’d say go for it.
Goldie Locks
I love a hair mask! And this is their Signature. I chose this because I’ve been getting better about doing my hair and going to appointments and I want to take better care of it.
The packaging is absolutely stunning; it’s a geometric, white jar with a twist off lid. The product is thick and white and smells like a starburst. I used it after two shampoos with my curl shampoo. I put a ton of it in my hair and put it up in a clip while I did … other shower things. Then rinsed it out pretty thoroughly. I love the way my hair turned out after I had put it in a t-shirt for a while! Very soft, smelled good, it seemed to really like it.
And it has a lot of my favorite things! Sunflower seed oil, vanilla, ginseng, etc. It claims to repair and help with elasticity and prevent breakage. It retails for $56, which is a lot of money for a hair product. I’d say there are probably similar products that could achieve the same thing for a little less. But if you see it in your IPSY choice, you should snag it! I did get some intense hydration from it.
Sentier
This is a pretty gross perfume. I don’t really want to spend any time talking about it. It’s called Monde a Parte. Smells kind of bitter? I don’t know. Maybe that’s how some people want to smell. I don’t.
Wander Beauty
Oof it’s been a minute since I’ve tried something from Wander! They were one of the first brands I incorporated – and the first brand I stocked up on. Their foundation, maybe four or five years ago, changed the way I saw makeup.
This is a sample size (I assume) of their Lip Retreat Oil. I really love this product, especially for overnight. I’m always looking for products that will help me with the texture on my lips, that I will actually remember to use. This product has cute packaging and is easy to apply, and feels and smells great, so I find myself reaching for it.
I think one of the reasons I don’t reach for lip products is that I’m always sipping on something. Coffee, soda, tea, etc. Then whatever I’m wearing is worn off, and every time I take a sip I’m pressing up against product that came off. It’s annoying.
But I don’t have that problem with overnight lip products! Sure they rub off on my pillow but that’s somehow not gross.
The full size of this product is $22, and that’s honestly not bad. I’d pay that for this product if I were in the market.
Morphe
Another Morphe product – but there’s a lot less to talk about. This is the Color Lip Pencil in the shade Spiffy, which is on the site as a medium neutral brown. I like that they include the shade tones in the item description.
It’s a good lip pencil, although it’s very buttery and melty. I kind of like a pencil that sticks more. That being said, the pigmentation is amazing. Even though this is a pretty light lip pencil, it still shows up very starkly.
I probably won’t reach for it much, but that’s just because lip pencils aren’t really a part of my routine. My lips often have dry patches, or bits where products don’t stick. So they’re a part of my face that I usually don’t do much to.
They retail for $6, apparently, on the Morphe website. That’s really good and I’d definitely get more of these in other colors, maybe something deeper and redder.
Manna Kadar Cosmetics
I’ve never heard of this brand before! How refreshing. I really enjoy trying new face mists – not necessarily setting sprays, to be clear – because they can just be a nice boost of moisture in the middle of the day, even if my makeup is already done. This one is called the Hydration Happy Face Mist. It comes in a shorter and thicker bottle, unlike the taller thinner bottles that I usually get this type of product in.
It’s not a shimmer mist like the other one I have, but it does have a pretty good spray attachment and a nice fresh fragrance. I’ve been using it before bed as an added layer of hydration while I walk around turning off the lights.
OOP! Guess who just realized, it’s the travel size! The actual size does come in a taller thinner bottle lol. It retails for $12, which makes me assume this smaller bottle would be around $8. Pretty sure I added it on for $12… Hmm.
Yeah I’d recommend it though, $12 for the full size is pretty good.
Makeup By Mario
This is big, you guys. This is the first product I’ve ever tried by MBM! I’ve heard amazing things about this brand, they’ve been in so much controversy, but people say the products are so good. I don’t know much about … Mario? But I was absolutely thrilled to finally see some of the products up for grabs!
This is their Surreal Skin Foundation in the shade 2N. This foundation is marketed as a your skin but better – but buildable product, which I love. Their recommendations have been to apply with a brush, and I’ve found that I actually do like the result, although I still love my blenders and it works fine with them.
The shade is perfect for my tone, as I have fair neutral skin in the winter and light neutral in the spring and summer. I’m not tanning much right now … two jobs … no life … but I’m starting to see it, a little.
$44 is a lot for any product, and I wish it were just a little bit better, maybe the high $30’s, but I get it. And the product is really good. If you have the cash, this is where to spend it.
Rodial
I have seriously enjoyed some of Rodial’s products – there was this dragon’s blood serum that was amazing, and I have the dragon’s blood face mist. This is their Pink Diamond Lifting Oil. I like facial oils, especially over the last few years now that my skin is calm and I can actually see what I’m doing with it. This oil feels like silk on my face. It’s a super interesting concept, because the instructions suggest using it before foundation, as a primer?? Now I never would have thought of that.
But I tried it – I worked it into my daily skincare routine for about a week, and applied makeup after. The makeup honestly didn’t look much oilier, which was nice, but the removal process felt very different at the end of the day. The product melted off so smooth, it felt super nice. Honestly, I’d prefer to use facial oils at nighttime because I already get pretty oily during the day, but I like the idea of being able to use this as an extra layer of hydration during the day – especially if I’m doing a no-makeup day, which is incredibly rare.
Aaaand I just found out it’s $135. Jeeeeesus. It’s on sale right now for like $80, but – still. I did not realize how valuable this item was. Kinda makes me want to use it more, kinda makes me want to never touch it again.
If you’ve got cash, and want a facial oil, make it this one.
And that’s everything! I love this boxy, mostly hits, lots of stuff I’m going to keep using and will likely buy again. This foundation? I think it does it all for me. I’ve gotta get all the images in – this is all a lot of work, lol. But so much fun.
See you for the June box! I already ordered it … it’s full of good stuff.
Talk soon,
Dani