Ipsy Glam Bag July 2014

It's time again for me to share with you what I got in my Ipsy bag this month.  If you don't know what Ipsy is, it's a monthly subscription service that is $10 a month and each month they send you a little make up bag with 4-5 products.  If you are interested here is a link! 

Let me start off by saying this has to be my LEAST favorite bag that I have gotten.  I have been subscribed to Ipsy for just over a year and I don't always love everything but I normally love most of it or at least a few things.  This time I am not a fan of most of it and I am disappointed!  I will share with you what I got and tell you what I think so far!

Here is the make up bag that all the products came in this month.  It is actually a very bright neon pink color. It feels like a water resistant fake leather.  It's a good size bag. It would be perfect for in your purse! I do think I will be using this again. 

First up I got the Pur-lisse pur-protect essential daily moisturizer with spf30.  This product is nice.  It has a  nice consistency. It smells slightly of sunscreen but it isn't overly strong. The only reason I'm disappointed with this product is that I received the same product minus the spf two months ago.  I'm picky when it comes to moisturizer so I'm not sure I will even use this. But to get the same thing not far apart kind of upset me.  Otherwise this is a nice product.

Next up is the Faith aromatherapy anti-oxidant body lotion in the scent citrus/ginger.  This lotion is horrible!  It's one of those cheap lotions that when you rub it in it feels like water. The scent isn't bad but it's a bit strong. The bottle is cheap plastic and reminds me of the lotion you would get in a hotel bathroom. I'm not a fan!

This product intrigued me! It is the Tints & Sass lip & cheek stain by Elizabeth Mott. I have never tried Benetint by Bennefit but I thought this would probably be similar.  I tried it both as a lip and a cheek stain.  The lip color was gone after about an hour. I was eating and drinking but with a product called a STAIN I would expect it to last through eating and drinking.  The cheek color is still going strong at about 3 hours. So I'm happy with that.  The color is called cherry and is a very cherry red color so using it on my cheeks was a bit tricky.  But it blended well and I'm curious to use it of a morning and see how long it lasts through the day. 

I always love trying new nail polish and I was excited by this Models Own nail color in Red Sea. First, the smell of this polish is VERY strong.  It reminds me of nail polish remover. It is very strong & offensive. Second, the color is so shear that I can't imagine actually get a good full coverage color of this on my nails.  It also has some glitter flecks in it that might be pretty but I can't get any to come out.  I'm thinking I may paint my nails a red color or another light color and then using this as a top coat and seeing how that goes. But otherwise I don't think I'll be using this on its on. 

Last and least is the bareMinerals 5 in 1 BB advanced performance cream eyeshadow.  This is a very small sample of a liquid style eyeshadow. The color is a very dark brown taupe. It blends out pretty easily and I think that it will be pretty on my eyes. I'm excited to see how this lasts throughout the day. I have a feeling it will crease and fade but we will test it out and see.

Well other than this being a slight disappointment I'm hopeful that next month will be better!

Do you guys like these posts? Is there a different subscription I should try?

Love, Lacey

Makeup Monday on a Wednesday Morning

Wow have I been failing a LOT lately!  I wanted to posted at least 3 times a week.  Monday, Wednesday, & Friday being the easiest days to post.  So I came up with a list of things to post about and then would add in every day life.  And here we are Wednesday morning and I still haven't posted my makeup Monday!  Well lucky for you I'm posting it now!  Not only that but I even braved the blizzard outside to take some really cool pics of the products in the snow!

I currently subscribed to a monthly makeup bag called Ipsy!  It is basically a monthly grab bag of make up and skin or hair care goodies.  When you sign up, you take a quiz about your coloring, what kind of make up you wear, what kind of skincare you like, all sorts of things.  Each month you receive a make up bag and 4 or 5 items. I thought it would be fun to share what I get each month.  Here is what was in my December Ipsy bag!

There is a picture of everything and the bag.  Sorry about the flash on the eye shadow but at least you can see the brands and how it all fits in there. 

So the first thing I pulled out of the bag was this eye shadow trio by POP. It's a great neutral color palette.  The shades are a bit shimmery but still really lovely together.  I had never really heard of this brand before, which is another fun thing that you get to try new brands.  But I think it seems like a pretty good quality product.  I would say it's similar to an Elf or NYX brand. 

