What’s In The Bag: October Ipsy Review

What’s more fun than back-to-back subscription box reviews? Funny enough, it seems like my ipsy and Glossybox always arrive on the exact same day. When I decided to add ipsy, I thought it could be another package to look forward to throughout the month. Now, I’m just overloaded with new products every month around the 13^th  (not that I’m complaining).

As for the bag itself, I though ipsy did a pretty good job this month. Part of why I was so hesitant to sign up was because I had seen so many bad reviews, but I think that so far I’ve always gotten at least the $10 I spent out of it. This month, the makeup bag the products came in was a pretty gold and black pouch. It feels a little cheap, but hey, it will work get to stash stuff in when I’m packing. The products themselves were also pretty cool, and the best part was there were plenty of new brands and shades to try.

LaVanila Laboratories Pure Vanilla Deluxe Mini Roller Ball

When I saw the label, I wasn’t too thrilled. I used to cover myself with $4 vanilla body spray in high school, and I was nervous this would have the same kind of sugary smell. Fortunately, this is a little less vanilla cookie and a little more vanilla bean. It smells warm and cozy with a hint of freesia, and I can see this being a go-to as the days get colder. Plus, it’s super portable, which is always great for travel.

theBalm Cosmetics Meet Matt(e) Hughes Long-Lasting Liquid Lipstick

Every ipsy bag had something from theBalm this month. I’ve never tried the brand, but I got the liquid lipstick. Honestly, I can’t give you guys a real review on this because I ended up giving it to my mom. The shade, called Committed, was a rosy color. Which, don’t get me wrong, is very pretty. But apparently, every beauty box thinks that, so I now have about 50 different varieties of rose lipsticks. And, I rarely wear the stuff. Mom always loves a pretty, neutral lipstick, though, so I gave it to her. It also has a vanilla mint flavor apparently, which just sounds lovely.

Balanced Guru, Scrub Me Body Scrub

According to the description, the formula is enriched with raw sugar, organic coffee, coconut oil, babassu oil and cocoa butter. Plus it has spearmint and ginger to help add a little zest. I don’t use body scrubs all that often, but I loved the scent of this. However, I don’t know if mine was defected or if this is how it works, but the scrub had ZERO moisture to it. When I opened it, it had the consistency of coffee grounds, which made it messy and hard to use.

Skone Cosmetics Pretty Eyes eyeliner

I’m not gonna lie, I was horrified when I opened this up. The eyeliner is a bright plum shade, which is wayyyyyy different than my typical bronze/gray/black eyeliner I always use. I rarely even wear bright colors on my clothes — would I really wear it on my eyes? As it turns out, yes. The color is surprisingly subtle, and I really liked how the purple complimented my blue eyes. I’ve been wearing it every day, and think it adds definition without the harshness of black liner. It’s not super long lasting, though, which is the only downer.

DOSEColor Pill Nail Polish in Stormy

I love darker colors, but sometimes you need a little something that’s more than just a dark red. This purpley-gray-blue color is so cool and different than other shades I’ve seen. Not to mention, the bottle is insanely adorable (it’s like a pill, get it?!). The formula itself is fairly thick and seems like it takes a while to dry…. But that also means that 1 coat is sufficient if I’m pressed for time.

Overall, for $10, I was happy. A lot of the products (eyeliner, nail polish) were full-sized and the samples were big  enough to get multiple uses out of them. I’m still not as in love with ipsy as I am with Glossybox, but I think it’s an affordable way to get exposed to different brands or shades that you might not otherwise go for (I’m looking at you, Barney-purple eyeliner).

What did you get in ipsy this month? Let me know in the comments!