October Glambag Review

Yes, it is November and I'm finally reviewing the Glambag for October! I got my bag a lot later that usual. If you would like to get your own glambag, please be super awesome and use my refferal link ( http://www.ipsy.com/r/1bhk ). I'll give you a shoutout if you do. If you still don't know what a Glambag is, for $10 a month (plus free shipping) you get 5 beauty products full and deluxe sample sizes in a cute makeup bag. The bag values are always way over $10.

This month's theme was the art of beauty. The bag its self is white with pink writing on the front and a pink zipper. Ipsy (the company that makes glambags) purposely made the back of the bag blank so that your own artwork could be put on it. I of course, decorated the back of mine:

                                     I did this by just sketching it out and painting it with acrylic paint.

Anyway, here is my review of the products I recieved:

Zoya Nail Polish in Giovanna

 

I already love Zoya's nail polish. I had a few prior to this bag and was really excited to get another. Everyone received 1 of 3 nail polishes from the fall 2013 Cashmeres and Satins line. I got Giovanna, a beautiful metallic teal/green color. I honestly was hoping for one of the other colors (seemingly a purple and a pink) because I own so many green nail polishes. But this one was different than any other green I own and it is beautiful. 

I don't have many metallic polishes so this was a nice change. The formula as always is great. Zoya nail polish always applies opaquely and evenly. It also lasted as long as any zoya polish. I kept it on for about 5 days before removing (for Halloween) and I didn't have a single chip. Zoya is the longest lasting nail polish brand I've ever tried and they are allso free of the "big 5", the most harmful chemicals found in nail polish.

Bella Terra Mineral Cosmetics Mineral Shimmers in Navy 

I had never heard of this brand before. I thought it was just a typical mineral eyeshadow. I was in fact right that this is a loose mineral eyeshadow, but it isn't typical. It is very versatile, the Bella Terra website boasts that this eyeshadow is an 8 in 1 product that can be used as creamy eyeshadow, eyeliner, nail polish, mascara, matte eyeshadow, lip color, body glitter and hair streaks when certain bases are added to them.

I used mine as an eyeliner. I mixed a drop of Elf Makeup Lock & Seal (a great eyeliner seal) with some eyeshadow and applied as a liner. The color is more blue than navy, i expected it to be darker. But it is still lovely. It lasted all day. This is a pigmented eyeshadow, I did not need to use much of it.

Coastal Scents Medium Eyeshadow Brush

This one product I haven't been able to use. My mom saw this brush in the bag and immedietely took it. I can say when I felt it while taking photos for this post, the brush bristles are very soft and the handle seems pretty sturdy. It seems like a great eyeshadow brush.

Ole Henriksen Truth Creme advanced hydration

I got a small deluxe sized jar of this. It is a moisturizer. I actually really love it. A little goes a long way. It is very moisturizing and it smells really good. Many people don't like the scent, but I love it. It has a spiced orange scent. This product provides anti aging benefits, I'm not old enough to need or even notice any. This overall is a great moisturizer. I would totally buy a jar if it wasn't so expensive.

Sexy Hair Spray Clay Texturizing Spray

Ok, I'm just going to say it: I didn't like this product. at first I saw the word "texturizing" and thought sarcastically "great, another texturizing product" as I have too many already. But when I actually got this I was baffled...what is it that I actually use this product for?

The words Spray Clay really threw me off. There also weren't any directions on the can. I did a little research on how to use it and tried it out. I went to sleep in damp braids so that I would have some waves to work with (my hair is very straight) and I liberally sprayed. The scent of this is horrible and very overwhelming. It is a hairspray. I didn't notice any texturizing effects, but it did hold the waves all day.

If you want a good texturizing spray, but Sexy Hair's Soy Renewal Beach Spray or Not Your Mother's Beach Babe. They actually do what is promised and smell great.

Overall, this was a good bag although not my favorite. I liked the Truth Creme, the Zoya nail polish and the Bella Terra eyeshadow. Many sneak peaks for the November bag are already out, that bag looks like it will be great, at least for me. We will found out how good everything is at the end of next month or beginning of next month when my review will be posted, so stay tuned! 

July Glam Bag Review

 This is being posted later than I planned, but I wanted as always to test these products out for a good amount of time so that I could give you all a detailed review. Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service that sends you 4-5 products in a mixture of full sized and deluxe sample sized for only $10. You also get special discount codes for each month's brand. If you would like to sign up, please be awesome and use my referral link: http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h051r3lzwoa89xn . I should also mention that each bag has a theme. This month's theme was Beach beauty.