Speaking of NYX!  I got this really nice lipstick.  It's from their extra creamy round lipstick line.  It is definitely creamy! I really like this color (which is always hit or miss for a grab bag) it's like a brownish red. There isn't a color name but a number B52.   I wish I would have been able to take a good picture of the color swatch. I will have to look up some tips and tricks to taking good swatch pictures! But the color is really nice and the staying power is pretty average.  But the moister is really great and seems to stay on your lips. 

This product is from a company that I have received before in the Ipsy bag.  The last time I got a lip crayon from the company "Be a Bombshell".  I really liked that lip crayon.  It was almost a stain in it's staying power and yet another great color.  So I was excited to see another product from them.  This one is called The One Stick.  As the name would suggest you can use this stick anywhere.  This color (girl crush) is a light pinky lavender color.  I think it would be pretty on the lips in the summer but for winter it's a bit cool.  But that didn't stop me from trying it out!  I just used it as a highlight!  The light, cool, and shimmery color was perfect for the top of my cheekbones!  

This is a roll on perfume oil from the company Demeter.  I have received a roll on perfume oil from them before in the scent "beach" but this one is called "snow".  I'm not sure how to describe the scent?  Wet soil comes to mind.  Or tree bark?  It's very earthy.  It's not my cup of tea but I'm sure someone likes it! The staying power of these oils isn't the best.  I feel like I have to reapply multiple times a day to keep the scent going.  But I guess with the small size and roll on feature I could just throw it in my purse.  

Hello beautiful nail polish! I have never heard of this brand before.  It's from a brand called Nicka K New York.  The color is called Ripe Apple and I think that is a great description! The color is a gorgeous apple red.  I put it on my toes for Mr. J's Christmas party and it looked great peaking out of my black shoes.  The coverage was good, there wasn't really a smell or anything bad about it.  And the rose gold handle is a great detail on the bottle! 

And last but not least the bag.  The bag is about the size of a small clutch, made of a plastic type material and has an almost quilted look.  It's all black on the outside and the inside is a gorgeous dark dark red.   These are great for traveling, an in your purse makeup bag, or even to use as a clutch for a night out. 

Now for the best thing about Ipsy, it's $10 a month!  Yep that's it!  To give you an idea of what kind of deal this is, the Be a Bombshell One stick? That is $16 on their website!  And each month you are getting to try some great items.  Each month they also give you promo codes so if you really love something or want to buy more you can save!  I really do love this subscription.  Sure I've gotten a couple duds but not many!  If you are interested you can Sign up Here!

Love, Lacey

How to remove difficult nail polish

Happy Monday! Today seems like a Makeup Monday! So I'm going to show you how to remove stubborn nail polish! We have all had it, that glittery nail polish that just won't come off.  Or that DARK red or purple or black that seems to stain your nails.  Here is a quick tutorial on how I remove my nail polish (glittery or not).

So here are my nails! This is the new Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat polish in the color All Yarned up. If you don't know what this polish is, it is basically like a chunky glitter/confetti/sprinkle type polish.  It's a cute polish but its not easy to get off!

First, I take a cotton ball and unwrap it. It should unwrap into a long continuous piece of cotton.  I tear the long piece into about 5 or 6 chunks per cotton ball.  Then I pour some of my nail polish remover into the cap of the bottle. Be very careful not to spill.  I usually do this on a table or at our kitchen counter.  I use 100% pure acetone remover.  I know it's not the healthiest for your nails but my nails are strong and it works great for me!

Then take one of those cotton pieces and dip it into the remover.  Be careful not to soak up too much remover as you don't want it to drip everywhere. Then simply lay it on your nail.  Make sure the wettest part of the cotton piece is touching the nail itself.  That is what will allow it to soak the polish or glitter off. 

I usually leave the cotton on my nails for between 1 and 3 minutes.  It just depends on what polish is on my nails.  If it's glitter (or something like this fuzzy polish) I leave it on 3 minutes.  If it's just a regular polish, 1-2 minutes will be fine.  Once your time is up simply use the cotton that is on each nail and wipe them off.  If you have some still left around the edges take another cotton ball soaked with remover and simply wipe them down it should come off pretty easily. 

And there are my nails all clean!  It all came off pretty easily considering that it was a lot of glittery type pieces on my nails.  And you can see the crazy blue color that I painted them next! I hope you try this method of taking off polish the next time you are ready to change your polish. Hope you have a happy Monday!

Love, Lacey!