'Ip, 'Ip, "Ooray!: May Ipsy Unboxing

Well, kids, it's that time again...time for the monthly Ipsy unboxing (un-bagging? un-pouching? Bueller?)

For those unfamiliar with Ipsy (formerly MyGlam), is a sample subscription service. For ten bucks a month, you'll receive a little makeup travel bag containing four or five full- or deluxe-sized beauty items, more or less customized to preferences you choose on a profile quiz. This month's bag's theme was "Spring Fling", and came packed in a precious Missoni-esque, teal and orange striped bag. Several item variations were possible, and mine contained:

St. Tropez One Night Only Instant Glow Body Lotion (deluxe-sized)
Yaby Concealer Refill in Buff (full-sized, I believe)
Zoya Nail Polish in Blu (full-sized)
Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink (deluxe-sized)
Mirabella Colour Sheer in Pixie (full-sized)

I also received the April makeup bag, as mine wasn't included in last month's shipment due to a problem with quality assurance. I was given a generic floral bag instead. The April bag is super cute (white with pink trim and lining). Neither bag is of the highest quality, but they'll be great for purse travel. Actually, the May bag is most likely going to find a home in my pool bag. It's perfect for holding the hair ties and lip balm that normally end up floating around in the bottom of the gargantuan tote.

I've had a little time (okay, a few hours, most of which were spent asleep) to play with several of the items, and I'm really pleased with them. Let's take a closer look at Ipsy's selections:

Yaby Concealer Refill in Buff: This is actually a brand I've had my eye on for a while. I've been looking at it for my film kit, partly for the fantastic range of shades, and partly for the lower price tag. This concealer has a thick consistency (much like Benefit Boi-ing), and covers well. Luckily, this shade is a perfect match for me, so it's going into my personal Unii palette. I'm going to work with it some more, though, before I make any buying decisions. I also don't see myself giving up my Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser for daily use anytime soon.

Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink: This is a lovely, non-sticky, super sheer gloss that doesn't leave a lot of color, but does give you one heck of a shine. They weren't kidding around with "reflecting"! I haven't been able to wear this for an extended period of time, but I had to scrub a little to remove it after trying it on. That's a good sign. The packaging is beautiful, and I absolutely love the orange scent. This is my first experience with Juice Beauty, but I like what I've seen so far.

St. Tropez One Night Only Instant Glow Body Lotion: I wore blue jeans today, so I haven't been able to test this out, yet. It's a rub-on/wash-off tanner that (supposedly) doesn't transfer. I've heard wonderful things about St. Tropez, so I'm anxious to give it a shot.

Zoya Nail Polish in Blu: This is the first blue nail polish I've owned in...gosh...eighteen years. The last time I wore blue nail polish was on my fifteenth birthday. I had a costume party (in June--I'm weird), and wore the cutest little hippie outfit. The bell-bottoms and vest had an American flag motif, so I painted my nails bright blue to match...and immediately looked like a corpse. I made an adorable little dead hippie, and haven't worn blue nail polish since. However, Zoya is one of my favorite brands, and this is a gorgeous Robin's Egg blue cream. I may just have to give blue nail polish a second chance. (Maybe just my toes to start...)

Mirabella Colour Sheer in Pixie: This looks terrifying. My first thought was, "Well...it'll look great for pin-up looks. Maybe I can use it the next time I play Claire?" In actuality, this scary red-orange applies as a sheer wash of glossy coral. It's absolutely gorgeous. Honestly, it reminds me so much of the Flower Beauty lipgloss in Pretty In Petunia, that I may use it as a topper next time I wear this. On its own, this is moisturizing and wears well. Plus, the packaging is just beautiful, and has a nice heft to it.

Left to Right: Yaby Concealer Refill in Buff, Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Pink, Mirabella Colour Sheer in Pixie

For fun, I put together a look this morning using the Yaby Concealer and the Mirabella Colour Sheer. As I said earlier, I expected this lipstick to be crazy bright, so I kept everything else very subdued. Instead, the lip color ended up being very "wearable" (isn't everything "wearable"? It just depends on your comfort level, really), so the entire look is just fresh and natural. It's good lazy day makeup.

Won't bore you with product details. If you want to know what I used, leave a comment and let me know.

That's this month's Ipsy bag. I have no idea what the total value is, but the Zoya retails at $8, and the Mirabella at $22 (yipes!), so I more than got my ten smackeroos' worth. This was a great month, and now I can start the countdown to June's bag! Have a great day!