Sorry I haven't been on top of my reviews. I finally have some time to catch up with them now. I had finals last week so I had to concentrate on those. I'm going to start off with October's My Glam Bag by Ipsy. It's a subscription box (or bag, in this case) company that was actually founded by Michelle Phan (beauty makeup guru). She's pretty big on YouTube with lots of makeup tutorials for all kinds of looks. I actually learned a lot from this girl, so how could I not try out a Glam Bag? It's only $10 a month and that includes shipping. You get 4-5 items with a collectible bag each month. I believe there was a wait for it, but I think I received my invitation fairly quickly. It's one of the cheapest options for a beauty box subscription, Birchbox being the other one at $10 a month. They currently only ship to US and recently, Canada (extra $4.95 for shipping). The Ipsy community is very active in tutorials and you're able to win various prizes related to the bag every month for submitting pictures, tutorials, and things like that. When you first sign up, you take a beauty quiz for your own personal profile so they can tell what kind of colors to give you. I believe everyone gets the same products, unlike Birchbox who uses your beauty quiz to tell what kind of products to give you (usually about 30-40 different boxes are sent out each month).
Anyway, let's get to the unboxing!
The theme for this month was:
"Hello, Bombshell"
From left to right w/ retail prices:
Mirenesse Lip Bomb in #9 (light pink) - $39, Be a Bombshell Eyeliner in Onyx - $14, theBalm What's Your Type? "The Body Builder" Mascara in Black - est $5.50, Couture Colour Pequi Oil Treatment for Hair - $12, Costal Scents Eye Shadow Quad in Set 3 (Maroon Berry, Flesh Tone, Caramel, and Light Bronze) - est ~$2.50
Total value: $73
A problem I encountered and customer service:
So this actually arrived in my mailbox on October 16th. It took a while for me to get it since it gets shipped from the East Coast and I am in Arizona. So the reason it took so long was because my Lip Bomb was missing from the package, and I was suuuper bummed about it, but I figured "Hey, these things happen." So I emailed Ipsy Customer Service and they said they'd send me one the next week with everyone else who happened to have something missing from their order. So I had to wait another week and a half for my order to be complete. It's a good and bad thing when I these kinds of things happen because I get to see how their customer service is and how they handle the situation, which I get to share with you guys. So something good comes out of it, right? :) When I emailed them, I actually requested the lip bomb to be in #2 (dark red), since I actually have no red lipstick/lipgloss at all. I knew it was a long shot that they would put in the effort to give me the color I wanted, and I was right. I was just praying that it wouldn't be this really light pink one that I had seen another people getting, since I knew that it would NOT look good on me, since I'm a medium/tan skin tone. Unfortunately, my prayers were not answered and I was disappointed in my long wait for a color I couldn't even use. I didn't even get to really experience the texture or how it feels on your lips since I didn't want it to go to waste (I figure I can give it away as a gift to a friend or family member who actually looks good in light pink). Apparently, I was supposed to pick under "Style" in the beauty quiz, "Bold and Sultry" instead of "Natural" if I wanted red. But I don't think bubblegum pink is really a natural color... they could have at least given me a #4 (magenta-ish pink), which I maybe could have pulled off a bit better. What's even worse is that even if I wanted to change my beauty "style" to "Bold and Sultry" or something else, I don't really have the option to since they don't let you retake your quiz. At least, for right now.
So, it was a bit of a bummer that I didn't really get to experience the most expensive item in the bag, but luckily, the rest of the bag still was completely worth the $10. It just bothered me that they didn't want to take that extra step just to make sure I got the color I wanted since it wasn't my fault that I didn't get the lip bomb in the bag and had to wait an extra two weeks. If they had actually gone out of their way to have done that, it would've been above and beyond... so I would have to say as of now, their customer service (although I got a quick response and Elizabeth was really nice in her email) is just average, since I didn't really get the outcome I was hoping for. But you can't always get what you want. That's enough of that though, it's understandable I guess that they can't accommodate everyone since they have so many subscribers... but there are other subscription box companies out there that have a huge amount of subscribers also and do their very best to make sure their customers are happy. And that, is a very important quality of any business.
