April is here! That means Spring is in full swing and I am LOVING it! I love following makeup trends with the seasons. This month, I got another brush (yay!), a brush/contour duo, as well as a few other goodies. I always find it so interesting that the other women I know get completely different things in their IPSY bags every month! It really is personalized based on your interests and the profile you create. Okay, let’s get right into this month’s IPSY Glam Bag…
1. Benefit They’re Real! Tinted Lash Primer – $24
The first product that I was excited to try was this eyelash primer from Benefit. I love the They’re Real Mascara by them so I thought I’d like this, too. Honestly, I never understood the point of eyelash primer until I used this. The box said that it can be used under mascara or on its own for a more natural look. So, I applied this primer to only my right eyelashes so that I could compare each eye. The first thing I noticed was that it seemed to help separate my lashes, even once I applied three coats of mascara. The left eye was a bit clumpier. Most importantly, by the end of the night I looked in the mirror and I could definitely tell which eye had the primer on because my lashes still looked great! I highly recommend this product for a base before mascara, especially if you have a long day ahead of you!
2. Skinn Bright Eyes Eye Enhancing Eyeliner -$18
Okay, so this product is basically self explanatory. It’s a peachy nude colored eyeliner that is meant for your bottom waterline. (Side note: the actual product isn’t as peachy as the packaging pictured here. It’s closer to a beige skin tone). This eyeliner is is supposed to brighten your eyes and make them look more awake. I’m sure you’ve heard of this trick before, but more commonly, people use white eyeliner. To me, stark white eyeliner just looks so unnatural on that bottom lash line. (By no means am I a natural-looking makeup kind of girl, but still). I really liked that this one was skin colored rather than just plain white because I think it really does what it claims to do without looking super obvious that there’s color there. However, my eyes tend to get sensitive when I wear liner on my lower waterline but I will still use this occasionally.
3. Luxie Tapered Highlighting Brush 522 – $24
Yasss, IPSY, YASSS! Love you for sending my brushes every month. You just KNOW. Anyway, back to this brush. This is a highlighting brush from Luxie, as the title says, and mine is a light lavender color. You can only buy the lavender one in a brush set which costs over $100, so if you only want this one, buy the individual which is pink (pictured here). I really like the brush for setting my under eyes and also highlighting the tops of my cheekbones. I like it more for under my eyes, though, because it is rounded. It is really nice for a highlighting though because you can use a very light hand since it’s long (ish). I love the color of mine and the metal piece is rose gold which also earns it some points. The actual brush is super soft and just the perfect shape. I have similar brushes but not with this exact shape so I’ll definitely be getting a lot of use out of this.
4. Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics Blush + Contour – $17.95
So let me just tell you that this product looks WAY bigger in this picture from the website that it is in real life. I assumed that I received a sample size but when I saw it online, the ounces are the same. So the one in my pictures is the full size product. 0.07 ounces. Yes. That’s it. Anyway, moving on… Although I was turned off by the size (how do you fit a blush brush into that tiny thing?), I actually loved the blush color. I thought it would be too light for me but it actually gave my cheeks the perfect natural looking flush to my cheeks. I still have to play around with the contour color but I don’t hate it. Again, the tiny pan makes it difficult to dip my brush in but the color is pretty. It does have a shine to it though, so I wouldn’t use it for a strong contour, but more of a bronze or a soft contour. The colors are great, I just wish the product was bigger.
5. Derma E Purifying Toner Mist – $15.50
So let me start off by saying that I know what toner is what it does but I’ve never felt or seen it working on my face. (Are you supposed to?) That makes it kind of difficult to compare toners since you don’t really know that it’s working. I’ll do my best. First off, I like that it’s a spray, because that just makes things easier. However, this product didn’t seem watery enough to spray onto a cotton ball and then apply to the face. It seemed like it had more of a conditioner consistency to it, so I ended up just spraying it directly on my face. It does say that it contains marine algae and green tea which might be why it felt hydrating rather than most toners that just feel like water. Overall, I don’t hate it and I don’t love it. I’m not sure how I feel about the application, though, because spraying it directly on my face can cause some of it to get into my eyes, which I do not want. It did feel nice on my skin, though.
