May 2014 Ipsy Unboxing - Fresh Picks

Am I late with my post? Yes I am. You see, I received my bag on Friday. Tracking said it was at my house by 2pm. To my dismay, we did not close up shop until 7:30pm (half hour over actual close time). Then my friend showed me some of the miracles of couponing.

ie; $75 pair of shoes for $3.60. And a butt ton of carrots and Miracle Whip for free. Basically I can eat as many tuna fish sandwiches as I want. Wow.

Anyways I finally got home around 10, and feeling progressively sicker since the morning I had a fever.
A little digression from Ipsy for a moment. For about a decade of my life, when I would get sick it was in May and one of the latter three months of the year. It was like clockwork. So being sick in May was nothing abnormal, if I hadn't already had two previous sicks this year. Since moving into my apartment I am sick every other month. Bad ventilation? Who knows. Hopefully we zip on out soon.

Well onto the Ipsy.

My spoils. Not too exciting eh? I'm not incredibly disappointed, in fact I am not disappointed at all. I am just not excited.

Let's start then with the Pacifica Shadow. I have not yet used it on my eyes. Overall though, this may be the least of all the products.

I tried to do both finger and arm swatch. My knee absorbed all light.

Let's talk about the colors first. Moonbeam (the purple) is a lovely soft purple, and I could see myself using it if I could see it. Unicorn on the otherhand, while somewhat chalky thrills me based on the name. It's kind of beautiful and shows up decently. As you can see in the above photo, a swipe on my fingers yielded quite fair for the Unicorn.

Two finger swipes without primer

Now as you can see, Moonbeam does stick closer to the skin. It is very faded compared to the pan. I'll just stick with UD's Grifter. Aaand that Unicorn looks like a powdery mess. So no, I am doing what I hate and just providing an arm swatch without an eyeball look (maybe that will be rectified when I shower)...but the frip am I going to do with these?

Insult to injury look at that chinsy case? It struggles to open and then pop! The lid detaches. It doesn't even pop off though, it just...off.
Dunno guys. This might actually go to trash land unless I feel bothered to work with it.

That Hey Honey! Mask makes a face shiny while it's on. It certainly feels nice, but not nice like those cucumber masks. My cheeks felt nice and smooth afterwards, but the areas that needed exfoliation like my bumpy forehead after a few days of sick laziness (translated to no shower. hi.). Still bumpy.

What did I expect? I don't even know.

The face moisturizer is really nice though. It's light and applies very easily without a lot of product. That one I am very satisfied with. It's a moisturizer and moisturizes. Good job little tube.

Sunscreen I have not yet used but I am sure it will block out UV rays like a champ. My shoulders and neck will love it. Words are not exactly bubbling from inside of me for a lot of my yield.

Finally I was pumped to get the brush. Is it a good one? I have no fekking idea. The lack of hygeine has also prevented me from trying it, but I am sure it will do brush things. Likely it's better than what I have so that's good. I was in the market anyways.

So this Ipsy bag was not amazing by any stretch. Still ll of the products (save for one) are incredibly useful for summer. Additionally, I do not need a constant supply of makeup. The mask was a good touch and so was the moisturizer. I am satisfied, and will be a subscriber for another billion years if the bags repeat March and April.

On a completely unrelated note... totally rad about that Titanosaur. 65 tons? Wow size. Just today I was watching this really awesome British program called Primeval, and Andrew and I assumed one creature was a T-Rex. Segue into small discussion about the largest dinosaurs, and the one of the program was actually a Gigantosaur. Cool, never heard of that.
Spinosaurus talk and then a quick look into social media and just this week they discovered an even larger predator? What perfect timing!

If you are interested in a truly interesting show, give Primeval a go. We have really enjoyed it so far because dinosaurs and and anomalies.

Lorac POREfectly waow.

My Ulta order contained some lovely samples.

 

I have very graciously posed them next to a pillow, to distract from my disgusting floor. 

 

The hair product is kind of lost on me. My ability to do my hair ends past a crappy braid or a sloppy pony tail. Something with curl and blow drying? Heck no. If I use the Matrix stuff, maybe Hell will freeze over - and I'm not talking about Hell, Michigan.

Next is the Lorac POREfection. This I was pleased as punch to get. The foil packet, when sealed with a paperclip has so far yielded enough for three applications and may allow for one or two more if I'm extra lucky.

So it's a gel, and rubbing it into my face it almost had a powdery feel. Incredibly fine powder. It left my face nice and smooth. With special attention to my chin, I dabbled that crap on top of my moisturizer with SPF 913. (false)

A big problem I had with my garnier BB cream was that it left my skin greasy. I could not use moisturizer with that or with my foundation. Sacrifice had to be made. With the POREfection, I was able to use moisturizer and foundation. And concealer.

Another problem I have had was just in concealer. My chin breaks out at a hairpin trigger. Hormonal changes during lovely weeks every month. Stress. Garnier BB cream. From my Tzone I am prone to some breakouts. Breakouts for me beget a bad habit. I impulsively pick at the breakouts, knowing full well that wound infections could happen with skin flora in the wound. That I'm exacerbating it. Scarring. That always ends in a crushing "Balls, I have this huge frigging zit here. It's the size of the world."

