Ipsy Glam Bag August 2015

Hey everyone! I know I didn’t post for a couple days, and I’m very sorry about that! I still wasn’t doing much makeup-wise after I got my wisdom teeth removed, and I helped move my sister into college before packing up and heading off myself. And it turns out that I’m the only person in the downstairs bedroom in my house, which is meant to be a double (and so is huge and has two of everything), and probably have the bathroom mostly to myself, for the first time in my life.

Anyway, this month’s Ipsy theme was Prep School. I’m well aware that it’s back to school time, but it’s also the final throes of summer and I’d rather celebrate that. Leave back-to-school for September, people! Anyway, this month’s bag was a vinyl houndstooth print bag with a texture. I wanted a picture of the texture for you guys, but my camera didn’t want to cooperate.

In this Ipsy Glam Bag, I received:

Trust Fund Beauty polish in Elegantly Wasted (full size, worth $15.00)

Hikari Cosmetics lip gloss in Merlot (appears to be full size, worth $13.00)

Doucce Ultra Precision Eyeliner in Black (again, appears to be full size, worth $22.00)

Marc Anthony Nourishing Argan Oil of Morocco Treatment (0.7 fl oz worth $3.30, as full size of 1.69 fl oz is worth $7.99)

Lather Ultra Mild Face Wash (1 fl oz worth $3.33, as full size of 6 fl oz is worth $19.00)

The polish is a very pretty pale grayish purple, described as “a deep lilac”. It’s a good lilac for fall, as most pale colors read as summery pastels but this has the gray to balance it out. While I probably won’t buy this again, or at least will only do so in a couple years once it dries out, I may want to check out more of Trust Fund Beauty. And doesn’t the name seem perfect for the theme of Prep School?

The gloss is a nice, dark shade. I generally don’t like glosses, as they seem to be more about shine than color payoff, they smear easily and feel sticky wherever you smudge, and a majority of them smell much too strongly and gross. This is one of the few formulas that I don’t seem to mind, mostly because it has very nice coloration and very little smell. It’s more opaque, and Merlot is one of my favorite kinds of shades, somewhere between a brick red and a plum. The packaging is also more of an understated and sophisticated (read: high-end) bit, and I think I have mentioned my love of a square cross-section for lip products before.

The eyeliner is a black waterproof eyeliner. While I do like twist-ups instead of traditional pencils, I’m still going to use this. I may have a couple extra black eyeliner pencils lying around, but it’s not like this will go to waste. I do like that it’s waterproof, though, because I generally wear a twist-up or pencil on my waterline. You’re able to blend it if you want before it sets, but once it’s in place there’s no budging! I used it for a cat eye, and it both came out nicely and stayed in place.

The argan oil… I’ve heard of argan oil before but never really looked into it, as I try not to use products in my hair and can already get it to look shiny and healthy. I tried it, using about 3-4 drops, and while it’s light and doesn’t feel like product is in my hair, my hair does feel a little oilier/greasier than it had beforehand. It did make my hair look shinier and less frizzy. It’s a toss-up if I do end up using this, as I usually wash my hair every four or five days and leaving the product in that long may feel or look weird.

The face cleanser is going to be added to my growing collection of face washes. It’ll be useful as a travel size, more so I can keep it in my bookbag or at my desk in the architecture studio and use it if I, say, need a pick-me-up face wash at two AM when I’m staying late. I do like the idea that it’s a gentle foaming cleanser, though I haven’t had enough experience with foaming cleansers to know if my skin is too sensitive for many of them. I’m trying one out now (Formula 10.0.6’s Best Face Forward foaming cleanser; it smells heavenly) so I may be able to compare them a little in the future? This scent isn’t quite so nice. It’s somewhere between perfumey and organic and it’s both strong and weird. Generally I use other products right after washing my face, so the scent doesn’t last too long or anything.

I was pleasantly surprised by this month’s bag. The makeup and polish seem spot-on, especially as all three full-sized products were each more expensive than the $10 for the entire bag. I didn’t mind getting the black eyeliner too much, as it will be put to use at some point, but I never say no to brights or metallics. The colors were both fall shades, which I love pretty much year-round but I don’t feel ready for fall yet. I’m not quite so certain about the other two.

Here’s a MOTD look featuring the Hikari gloss and Doucce liner, as well as a couple other things that I’ll be reviewing soon: