My July Ipsy bag arrived and I could not be more excited. I wonder if that feeling will ever go away? Probably not.
This month's theme was "Sensationally Sunkissed" and the products I received this month definitely fit the bill. Let's get started.
The bag this month was cute; I like the design on last month's better, but I like the scalloped edges on this one. I was kind of hoping when I saw the sneak peak pictures that it would be made out of neoprene (SCUBA dork) but I like how it reminds me of a little pink ravioli.
This month I received the following:
Befine food skin care daily moisturizer with SPF 15
I notice a lot of Ipsters complain about getting skin care products, but I was actually quite happy to receive this moisturizer in my bag. On a daily basis I wear Clinique's moisturizer but it doesn't have a SPF in it. I also don't like using regular sunscreen on my face because I am seriously prone to breakouts, so this summer I've been on the beach a lot with no sun protection on my face which is a HUGE BEAUTY NO-NO.
This product is quite nice. It is allergen, fragrance, and paraben free which is great news for my sensitive skin. The formula itself is on the lighter side, and a little goes a long way. It does have a sunscreen smell to it, which is to be expected with an SPF.
I used it a couple times and it does not appear to cause me breakouts, and it does a fine job as a sunscreen.
As an added bonus, this can also be used to moisturize and protect your hands from sun exposure, which is especially important if you want youthful hands for years to come!
This product retails for $24 for a 1.70 oz tube.
Bare Minerals 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow
When I saw this in my bag I didn't quite know what to make of it. "BB"; does that make it a primer? But it says "eyeshadow". Upon further inspection, this product does it all: primes your lids, brightens dull eye skin, smooths lines and wrinkles, protects with SPF 15, and provides 12-hour color. It comes in 10 shades and can be worn alone or under other eyeshadows. I received the color "Divine Wine".
My initial impression was that it seemed incredibly dark to me. And then I had to remind myself that it wasn't a concealer or a foundation; it's an eyeshadow. Still, I figured for my first time around I would use it as an eyeshadow base for a makeup look.
The color is a lot more delicate on the lid than on the hand. The wand makes application precise and easy; I could get the product on just my lid no problem, and it was easy to blend out the edges with my finger. It dries matte and has some pretty, subtle gold sparkle in it.
I'll be frank: I hated this product. I've done this very same eyeshadow look before with stunning results using Urban Decay's Primer Potion as a primer and NYX's White Eye Shadow Base as a base. This wasn't good to use as a shadow base, and it was difficult to blend with powder shadows.
I will throw Bare Minerals a bone in that I don't use cream shadows. I never really have, and I don't plan on starting now. I use powders all the time. So I don't really know how to use this, or in what application I could combine it with powders to get a look that isn't terrible. I will probably try to trade this product for a nail polish or something else on the Ipsy boards with another Ipster. I'm just flat out not feeling it.
The Bare Minerals 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow retails for $18 for .10 oz.
Pop Beauty Sunkissed Bronzer in "Secret Sunshine"
Next up is a bronzer, which is something always good to have in your makeup bag during the summer months. Despite my not using sunscreen on my face, it is still in that weird in-between color where it isn't pale, but also isn't as dark as the rest of my body. Bronzer helps here.
I really liked the packaging on this. Pop Beauty is another new brand for me so I had no expectations with this product.
Upon swatching, I was pleased. The color isn't too dark and it has a beautiful golden shimmer throughout. The pigments are also smooth. I used it the first time as a contour and it worked beautifully. The color is lightly pigmented so it's not too much when you first apply the countour, but it is buildable. It's also not so shimmery that you can't use it as a contour. Additionally, I used it as an all over bronzer and found that I really like it in this capacity. It adds a beautiful glow without being too dark or over the top.
I am happy that I got this product and I am confident that I'll be using it a lot for the rest of the summer. Pop Beauty Sunkissed Bronzer retails for $10 for .25 oz.
Elizabeth Mott's Tints & Sass Fabulous Lip + Cheek Stain in "Cherry"
I'm a relative novice when it comes to stains; my one friend gave me a Benefit Cha-Cha Tint that she had an extra of but I haven't gotten a chance to really use it. I was excited to get this in the color I did because I think it'll be an easy color to experiment with. I can do most anything on the lips, but liquid cheek color intimidates me!
I'm definitely a fan of the color and formula; it reminds me of a melted Popsicle! It also smells lovely.
I love it as a lip stain! It goes on a little patchy but it smooths out easily, almost on its own. And you can build the color intensity, which is nice. It definitely gives you a beautiful rosiness to your lips, just like you've been eating a cherry popsicle. Lovely! It the stain stays true to its name; I used a makeup remover wipe to take the swatch off my hand, and I still had to put some elbow grease into removing it. It also lasted though an entire dinner and it doesn't kiss off!
1 application of cheek stain
I'll admit it, I was sweating it before I applied this as a cheek stain. Like I said, I've never used cheek stains before and I was nervous! I didn't want it to ruin the makeup I already had on or have it make me look like a clown. But to my delight I had no issues with this product. The result is subtle, so you may not be able to tell in the photos above, but it gives a simply gorgeous, natural looking flush to your cheeks. I dabbed it on the apples of my cheeks and blended it up toward my temples. It was so easy and it is beautiful!
What a great new product to discover thanks to Ipsy. So thankful I got to try this. Elizabeth Mott's Tints & Sass Fabulous Lip + Cheek Stains retail for $22.99 for .35 oz.
Hang Ten Dark Tanning Oil SPF 08
This was the last product I received in my bag, and I was looking forward to trying it! I've never really used tanning oils before. My skin is strange... I'm relatively fair skinned thanks to my British, Irish, German and Polish nationalities, so I can burn sort of easy... However, I'm also Italian, so when I do burn it tends to be after a couple of hours without adequate sun protection, and it tends to fade into a tan quickly. To be on the safe side I almost always use an SPF 30 on my body and reapply a few times if I'm spending a long day at the beach. SPF 08 is foreign to me.
I used this all over my body and laid out in my backyard. I don't have anything to compare the formula to, but it was easy enough to apply and absorbed for the most part. I was delighted to find that after only one application and several hours of sun exposure, the tanning oil did bring me a shade darker and a lovely glow, with NO burn! I was truly surprised. When I run out, I may be interested in picking up more to see how nice it works in the long-run.
Hang Ten Dark Tanning Oil retails for $11.99 for 8 oz.
After calculating the cost to size ratio for each product, my little $10 was worth $61.06! The only product that I was completely displeased with, the Bare Minerals BB Shadow, was also the one with the least value (only $1.50 worth of product), so there was no love lost there.
So far I'm really digging my Glam Bag subscription. A lot of this stuff is not necessarily stuff I would have picked up on my own, but that's exactly what makes trying it all so fun!
Interested in trying out Ipsy for yourself? Follow my link!
