- - Ipsy | "19 Reasons" | January 2014 Glam Bag Review - -

Happy Thursday, everyone!

It's been a pretty busy week for me, which means I haven't really had a chance to review as many subscription boxes as I would've liked to. I really appreciate you guys bearing with me! Today I have for you the Ipsy January Glam Bag! Please click "Read more" to access my review...

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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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The theme for January's ipsy glam bag was "19 Reasons" 2014 will be Amazing. The "19 reasons" (+1) reflect the amount of brands participating in this month's glam bags. Since there were so many brands, there were quite a few product variations between bags.

The Bag:

This month's bag featured generic-looking bottles of various beauty products. I actually like this bag a lot. My only problem with the bag is its chemical smell, which, to be fair, isn't very prominent unless you actually stick the bag close to your nose. I've actually ordered clothing before that had the same problem. The smell comes from the manufacturing process and you can get rid of it by airing out your garment/bag - just leave it outside for a little while.

1 ||  Smooth Shadow in Penny (Elizabeth Mott)
        (Sample size: ~$6 for 0.7g/0.02oz  |  Full size: $14.99 for 1.5g/0.05oz)
        (Link to product)

NOTE: This sample needs to be sharpened.

I haven't worn this on my eyelids yet, but I can tell you that there's not problem in terms of the lasting power of this product. After swatching the colour on my wrist, I scrubbed pretty hard and the colour just wouldn't come off! The colour did eventually come off, but it took a while. 

You can use this pencil either as a shadow, for highlighting, or as an eyeshadow base.

This was a tricky product for a lot of people. Please know that even though this sample is fairly small, you are able to sharpen it to continue using it.

2 ||  Lightweight Moisturizing Face Lotion (Nourish Organic)
         (Sample size: ~$5 for 0.5 oz  | Full size: $21.99 for 50mL/1.7oz)
         (Link to product)

I actually haven't used this product yet. I've had lots of oportunities to do so, but my skin has recently started reacting badly to something, so I have minimized the use of facial products to let my skin rest for a bit. The smell of this lotion was just okay. I love the design of the bottle though!

3 ||  Tinted Lip Balm (MicaBeauty)
         (Sample size: ~$10-15(?) for 2.5g  | Full size: $30.00 for 4g/0.14oz)
         (Link to product)

This is really pigmented! This is definitely a tricky colour to wear because you only need a little bit for the pigment to start to show, but I find that if you don't put a lot then you don't really get the moisturizing effect that lip balm is supposed to have. I'll still have to play around with this colour. I'm thinking that I might just layer another colour on top of this one.

I use a brush for the application of this lip balm.

4 ||  Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner (Sexy Hair)
         (Sample size: ~$4 for 50mL/1.7oz  | Full size: $17.95 for 250mL/8.5oz)
         (Link to product)

This is a really cool product to receive! I've never tried any leave-in conditioners, so I was really excited to see it in my bag. I've tried this product a couple of times now. It has pretty pleasant smell and it leaves my hair feeling soft. So far, I do like using this conditioner, although I think this product might be better for people with long hair because my hair is pretty short and it doesn't really need any untangling.

5 ||  on the go face towelettes (willa)
         (FULL SIZE: $4.50)
         (Link to product)

I haven't tried these wipes yet but I have heard of a lot of people having an allergic reaction to these them. As I said for the facial lotion above, I'm giving my face a break to recover from an allergic reaction. Hearing that a lot of people are having problems with these wipes, I'm thinking that I may not even use these after all. I'll let you guys know what I end up doing!

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Conclusion

Overall, even though I like the December ipsy bag a bit more, this was a good bag in my opinion. I paid just over $16 for this bag ($10 bag + shipping + CAD conversion) and the value of it came out to roughly $29.50. I was introduced to new brands in this bag and I'll definitely have to keep experimenting with all these products.

What did you think of the products in this month's bag? 

Thank you for reading! -A.~