December Ipsy Bag!

Hello lovies! I am back!

Sorry for the super long hiatus but I just have lost every motivation to write, and when I did want to write I had nothing to write about. 

But I am back, and I am back with something good! It's the December Ipsy Glam Bag.

Now I have said in the past that Ipsy has been really slacking on their products, and when I was on my break I continued to receive my Ipsy Bags and they just kept getting worse. I was at my wits end, and this month was their last chance, and let's just say they have stepped it up a lot! And it's about time!

First off, I got the Style Sexy Hair 450 Degrees Blow Out. This is a heat defense blow out spray that is supposed to protect your hair from heat damage up to 450 degrees F. Now, when I first received this product I thought it was a hair spray. It's NOT! I failed to read the instructions and it is important that you should. When applying this product you have to apply it to damp hair and then blow dry. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go over board with this product. When done right this leaves your hair feeling so silky and soft, and it smells amazing. I recommend doing a quick spritz on both sides of your hair and that's it. When I first got it I sprayed a lot of this on my dry hair. It left my hair feeling very oily and looked horribly greasy. It's a great product just remember a little goes a long way. ;)

Next, in my bag I got the Beauty Without Cruelty Premium Aromatherapy Facial Cleanser for normal to oily skin. I love receiving products like these. This is a 100% vegan/vegetarian product and this also is a cruelty-free company. It is parabon free, gluten free, soap  free, and has no synthetic fragrance. This is used just like a regular cleanser to clarify your skin that doesn't leave your skin feeling dry. I really liked this. I felt that it cleaned my face very well and it wasn't harsh at all. I also have very sensitive skin and this did not cause me to have any sort of reaction. The smell isn't the greatest compared to something like Clean n' Clear or any other type of cleansers but it isn't horrible and it's not overwhelming either. So I am very happy to get this product and discover this brand!

Next, I got the Cailyn Just Mineral Eye Polish in the shade #5 Orchid. I have mixed feeling about this eyeshadow. It is a beautiful and gorgeous pigment for your eyes, that you can wear neutral or smoke it out with another color. I also feel like this will look very good with many skintones and eyecolors. The color lasts all day long. However, my only complaint is the applicator. It is a sponge applicator and comes out from a small tube and it make the product fall out like crazy. I wish it came in just a container like the MAC pigments. But other then that it isn't a bad product.

Then, I got NYX Butter Lip Balm in marshmallow. I love NYX especially their lip products. They are very pigmented for a great price. This is definitely a great product. I have a more nude shade but there is a wide range of colors. However, my lips are super sensitive and I am allergic to quite a bit of lip products and this is one of them. It is moisturizing but then it dries out my lips really bad. I gave this to my sister because I can't use it and she has no issues with it. It smells amazing and it's a very good product but I just personally can't use it. That's very disappointing because I was super excited to get this.

Lastly, and probably the best product in my bag was the Tarte Deluxe Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 mascara. I was sooooo excited when I saw that everyone was getting one of these in their December bags. I love Tarte products and I have been dying to try out a higher end mascara, and this product does not disappoint! I have used this every day since I have gotten it and I will be buying this when I am out. It is amazing. It adds length while still giving you volume and the brush keeps your lashes from clumping together. What more can you want in a mascara?! And Tarte is also a cruelty free company so bonus points for that as well!

Overall, I am so pleased with this bag. Ipsy has really done a good job with this month's bag, and I hope that they continue because I love receiving products that I can test.

Thanks for reading, and let me know of any topics you want me to discuss in future posts!

May Birchbox

It's that time of the month again. And I don't mean THAT time of the month. No it's the one where I check the mail 5 times a day to see if my Birchbox has arrived, and it finally has.

However, I am pretty disappointed with the stuff I have received in this box and last month's box. I didn't write a post about what I got in my April Birchbox, because I forgot to take pictures of what was inside, but it did contain an eyeliner, a nail polish, a hair softner, BB cream, and some granola. It wasn't horrible, there was quite a few things I have used in last month's box that I really did end up liking. This box however contained nothing I was interested in.

First thing I got was the CoTZ facial sunscreen in natural tone and SPF 40. I do understand why they would have included this in this month's box, because of the fact that it is getting warmer out, and you need to protect your skin, especially your face, from the harmful sun rays. But, I was not impressed. I have many face mostuirzers and even some foundations that have an SPF to it, and normally if I plan on being outside all day I don't put any makeup on and use only sunscreen in the highest SPF I can find. So this wasn't all that great.

Next, I got the Number 4 High Performance Hair Care Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner. It is a sulfate-free, botanical-rich cleanser that is supposed to give you voluminous hair. Now I love volumizing shampoos as much as the next person, I am always looking for something to give me more height to my hair. But really? The shampoo comes in a travel size bottle, which I'm okay with, but the conditioner comes in a foil packet! Why?! Is it really that hard to give us another travel sized bottle? I don't know about you but I like using the same conditioner that correlates with my shampoo. I don't know why, but I do, and this foil packet is a one time thing, and I can get at least 5 uses out of the travel sized bottle.

Next, I got the Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream in Acai Grapefruit. This is a very small bottle for a sample, in my opinion. But the packaging is cute and it does smell really nice. I haven't tried it yet, but it's one of the better things I got this month.

Then I got SmartyPants All-in-One Gummy Vitamins for Adults. I was fine with granola last month, I actually really liked it but vitamins, really? C'mon! Not only that but there were only two in the package! I don't understand why I got this. I was so utterly disappointed by this the most. I'm sorry but I don't want to sample vitamins. I already take my multi-vitamins every morning, and to me a vitamin is a vitamin, I'm not picky! This was also the only thing I sampled so far, and they didn't even taste good. Yeah, not happy at all.

Lastly, and probably the only thing I am excited to try is the LAQA & Co. Sheer Lip Lube Pencil in Purple. This is a stick lip color and it's supposed to be very smooth and very glossy. I do like my purple colors too, I this was the only saving grace for this month's box. The packaging of this was also really nice. I haven't swatched this color on yet, so hopefully it is as nice as it seems.

As you can probably tell I am very upset with this box. It's just not what I was hoping for. I do not feel like I got my $10 worth in my Birchbox. They need to step up their game and send a little more. Honestly if I got more makeup and less hair care products I'd be happy. I signed up for this subscription to try out products I normally wouldn't have. And yeah I wouldn't have tried this products because its not worth it. Hopefully next month will be better, but if not it seems like I'll be hoping on the Ipsy bandwagon soon enough.

Thanks for reading,