This marks my second month of getting the Ipsy Glam Bag. The theme of this month is Pretty in Pink, which is a good theme since pink is usually a flattering color on most (as long as you find the right shade). Everything was housed in a very plain white bag with pink trimming. It's another bag that seems kinda pointless to have. I personally hate white as a clothing/accessory color just because I seem to get dirty easily. It's rather alarming how quickly I get stains. Regardless of personal preference, I got to experience first hand the customer service aspect of this subscription service since I did have a damaged item. I hate contacting customer service, but it's always important to have a good one.
To find out what was in my bag and my thoughts on the customer service, click the link below.
I must say the inside of the bag was much cuter than the outside since it has pink and white stripes. The bag included 2 full size items: Sation nail polish and Be a Bombshell blush, and 2 deluxe size items: Healthy Sexy Hair shampoo and MicaBeauty Cosmetics mineral eyeshadow (which is quite large for only being a deluxe sample). Now here is the point where things went a little south. My blush was absolutely shattered into a million pieces, as in it looked like a mineral product, not a pressed powder as it should be. I must say I was super bummed, and was a little confused how it broke since the actual compact/case was intact. Needless to say, I contacted Ipsy right away. (Note: if you don't care about reading about my customer service experience, just skip the next paragraph.)
Below you can see what the blush looked like when it arrived to me. It's a little hard to see, but if you look closely it's all crumbled. (I was too scared to take a pic with the compact open since I knew it would be a huge mess). I must say that my overall Ipsy customer service experience was rather painless. I emailed them (per their instruction found on the FAQ page), after which I got an automated email stating that someone will contact me within 24 hours. True to their word, less than 24 hours later I got an email from them asking me to confirm my address/info via a reply email. Less than 24 hours after that, I got another email stating that a replacement Be a Bombshell blush will be sent out and arrive in 7-10 business days. In 5 business days (earlier than expected) I got another package with my replacement. The only negative part of my experience was that I got an eyeshadow instead of a blush. My only guess is that they were out of the blush? The replacement eyeshadow is also a full sized item and it's from Two Cosmetics.
I tried everything in the bag except for the shampoo, and was generally happy with the included products. First I have Sation Nail Lacquer in Of Corset I'll Call You, which is a ridiculously cute name and one of the polishes of their Miss Antionette collection. At first I thought I was given another baby pink polish that's pretty, but nothing special. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it's actually a jelly polish. I don't own any jelly polishes, so I was happy when I found out this was one. First impression of the brand was great. P.S. It's also 3 free.
Another surprise hit from this bag was the MicaBeauty Cosmetic mineral eyeshadow in Earth. I've seen the brand around in the mall and what not, but I've never tried their product. I do appreciate that there is a shifter included to keep the shadow in place. I like using pigments and loose shadows, but it's such a pain in the butt to work with at times. The shifter makes things easier. In the container this didn't look like anything to write home about, but it's GORGEOUS on. It's super shimmery and in certain angles it's a light pink, and in others it takes on a golden tone. It's shimmery without being glitzy. I think this would be flattering on any skin tone and any skin type/age.
Now since I didn't get a replacement blush, I just decided to re-press the loose form into a usable pressed form. That's the reason why it's a little lumpy. I couldn't clean up the compact very well either, but I can still use it. This was the product that I thought I would like the most since I'm a little bit of a blush junkie, but I was a little disappointed with this color in Sweet Cheeks. It appeared to be a pretty warm-toned medium pink, but once applied it leans very cool and there's silver shimmer that's VERY prominent. It's not glitter particles, but it is noticeable. It wasn't very kind to my pores. It's a nice and pigmented blush, so it might work better on darker skin tones. However, at the same time the silver undertones may not be too flattering. I made the mistake of applying too much and having issues blending it out. Let's say I don't particularly like this blush color, but I do like the formula itself. 
My replacement for the blush is the Two Cosmetics eyeshadow in Heartache, a duo with two different pinks (even though in the pan they look rather similar). On one side there is a shimmery pink, with silver/light shimmer. This is a frost finish. On the other side is a matte, medium pink that swatches a little darker than the frosted shade. This particular brand is not one I have ever heard of before. The shadows themselves were of nice quality. Smooth without being overly powdery. The matte shade was a little more powdery, but that was unnoticeable once applied. The frosted shade is the more pigmented of the two.Following are swatches of MicaBeauty in Earth on the far left, and Be a Bombshell in Sweet Cheeks swatched heavily in the middle and blended out on the right. I included two angles of the pictures to try and show the pink and gold aspect of Earth.
 |
| Sunlight Swatch |
 |
| Flash Swatch |
Bottom Line: I'm still willing to give this another go to see how well next month's box will be. Based on the excellent customer service and the better quality of products in the April bag, I am inclined to say that I will continue. Getting two full sized products, and one VERY generously sized deluxe product is well worth the $10 even though the bag itself is still useless.
No comments:
Post a Comment