IPSY June 2014

Hey everyone!
My IPSY Bag came in really early this month. The tracking email hasn't even been sent to me yet, and yesterday was the day that the product reveal email was sent. So I was pretty surprised that it showed up in my mailbox today.

IPSY is a $10 a month subscription service, and you get full size/deluxe size/sample sizes in it, all in a different cosmetic bag every single month. There are usually 5-6 items in the bags, and the brands are generally more drugstore types. Personally I love it because you always get your monies worth, they offer great product discounts every month on the products they sell and the bags are usually really nice. They've improved their service quite a bit from the first MyGlam bag that was sent out.

 The bag is from Rebecca Minkoff, and a really cute tropical print with the lining being red.
It has a metal zipper tab and plastic red zipper.

The theme this month is "Pretty in Paradise" which is definitely one of the better Summer themes I have seen in a subscription box.

I like that it has a fun tropical Hawaiian feeling print. Normally I don't like prints, but I feel like they are perfect for small items like a cosmetic bag, because then it has personality.

The card is just the standard one that does not show any product info at all, other than some brand names.

Here are the products unbagged! (click to make the image larger)

First we have the Laneige BB Cushion Sample Packet. I don't really count this in the price scheme of the bag because this is a sample card, and they're usually free. So $0.

NYX Butter Gloss in Apple Streudel. It's a nice peachy pink. Their gloss is good, fairly opaque, but slightly sticky. $5 on Nyx.com, but you can get them on sale often on ULTA, or at CVS Drugstores. 

Next we have Be a Bombshell Mascara Lash Out Mascara in Intense Black. Retails for $15.
Apparently, some peoples smells really terrible. Thankfully mine does not smell rancid. It does have a chemical smell, but most mascaras have that. I do wish it was waterproof though because non waterproof mascara gives me horrible racoon eyes in about 5 mins after application. 

Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray. 
I have soooo many of these sprays because every summer, every box gives these out. I just got another on in my POPSUGAR Box. Which is fine, there are bound to be repeats. But can't we get something more creative here?
$9.50 for 4.2 oz , our size is a 1.52 oz bottle, so it's worth $3.43

Lastly is a shimmer eyeliner by NIKKAK New York.
Mine is in the color Blue. I would have actually preferred white since I love how white eyeliner looks. This blue is okay, but it's a pretty juevenile looking color. It'll work for 4th of July, but it's really not my favorite. The formula is good though, really pigmented, smooth and it says on even if you rub super hard after application, there's no smudging.  We got a full size, which retails for $5.

Even not counting the sample card, the bag is worth about $28, so you definitely get your money back.
The products are all good. I'm most excited to try out the mascara, the bb cream, and the lipgloss.

PopSugar Must Have June Spoilers!

It's PopSugar Must Have time again! This is for the regular monthly subscription box, not the Limited Edition Summer one.
 If you're not familiar with what PopSugar Must Have is, it's a monthly subscription service that costs $39.95/month but you get lots of goodies that the editors pick out as their favorites each month. They also have a plan that's $109 for 3 months, and then a 6 month plan as well. If I could afford to do the year one, I would!
If you're interested in seeing other boxes, here are my other posts showing unboxings.  

The June boxes have shipped, but some sneaky people already have figured out what is in the boxes due to sleuthing around. Let's take a peek, shall we?
Subscription boxes are actually more fun to me when the contents are not a secret.

The items are as follows:
The One and Only by Emily Griffin  ($16.52)
One Potato Two Potato Chips in Hawaiian BBQ ($2)
Native Union $15 Gift Card
Lollies Hair Ties in Basics ($8)
You Smell Wet Wipes ($5)
Sachajuan Shiny Citrus Body Lotion ($24)
Turkish-T Beach Towel ($32)

I think this box looks great! It's summery and fun and still useful at the same time. The products are all new to me, and getting a new book to read is always awesome.

What's your favorite item?
If you're interested in signing up, here's my link! 

