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Hello March Glam Bag!

And Hello Spring!

First of all, can we just appreciate how cute the bag for this month’s Ipsy is?

Okay, moving on to Skone Cosmetics – Insanely Intense Tattooed Eyeliner in JetBlack (0.07 oz.). I am in heaven with this eyeliner. Liquid eyeliner always used to scare me. In high school, I tried out a friend’s once, and I ended up looking like a Picasso painting. Not an understatement! But I don’t think I have ever been so impressed by eyeliner. I will definitely be buying Skone again. It looks like I received the full-size, which retails on skonecosmetics.com for $15.

The Pixi by Petra – Beauty Blush Duo in Rose Gold (0.16 oz.) is a really pretty blush. The combination of the two colors blends really well with my lighter skin tone. The 0.36 oz. size sells on both pixibeauty.com and target.com for $18. This smaller size would ring in at $8.

I wish I could love the deep red that is NYX Cosmetics – Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick (0.13 oz.) but it just doesn’t work for me. I ended up giving this to my friend who, by the way, looks gorgeous in it. The same size retails on nyxcosmetics.com for $7.

The MeMeMe – Loose Powder Brush (2 oz.) is super soft. I’m still getting used to figuring out different brushes (other than a regular blush brush or eyeshadow brush. I know…don’t make fun of me). This same brush retails on mememecosmetics.com for 14£, which means $20.04 (this one comes with its own carrying case).

Unfortunately, I was not impressed by Nourish Organic – Rosehip & Rosewater Body Oil (0.5 fl. oz.) and I really really wanted to be. I have high hopes for products with “organic” in their names, especially if it’s meant for my face or body. It came out of the tube separated. But maybe I just got a bad batch bottle. Or maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be, but I didn’t care for it. The 3 fl. oz. is $19.99 on nourishorganic.com so this small tube would be $3.33.

I also redeemed from points the NAOBAY Natural & Organic – Oxygenating Moisturizing Cream (0.75 oz.), which retails for $47.60 on beautybay.com for the 1.7 fl. oz. so this smaller (free) size would have been $21.

Including my bonus product, I would have spend $74.37. Lucky me!

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My first little pink envelop – April Glam Bag

I’ve never been big on make-up … well, maybe a little in high school … but overall, I’ve been a minimalist. I’ve also never been huge on buying overly fancy beauty products. For me it has always been this question, “Is it cheap?” And if the answer was “yes”, I bought it.

But I decided it was time to branch out and try something new – or in this case, lots of new things.

Enter Ipsy. For those who don’t know about Ipsy, it is a subscription Glam Bag that for $10 a month you receive five beauty products ranging from lip balm to eye liner to make-up brushes, and much more.

I found out about Ipsy through a friend on Instagram and after receiving my first little pink envelop I think I’m hooked.

IMG_20150418_093842Inside was Beautifully Bohemian – a cute colorful bag filled with all sorts of goodies, which seem to be worth much more than the $10 both in price and quality.

The first item I pulled out was the Hey Honey – Good Morning: Honey Silk Facial Serum (10 mL). At this size, it runs around $11, already surpassing the cost of this month’s Glam Bag. (For a 1.2 ounce container, it runs $41). After using the serum under my moisturizer and make-up the last few days my face already seems softer and I might say, slighter more radiant.

The Hikari in “Tango” was a vibrant shade of blush, which is slightly bolder than what I am used to wearing.  That did not stop me from wearing it today. It will take a little getting used to but I think I will enjoy the change from my usual light pink blush. I received the regular size (0.21 ounce) which runs retail for $15.

The Aromachology perfume, Sophisticated & Sensual, was a lovely variation from the regular perfumes I wear. Very elegant with the flowery scent. The 3.4 ounce bottle runs at $40, so this was a steal around $2 for the 0.17 ounce sample.

The soft and subtle NUDE Dude eye shadow, “Flirty”, by theBalm Cosmetics was a nice addition to my simple make-up regimen today. Normally, the NUDE Dude collection comes with 12 colors for $36, thus making this sample run around $3.

The last item that came in my wonderful little Glam Bag was satin finish lip gloss, “Cuddle” by Starlooks, which at 0.3 ounces runs at $4. This is probably the one item I would not use on a daily basis as I am not much for lip gloss or lipstick. I have a tendency to stick with lip balm but will enjoy it for those occasional nights out.

My total would have been $35 had I bought these items outright rather than through Ipsy.

Needless to say, it has only been one month but I think I’m already in love. I can’t wait to see what shows up in that little pink envelop next month!