Thinking of You: Ipsy, December 2014.

 Oh hello Ipsy.

This bag came about a week ago, but between the dealing with children right before the holidays, at school, and planning a wedding in March, I've just been so busy, that I barely have time to check my mail. I haven't even opened half the Christmas Cards I've gotten so far. So I do apologize for the delay. 

Anyhow, Ipsy costs ten dollars a month, and for that ten dollars, you get a makeup bag full of samples and full-size products every month. Your bag will almost always be worth more than you paid for it, and at the same time, you get to try out all sorts of products.

This months theme was "Thinking of You", which I suppose seems appropriate with it being December and holidays and such.

I will say, I did like the bag this month, it's black and simple. 

First up, a precision beauty eyelash curler, worth $5.00.

Verdict: Curious

I've always seen eyelash curlers as some sort of Medieval torture device, so I've never actually owned one. They terrify me. But now that I have one, I'm sort of curious about it and want to try to use it without worrying about pulling all my eyelashes out. I'll let you all know how that goes.

This was what was in the bag.

Beauty Without Cruelty, facial cleanser, worth approximately $3.00.

Verdict: Indifferent

I don't mind facial cleansers. I'm always looking for stuff that can help me face and my skin. So I don't really feel happy or upset about getting a product like this. I would've preferred makeup, but it's not an unwelcome product.

Nyx butter lip balm, in marshmallow, worth $4.00, full-size.

Verdict: Like

Who doesn't want chapstick in the winter?

It's a nice nude color, so it doesn't really give my lips any color, and it smells really good. It smells like Marshmallows.

Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara, worth about $10.00.

[it's about half the size of a full-size product, which is worth $20.00]

Verdict:  LOVE

I love mascara samples. Thanks to Ipsy, I don't think I've bought mascara in over a year because I'm constantly getting samples of it :)

Pixi Fairy Dust, worth $10.00, full-size.

Verdict: Okay

 The color is so nude that you can barely see it on my skin, at all. 

If I had a choice, I would've chosen a different color because there's not much I can do with this color, and some of the other colors on the website like gold, snow, and copper appear to me more.

It's not a bad product, I used to buy stuff like this all the time, only my choices were more bright and glittery colors, I'm just not a fan of the color that I got sent.

[they used to sell these at Claire's, they were these stackable glitter pots and they were awesome! This product sort of reminds me of those, just less glittery and shimmery.]

So....

The grand total of this month's bag is: $32.00

More than three times what I paid for it.

I didn't hate this month's bag. It was much better than some of the recent bags I've gotten from them in the past few months. 

So if Ipsy appeals to you, by all means, check them out.

And:

 to all, who celebrate....

As for me, I'll be on a plane heading to NJ tomorrow to spend a week wedding planning!

See you next year ;)

 

Julep: December 2014, The Countdown Collection

 I would like to point out that I got this about two weeks ago.  I've just been too busy to post about it with it being the end of the first semester at school, holidays, and field trips, etc. I've also been hanging out with friends a lot more at work and working out almost every day, so by the time I actually get home and collect the mail, I'm beat. 

I haven't even opened the  December Ipsy bag yet and I got that last week.

However, I'm very happy to say that my box from Julep got her on time, with no issues with delivery, my address didn't get cut off this month, the package didn't have to be sent back to sender, so it's all good.

Julep is a monthly subscription box that specializes in nail polish, but also, especially within the last year, they've started making a lot of beauty products.  They have some pretty nifty nail polish colors, and I tend to like their eye makeup like eyeliner and such. 

Well that's a nice surprise. Apparently Julep upgraded my entire box for free. Sweet. Happy December to me?

December was the countdown collection... Makes sense with New Year's Eve and such.

from l to r: Rochelle, Aurora, Sharma.

Rochelle is a pretty cranberry shimmer color. 

Aurora is a bright silver creme. 

Sharma is a bronze glitter.

Those are all the IT GIRL colors. I really like Rochelle a lot, it's a color that I don't think I have much like. Aurora is meh, I feel like I have too many silver colors just like it. Sharma is a bronze glitter, no opinion either for or against. 

from l to r: Sienna and Ilga.

Sienna strikes me as the perfect holiday color. It's a gold creme, which I like because I don't have any gold color like that. Most of my gold colors are glitter and can't be used as a solid base coat, but Sienna is a gold that i could use as a base coat if I wanted to.

Ilga is a dark red. As I've mentioned before, I'm not much of a fan of red nail polish. But for a red color, it's not too bad. 

Those were the classic with a twist colors. 

from l to r: Soleil and Paula.

Soleil is a bronze creme color. I don't have anything like it, and like Sienna, I like how it's a metallic base coat.

Paula is awesome. It's a bright electric blue color with a purple and silver sort of shimmer.

These were bombshell colors. 

from l to r: Karissa and Chatoya.

Karissa is a bright red color. It's very red?

Chatoya is a silver pink glitter color. It's very different from other glitters I have. 

Those were Boho Glam.

The upgrade also came with all three eyeshadow colors, an eye shadow brush, and eye primer.

Airglow

 Supernova

Equinox

And then I went to open moonbeam and found this:

I'm sure I could've called Julep and told them what happened and they would've sent me a replacement product, but it didn't seem worth it really, when they upgraded my box for free, and I didn't initially pay for this as it is, so I just let it be.

But that's what the dust all over some of those nail polish bottles was in my pictures.

from  l to r: equinox, supernova, and air glow.

Equinox is a beautiful shimmery silver color. I absolutely love silver eyeshadow and this is an amazing silver color. It's a dark silver and it has just enough shimmer and glitter that it really looks awesome.

Supernova is an amazing molten purple glitter, I'm sad that I don't think my picture shows the details of the color. It's a slightly darker purple with some pink glitter and it's really an incredible color.

Airglow is a nude shimmer. It's a very pale nude color. It's one of the few colors that I probably could wear for every day use at work and it would have just enough of a sparkle that it would kind of be different than what I usually wear and I like that about it.

So overall, I really liked the December box. I loved the eyeshadow, and the nail polish colors were a little bit different than what I usually get. 

And thanks Julep, loved the free upgrade.