Popsugar Summer 2014 Unboxing

Hi everyone!  It's PopSugar Must Have unboxing time again! If you're not familiar with what PopSugar Must Have is, it's a monthly subscription service that costs $35/month but you get lots of goodies that the editors pick out as their favorites each month. They also have a plan that's $109 for 3 months, and then a 6 month plan as well. If I could afford to do the year one, I would!
If you're interested in seeing other boxes, here are my other posts showing unboxings. 
This box is a limited edition one, which they do quarterly I believe. To be honest, I would say that while the limited edition boxes are nice, I wish I had used the money from my 3 limited edition boxes and just gotten regular boxes with the same amount. The regular box seems just as awesome, and that way it would be more boxes.
If you're interested in signing up, here's my link!

My Popsugar Special Edition Summer 2014 box arrived in the mail today, so that means that you all get to see what came in it. (if you haven't already, since there are super slueth bloggers out there who already have photos up of everything)

The box is always this really great black box with a PopSugar sticker on the lid.
It's fairly large, definitely the largest out of any subscription services. This months box weighed 6.1lbs which is a little crazy. 

Opening the box, we have everything wrapped really nicely in white tissue paper, and then the little card that shows everything in the box and explains what it all is.

Now to the unboxing!

The box was really full this month.

Inside are the following items:
Tarte Cheek Stain ($30)
Tarte Power Pigment ($24)
SACHAJUAN Ocean Mist Texturizing Spray ($28)
Soixante Neuf Turquoise Horn Pendant Necklace ($155)
Eliunt Extra Virgin Olive Oil (one bottle): ($17.49)
Samudra X Bikini Bird Exclusive Love Aloha Amour Bag ($60)
Sisters of Los Angeles Rocks Glasses: ($45)

The Tarte set I got is in the color Exposed. They showed a coral color in the spoiler, which would have been much more "summery", so I am a little sad we didn't get that instead. Also, the Horn Necklace was just on a discount retailer site for $78, so I wouldn't really count the price as $155. I also would never, ever pay that much money for this necklace as the chain feels really inexpensive. It just feels like Jewelmint Jewelry, not anything "high end" at all.
The olive oil is super random and I wish they had included something else instead. A lotion, or a drink mix, or a book would have been better.
The Sisters glasses are very well made and super cute, but again sort of random. I think if you already have tons of glasses like me, these would be cute as makeup brush holders/makeup holders instead. The bright colors and city screenprints seem like they would be great for a vanity.
Technically we did get our $100 back in value, but to me, the personal value of this box is about $50. I would never pay more than that in a store for this box.
I'm not super excited about the items, honestly the regular box items are more exciting looking to me personally.
The pouch is really really beautiful though and easily my favorite thing. The fabric is really gorgeous, and it's extremely well made. I'm also really excited to try the Sea Spray even though due to boxes, I have about 5 bottles of the stuff! So between the pouch and the Tarte items, at least the two things I like make up for the price of the box. 

Thankfully the necklace came in turquoise, so it's wearable. The only thing is, I feel like we got seconds for the items because mine came in a bag that has messed up screenprinting on it. The name is missing letters and blurred. The weird shadowing on the bag is from my camera, the bag itself is not discolored.





Here are swatches of the tarte products on my NW15 skintone. I'm super pale, so these show up just fine on me as more of a nude pink. However, the blush almost veers into sunburned skin territory because of the pink color it is.
The blush/cheek tint stick is on the left, and the lip pencil is on the right.
The lip pencil is much much darker and not really a color I'm thrilled about. I would have rather have had a pink color.

Both have decent formulas but honestly feel a little weird on the skin.

 Here's another swatch on the back of my wrist which is not as tan as my hand is.
The cheek tint is on top, and the lip pencil on bottom.

I think the colors look better on darker skin, since on my super pale wrist which matches my face, the colors almost look like I have a weird rash. Not a huge fan of that look at all.
The cheek tint formula is very very sticky. It's probably okay if you have lotion on your face already, but on dry skin it was not nice feeling. I will play around with these and am excited to have them, but the color is a little meh feeling for me.

The verdict? This box is nice, but I don't feel like it was really "special". I just feel like it's the same as a normal monthly box almost. I'll use everything though and the style of the box is very me. The random boxes are like a total lottery though, so that's just how it goes. I think PopSugar definitely picks out really nice items, but sometimes things are vastly overpriced from the retailers themselves.

How did anyone else who got this feel?