IPSY Review! January and February Grab Bags + FOTD

December 2014

Beauty Without Cruelty
A.H.A. 3% Facial Cleanser

I LOVED that this cleanser was cruelty-free, and that the brand has been cruelty-free since the 1960s! However, it dried my skin out a bit, and didn’t work quite as well as my usual Irish Spring soap!

2/5 Stars

Crown Brush
Infinity Shadow/Crease Duet Brush

This brush is amazing! It gets eye shadow thickly on my lids, and the two heads work really well- I love the crease brush. It’s very functional and helps to create subtle but effective differentiations in eyeshadow.

3/5 Stars

NYX Cosmetics
Butter Lip Balm

I love that this lip balm has colour and is really hydrating! The colour was a BIT too light for me, but I still loved how simple it was to add colour to my FOTD.

3/5 Stars

Pixi by Petra
Fairy Dust

This eyeshadow is a wonderful shade for my skin tone, but it comes in a really weird little tube that I didn’t really like. It wasn’t hard to use my Crown brush with it though, and it looks amazing layered with January’s Pacifica eyeshadow!

4/5 Stars

tarte
deluxe lights, camera, lashes™ 4-in-1 mascara

I ran out of mascara the morning my box arrived! I love this mascara! It’s not too black, so it looks natural! And it makes my lashes long and full without clumping too much!

4/5 Stars

January 2015

J. Cat Beauty
FANTABULOUS Gel Eye Liner

I CANNOT SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS EYE LINER. I am not an eyeliner person, I SUCK at it. But this is easy to use, it stays ALL day, and it’s a lovely shade of black perfect for a cat eye!

5/5 Stars

Manna Kadar Cosmetics
Sheer Glo

Another perfect product. Adds a touch of pixie to my makeup routine when I mix it with my BB cream! So simple, and makes for a matte/ dewy finish with a touch of rosy shimmer.

5/5 Stars

Nourish Organic
Renewing Eye Cream

This eye cream is fabulous. It’s not greasy or sticky, it’s light and moisturizing! It somehow firms my eyes and helps eliminate dark circles!

4/5 Stars

Pacifica
Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow

Another perfect product! Amazing when layered with the pixi eyeshadow from December!

5/5 Stars

Real Techniques
fine liner brush

An amazing companion to the J. Cat liner! This brush makes a cat eye EASY. Who knew that was possible?

5/5 Stars

ipsy gives me an excuse to pamper myself. Every month I get a present in the mail with an encouraging note. For less that 15.00 a month, I get to try new products, and the full size ones (and most of the sample sizes) last for AGES! Each box is valued at much more that 15.00, and I rarely buy any additional beauty products in the month! You can subscribe to your own beauty box here (it’s my referral link, so if you sign up, I get free stuff! No pressure, though.)

I just subscribed to Birchbox, a similar beauty box subscription, because their reward system is fabulous and I just love Ipsy so much! You can subscribe here

Next month will be twice the beauty boxes and twice the fun!

BONUS: Here’s a simple look I created with the above products from ipsy:

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Step 1: Cleanse with the Beauty without cruelty cleanser.

Step 2: Moisturize and dab Renewing eye cream around eyes

Step 3: Mix your usual BB cream/ foundation with the sheer glow highlighter and smooth over face

Step 4: Apply a light blush to apples of cheeks

Step 5: Using the crown brush, apply pacifica eyeshadow up to brow bone

Step 6: Apply petra pixi dust up to crease

Step 7: Using the fine liner brush, apply J. Cat eyeliner to the top lid and stretch towards the tip of the brow

Step 7: Brush 2 coats of Tarte mascara to lashes

Step 8: Smooth NYX butter lip balm over lips

Step 9: Snap a selfie and head out the door!