'Ip, 'Ip, 'Ooray!: January Ipsy Unbagging

Does everybody know what time it is? IT'S TOOL TIME! Er, no...wait...no, it's actually ipsy unbagging time. First, the usual explanation:

*ahem*

ipsy (yes, it's all lowercase) is a monthly sample subscription service. Every month, for the cost of ten dollars, you'll receive 4-6 deluxe- and/or full-sized beauty-related products and a makeup bag. There's always a theme, and this month's was "19 Reasons", as in "19 Reasons" 2014 is going to be the best year ever. The 19 referred to the number of possible brands they were sending out, but a 20th was added at the last minute...whoops...

Anyhoo, that's the deal. I pay for this. They, most likely, don't know this blog exists, so I'm not shilling for them. All opinions are mine and mine alone.

*end of spiel*

Let's see what we got!

This month was really skincare heavy. Normally, ipsy is more color cosmetic-centric, and the change was a little surprising. I dig skincare, though, so bring it on!

First, let's check out the bag. This month is a bright blue (the camera is muting the color. This is a true "healthcare" kind of blue. Think: Blue Cross blue) with lind drawings of cosmetic bottles. The fabric is a thick, plastic-y material, and looks like it would be fairly water-resistant. It smelled like a beach ball, but airing out has faded that considerably. I think it's kind of cute.

The bag has a zip closure with the ipsy logo embossed on the pull. Again, I like this one. It's not the most glamorous of bags, but it'll go well with the other travel bags I have for shoes and laundry.

The first product on the block is this Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Dry Shampoo. Retail price: $22.00. Sample value: 88 cents.

Yeah...this is a disappointment. Not the product, so much, as the size. I love dry shampoo, but I'm honestly not sure I can get a single use out of this. The bottle is small, but there's also a lot of empty space on the inside. I'm just going to call this a miss and move on.

Next up, Absolute! Make-up Cleansing Tissues with Cucumber Extract. Retail price: $2.49 for 10. Sample value: $2.49.

Okay, now we're talking. I haven't tried these yet, but face wipes are generally welcome in my house. If I can't use them, maybe Thomas can, or they can go in my kit. In any case, they're getting used.

Moving on! Pure Marula Facial Oil. Retail price: $58.00. Sample value: $3.92.

This is a small sample, but that's okay because you don't need a lot for each application. This little guy should last long enough for me to decide if I like it or not. The spray applicator is a really nice touch. I can see this coming in handy on road trips, when the combination of recycled car air-conditioning and dry hotel rooms love to wreak havoc on my skin.

On to the next! Elizabeth Mott Smooth Shadow Pencil in Penny. Retail Price: $14.99. Sample value: $7.00.

This was a pleasant surprise! I'm an eye makeup junkie, so a shadow pencil is right up my alley. This pencil is exactly the color of a penny--not just some vague shade of copper. I found that it applied smoothly and easily, and could be used as either a very sheer, glittery shadow, or as a light liner. I haven't tried it as a shadow, mainly because I'm not sure how to apply it, exactly. The pencil is the size of an eyeliner pencil, and not like the chubby pencils you think of when you think "shadow pencil". As a liner, however, it added a pretty pop of color and shimmer, and didn't budge when worn all day.

Here's a swatch of Penny sheered out, and used as a liner. You can see that neither are super dark, but that's not due to lack of pigmentation. It's just a very light color. The product has a very creamy consistency, and once set, it's set.

(Please ignore my brows. I've been letting them grow in a bit. They're getting cleaned up this weekend. My apologies.) This shows Penny on my lower lash line. There's just a hint of sparkle and color. The rest of my look is W.O.S., Naked 2, and Faint shadows from Urban Decay Naked Basics, and the Naked Basics pencil in Crave on top lash line, and the same pencil in Venus (double-ended pencil) in the inner corner. Mascara is Maybelline The Rocket. Brows are Anastasia Brow Wiz in Brunette and Brow Gel in clear. You know, in case you were interested.

Lastly, we have Mica Beauty Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm in Natural. Retail price: $30.00. Sample value: $18.75.

This is just a shame. Let me preface this by saying that the Mica lip balm and the Cailyn lip balm that I received in an earlier bag are the exact same product. Seriously. Compare the websites, if you don't believe me. They have the same product names and numbers, same packaging (save for this sample version), different prices. This same product from Cailyn is only $19.00. Now, let me also say that I really liked my Cailyn lip balm in Big Apple, but only for the color. Big Apple is a pin-up red, but viewed through a soft focus lens. The balm's texture keeps the color from looking too harsh. Also, the red stains your lips a bit, so you can go over the color with an actual lip balm, if you so choose.

Okay, now that that's out of the way...I don't like this. The texture is strange. It feels like it would be creamy, until you put it on your lips. Then, it's matte and dry and kind of gritty. It also only lasted about thirty minutes before fading in patches. The color, however, is gorgeous, and that's what makes this a shame. ipsy nailed finding a flattering color for me, though, which gives me hope that maybe ipsymatch is beginning to kind of, sort of, maybe work? Maybe? Please?

When the color started to fade away, I grabbed my go-to lippie from my purse to touch it up. This is the Em Cosmetics Creamy Color Sheer Lipstick in Nude, and also from an ipsy bag. The two looked so similar, I had to compare.

