IPSY Product Reviews - January Glam Bag

Hi ladies!!! Welcome back to my blog! It's been awhile, I know! I missed you! Today I'll be posting about some reviews of recent products I've used this month and what I thought of them so far.

I've been receiving a monthly IPSY bag for about 4 years now and for $10 a month I really enjoy it. For those of you who aren't familiar with IPSY or Birchbox, these are basically monthly subscriptions to beauty products and each month they come with 4-5 deluxe size makeup samples from products like skin care, eye shadow, eye liner, bronzer and lip products. They are super fun and since I'm such a makeup fan, I really enjoy trying out new products every month.

Every month around the 10th of the month IPSY mails out a different themed bag of the month with 4 or 5 samples of beauty products and January's bag was totally one of my favorites. Reminds me kinda of Andy Warhol's paintings.

How cute is this bag?

In this months bag I received a brown eyeliner, an eye serum, eyeshadow, eyebrow powder and cleansing wipes. Let's start with my review of the brown eyeliner.

BROWN EYELINER

I'm a fan of theBalm makeup line. They have good eye-shadows and I love they're style of pinup's and the names they name their products. I received "Mr. Write (Now)" in Rich Bronze. For some reason this picture makes the eyeliner look like it's gold but I assure you it's a medium brown in color. These pencils typically cost $17.00 a piece so you can see where it's nice to get a beauty bag subscription like IPSY because right there your saving $7 on an eyeliner and getting 4 additional product in your bag of equal or lesser value.

Overall I like the eyeliner but more for the bottom lash line. It's pretty shimmery and doesn't sit that well on top of eye-shadow and it rubs away a little easier than I like without eyeshadow on. I've worn it both ways to see how it would sit on my eyes. When I'm using any pencil eyeliner I like when it has more staying power or is waterproof because who has the time to touch up there makeup everyday (if you do, you're lucky). My verdict is I wouldn't purchase this on my own but was happy to try a new liner.

EYE SERUM

 

Another thing I love about getting a beauty bag monthly is I get introduced to a new makeup line I've never heard of before and Hey Honey! is one of the new ones I learned about in this month's bag. The creator of this line, Katerina Yoffe- Larden, created all these skin care items using actual honey and propolis (the stuff inside of the beehive). Both these ingredients are paraben and SLA free.  I received this awesome, moisturizing eye serum by this line called Hey Honey! Open Your Eyes: Eye Contour Lifting Fluid and I love it! It does exactly what it says it does online by quickly absorbing into your skin, moisturizing, lifting and helping prime the area a bit for concealer. I love that I feel like this serum could even replace my regular eye cream because it's so silky and watery that a little goes a long way and I don't have to wait a long time to put my makeup on after applying. This eye serum is $28.00. I would definitely purchase this on my own and am really excited to check out the rest of this skincare line because I like that these products are made out of natural ingredients and are known to be super balancing.

CLEANSING WIPES

Skyn Iceland is a 2nd brand I was introduced to in this month's IPSY bag. This is another line of makeup that is paraben-free & all natural which is an immediate plus in my book. I love a good facial wipe. Especially on days when I don't feel like exfoliating or washing my facial with soap and water this is the perfect "to-go" wipe to keep in your purse. The coolest thing about Skyn's Glacial Cleansing Cloths is you don't need water after you use them to rinse off the soap. The smell of these wipes is super invigorating and calming. The only downside of the "no rinse needed" is I don't like the smell it then leaves on your face. It's a great smell initially but I still take some water to my face to get the smell off because for some reason I still feel like the soap is then left on your skin. The ingredients in these wipes include: white willow bark (soothes irritation), islandic kelp (revitalizes), cucumber (smooths/softens skin), coconut (cleanses), and alpha bisabolol (anti irritant). Not only do these wipes wash your face and leave your skin feeling so supple and clean, but they remove makeup to. The one thing though is they don't remove the makeup from your eyes that well, so you do still need an eye makeup remover if you want to wash your face with these. That was the only downside for me.

Another perk of IPSY is when they send these products out, that month you are also offered a discount on purchasing the full sized product on the company's website. Skyn offered a 40% discount on full sized items and I'm definitely purchases a pack or two of these to keep in my purse for on the go. I'm due for our 1st baby in a few weeks and I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing much makeup for awhile so it'll be great to use these when I need some quick pampering to get me through my new mommy days.

I'm not going to review the eyeshadow or the brow eyeshadow because I wasn't a huge fan of either product and the three above were most note-worthy items for me from this January IPSY bag.

Hope you enjoyed reading my first blog of 2016! If you don't already have a beauty bag subscription, I hope if your a makeup junkie like me, that this post changes your mind! They're well worth it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

NORMAL/COMBINATION SKIN: My Summer Skincare Regime

Another summer is coming and going way to fast of course and as I continue to battle my ever changing skin I figured I'd write a review of the new products I'm using and trying for the summer.

Skincare experts say not to use the same moisturizers in the Winter as you do in the Summer because your skin changes with the climate. While it is a little annoying to switch up products throughout the year I had some help with finding some new items to try this summer.

Thanks to IPSY , my monthly glam bag I received a couple months back helped me to try all sorts of new products. Not to mention Sephora just gave me a new item to try as well which I liked. I really enjoy trying out products SO much that I'm testing out some new Mary Kay skincare items for a friend/representative I know from there. This is also helping me to personally figure out what works best for my skin since this summer has called for some imbalances in my skin.

