eyebrow gel

January ipsy Glam Bag

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Now that I’ve been able to peek at my February Glam Bag, it’s time to write this review. I’m going to start comparing the value of the Glam Bag with that of the items you can buy retail, so that we can all see if it is really worth it. All prices and costs are before taxes as sales tax varies location to location and the Glam Bag is only taxed in some states (TX is one of them).

The design of the January bag was inspired by workout clothes and shoes. Its outside is made of mesh and had a shoelace and aglet zipper pull. In it I got a REAL CHEMISTRY Fresh-Start Foaming Cleanser, bellapierre Cosmetics StayPut Brow Gel in Licorice, SO SUSAN Liquid Matte in Raisin Flesh, TRUST FUND BEAUTY Lip Scrub, and the Balm Cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer.

REAL CHEMISTRY Fresh-Start Foaming Cleanser

I love exfoliators but they’re not great for every day use because they can be abrasive and dry out your skin. Cleansers are better for daily use but they aren’t as fun. They are easier to use outside of the shower however, which is really how you’re supposed to wash your face anyway. This is the way I use this cleanser- at the sink. It is a creamy formula, foamed up easily with water and some massaging, and came off easily with a damp washcloth. After removing it, my skin felt soft and smooth and was not super dry. It looked whiter than usual, but I think that it was due to a) the fact that I wasn’t wearing makeup, and b) my cheeks are usually pink and somehow, this must have neutralized that, at least at the time.

Received: 15 ml | On sale: 4.2 oz for $24 at Ulta | Approx. value: $2.86

bellapierre Cosmetics StayPut Brow Gel in Licorice

I have a pretty clear opinion on this. Eyebrows are important. Look at photos of 90’s fashion or celebrities without eyebrows and you will understand. With that in mind, mine are a tad wonky, but eyebrows are sisters, not twins. They still need to be full and fabulous however, so I do what I can to ensure that that is true. This entails using pencils, pomades, and gels to fill in my brows. This product looks a lot like the Benefit ka-BROW pomade, something I am familiar with from work and that many make-up instagrammers swear by. I was excited for it because the ka-BROW is $24 and this was part of a (roughly) $10 subscription box and I’m on a budget. It was not exactly like the ka-BROW.

The main difference that I could tell was the brush. Usually you’d do your eyebrows with an angled brush which is what comes in the ka-BROW. This came with something closer to a lip brush. I tried to use it but it didn’t pick up the pomade or distribute it as well as an angled brush would. When I used my angled brush in it, it worked like a charm so the pomade itself is great. It’s disappointing that I can’t just carry this to do my brows however, and have to also bring another brush along as well.

Received: 2.2 g | On sale: 2.2 g for $25 at bellapierre.com | Approx. value: $25

So Susan Liquid Matte Lipstick after a full day at work

SO SUSAN Liquid Matte in Raisin Flesh

I was so ready to be unimpressed by this liquid lipstick. I’ve been through liquid lip after liquid lip and loved the colors but absolutely hated the formulas because they didn’t go on well or didn’t stay very long. I was pleasantly surprised by this one because I loved the color (like usual), it went on easily, and it stayed on all day. Even at work where I do a lot of talking, and through drinking and eating, this liquid lipstick stayed on my lips. The main issue I have with it is that it started out super sticky. It wasn’t sticky like a sticky lip gloss, it was almost like there’s glue in it that literally makes your lips stick together. As it dried it got less sticky but it never fully went away. Still, with the longwear formula, I can put up with the stickiness.

 

On both of the straws I used while wearing it, there was minor transfer. It was so minor that I had to use my DSLR and macro lens to even start to see it in photos.

Received: 5 ml | On sale: 5 ml for $14 on sosusan.com | Approx. value: $14

TRUST FUND BEAUTY Lip Scrub

Just like a like exfoliating facial cleansers, I love basically any kind of scrub. Lip scrubs can be particularly fun because they usually taste good. When I saw that this was in my bag, I was super excited. My lips get super dried out and peely because I don’t drink enough water. Water and proper hydration are the best moisturizers. With this scrub, I was able to exfoliate my lips and make them super soft and get rid of a lot of the peely dead skin on them. After I used this, I applied my IT Cosmetics lip treatment and had pillowy and kissable lips the rest of the night and into the morning. The only think I’m not a fan of with this is how small the tube is. With one use it felt like I was already running out, something I thought was just because it was a sample size but when I found out this was the full size, it seemed like a bit of a rip.

Received: 8 ml | On sale: 8 ml for $8 on trustfundbeauty.com | Approx. value: $8


the Balm Cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer

I’m not a huge fan of highlighters. When other people use them I always admire their work but I never feel like my highlight comes out as well as their’s so I tend to just not try. Whenever I get a new one, I have to try it though. One of the problems I have with highlighters is that I’m a lot lighter-skinned than I think I am so I have to use really light highlighters to get any results. This one looked like enough for me to get that blinding cheekbones look but it wasn’t. The color was still super pretty and I think I might be able to use it as an eyeshadow, but it just did not do what I needed it to.