The top swatch is Mica, and the bottom swatch is Em. They're not identical, of course. The Mica is much more opaque, and the Em is sheer and shiny. Also, the Mica is pinker, where the Em leans more toward orange. Still, they are very similar. Of the two, I'd recommend the Em, and it's only $16.50, compared to either $30.00, even $19.00 for the Cailyn. Of course, E.L.F. also has a tinted lip balm in Nude, that is far superior to the Mica/Cailyn in creaminess, longevity, and moisturization, and you can get it for a whole two bucks. I don't have a swatch of it, but it's, again, very similar, but not quite identical. The only difference in packaging (from the sample) is that the E.L.F. has a white lid. There is nothing to justify a $30.00 price tag. Nothing.

Total value of the bag: $33.04

Price paid: $10.00

The shadow pencil, wipes, and Marula oil made this bag worth the money. I'm really looking forward to using those items. The way I look at it, three out of five ain't bad.

Do any of you get ipsy? What'd you think this month? Please share with the rest of the class in the comments.

You've Gotta Start Somewhere: EM Cosmetics First Impressions

As some of y'all may have heard, one of the founders of my beloved ipsy subscription, Michelle Phan, recently launched her own line of cosmetics. Over the weekend, the company ran a special, where you could purchase a "sample" palette of your choice for ten dollars. It would consist of three full-size shadows and a full-size lip color. Considering I'm getting ready to go on vacation, this seemed like the perfect time to snag a travel palette and review some new products all at once. It's great when things fall into place like that. 

I had some issues ordering the palette, unfortunately. The site is new, and the sale inundated the servers, so I'm cutting them some slack, but basically, I received an error message instead of a confirmation. I'd used PayPal, and received a confirmation from them, and the money was immediately held on my bank account, but I didn't receive any sort of confirmation from EM. I contacted customer service...and they couldn't tell me if my order had gone through or not. It takes 30 minutes to an hour for an order to process. Now, during checkout, I'd created an account, so I tried logging in to see if anything showed up there...and my login didn't work. My email address wasn't recognized. The customer service rep had no idea why. After about fifteen minutes, the rep told me that I should receive a confirmation email shortly, and to let them know if I didn't. Approximately thirty minutes after my error message, the email receipt showed up, and everything was kopasetic, though I gave up on ever trying to get into my account.

The palette shipped out quickly, and arrived yesterday morning--incredibly fast service--but wasn't quite what I expected. Yes, I did get three shadows and a lippie, but not really in palette form. Instead, they were pressed into clear plastic packaging over a picture of the complete palette.

I have absolutely no problem removing them and placing them in another travel palette, but I don't think this should have been advertised as a "palette". These are three shadows and a lippie. The palette is non-existent.

The shades are lovely. I chose the Warm Fuzzies selection, which comes with plummy taupe, grape with gold shimmer, and deep teal shadows, along with a shimmery raspberry gloss. The largest shadow is not quite the size of a MAC shadow, and the other two shadows and gloss are close to dime-sized (give or take). Bottom line: they're small. They're workable, but far from a more standard full-size.

Left to Right: Lip Gloss, Plummy Taupe, Grape, and Deep Teal

The shadows, themselves, are...fine. They look velvety in the pan, but that texture doesn't translate to the brush. They're not chalky, but not buttery, either. They're...okay. Average. The pigmentation, unfortunately, is fairly awful. The above swatches are swatched two and three times, and that's the best I could make the color build. The taupe is not bad, and the grape is a little disappointing, but the teal is downright dud. The lip gloss, however, is gorgeous! It's pigmented (that's one swipe up there), shiny, not sticky, and feels unbelievably moisturizing. I freaking love this lippie. For me, that's the shining star of the group.

This look was created by using the taupe on the lid, grape in the crease and outer corner, with the teal darkening the outer corner and under the lower lashline. I like it. It's not spectacular, but it looks nice.

Here's the gloss swatched on the lips. It does coordinate nicely with the shadows.

Now, here's the $65,000 question: Would I, based off of this sample, be willing to spend $75 for the rest of the Warm Fuzzies and the palette that it is a part of (Warm Fuzzies is one quadrant)? That's 24 shadows, 8 lip colors, and 4 cheek colors. Um...probably not. Granted, that works out to slightly over two bucks per product, and a smaller travel sized case is thrown in, but that's a lot of money to pony up for some hit and miss shadows. I'd be much more likely to pay somewhere in the twenty dollar range for just one quadrant. Still, the shadows aren't amazing, and the colors aren't terribly unique. I haven't looked through my not-as-extensive-as-you-might-think collection, but I can think of two, possibly three shadows that could rival the grape, and at least one that doubles the taupe. I picked this particular palette mainly for the teal, because I couldn't think of anything I had like it, but the Wet 'n' Wild Fauna trio now comes to mind.

The lip gloss was amazing, but again, not a hard color to dupe. In fact, after I put it on, I tossed a Juice Beauty gloss into my purse. I didn't even have to look at it; I knew it would be close enough for touch-ups.

There are stand-alone eyeshadow and lip palettes for $38 and $28, respectively. That's a little easier to swallow, but still pricey, especially considering the quality of the shadows. The packaging is adorable, but I'm leaving that out of this, since I didn't get to test it out first-hand.

I'm not thrilled, but I'm also not giving this a final verdict. This is a new company, and there's a learning curve. The colors are pretty, if not thoroughly original, and with a few tweaks, I think the quality could end up being quite remarkable. There's definite promise here, and I'm excited to see what's in store in the future.

Have you tried EM yet? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.