I recently jumped on the beauty subscription box band wagon with subscriptions to Ipsy, Birchbox, and Lip Monthly and because I rely heavily on reviews, here's mine:
Ipsy costs $10 per month. You fill out a little quiz so they can semi-personalize your bags. You receive a different little makeup bag each month filled with 5 sample and full-sized beauty products.
My first bag was this month and I think it's adorable!
My bag contained 2 samples and 3 full-sized products:
NYX Eyeshadow (regularly $5) This has nice coverage and opacity but I really think it requires an eyeshadow primer to get long wear and no creasing.
Chella Highlighter pencil (reg. $18) I really like this, it has an apricot undertone that works really well as a highlighter on my skin and the texture is creamy and blendable.
Crown concealer brush (reg. $5) I haven't tried this yet, I already have 3 others this same size and shape but it is soft and seems well made and I'm sure I'll use it at some point.
A sample of Coolway Glow Finishing hair oil. I absolutely love this and intend to purchase a full-sized one when I use this little bottle up. It makes my hair shiny and silky soft with no oily/greasy feel or residue.
Finally, a sample of Laneige BB Cushion. This is a BB cream that you apply with a teeny tiny sponge - I didn't care for the super light coverage and the application process was annoying to use.
I really liked this bag and feel that it is well worth the $10 cost. I like that it will allow me to try out products that I hadn't previously heard of or might not have splurged on and I look forward to seeing what Ipsy has in store for me in the future.
The only thing that I found annoying about Ipsy was that once you sign up, you're told that "due to high demand" you're on a waiting list until a spot opens up, but then you're given the option to get off the waiting list by sharing your Ipsy bag purchase on social media. I find this distasteful for a product that I'm paying for - almost like blackmail. I later learned that if you email them, they will take you off the waitlist for the following month - whatevs to that. This is the only icky thing, other than that, I'm highly satisfied with my purchase!
I also received my March Birchbox - Birchbox also costs $10 per month, you don't get a makeup bag but, from what I understand, you do tend to get higher end products.
The box is cute:
My Birchbox contained:
Full-sizes -
Davines Oil Absolute Beautifying Potion (approx. $25) I quite like this hair oil but not as much as the Coolway one that I received in my Ipsy box. It has a nice consistency and isn't greasy but I don't care for the scent and it is a bit noticeable in my hair. (They sent bonus shampoo/conditioner samples but haven't tried them yet)
Laura Mercier Foundation Primer - Hydrating (Reg. $33) I was most jazzed about this product and it doesn't disappoint. It's a light, non-greasy primer that left my skin feeling moisturized and held my makeup in place all day.
Jelly Pong Pong Glow Getter Highlighter ($13) The packaging looks confusingly like a small shimmery nail polish. I'm not a huge fan of liquid highlighters but this does provide a pretty, not too shimmery highlight when applied to the skin.
Samples -
Harvey Prince Singular Scentsations Imperial Gardenia perfume. This smells just like Michael Kors perfume, which I used to LOVE until morning sickness with little dude killed it for me. I cannot handle that scent anymore so I passed this on to my mama. The full-size is listed as $29 so, if you like that scent, this is a more affordable alternative to the Michael Kors one.
Temple Spa Peace Be Still Calming Body Balm. This lotion smells just like a spa, it's a bit heavily scented for me and is a little bit light on the moisturizing side so I'll probably throw this in my purse for emergency dryness needs.
I think this box was really fun and it contained my favorite item of the two boxes - the Laura Mercier primer! I feel that this was well worth the $10 and I'm excited to see what I get in the future. Plus, they didn't have any hoops for me to jump through to get my box!
Both of these boxes are month-to-month and don't penalize you for cancelling. I also ordered Lip Monthly, based on my cousin's recommendation, but won't receive my first box until April. Lip Monthly is $10/month as well for 5 full-size lip products but they had a lot of deals so I prepaid for 3 months and received my first month free - yay!
Well, that's it for now, if this type of blog post is of interest to you, I'll write one next month when I have all three to review.
