Ipsy Bag Review: December 2014 & January 2015

Ipsy is a monthly box subscription service ($10 a month) that sends you about five samples and/or full-size products that could be makeup, skin care, hair care, or nail care in a cute little bag that fits the theme of the month.  Based on your answers to a short Beauty Quiz, you are sent the best products for you geared towards your skin tone, hair color, eye color, and other beauty concerns.  You earn points by reviewing the products and those points can be redeemed for selected items.

December's theme was "Thinking of You".

In an effort to keep you abreast of the various products and to catch up with everything I have intended to get done, today's post is a twofer Ipsy bag review.  First up is December's bag, followed by January's.  Enjoy!

Beauty Without Cruelty A.H.A 3% Facial Cleanser - I never know what to expect with cleanser.  I've been using this one in the shower and actually really like it.  It makes my skin feel clean and smooth.  It has a light scent, nothing overpowering, and hasn't caused any breakouts or issues.  It is paraben free, pH Balanced, and 100% vegan-vegetarian. And, as the name of the brand insinuates, it is not tested on animals.  It is $11.95 for an 8.5 oz bottle.

Swissco Electroplated Eyelash Curler - I haven't used this product yet because my current eyelash curler is still doing just fine.  This one looks exactly like the Revlon one I use, minus the rubber lining of the handles on mine.  It retails for $5.

Tarte Deluxe Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara - I actually own this mascara already because it came in a Tarte Value set I bought a year or so ago.  I don't use it because I am extremely picky about mascara.  This one was recommended to me because my cousin used it.  However, it isn't a tubing mascara so it can still give you raccoon eyes.  I only use tubing mascara because everything else ends up bleeding and smudging.  A .24 fl oz tube retails for $20.

Pixi by Petra Fairy Dust in Brightening Bare - I am a sucker for neutral, shimmery eye products, so I fully expected to like this.  However, it is exactly the color of my skin and doesn't show up on me at all. If you like to look completely natural or are a makeup beginner, I think this would be great.  It adds a little shimmer and brightening/highlighting affect without being very noticeable.  If you want something similar, I would recommend the Cailyn Mineral Eye Polish.  My friend received the color "Orchid" in her Ipsy bag, which is a warmer golden-toned mineral eyeshadow that goes on much smoother.  The Pixi product is $10 for 0.02 oz and the Cailyn product is $15 for 0.09 oz.

NYX Cosmetics Butter Lip Balm in Red Velvet - I typically love all the NYX products I have tried.  They are a great inexpensive brand of makeup.  I use the Matte Finish Setting Spray, Soft Matte Lip Creams, and Butter Glosses regularly.  These butter lip balms were new to me, but I quite like them.  They feel comparable to the Fresh Sugar Lip colors in that they are hydrating, but a little thicker.  They seem more pigmented than the Fresh products as well. I think they would be a great alternative if you love the Fresh Sugar lip tints but can't afford their price tag.  I received Red Velvet, which is an orangey-red on me. My friend received Ladyfingers, which is described as a mauve but looks more fuchsia pink. Both are very pretty colors that leave a great color on the lips with no fuss.  These come in 8 different colors and retail for $4.

January's theme was "Fresh Start".

Elizabeth Mott All Over Shadow Brush - This is a full but softer bristled brush for applying shadow.  I find it to be a bit large for my lid for more precise applications, but I think that if you are doing (as the name implies) a color all over your lid then this should work fine. It is $9.99.

Jouer Essential Lip Enhancer - I've been using this for a few years now because I received a sample in one of my early Birchboxes. It is a glossy, non-sticky lip treatment that conditions and nourishes with Vitamin E, Jojoba Seed Oil, and Shea Butter.  It feels very smooth and silky on the lips, while also offering the added benefits of decreasing fine lines and increasing the appearance of fuller lips.  I love slathering it on after I exfoliate.  This product is .33 fl oz and retails for $16.  PS - Tinted ones are $18.

La Fresh Eco-Beauty Be Good. Good Day. Day Moisturizer - Obviously, I find it hard to completely review a skincare product that I haven't been using for at least a month.  But I can tell you this is a creamy moisturizer with a lighter cream to gel-like feel to it.  It doesn't feel heavy on, but it feels hydrating and smooth.  It contains collagen-producing peptides; hyaluronic acid; cucumber; aloe; vitamins B, C, and E; and anti-aging botanicals.  As it says it is best for sensitive, dry, and combination skin, I felt it was a bit much for my mostly-very-oily skin.  I wore it overnight and was very greasy when I woke up.  A 1.7oz container retails for $40 or you can buy a sample pack for $13.99 for 0.5oz.