Self conscious, I dab concealer on in the manner you are supposed to. I blend it out and it's fine for about ten minutes. Ten minutes may be a little low, but whenever I look to the mirror later on there lays a crusty layer of dried skin and exposed red. Good. Now it looks like it's pussing or something.

With the Lorac primer, the concealer stayed all day. Additionally, no crusties. wow.
So let's see here results.

 

 

 

See? Very faint blemishes and smooth skin.

My foundation in this picture was the Almay, which looks nice but does register orange. My blush is my Ulta cheek tint, which I am really loving right now.

The last sample I was given was that lovely little perfume sample. Price wise, it's about $0.05. My gosh it smelled so good, like a fresh peeled orange. The smell was brief though, and I'm not sure I could sense it throughout the whole day. The smell was very fancy and made me feel clean. Maybe I would buy it, if the price were right.

Bareskin Pale.

I stayed late at work today with the express purpose of stopping at Ulta for a shade match with my budderoo.

That Bareskin though.
Almay makes a pretty decent foundation, but man it's not been what I really hoped. It's not the Holy Grail. It's not the carpenters chalice, the cup of the everlasting. Eh.

Ulta today our saleswoman was awesome. Normally Christina and I have been lucking out with fabulous employees, and only one we aren't that thrilled to see. We call her "That vampy lady" because her tightly pressed together lips are always vamped. Basically, she has some miserable disapproving look on her face as my frand and we browse.

Onto the shade matching, I was lined up with the lighest of all shades, 01 Bare Porcelain or 03 Bare Linen. Holy shoot am I that pale? Bare Linen has a nice nuetral tone, whereas Porcelain is of course cool. The neutral would make more sense in the high likelihood I am outside ever in the next few months. Plus, it nearly dissapeared on my face. Any redness I had made like the snow and was out of here (but dang. I'm in Michigan. We beat our snow record, and it could snow in May.)

See where the red starts on my cheek? That's where the serum was not. Holy flip.

Feeling splurgy with my monthly allowance, I also bought the brush. I asked if anyone mentioned the small size as a con, and she said that a lot of folks were rather pleased with it. I'll see how it goes.

I sort of bombed the whole "I do not need anymore makeup in May" thing.

Since this is a new product, finding a review was impossible. I read all the ones I could find, and while they were somewhat mixed - there were quite a few that convinced me to at least shade match. For my skin, I will say it's a win. It feels light - like nothing, and it airbrushed my cheek. Underneath the Bareskin, I know there were a few blotches. I just know it...

Of course, this I have not tested outside yet. In a week I will have a better feel for it. At least the price point is fairly reasonable. With the amount you use for each application (I may be a 2-4 dropper. IDK) for the $29, it seems like a product that has a lot of bang. Some other foundations I spied were easily $10 more with a lot more product usage. Granted, one of those worked perfect on my friend, whereas the Bareskin registered too sheer. Let's you and I see how well the value holds.

Did I just frifking spen $30 on a gal-dang foundation? Hot dang I did.

Tomorrow, we will try this over Lorac primer that we have. 

May Ipsy Impressions

I have way too many unpublished posts sitting on my laptop
But, previews happening. On dat Ipsy.

So  number one was Pacifica eyeshadows. The one review I found looked promising. Creamy maybe. Purple would be okay, but I hopity hope I get the peach one.

Second was the sunscreen. You know, it seems lame. Buuut. Heading into summer, it's great really. I lean more to the sport one, because greenhouse.
My childhood was filled with stories like this, where I am at a theme park sitting on a bench next to my mom. I am 9 or something, and too afraid to go on the roller coasters like all of my sisters. There I sat, while my mom donned a Minnie Mouse Florida visor and pink shorts. Slathering on additional sunscreen to her freshly plucked chicken skin. As a child I was embarrassed, in my fanny pack that matched hers.

Some fifteen years later, when my mom hasn't aged because of those practices I am now a SPF crusader. It's been in my beauty regimen for the past few weeks. When I am 50, I would like to pass for mid thirties-forties.

Sunscreen would indeed be keen.

Now preview 3 has my head spinning. I spy a concealer. Cool. Already got one though. Revlon Colorburst chunk lip pencil. Yes please. Perfume sample. I'm open minded. Body balm. Yep. Too Faced chocolate bronzer I think? I can try that. Olive oil lip balm. No. I have the materials to make 100 tubes of lip balm. No thanks. Nail color. This time, I'm set. I replenished my stock. And some other thing labeled honey something. Sure.

Obviously a floral theme. May flowers. Relative to my work setting. It seems it's also less cosmetic heavy, more natural beauty preserve your skins. I'll deal. That's okay.

On a side note, I finished my accounting final and I am nervous about it. I'm not nervous to lose my A, I am just nervous to get a B on the test. Micro final is in a few hours. I wish I had more time to study. My study for the past few weeks has been talking to myself about bacteria. Then notecards in a satchel that I practically worshiped while working.