The products!
In order of the favorites (not counting the Mirenesse Lip Bomb since I didn't get to review it):
1) Couture Colour Pequi Oil Treatment:
The things about this treatment that I really love are definitely the smell and how lightweight it is. It has a light, pleasant smell (coconut, maybe?), but it's comforting to me. I also love that it has a slightly thicker consistency, but isn't sticky. A lot of oils are very thin and I always end up getting it all over the place. This oil is really easy to apply. I just put about a dime size amount (I have a lot of hair), rub my hands together, and then run it through the ends first, then the front and top of my head to try to calm down the frizzies. I usually apply it right after towel drying my hair since I don't really ever blow dry. My boyfriend probably uses the blow dryer more than I do (lol). I would be cautious about using this oil before straightening or curling though because there is a flammability warning on the bottle.
2) Be a Bombshell Eyeliner in Onyx:
This is one of those "felt-tip" eyeliners where it kind of reminds you of a marker with a really fine point. I've actually NEVER used an eyeliner pen like this, which is why I was excited to try it. It's the wonderful thing about beauty subscription boxes for girls who are beauty-illiterate (ie. Me). It was surprisingly easy to use. I was always afraid of buying these types because I'm a pretty clumsy person, so I thought I'd have scribbles all over the place. Luckily, I've gotten pretty good at it! The staying power of it is also pretty good. Still not as good as my Mac fluid line, but it's a LOT faster than my usual way of applying with an angled brush. Just make sure to not to open your eyes for a good 10 seconds. Sometimes I forget and I have to get a qtip to fix the markings it leaves on my eyelid. New product success!
3) theBalm What's Your Type? "The Body Builder" Mascara in Black:
I'm actually very picky about mascara because I hate the look of "spider" lashes. My go-to mascara would be Benefit's BADgal mascara since it makes my lashes look full, soft, AND long. Not a lot of mascaras out there can make lashes look soft and full like BADgal does. Sure, it's not waterproof (although there is a waterproof version), but it looks so natural! Up there is a picture with the What's Your Type "The Body Builder" mascara (Boy, I really need to get some sleep). It doesn't look that bad in pictures. I haven't gotten to try it out for a whole day yet to see if it smears, since I actually just opened it now. It does have a bit of the spider effect, but I think it definitely makes my lashes more noticeable. Not bad. Not sure if it's waterproof though, since it doesn't say on the website. I'll probably end up watching a movie later that will make me cry anyway, so I'll let you guys know!
4) Coastal Scents Eye shadow Quad Sampler (Set 3):
I really liked the colors that I got (neutral colors) so good job on the profiling for that. I don't see myself using the Maroon Berry since I don't really like wearing pink as an eyeshadow color, but it might make a good blush color. I really liked the Flesh Tone and Light Bronze, and the Caramel is more of an orange color. I currently use the original Naked palette from Urban Decay and when comparing the two eyeshadows, you can definitely tell the difference in quality. I felt that the Coastal Scents colors didn't go on as easily as the Urban Decay, even using eye primer with it. It still produces results, but you just have to layer more than with the Urban Decay. Coastal Scents has a lot of color pallets though, so if you're looking for a lot of different colors and affordable, it might be a good choice for eyeshadow.
5) Mirenesse Lip Bomb in #9 (light pink):
Unfortunately, I did not get to review this one. But! I will definitely ask whoever I give it to how they like it. It's supposed to be a lip gloss/lip stain/lip lacquer all in one. I've heard really great things about it. And it was the most expensive item in the bag at $39 a lip bomb!
Overall, I was really happy with October's bag (besides the lip bomb color). November should be coming very very soon, so hopefully it'll be just as good! If you'd like to sign up for My Glam Bag by Ipsy, you can click here. I definitely think it's worth the $10 price tag, and if you like trying out new beauty goodies, this is definitely a great way to do it!
Thanks for reading!
TheRxNina
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