BellaPierre Shimmer Powder in Whesek - I never heard of this brand before using this product, which is a finely milled mineral eyeshadow.  They claim to use no additional filler for 100% hypoallergenic products suitable for all skin types.  This color looks like a very dark grey in the container (and looks grey brown in the website photo), but actually applies as a blue-toned silver with a bit of a lilac shift.  It is a very pretty color, but a bit too cool-toned for me and what I like to wear.  It is very pigmented, a little goes a long way.  Overall, it seems like a quality mineral eyeshadow to me.  This product is $14.99 for a 2.35g sifter jar of product.  Compared to BareMinerals $14 for a .57g jar, this is quite more bang for your buck. 

Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow in Ethereal - This is the second Pacifica eye shadow I have received in an Ipsy bag and I have the same opinion on it - I don't like it.  The formula is barely pigmented and way too chalky-looking for my liking.  If you want something that is a similar color and actually looks nice and has a great texture, I would go with Mary Lou-Manizer from TheBalm ($24 for 0.3oz).  These Pacifica eyeshadows are only available in palettes, which range in price from $14 to $32.

Have you used any of these products?  What items did you get in your most recent Ipsy bags?  Do you have any favorites or least favorites?

What I Wore: Activewear Style

Since Sean came home with a raging case of the flu yesterday, I have been caring for a sick husband today.  As people who don't get sick too often, any kind of down time like this throws us for a loop.  His fever went away, but he has been resting and coughing quite a bit.

So for today's late post, we shall keep it simple with a casual look perfect for running errands and being comfortable.

While the jeans are not new to me or this blog, they have still been my go-to skinny jeans.  I find the whiskering can make me look a bit shorter and oddly proportioned at times, so I like to wear longer tops with this pair to cover the whiskers as much as possible.  I have picked up a couple more skinny jean versions - one from Lane Bryant and one from Maurices.  Both are a darker wash without all the extra stuff going on.  Keep a look out for those in future posts!

I had to return some jeans to Lane Bryant not too long ago and decided to basically exchange those for this flyaway hoodie.  At the start of the fall, I only had one long-sleeve top that fit me well, so I have been trying to add a few long-sleveed pieces to my wardrobe for these cold months.  This hoodie is from the active wear section, a few weeks before it became Livi Active at your local store and online.  I love the weight of the jacket; it isn't too thick or too thin, made of a stretchy cotton/spandex space dye material.  It has long sleeves and a hood to shield me from the infamous Northwest rain.  It can get pretty windy here, so I will be adding a button or snap closure to the front middle area of the jacket just in case.  I like the high-low aspect of it as well.  It is super comfortable and really practical for my casual lifestyle.

Also newly worn by me is this great top from Maurices.  You may remember it from my In The Dressing Room post during my very first trip to the store.  It remains a great basic for running errands and looking cute and sparkly.  Plus, it's easy to layer and isn't too hot.  I am quite happy with this purchase and can't wait to go try on more things at Maurices.

Flyaway Hoodie - Lane Bryant
Rhinestone Embellished Long Sleeve Top - Maurices (Similar)
Distressed Skinny Jeans - Lane Bryant Outlet (Similar here and here)
Pink Sneakers - Reebok Outlet

Did you find a great casual go-to item this season?  Where are your favorite places to shop for casual items?

Crafting Diva: DIY Valentine's Day Coupon Book

Ah, Valentine's Day!  I really didn't become a fan of the day until I met Sean in 2005.  Since then, I enjoy going overboard with romantic gestures and gifts.  For our first Valentine's Day together, I made him a booklet called "100 Reasons Why I Love You".  And it actually contained 100 reasons.  I often kick myself for starting out our gifts together on such a high note because it has been very hard to beat that from year to year.

I know a lot of guys aren't the best gift givers, but Sean has always been pretty good at giving me lovely, thoughtful things for Valentine's Day.  I've surprised him with flowers and chocolate covered strawberries delivered to his work, but I lean more towards homemade tokens of love.  Framed photos, unique cards, handmade booklets, and today's special craft tutorial are just some of the things I have gifted to him through the years.  We typically stay home, make broth or cheese fondue (and sometimes dessert fondue), drink wine, and just spend time together.

If you are looking for a fun and easily personalized gift for Valentine's Day, I present you with the idea of a coupon book.  Last year, I saw a Groupon for one you could personalize with stick figure clip art and a selection of mundane tasks or generalized concepts.  It was black and white and just looked too stark and plain.  Etsy also has some options to choose from if you feel like you have no creative bone in your body.

