May 2014 Ipsy Glam Bag: Value, First Impression and Swatches

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I got home today and I was so happy to see my Ipsy Glam Bag. arrived! I, of course, grabbed my phone so that I could snap pictures while I opened it. This is a first impression style blog! 

In case you live under a rock, Ipsy is a monthly subscription where you pay $10 + tax to receive a cute make-up bag filled with four or five sample (or full size) make-up products from varying brands! It is so fun to get a little pink package in the mail every month!

You can see my reviews on the past few months by clicking here. 

Theme: Fresh Picks
Description: It's a month of crisp air, vibrant flowers, and fresh Glam Bag products! Getting your beauty to bloom all month long will be as easy as lying in the warm grass and basking in the sunshine.

The first thing I did was take out the bag. Obviously. It is a canvas bag with green vines all over it. It's really cute, but the zipper was actually kind of horrible. I haven't had to tug so hard to get a makeup bag open in a long time! It was really noticeably difficult, which is weird because in my four months of getting Ipsy bags, I haven't experienced anything like that. I'm hoping that it was just a fluke with my bag and not a widespread problem!

Here are the items I received. I'm going to come right out the gate and say that I was REALLY hoping to get a sample of Chocolate Soleil. I was really bummed when I saw that I didn't receive it, especially because I made the mistake of watching Michelle Phan's video about it! Oh well. I'll try that bronzer someday!

Item: Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm in Elusive 2.7g (full size) 

Value: $8-9.00 (depending on where you shop. CVS.com at $9.49)

The first item I grabbed was this Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm in Elusive. The color is really pretty and I have two others of these lippies but I don't have this color, thankfully. I've swatched it below.

The color is definitely something I would wear. It's a cool toned pink color. While I primarily want Ipsy so that I can scope out other brands, Revlon is such a solid brand with good products. How can you be disappointed in a no fail item like this?!

Item: Pacifica Mineral Eyeshadow Duo .07oz (exclusive to Ipsy sample size)

Value: $3.50 (approx.)

So I took this picture, set my phone down, opened up the lid and it popped right off! I couldn't believe it! At first I thought it was broken, but I was able to stick it back on there. Not very well though because it came off again when I was swatching it. I've never had a Pacifica product before but that wasn't a very good first impression!

The colors in this duo are actually kind of interesting. At first, when you look you think it's a cream/pink shade with a bronze brown. Not so. That 'cream' shade has a lot of pink in it, almost to the point of bright (hot?) pink. It's so hard to photograph well!

I was not impressed at ALL with the cream shade when I swatched it though. It was pretty powdery. The bronze shade was really nice though. Here they are swatched on my hand. You can barely see them, but using a good primer or a white base would probably make them pop. We'll see how it goes! I showed you the swatch on my finger tips, for good measure. You can kind of see the powdery consistency of the lighter shade.

This duo is described to contain coconut infused mineral eye shadows that are a perfect addition to any makeup collection. Packaged in a recyclable container, these duos were customized for Ipsy (read: not available for sale.) The colors in this duo are Celestial and Opal.

Item: Hang Ten Sunscreen 50SPF 1oz (sample size)

Value: $2.16 (Full size is 6oz for 12.99)

This formula is suuuuuper watery. Or maybe I just should have shaken it to mix it all up? When I swatched it a lot more came out than what I was meaning for and I was like whoooa! A lot of sunscreen is a bit on the thin side but this, I feel like, was more so. I didn't spread it around because I was going outside and I didn't want my hand to have a weird light spot if I ended up getting any color. It smelled nice! 

The product claims to protect and nourish your skin with their clear, lightweight, naturally scented sunscreen. Waaaaait. I swatched it. It's not clear! It also says it provides maximum water resistance and full body coverage against harmful UVA/UVB rays. The description on the website says it's 80 minutes water resistant, non-greasy and is oxybenzone free, paraben free, retinyl palmitate free, synthethic fragrance free and is non-nano. 

Item: derma e Microdermabrasion Scrub 1oz (sample)

Value: $16.25 (Full size is 2oz for $32.50)

It's slightly disappointing to get a microdermabrasion scrub when we got the one from dr. brandt last month. It would have been nice to have a nice hydrating moisturizer or eye cream this time around. However, this is a nice size sample and for that, I am grateful. This will definitely last a while. 

This formula claims to buff away dull surface cells, diminsh the appearance of wrinkles and acne scares and absorbs excess skin oils with an exclusive crystal blend including the Dead Sea Salt and Volcanic Sand. It is enriched with Lime and Lemon Peel (which you can definitely smell. Very nice, clean citrusy scent) plus is hast antioxidants Grapeseed and Vitamin E. All derma e products are 100% vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free, mineral oil-free, glycol-free, lanolin-free, gluten free and GMO free. That's a lot of frees yo! 

I took a look at the website and this looks like a brand I could definitely get into. I'm excited to try this scrub!

Item: Eva NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask 2.03oz (smaller of two sizes available)

Value: $12

Which bring us to the  Therapy Session Hair Mask by Eva NYC. This hair mask smells really good, but it actually permeated through the entire bag. Every think in that bag smelled like this hair mask. The inside of the bag was overwhelmingly this smell. It's definitely potent. I swatched this on my hand, took a picture, rubbed it around, cleaned it off with a wet wipe, washed my hands SEVERAL times and the smell is still there on my hand. I'm a tad scared to put it on my head just because of my migraines! I might have Bryan test it out for me. He can't smell anything so it'll be perfect. 

The hair mask claims to deeply condition, repairs and strengthens dry and damaged hair. Argan Oil nourishes and revitalizes, while Keravis Protein drastically increases hair's strength and elasticity. Pretty lofty claims! I'm kind of excited to see how this works and if it smells that crazy actually ON your hair! 

Total Value: $41.91
Overall: Definitely a good bag. I haven't been disappointed yet! Now to go tell Bryan that he's going to be my guinea pig for that hair mask. I'm sure that'll go over well!

Have you signed up for Ipsy yet? Go getchu some!