Ipsy
For july, the theme was Beach Beauty and they gave us a selection of products that would be great to take on a beach getaway. The items came in a cute hot pink makeup bag that is plastic and cylindrical. In my ipsy this month I got:
Products everyone got:
-Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon in Coral Crush.
Not crazy about this. I ended up opening it and tried it out. It isn't too bad, slightly moisturizing. Its a good dupe for the tarte lipsurgences or the pixi tink tint/tinted brilliance balm packaging. What made me not crazy about it was the color. I was hoping for a pink.
-Bh Cosmetics Eyeshadow Trio- This trio was three small pans that had a color from each of the new Bh palettes. There was a purple representing Hollywood, a warm brown representing San Francisco and a golden yellow representing Malibu. This palette sounded nice in theory, but in person, its a bit chalky and lacked pigmentation. I am pretty disappointed with it.
Either/ Or products:
-Coola Mineral Face SPF 20 Unscented Moisturizer
This moisturizer contains SPF 20 and is a good way to integrate SPF into your makeup routine. I'm planning to take this with me to LA next week so I don't get burned. This month, the Coola product was an either/or with the tinted moisturizer and this SPF moisturizer.
-Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning & Texturizing Spray.
I am really interested to see how this product works! I haven't tried it on wet hair yet, but I'm interested to see if it will make a difference, and how it will affect my hair. Most other beach sprays end up drying my hair out, so I really hope this one is good for my hair. This was an either/or with the Weather Proof Humidity Resistant Spray
-Nailtini in Mai Tai- I was really excited to see this on my dashboard. After being on top of all the spoilers that came out, this was the one that I most hoped would be in my bag. I love collecting nail polish so this was right up my alley. The shade is an orangey red color. I expected it to be more of a true red shade, but either way, its a gorgeous shade that has made its way on my nail rack next to the two other nailtinis i've gotten over the time I have been subscribed to Ipsy.
Overall rating--- This month, I wasn't too excited or let down. I'm giving it a B- because I was happy with the nailtini and hair product, but I wish the lip crayon was in a shade I would wear a bit more. Also, the Bh palette was a let down.
Birchbox
This month, Birchbox's theme was Power Play, and some of the items this month were curated by the cast of Suits, one of my favorite legal drama tv shows.
I got:
- Birchbox Bobby Pins-- This month, the extra everyone got was a set of these adorable pins in either white, blue or green. I got blue and they are amazing at holding back my hair!
- DDF acne control treatment-- According to birchbox, "After washing your face at night, apply a thin layer onto clean skin, targeting any blemishes and areas prone to breakouts." I did not get to try this because this and the instain blush were given away in a trade. It seems like a cool product if you really suffer from acne.
- Icon india oil-- This little dark tinted bottle houses a bit of some hair oil. I have way too many samples open at the moment to try this out, but it does seem like a thick hair oil.
- Caldrea body lotion-- This lotion came in two large foil packets both in the scent tea olive lime. I already have a full sized bottle of this lotion in another scent and it is pretty good.
- Thebalm instain blush-- This blush came in swiss dot, a peach shade. Like I said above, I did give this little blush sample away, but I do have a full sized one in the shade toile. The formula of this blush is incredibly pigmented and you barely have to touch your brush in it. The blush also has a bit of a staining effect on your cheeks. By the time I remove the makeup at the end of the night, I can still see my cheeks being a bit rosier than it typically would be sans makeup.
Overall rating-- I don't think birchbox did all that well this month either. Neither ipsy nor birchbox completely wowed me. I would give the box a B- as well. I really liked the bobby pins and the blush/treatment were a good addition as well, but the sizes weren't that great.
What do you think? Did you like your box?
