Review: Ipsy Jan Bag (Fresh Start)

I’m so happy to be restarting my Ipsy bag subscription this year!

Usually, at this point before the review, I would say something sharp and witty, but I took these pictures in horrible light. So hours spent wrestling with picture editors have stolen my sharp wit energy. I shall cast the blame therewith and continue the review.

I received five products in my January Ipsy bag. For once, I’ve paid attention to the theme of the bag, the theme being “fresh start.” So I’ll conclude this review with whether or not I think the products corresponded correctly with that theme.

I just bought a full set of Vintage Crown makeup brushes since I owned only three before, so this Elizabeth Mott All Over Shadow brush made me laugh. Now my makeup brush collection is growing.

Brush wise, the handle is a thick plastic, but the bristles are very soft. The brush boasts that it’s densely placed bristles are perfect for even application, so I put it to the test with the next product in the bag.

This brush also costs $9.99 on the Elizabeth Mott web site (or $5 on Amazon). So this alone would be the cost of the bag plus products.

Next to emerge from the bag was a little pot of Bellapierre Cosmetics Shimmer Powder Eye Shadow.

It retails for $14.99 on their site and a whopping $3 on Amazon.

I’ve never really used a powder eye shadow before. It’s loose and comes out of these three little holes in the top. I flipped it upside down then opened it and swished the shadow brush in the product, then I started painting the back of my hand.

I don’t know if it was the brush or the product, but with each line came another, just as pigmented, streak of gold.

It’s a very good eye shadow. However, I wouldn’t use this as an all-over-lid color. Here’s how I know.

It looks like I was socked in the eyeball. Maybe as I experiment, my thoughts will change, but to me, this was simply too much of a sparkly, bright color. Here’s how I wore it instead.

At the end of my eye shadow routine, I popped the color on the very center of my eyelids for definition.

I’ve never bought a Pacifica product before, but I have not been impressed with the sample’s cheap plastic packaging. I’ll give them this, though, I could not get the darn thing out of the box. That glue does not mess around.

Swatched, you can’t see this thing for the life of you, except for maybe a little trail of shimmer. But as you saw in the above photos, it’s really great for brightening the inner corner of your eyes and is now my favorite product for that very task.

If you were, like me, wondering if this Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow smelled like coconut. For the purposes of this review, I smelled it. And no. It does not.

I was indeed disappointed.

This one does seem to be an actual sample, so I can’t figure out how much it would be in retail prices. However, if we were going by pallets, Pacifica sells them for $14-17 on their site. Again, Amazon wins at $9 for a pallet.

This second to last one I’ll have to apologize for because I didn’t truly use it to write a full review. I can, however, tell you it doesn’t smell like anything, it’s highly natural, cruelty free, and free of sulfates.

My skin hasn’t been up to par lately, and all my life I’ve had near perfect skin, so this has me sufficiently freaked out and paranoid when it comes to putting anything new on my face. I might put a little dab on my neck and see if I have some sort of reaction, then work my way up from there. I’ll keep you posted via Twitter (*cough* so you should be following me).

A 50g pot of this costs $40 on their website, so math-wise, this sample would cost $12, which is quite generous.

The last product in my bag was this Probelle Nail Lacquer. I was very skeptical about this nail polish. Ipsy had sent me a nail polish before that was so sheer, I was thoroughly disappointed.

This brand has me HOOKED. Two coats was all it took, and I got perfectly opaque, beautiful nails. I finished it with my favorite top coat for that shiny finish.