Ipsy Glam Bag :: January 2012

Hola friends! It's time for another Ipsy Glambag review! Woohoo! I really am starting to anticipate getting these little goodie bags in the mail every month. Of the subscription boxes that I get, so far I look forward to Ipsy the most. They have been consistently good and I have incorporated products I've gotten in Ipsy bags into my regular routine. Love it! This month's bag is just a simple navy blue with a cute start print on the inside. Even though the bag was a touch larger than previous bags there was a product that was too big to fit inside(well the packaging anyway). No big deal. Let's get started shall we?

Product List/Value for the month:
Pacifica Body Butter in Tuscan Blood Orange 2.5oz $7
Josie Maran 100% pure Argan Oil sample size approx. $4.60 (full size $14)
Nailtini Nail Color in Frappe $13
Big Sexy Hair Spray & Play Volumizing travel size $6 (full size $17.50)
SoHo Eyeliner Brush $7.99 (Sold in-store only @ Walgreens)

Total Bag Worth: approx. $38.59

So I suppose you are still getting well over your money's worth for this month but compared to last month's bag value of almost $85 this bag does feel a bit skimpy. Although it's not too bad considering my December Glossybox which I pay twice the price for had a similar value of $38.67.

First off we have the Pacifica Body Butter in Tuscan Blood Orange. A pretty generous travel size which is cool. The thing I like most about Ipsy so far is that the size of the samples are large enough that you can definitely get enough uses out of them to actually make an educated evaluation on whether or not you like them/re-purchase them. This lotion upon first sniff and initial trail is...well...average I suppose. Smells ok, consistency is ok, didn't really sink in very quickly and was a little greasy which is again ok as a night lotion but meh. Yeah just your everyday, average, all around lotion is about all I can say.

Next we have the Big Sexy Hair Spray & Play Volumizing Spray in a nice travel size of 1.5 oz. I am pretty happy with this, I've heard good things about the brand. I only style or curl my hair for very special occasions such as weddings and semi-dressy parties which are frankly few and far between but now when I do have an occasion I will now have a nice setting spray to use. So pretty happy about that since I wont have to go and pick one of these out myself in the future.

Here we have Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil. Now this is really nice. I love oils and I use coconut and kukui nut oil regularly as natural moisturizers. I've heard good things about Argan Oil and what it can do for your hair especially. I did recieve an argan oil in my November Glossybox however it was not a pure argan oil it had other things mixed in. I'm probably going to try this on my face since it is a smaller size and I want this to last. I might do an overview of the oils I use in the future and perhaps I will include this one in there as well if it works for me.

Continuing on we have a SoHo eyeliner brush which is just a cheapy drugstore brand. When searching for a link to purchase this online I found that this particular brush is only available for purchase in-store in Walgreens and similar brushes from this line retail for $7.99 but were on sale for $4.99 currently. Brushes are something I do invest in because I've gone through cheap brushes and they just don't last, are coarse, and the bristles tend to fall out after some use. So I prefer to spend a little more initially on brushes so that they will last. I did try this brush out and it did alright. It would be good for smudging out your eyeliner but for anything precise I wouldn't recommend this. It did do a nice job of lining my lower-lash line with eyeshadow though, better than a smudger brush I had been using so I will be keeping this in my little makeup bag.

Finally I received another Nailtini Polish this time in Frappe. Ok....*yawn*....can there be a more boring color than sheer pale pink? This polish would be nice if it was more opaque I think. In the picture above my first two fingers I did three coats on in an attempt to get a more opaque pale pink which I like. The last two fingers are just one coat. I don't know these polishes are pretty pricey at $13 and I can get the same effect with a cheaper Essie polish like Ballet Slippers which can also be layered up to opaqueness. Yeah....just bored with this color which is unfortunate because the color they feature online is a bright fun red. Wish I had gotten that one. Oh well.

SO yeah! That's it for this month. Overall I think this bag was a little lackluster but you know I suppose it is too much to expect to be pleased with every single bag. There are still products I will be using and trying out like the argan oil, eyeliner brush, and the hairspray. Not a terrible bag just a bit boring. Ahnnnywhayzzzz see you guys in the next post! Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!