As a beauty junkie, I have been eyeballing subscription beauty boxes and bags for months now. For those of you unfamiliar with the subscription bit – you sign up for a monthly or yearly service and pay a set price per month; in return, a company sends you a random mix of beauty products, usually with some kind of theme behind the blend of products. It’s a great way to try a variety of beauty products for a fraction of the price.After going back and forth (Do I need it? No. Do I want it? Yes. Will it save me some money instead of me shopping for new products? Probably. Is it worth the money? For me, probably. …and so on) and doing my research, I finally decided at the end of last month to subscribe to Ipsy. I chose Ipsy because they send a lot of full or deluxe sized products as opposed to sample sizes, it’s only about $9 a month (for a year subscription), and they feature great beauty brands.

My first bag came in the mail today! I was so excited to come home to this little pink beauty waiting for me at the front door -

This month’s theme is Spring Fling. There were a number of different products that you could receive, and Ipsy has been releasing teaser Sneak Peeks the past few weeks. The company chooses which of the products to send you based off of a beauty and lifestyle survey that you take when you sign up for the site. The Spring Fling bag is a cute little nylon chevron-print and, man, do they pack the products in there! Here is a good look at the bag and a quick peek at the products I received -

The bag itself is growing on me. It felt a little chinsy at first because it’s thin nylon, but I actually like the material. I think that this will make a nice little bag to toss some odds and ends in for my beach bag. It’s got a nice zipper closure, is easily wipeable, and has a cute print. I’d value it at a couple bucks maybe? I’m going to go with $5, although my hubby says that’s lowballing it.

The first item I pulled out was the Island Vanilla Perfume Rollerball by Pacifica. Pacifica describes the fragrance as – “Inspired by the unique magic of Tahitian vanilla, this sensual blend sets sweet and sultry vanilla absolute, with honey-jasmine notes and a touch of fruitiness, against a deep and beautiful base of tea.” This is certainly a unique summer fragrance. It’s sweet but deep, a little floral but with a strong vanilla note. My favorite thing about the fragrance may not be the scent though – the perfume is vegan, cruelty free, made without junk ingredients like parabens or phthalates, and a portion of the proceeds support clean water. You can smell pretty and support a good company – score! The Rollerball retails for $12/.33 oz.

Rollerball

Next I pulled out another Pacifica treat, a 2oz. Coconut Crushed Pearl luminizing body butter. Pacifica’s site says “Shimmer and glow from the inside out with our Luminizing Body Butter.  A little goes a long way with this generously sized, multi-tasking product that brings you healthy moisture and instantly illuminates skin with just-right shimmer.  Ultra-nourishing phytonutrients and natural powerhouse ingredients like coconut, argan oil and tamanu, hydrate and make skin healthier and younger-acting long term.” A little does go a very long way with this lotion and the luminizing shimmer is nice and subtle. This will be a really nice lotion to use during the summer to make my summer tan look more glowy. The scent is okay. At first it smelled a little too synthetic-coconut for me, but once it started to wear away it became more sweet and wearable in my book. Like the rollerball, this body butter is vegan, contains great ingredients, and a portion of the proceeds support clean water. This 2oz. body butter retails for $7.

Smeared on left, blended into skin on right

The next product out of the bag was a full-sized Zoya polish from the Spring Lovely collection. I had my fingers crossed that I didn’t get Blu, which I already own and swatched! As it turns out, I got Julie, a “soft wisteria” lavender purple with shimmer in it. According to Zoya, Julie is a metallic shade. I only swatched Julie on paper for now (regular swatch post to come), but it looks like a lovely, soft, feminine polish shade. I don’t have many purples and I think I’ll like this one. My brush was a little wonky (see below), but looked okay once I ripped out the weird bristle. Zoya is Big 5 Free and retails for $8.

Whoa brush, calm down

There were a couple different lip products that went out in the May bags to subscribers, some the same product but in different shades. I received a Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Fig, a rosy bronze shimmer. Juice’s Reflecting Gloss is made with all organic ingredients like healing sesame seed oil and a large number of antioxidant-rich ingredients, designed to nourish your lips while providing color and high shine. I loved that this gloss was slick and not sticky, gave the perfect amount of color, and made my lips feel taken care of. And it smells good, which is always a plus! I wasn’t big on the color at first, but I actually think it will look really nice when I have more of a tan (I’m a tad pale at the moment). I still kind of wish I had gotten the pink, but that’s okay! This gloss on the site is listed as $15/0.28oz, but the one in my bag looks a little different in terms of the tube and is marked on the bottom as 0.14oz. As it’s half the size of the listed gloss, I’m pricing it at $7.50.

Fig

Bare lips

Wearing Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Fig

Last but not least, I received a full-sized Yaby concealer refill in cc008 buff. This is an itty-bitty concealer at 3.5 grams – I thought it was a sample size until I got on the Yaby site to check out pricing. Ipsy used my user profile to color match me and got my shade spot on    I just swiped my finger through the pan, but the concealer feels creamy without being so soft that I fear it will settle into fine lines or crease. Swatched against my forearm, it appeared to give good coverage and didn’t pull much for a pan concealer. The concealer is vegan and comes in a wide range of shades, including correction shades (yellows, greens, etc).  This Yaby concealer retails for $4.85/3.5grams.

Swatched below watermark, indoor w/ flash

Swatched below watermark, natural low light

I signed up for the discounted yearly subscription (vs. paying month by month), so this bag cost me $9.16. The total value of this month’s bag comes to $44.35 (with what I estimated the bag itself at). What a fantastic deal!

I’m really happy with my first Ipsy bag. It came with brands I’ve never tried before and probably would not have otherwise, is a great value, and I love that it contained so many vegan/cruelty-free products. My only gripe is that I’m very impatient and wish the bags came sooner in the month. Also, I really was hoping to get the St. Tropez – I like everything I did get though! I can’t wait to see what next month’s bag brings   :)

(Sorry that was a novel. Go rest your eyes now.)