- - Ipsy | "Celebration" | December 2013 Glam Bag Review - -

Hi everyone!

It has taken me a little bit longer than I thought to get all of my reviews out, but I appreciate you bearing with me. A few days ago I mentioned that I got off of ipsy's waitlist. What happened was that in November I received an email from ipsy that stated that if I shared a post on Facebook I would be receiving the December 2013 bag. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. Topbox - which I am still on the waitlist for - sent a similar email, but it said that if I could get off the waitlist if I signed up for an annual subscription. I'm wondering - do you get to skip the Topbox waitlist if you sign up for an annual subscription right away? For me, I'm not sure whether I want to make that kind of commitment.

Anyways, I digress. For a full review of the December Glam Bag please click...

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ipsy - Basic Info
Frequency: monthly 
Subscription Plans: Pay monthly = $10 (bill you on the 1st of every month) | Annual = $110 (roughly $9/month)
Shipping: U.S. - free | Canada - $4.95 (USD) 
Products: 4-5 sample/full-sized beauty products (makeup, skincare, haircare, and nailcare) + all the products come in a "glam bag", the design for which changes every month
Loyalty Program: receive ipsyPoints for joining, referrals, and bag/product feedback

If you would like to use my referral link to join ipsy, you can find it right here. Thank you kindly in advance!

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Ipsy is quite community-based -- Facebook is pretty integrated in the program and there is even a community page on the ipsy website where the ipsy stylists (20+ YouTube beauty gurus, including Michelle Phan) and members share videos of various looks they created.

This month the glam bag was the first of all of my subscriptions to arrive at my door. It came in a hot pink package:

December 2013 Glam Bag - "Celebration"

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Overview of Products

1) Nail Colour in "Classic Taupe" (Nicka K New York)

     FULL SIZE: $4.99

     Link to product.

This is actually a really nice taupe and I didn't have any problems with the formula, so that's always a bonus. It's a little bit difficult to translate the true colour on camera because depending on the light, the colour can seem either grey or brown. Nonetheless, I did try to show you the colour from all kinds of angles and with a couple types of lighting:

Indoors - - artificial lighting

Indoors - - natural lighting

 

Indoors - - artificial lighting

Indoors - - artificial lighting

Indoors - - natural lighting

Indoors - - natural lighting

 In any case, this is a nice everyday kind of colour!

2) Extra Creamy Round Lipstick in "Rose" (NYX)

     FULL SIZE: $4.00

     Link to product.

Just like its name, I found this lipstick to be really creamy and as far as I could tell, also moisturizing. The colour is a pleasant shade of red. I haven't worn this lipstick for a long time period of time, so I'm not really sure how it is in terms of longevity. This is also my first introduction to NYX.

Indoors - - artificial lighting

Indoors - - natural lighting

I hate to say it, but I'm a bit weary of creamy lipsticks. Why? Because they remind me of the dollar store lipsticks that came in a Halloween makeup set I was gifted sometime ago. I used them this past October and I liked them, but because I associate those kinds of lipsticks with cheap quality, I probably wouldn't use them on any day other than Halloween night. But it's not really fair of me to judge NYX on the same basis, so I will give this lipstick an honest try. I found that this lipstick does apply thinly, so you'd probably have to go over your lips a few times to really get a strong colour.

3) Eye Blender Brush (Mirabella) 

     FULL SIZE: $27

     Link to product.

I was quite surprised to find out that this brush is worth so much. I'm not really big on eye shadows, but just like I found a use for the foundation brush from the October Luxe Box, I'm sure I'll figure something out with this brush too.

4) The One Stick in "Flustered" (Be a Bombshell Cosmetics)

      FULL SIZE:  $16

      Link to product.

I checked the Be a Bombshell page for this product and they describe Flustered as a "Bright Pink – A warm bright pink." I find this product to be more closer to red than to bright pink. In any case, this is an "all-in-one" product, which means that is can be used three ways: 1) as an eyeshadow, 2) as blush, and 3) as lipstick.

Just so you guys are able to better understand the size of this product, I photographed it with a Nivea lip balm:

Indoors - - artificial lighting

Indoors - -natural lighting

 I've read a few reviews for this products and no one has seemed to make an emphasis on the little yellow sparkles/shimmer that are found in Flustered. Here's a close up of what I mean:

I haven't tried out this product on my eye lids or cheeks yet and I'm not really sure if I ever will. It's worth a try, of course, but I'm not used to creamy blush or creamy eyeshadow.

This is an interesting product, but one thing kind of throws me off - its synthetic smell. It's not a big deal because it's not predominant or overpowering at all, but it is something I noticed. I find I'm more excited to use a product if it has a pleasant smell.

5) Bright Up Your Life Eye Shadow Trio in "Naturally Bare" (POP Beauty)

     Sample: approx. $7.20 ||  Full palette: approx. $26

     Link to product.

 

As I mentioned just above, I'm not very big on eye shadows. Nonetheless, that doesn't really stop me from buying eye shadows and/or getting excited over them. The other colour that was available in glam bags was "Smokin' Hot" and it seems like the most complaints I've read come from people with that sample palette who say that its of a poor quality and/or they wish they got the Naturally Bare palette. Just as a side note - I've read that a few people had trouble opening this case; I didn't experience anything of that kind.

Since I typically don't use eye shadows, I'm not really able to comment about the quality except to say that when I swatched this product, I had to use only about two swipes to get the rich colour.

Indoors - - natural lighting

Indoors - - artificial lighting

Indoors - - artificial lighting

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Conclusion

I've read a few negative reviews of this bag from people who expected the December bag to be better since December is ipsy's birthday. At the end of the day, you really can't please everyone. In my opinion, this was actually a pretty good bag.  It's my very first one from ipsy, so I will be continuing my subscription to see what the next few months offer. 

After taxes and the USD to CAD conversion, I paid $16.29 CAN for this bag. Adding up the value of all the products, this bag comes out to about $59.19 US or $62.81 CAN. Whether you look at the American or the Canadian value, all the products add up to well over what I paid for this bag.

If anyone would like to use my referral link to join ipsy, you can find it right here. Thank you kindly in advance!

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Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a lovely Christmas!