I love the bag its self for this month. It is a clear, waterproof plastic bag. It keeps with the beach theme, being a perfect makeup bag for the beach. In my bag I received a sampler palette from BH Cosmetics California Collection, a full sized Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon, a sample sized Derm E Microdermabrasion Scrub, a sample sized Coola Mineral Face SPF Unscented Moisturizer and a sample sized Sexy Hair
Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning and Texturizing Spray.
Here are my thoughts and reviews on each individual product:

                                                  Derm E Microdermabrasion Scrub

To start with, microdermabrasion. Many people have no idea what this is. If you break it down it basically means small skin abrasion. A micro derm scrub is a scrub meant to get rid of the dry skin cells on your face to reveal newer, glowing skin. This scrub has very small (and do I mean very small!) pieces of Dead Sea salt and volcanic sand. It reminds me of a more broken down version of Lush Ocean Salt. It smells really good, like lemons. It gives a harsher exfoliation than Lush Ocean Salt. This scrub does as it should and makes my skin feel soft and wonderful. A little bit goes a long way. I had my mom, who is in her late 40s try this. She has dry mature skin and (finally!!) she is listening to my advice on skincare. After using this scrub, she says that her skin has been less dry, it feels softer and looks better. The sample size I got of this was smaller than expected, but I was glad to try this scrub. It won't replace my beloved Ocean Salt but I really did love it, my mom did as well.


Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon

This next picture I know is blurry and it was taken in haste (I didn't have much time to take extra photos for this post). I am only posting it so that you can see what color this crayon actually is, since the lighting in the picture above makes it look orange when it isn't.

I was most excited for this product in my glam bag. I have been seeing these crayon shaped pigmented lip balms EVERYWHERE and I had yet to try one! I received this in Coral Crush, a beautiful coral color (although it looks pinker on me). On first thought when applying it feels wonderful. It is moisturizing, as I expected it would be. It is also very pigmented, which as a lipstick lover makes me happy. If you apply too much it may appear a little streaky. They don't stay on long and will come off when eating and drinking, so you'll need to reapply. This isn't a problem for me, any time I wear a lip product I bring it with me (even lip tars). I really want to get more of these, but these balms are only available in a kit that costs $25. The kit only contains one other color that I would wear so it doesn't make sense for me to buy it, which is disappointing because I loved this and I want some more colors.

Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning and Texturizing Spray

Wow that's a mouthful! I had never tried a Sexy Hair product, though I have seen them raved about so I was happy to see this. I love texturizing sprays (such as Not Your Mother's Beach Babe) so that was a bonus for me.  It comes in a pump bottle with a tab to position to open or close the bottle. The packaging is just like Beach Babe. The directions say this spray can be used over damp or dry hair. For dry hair it recommends also spraying at the roots for volume. When used on my dry hair, I sprayed to the roots and throughout my hair. I then put my hair up for about 10 minutes into a claw clip. When I took it down I have some nice, soft waves and a little volume at my roots. I haven't been able to try this on damp hair yet, but I'm sure it works just as well.

Coola Mineral Face SPF  Unscented Moisturizer

It's like Ipsy read my mind! I have been looking for a moisturizer with SPF and what appears in my glam bag? This. I was extremely disappointed in the travel size that I received. I wish it were bigger so I could've tested it out more.  This is a mineral moisturizer with SPF 20. It is unscented and not tinted. It blended well, didn't feel oily and it didn't leave any sort of white cast on my face.  I wore this yesterday when I went to the fair that my town has every year underneath my makeup. It was a hot day, the sun was out and it was beaming as I walked from my house to the fair as well as many sections of the fair. On a day like this, I normally would've worn BB cream, but I wanted to test the protection of this product. I wore it underneath a foundation without any SPF and I didn't apply any extra moisturizer over it. It did moisturize, but I wish it moisturized better. The SPF protection is good. I spent probably four or five hours at the fair and I didn't get any sunburn. I feel that this protected my skin well. I liked it.

BH cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadow Samples

 I was really excited to try these, having heard about BH cosmetics a lot though I had never had a chance to try them.  In the sampler palette I received three eyeshadows in Hollywood (deep purple color), San Francisco (a sparkly brown) and Malibu (a gorgeous gold color). Here are swatches of each color over Elf Essential Eyelid primer:

I was a bit disappointed in these shadows. Malibu had great pigmentation, but I feel like San Francisco was a little flat and Hollywood definitely fell flat. Sam Francisco could've had a bit better pigmentation and the pigmentation of Hollywood is horrible. When worn over primer on my eyes, Malibu and San Francisco lasted all day. But when I rubbed the swatches on my hand (which were put over the same primer) they wiped off completely. If I could buy Malibu as a single eyeshadow, I would. I love the color and the pigmentation. However since I wasn't fully impressed by the other two colors I don't think I'll be buying one of the California palettes.



Over all, I did really like this bag. Even though I wish some products were a larger size, it is great for what I pay. Also, I think Ipsy made everything travel sized so that it will fit in the bag to go to the beach. It is a great assortment of products that could be used at a day (or weekend) to the beach and it is perfect for travel.