Dina & DJ Blake

The Beauty Den: Ipsy Does It!

Have you picked up something for you for Christmas? Treat yo self! Ipsy is here! A beauty subscription service that gives you 5 new beauty products every month for $10/month, free shipping. What you receive depends on how you fill out your profile, so each person’s bag will be a little different.

I’ve been a member for about 5 months. My favorite part of the service is that you get a cute little makeup bag with each shipment. Plus *insert Phaedra Parks voice here* Everybody knows that a lady can never have too many zippered pouches.

Pros: Nice variety of products, affordable service, good quality, usually a full size item or two in the bag!

Cons: The website is not as user friendly as Birchbox. The shipment does not come with an itemized list of what each product retails for.

I’ll tell you what I got in December’s bag and I went ahead and looked up the approximate retail price of the items in case you see something you’d like to try without getting the whole kit and caboodle. Retail prices are approximate.

This month’s bag includes:

NYX Prismatic Shadow in Punk Heart (full size!) Retail $5.99

Aurora Intensively Precise Eyeliner in Cinnamon (full size!) Retail $25

OUAI Haircare Wave Spray Retail $26 I usually flat iron my hair straight, but I will try this out the next time I go wavy. It smells amazing!

Nip + Fab Exfoliate Glycolic Fix Serum Retail $10-15

Smashbox Insta-Matte Lipstick Transformer Retail: $20 I was disappointed in this sample. I love the brand, but I really don’t have a need for a product that takes a glossy lipstick and makes it matte. I would just get a matte lipstick!

The two products I tried right after opening were the NXY eye shadow and Aurora eyeliner. Thumbs up on the versatile eye shadow. You could go smoky with it or brighten it up with light neutrals. The eyeliner is a thumbs down from me. I usually like an inky black eyeliner. Thought I try to mix it up with this cinnamon color, but the application is a little weak. You have to keep going back over your line to get enough color! Not for me.

I’m excited to try the Nip + Fab serum too. Looking forward to next months’s bag of goodies!

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