I made my first MAC purchase as a reward for having a baby! MAC is expensive, but not as expensive as other brands. I had a positive buying experience online, so I can see myself buying more online. I bought this shade online and it arrived on the third day. I ordered it on Sunday and it was delivered yesterday. I wasn’t expecting it until Friday! What a surprise! This is what I saw:
I was so happy that it arrived! I had to take care of Dean, because I had just come home from work. Once I had him settled in, I opened the box.
There was a lot of tissue paper, but I pulled this out of all that black!
I chose the free gift wrap option, because I wanted to see the type of pride that went into presenting the product and the presentation was amazing! For paying 18 USD for a lipstick, MAC made me feel special, which is what I want a company to do. It just shows respect.
My products were nicely nestled inside of the box.
I chose the Cleansing Oil for my free product sample. It’s a fifth of an ounce, so enough for a couple of uses. If I like it, I would purchase the full size. I need something nourishing to take off my face base that isn’t a pain. Plus, some of them come scented!
I love how this lipstick tube is in the shape of a bullet. I love it! I bought a Matte Lipstick in the shade Kinda Sexy. Online, it is described as a “neutral pinky rose”.
I have to say that it looks more coral to me. It looks like a neutral coral pink. On me, it is definitely this color and the lipstick smells like vanilla cupcakes when you take a quick sniff. If you sit there and smell it, you can smell that cosmetic lipstick smell lurking underneath. I love the scent though.
As you can see, the color is neutral and looks natural on the lips. I’m wearing a glossy balm underneath it, so if it looks a little shiny, that’s why. It looks coral to me. Correct me if I’m wrong. It is a bit lighter than my natural lip color (I’m not wearing lip liner. That’s my natural color.). I really do love the color or else I wouldn’t have kept it. I wanted something natural and this fits the bill. I like that it’s matte for when I want it to be and doesn’t look drying on the lips.
That’s the full amount of product. It will take me awhile to finish this, but I look forward to buying more. This is a quality brand. Maybe, I’ll get Velvet Teddy next….???
I have the results of how I feel about my October Ipsy bag for you! What did you all think about your October Ipsy? Overall, I really enjoyed mine, but I have yet to actually purchase something that I received in my bag, so there is that. I think that it is a great sampling program. I also feel like it is time to move on from this. I am thinking about joining Birchbox, because the point system seems to be much better than Ipsy and you can choose anything you want. The shop is not limited to a handful of choices that sellout faster than you can purchase them. So, in the New Year I will say Hello to Birchbox and Goodbye to Ipsy. Do you guys think that this is a sound decision? Thanks guys!
The Theme:
[I totally forgot to take a picture of the card and it utterly got destroyed by the dogs!]
Look at how guilty they are!
I really didn’t see how the theme again relates to the actual products. I get that the bag is eye candy, because it is nice to look at. Everything else? Not so much. The only item that remotely relates is the eye shadow, because again, the pun on “Eye” Candy or Beauty Candy. Maybe, the bags are just too customize-able that some people’s don’t fit under the theme? They really should make sure that all of the products under the theme should relate to it and not just a few that doesn’t make it into most people’s bag. I just think that they could have taken this theme in a really great direction and it fell short. That being said, most of the actual items, I really liked.
The Bag:
I love this teal bag. It is definitely more green than blue, which is a very pretty color. The color of the Caribbean ocean really is what it is. I usually have this style of bag from Ipsy, so I kind of which they did more of a variety of bag shapes. I still really like it though. This is a very unique bag and I think that I am going to use this to hold my Filofax accessories. Speaking of my Filofax, I really need to decorate it a bit more for the holidays. Does anyone have any ideas for that? Thanks in advance!
City Color Be Matte Lipstick in Cappuccino, 0.105 oz for 5 USD
Lol. I just realized that my lips look huge in this picture! I guess, it really does help to over-line your lips to give them a bit of volume.This is a full sized matte lipstick that I quite enjoy using. This is going to get a ton of use out of it, but I am hesitant about buying it. It is not a moisturizing formula whatsoever, but I also feel like if it was, the formula wouldn’t be matte. This is literally the perfect neutral color and I just love it. Getting a full sized product is a major score! Did I get more full-sized? Wait and see and read more to find out.
ECRU New York Acacia Protein BB Cream Beauty Balm For Hair, 1 fl oz for 12 USD
This is the travel sized version of their full sized product. I think that this product is really expensive for such a small amount and the product itself is really light. The product is so light that I do not think that this is very moisturizing at all. I add some beauty oil to it to make it more moisturizing, while still keeping the formula very light. I will use this product up, because it is a luxury and I don’t like to waste anything. Unless you have baby fine hair, I could not see this being very moisturizing on its own. The redeeming quality in this product is that it doesn’t contain a lot of nasty chemicals, which is always a good thing.
Epice International Purifying Exfoliant, 1 fl oz for 9.70 USD
I have used this product a few times and I don’t think there is anything special about it. It is a decent exfoliant, but it will not replace my Lush Ocean Salt scrub, which I absolutely love to death and I have even gotten my dad into using it as well. I still have half a tub of it and I bought it in May. So, I think that I will buy it as a birthday present again to myself. Anyways, back to this product, I feel like my St. Ives gives a more satisfying scrub and this has micro-beads that are killing the coral reefs. So, it is safe to say that I will not be purchasing this at all. If it was fantastic, maybe, but as it is, no.
Figs & Rouge Hand Cream in Mango Mandarin, 0.67 oz for 6.37 USD
I cannot believe that this hand cream is full sized. The price is super expensive for two thirds of an ounce. That is crazy! That being said, I would buy this as a gift for a hand cream obsessed friend. It smells incredible and absorbs quickly without all the grease. It is a light hand cream, so do not expect miracles. It is great at maintaining great skin, though. I feel like this would be the perfect summer hand cream. I keep this small tube with my laptop, so I can keep my hands soft as I type. I notice my dry hands, when typing and hand cream stops me from picking at the dead skin.
Mica Beauty Cosmetics Mineral Eye Shadow in 34 Harlequin, 0.1 oz for 14.95 USD
Another full sized product! Wow, that is three full sized product in this past month’s Ipsy bag, which definitely makes up for the bad theme. I love this eye shadow. It is very bold, but it blends out beautifully into a wisp of color, which I quite enjoy. I was able to blend this out in my crease to just a hint of green. It was so beautiful paired with another light green color that I used as a base, which I will be sharing in this post as well. Mineral shadows blend out beautifully, so do not be afraid of it if you are not a fan of bold color. It can be as bold or understated as you want it to be. The key is to blend, blend, blend, if you want an understated look. It took me 5 minutes or so of blending on each eye for the color I wanted to achieve.
Bonus Extra 1,000 Point Perk: BareMinerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow Broad Spectrum SPF 15 in Delicate Moss, 0.1 fl oz for 18 USD
Blended
I spent my Ipsy points on this full sized product and I couldn’t be happier. It is the best everyday base for my eyes that bring out my unique eye color. I hate how limiting the options are on Ipsy though. It is the reason that I have decided that I will be cancelling my subscription and picking up Birchbox and Fortune Cookie Soap Box as well. I love Ipsy, but I have enough makeup now. I think Birchbox is more body care oriented, so I’m gonna give that one a try and so is FCSB. So, these posts are the last ones you will see from me. Who knows? Maybe, I will pick it up again in the future.
Home Sweet Phoenix Cove 