Received: 1 g | On sale: 8.5 g for $24 on thebalm.com | Approx. value: $2.82

 

Approx. overall Glam Bag value: $52.68 | Current Glam Bag price: $10 | Approx. savings: $42.68, 81%

December ipsy Glam Bag

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December is a busy month for most people. That said, here’s my ipsy review.

The bag itself is super cute. It’s simpler than some of their other designs but it’s a nice silver color with the stripe of glitter at the top and the zipper and pull are a turquoise color that I love. In the bag I received Purlisse Beauty Coconut + Rice Nourishing Sheet Mask and Green Tea + Ginger Treatment Sheet Mask, Smashbox Cosmetics Be Legendary Lipstick in Legendary, City Color Cosmetics Shimmer Shadow in It’s a Girl, NYX Professional Makeup Faux Blacks Liner in Midnight, and Chella Eyebrow Defining Gel. Overall, I’m fairly pleased with this bag. Onto the specifics!

Purlisse Beauty Coconut + Rice Nourishing Sheet Mask and Green Tea + Ginger Treatment Sheet Mask

I’m not including photos of me using/wearing these sheet masks because they look the same as the rest-white and wet. From what I can tell, they pretty much perform like the rest as well. My skin felt nice and refreshed after using them but only for about a day. They smelled nice and were very relaxing and cooling while I wore them. Sheet masks, to me, seem to be a good thing to do when you need to take a load off but aren’t quite as beneficial to your skin as we make them out to be. Good skin comes with good hydration and good everyday care. But they’re still fun and when I get them from ipsy or when they’re on sale, I’m still going to use them.

Smashbox Cosmetics Be Legendary Lipstick in Legendary

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Smashbox is a brand that I tend to like but also question heavily. I like what I’ve used from them such as their Photo Finish Primers and X-Rated Mascara but I never want to try their other products. That said I wasn’t mad at this lipstick. It’s a nice, normal red, and it’s not a matte but could easily be made one with some setting powder (I’ve been swaying away from mattes lately because I’ve been trying to take better care of my lips). It applied easily and stayed on the rest of the night while I was moving around my apartment cleaning. I’ve yet to wear it out or to work, but it was a solid 4-ish hours that I wore it inside.

City Color Cosmetics Shimmer Shadow in It’s a Girl

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Since I’ve started doing more eyeshadow, I’ve been more excited to get them in my ipsy Glam Bags. Getting bright colors like this one is especially exciting because I can use them as a pop of color in my otherwise dark and monochrome work outfits. When I swatched this one on my arm, I was very excited because it was super pink and it had a good amount of shimmer to it. When I finally used it the first time on my eyes however, I was rather disappointed. It gave a nice pink for my crease into upper lid area to layer on top of, but the shimmer seemed to disappear and it did not seem nearly as pigmented as when it was on my arm. It still works as a pretty nice base to the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Romance palette that I recently bought, as well as the tarte Magic Star palette that I got for my birthday. A customer at work even asked what it was and I had to tell her that it was, unfortunately, not something that we sell in our store.

NYX Professional Makeup Faux Blacks Liner in Midnight

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The tip broke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The NYX Faux Blacks and Faux Whites Liners have intrigued me since I first saw them at Ulta. As someone who loves all things black, especially her eye makeup, I have never understood why people use brown eyeliner or mascara. When I was younger, I dabbled with colored liners, picking out a bright turquoise one, but when I wanted black, I wanted black. Recently however, because I wear black on black on the daily, I have been branching out with my make-up and looking for it to make my color statement recently. This eyeliner doesn’t do that, but I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would. It’s a nice navy blue color and goes on pretty well with some pretty good staying power. Without really looking at it when it’s on, you’d never tell that it wasn’t black besides the fact that it’s not quite as intense. For comparison of color, I swatched it on my arm next to the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion, UD’s blackest shade. The reason it seems kind of messy is because in the middle of the swatch, the tip broke off. Regardless of the fact that you can easily sharpen this pencil, the product breaking is not great because it may be dry which would make it more difficult to use and it might tug and get stuck while you are applying it. I intend to sharpen this and keep using it, but that took it down a tick in my book.

Chella Eyebrow Defining Gel

I really don’t have much to say about this one. I like eyebrow gels because they do tend to help tame my brows a bit but when I really need the help because I slept on them all night and they’re incredibly unruly, no gels really do anything at all. This one has been pretty great however because I have been using it before and after filling in my brows and it a) may be helping my product go on a little better/stay a little longer and b) doesn’t seem to be taking product away when I use it after filling in, something that other brow gels and spoolies tend to do. Now if only it could grow hair back where I over-plucked it…