I had great expectations for the December Ipsy bag. With the exception of maybe the last month, I had a good year of Ipsy bags and goodies. I thought December would be la pièce de la résistance of Ipsy bags for 2017.
I do love the festive bling-y silver faux leather makeup bag (the silver gleam doesn’t show up so well in the photo) with a fun silver glitter decorative border along the top, a pale aqua zipper, zipper tab and bag lining. This is definitely one that I’ll keep for myself and put right into use.
The goodies inside the bag are good, but they don’t have the exciting holiday vibe that I was looking for. Here’s what I got:
- Luxie #239 Precision Shader makeup brush (full size, $14): I love Luxie brushes, especially the ones with the pink handles. But in spite of the black handle this time, I can definitely use this precision shader.
- Pixi by Petra Orchid Ornament Eyeshadow Duo (travel size): First, I need to get this off of my chest. I’m not crazy about Pixi by Petra’s packaging. As much as I like pale green, I think their packaging is kind of cheesy. Maybe with the light green it’s supposed to be a natural cue. Anyway, I don’t love it. There, I’ve said it. Anyway, when my Ipsy bag arrived, the sun was already setting in the late autumn sky, and I had a hard time seeing the colors of this shimmer shadow duo. Initially, I wasn’t excited about them. But I shined my flashlight on them, and the colors are actually beautiful: a pale orchid almost silver shade and a deep purple. I hope the sun is out tomorrow because I definitely want to see these colors in daylight. I had planned to give this duo away, but I’ve changed my mind.
- NYX Faux Blacks Interior Liner, shade Obsidian (full size, $7.99): OK, I may have fallen for this scam. Although I most certainly do not need another black eyeliner pencil (I just bought MAKE UP FOR EVER Aqua XL Eyeliner Pencil is charcoal recently because I love that pencil), but the NYX pencil specifically said “interior liner” so rather than give it away, I fell for it. I haven’t tried it on my waterline yet, but I did swatch it on my hand and then I took my finger to see if it would stay put or if it smeared. It smeared. Not a good sign. Oh well, if it doesn’t work well, I’ll toss it. Also, I noticed that there are several blackened colors that look great: Black Olive, Burnt Sienna, Blackberry, Midnight just to name a few. Come on, Ipsy, how about a liner color other than black???
- Nip + Fab Hydrate Dragon’s Blood Plumping Serum (travel size): I haven’t yet tried Nip + Fab, and I’ve been curious about their Dragon’s Blood line. It looks like this is another hyaluronic acid serum, and I like HA serums. This one comes in a tube that’s perfect for travel. I tried the serum, and although it has a really strong scent that I don’t love, the serum sinks into my skin on contact and completely disappears leaving my skin very, very soft. Gee, I wish this didn’t have that strong smell coz I’d buy this by the bucket load.
- Tony Moly The Chok Chok Green Tea Watery Cream (travel size): The Green Tea Watery Cream is a very lightweight gel cream with a mild sweet scent that disappears immediately. I don’t know if it will be hydrating enough for my dry skin on its own during the winter, but for summer, this would be nice to put in my beach bag.
So, while this might not be an exciting and stellar holiday bag, I’ll use everything I got. With two full size products, it’s worth well over the $10 I paid for it. And I am looking forward to trying the Pixi shadow duo.
I’m curious about what other Ipsy subscribers got. Do tell.
Congratulations to Samantha M., the winner of the MyChelle Lip Hints giveaway! Thank you to all who entered, commented, tweeted, followed, liked, and shared. I appreciate it! And please stay tuned for more giveaways coming up 🙂
This is actually a pretty decent bag, Allison! You can’t go wrong with a Luxie brush but I believe I received that Pixi eyeshadow duo a long time ago.
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I agree – it’s a decent bag. I think coz it’s the holiday bag I was expecting more makeup and blingier colors! I hope the Pixi shadow duo wasn’t sitting around since the time you got yours 😉
I like the bag itself and the brush. I don’t recall seeing brushes a lot in subscription bags. The Pixi would just be meh for me.
Ipsy gives out Luxie brushes quite often. One of the key reasons why I still like this subscription bag.
I got completely different products in mine! I canceled my Ipsy subscription after this one. It was fun, but I realized there’s nothing I need!
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I’m thinking of canceling because I’ve got so much stuff! I don’t subscribe because I need anything, but so I can try out new stuff that I wouldn’t buy. But between Ipsy and Sephora Play, I don’t know what to do with everything. I can’t give it away fast enough 😉
While the bag lacks the glitzy holiday products that you sought, these do look like things that you will enjoy. I’m not sure that a smearing liner is going to do it for you, but you could always use it around your eyes and set it with a powder e/s. I do love that bag!
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Your assessment is right on, Helen. For a normal month, I would be quite pleased with the contents of this month’s ipsy bag. I was looking for a little glitz, as you said – a makeup brush with a silver or glitter or rose gold handle instead of black maybe? A glitter liner rather than black maybe? Oh well, still stuff I’ll try out.
I bet that Pixi shadow looks great in daylight!
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I agree, Cindy, and I can hardly wait till the days start getting longer so I can actually see some daylight. It’s like the bat cave here!
I agree, they could’ve done better by including products that really look festive and fun for the holidays
Ipsy seems to be getting a little worse each month. My bag contains the Luxie brush (good), First Aid Cleanser (I’ve gotten it half a dozen times already), Rodial mini mascara (looking forward to trying this), M&M Shadows in a white pigment (no thanks) and NYX Obsidian eyeliner (another black eyeliner!!!). I stopped reviewing them since I’m rarely excited. I’ll drop the sub soon and give away 3 of these 5 as extras in my next giveaway.
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I’m thinking of cancelling too, but I have gotten a bunch of things this past year that I never would have known about and that I love. I haven’t gotten an FAB Cleanser in at least a year and I like it a lot. Also, I haven’t tried the Rodial mascara or anything from that brand. I have no clue what M&M Shadows is!! I’m going on Ipsy’s website to find out!
The bag is definitely cute! I also like the look of the Pixi duo!
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The Pixi duo is really pretty: champagne and deep purple shimmers! And the bag is a keeper!
I love all the products you got! I unsubscribed from them a few months ago but look forward to subscribing in the near future!
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