I've been lucky enough to have really clear skin most of my life with the occasionally pimple here and there. I have a decent diet and workout at least 3 days a week, drinking lots of water at work but no mater what my skin gets pretty oily in the summer.

This summer however, my chin has been my problem area. I've never had an issue with breakouts and this summer I have. Here are some of the products and tips I've been using that seem to be helping.

Refrigerating my daily moisturizer. 

Sounds insane but I follow several beauty bloggers on YouTube and I learned a few months back to try this trick of putting your moisturizer in the fridge and that it'll help keep your face matte all day cause it helps shrink your pores. It really has worked not to mention it's a refreshing way to wake my face up in the morning.

This is the moisturizer I've been using for the past few years:

I switched up my nightly moisturizer. 

 

I am basically addicted to PREVAGE Anti-Aging Night Cream. It's expensive but so worth it. I've been using this at night since I was 23 years old and I feel like it's prevented a lot of damage and wrinkles to my skin. It really helps restore skin overnight with some super special ingredients but I've always felt like this is a better Winter night cream. It's pretty thick so it's better for when my skin gets drier in the Winter.

IPSY gave me a sample of Josie Maran's Argan Oil and I put it on my skin before bed one night and I woke up the next morning and saw an immediate difference. My skin looked so soft, toned and rested. I don't know if it was a case of switching skin care that I could tell a huge difference after one night but I instantly loved this. I use this in place of the Prevage every night before bed and it's been a great substitute for a Summer moisturizer.

Vitamins!!! 

I went to Sephora recently to pick up a birthday gift for my Dad and received a sample of Pure Truth Activating Sample by Ole Henriksen 

This oil is made up of 100 percent pure organic rose hips seed oil, a natural source of active vitamin C, vitamin A, and essential fatty acids. These ingredients help brighten skin, improve tone and help fights wrinkles.

I've been using this oil like a serum under my daily moisturizer for a week or so now and it definitely helps give your skin a natural looking glow. It's orange which is a bit funny to put on your face at first cause it almost looks like you're applying an instant tanner. It has a funny smell but nothing too terrible and it absorbs really fast. I feel like this has helped fade old acne scars as well as give me a brighter look in the day.

Bye-bye scars

 In order to aid in fading some of the spotting on my chin from the acne I've gotten this summer I purchased this new product by Garnier called Skin Renew Clinical Dark Spot Corrector. I use this on my chin every night after I've moisturized and have been using it on and off for a week or two and am slowly seeing a difference. It says to give it about 4 weeks to see results and that sounds about right. It has mixed reviews from customers but was awarded the Readers Choice Award by Allure in 2012 which is typically pretty promising from my experience. I wasn't looking to spend major bucks on a treatment so this works fine for me. A little goes a long time and this should last awhile as the tube is a little smaller than a toothpaste tube.

Keep in mind, this is what has worked for me and we all have different skin types and makeup but I hope if any of your have experienced some similar problems that these tips will help!

Thanks for reading!

My Favorite Beauty Vlogger's

  (For those of you who have never heard the term "Vlog" it stands for "Video Blog".)

I love checking out beauty vlogs online for some of my beauty inspiration. There are so many beauty vloggers out there now a days and they're all over YouTube and are growing in masses. I've seen woman of all ages, races, shapes and sizes putting themselves out there and I gotta say, I give them a lot of credit. It's not easy to put your bare face out there for the world to see and apply make-up the way you like. Especially when some of the time people write the nastiest, rudest responses to these videos.

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite beauty vloggers as well as some of my favorite videos of theirs to check out. These woman are all fantastic and fun to watch.

1.) My first vlogger is Bubz Beauty. "Bubz" as she calls herself is this adorable woman from London. She's has the cutest accent and is super talented. Not only does she have inspirational videos and answers fans questions, DIY projects, videos on her adorable dogs, but she has some really great beauty tips I wouldn't have discovered without her. While it may sound cheesy she is the type of person I feel like I could be super good friends with. She's goofy, funny, and honest and I like that she doesn't take herself too seriously.

One of my favorite blogs of hers was "How to get a Slimmer Face" on facial massage and some helpful tips how to massage the face to get the stress and puffiness out of it. Check it out!

2.) Another vlogger I'd like to share with you is MMandLShow. Michelle Money was on the Bachelor a few seasons back and while she was targeted as the "mean girl" on the show, I remember her always having the greatest hair and make-up out of all of the girls on it. Haha! Turns out she is a hair stylist and her and her best friend Laura began this blog in 2011. I came across this vlog randomly and figured I'd check it out. These ladies are another group of girls who don't take themselves too seriously but once again have some really great tips on drugstore make-up and brand names. I always enjoy seeing super close friends together. They play of each other's goofiness and always give me a good laugh.

I love their video "The Laura Curl-Sexy Curl Hair Tutorial".

(I really want to buy this wand their using cause it looks amazing but I did buy this dry shampoo and it is pretty awesome.)

3.) I've been a loyal fan of Michelle Phan for a few years now. She was one of the first beauty vloggers I've seen to really pave the way for beauty in social media. She also started her own company called IPSY which is a monthly beauty bag you can sign up for to get monthly for $10. I'm a subscriber and it's like Christmas every month when I get my glam bag of samples. Basically, I want her life. She's a really sweet girl with great beauty looks for Halloween, weddings, inspired beauty looks from movies and music videos, as well as some great DIY ideas and she makes it look SO EASY but she is really easy to follow.

This look she shows here is gorgeous. "Summer Sunset Eyes"

Hope these women help inspire you as much as they inspire me!!! Thanks for reading!