If you want to go the completely personalized route or try your hand at getting creative, I'm about to teach you how to make one yourself.  This isn't a hard project, but it does involve a lot of cutting.  The end result is really great though and my husband absolutely LOVED his gift!  He did actually end up hoarding a majority of the coupons for December, to use during his birthday month.  If you need to make rules or stipulations, you may want to put them in the booklet. lol


What You Will Need:

•  Your Valentine "coupons" printed on photo paper or cardstock (See below for info)
•  Scissors and/or paper trimmer
•  Hole punch
•  Assorted complimentary scrapbook paper of your choice. I used 6 double-sided 12x12 pieces of scrapbook paper for an assortment of patterns.
•  About 5 pieces of heavier cardstock in a complimentary color
•  Embellishments for decoration: Stickers, rhinestones, flowers, vellum quotes, glitter paint, ribbon, washi tape, metal shapes, etc.  (Whatever floats your boat!)
•  Any additional decorative paper
•  Any photos you want to use to decorate with
•  Adhesive one-inch tall lettering (I used a black foam 3-D lettering.)
•  Album Ring
•  Adhesive, such as Glue Dots (I use Elmer's Glue Dots and Recollections Double-Sided Mounting Tape).  Just make sure they aren't the re-positionable kind.
•  Stickles or other glitter paint or glitter and glue
•  Decorative scissors
•  Small paint brush

How To: Make Your "Coupons"

Before you get into all the fun, creative stuff, you have to make your coupons!  Below, you will find a basic coupon jpg file that I made, one with lipstick and one without.  I have also included the lipstick file in case you want to use it differently.  Download these files and open them in Paint.Net, Pixlr, or whatever you use for editing photos.

For each coupon you want to include in your booklet (I made 10 coupons), you will make a separate coupon file and add your wording.  I used a font called "Written On His Hands", which you can download for FREE here.  Save the files on your computer.

To print: highlight all the coupon files, right click, and choose "Print".  In the window that pops up, uncheck the bottom box that says "Fit picture to frame" and choose the 4x6, 2 to a page option.  It should look something like this:



Make sure you have your proper paper in the printer (I used a matte photo paper) and click print.  Now, cut them out!


Need ideas for what to write on the coupons?  I used: Home-Cooked Meal of Your Choice, Back Massage, Breakfast In Bed, Star Trek Movie Marathon, Date Night, Leg Massage and Foot Rub, Wild Card, and a few naughty ones.  Be creative and think of fun options that are really personalized to whomever you are gifting.  Think about fun things for the two of you to do together or small gestures that mean a lot.  It's a gift that keeps on giving the whole year, so you have plenty of options.

On To The Fun Stuff!

Lay out all your decorative papers and embellishments.  This helps give a good overview of what you have to work with.  Start with your patterned scrapbook paper.  The patterned paper measures about 7 1/4 inches by 4 1/8 inches.  Cut the rectangles slightly bigger with a paper trimmer so you have room to cut the edges with decorative scissors.  Once all the decorative paper is cut (enough pieces for your coupons), decide in what order you want the decorative pages and in what order you want the coupons to appear.  I started with simple coupons and ended them with a bang! lol  Affix your coupons to the center of the decorative paper with glue dots or mounting squares.  Mounting squares seem to be a big stronger and better suited for this task, but glue dots work good too.  You just may need to use more glue dots than squares.

Take your heavier cardstock and cut it into rectangles that measure roughly 7 3/4 inches by 4 3/4 inches.  For a ten coupon book like mine, you will need eight of these card stock pages.  Again, lay them out so you can visualize your book and begin assembling.  Put three of these cardstock pages aside (for special pages) and affix your coupon papers to the center of the cardstock in the order you want them.  All coupon pages are front and back, meaning a coupon page will go on each side of the cardstock.

Once these pages are done, punch holes in the top left corner of each page.  Make sure to punch the holes in the same place so everything lines up smoothly.

How To: Make Special Pages

The Cover

For the cover, I cut a piece of patterned paper the same size as the cardstock and attached the paper to the cardstock page. A strip of striped paper, cut with decorative scissors, is affixed to the edge.  Next, I cut a strip of the cardstock as tall as the lettering and affixed it to the page where I wanted my words to go.  Punch your hole in the page so you have a guideline and won't decorate over it.

Next, I added a piece of sparkly ribbon in a complimentary color and applied the lettering.  These foam letters have their own adhesive on the back. You will need to cut out each letter while it is attached to the plastic it comes on, so you can move the letters around and measure where they need to go.  After your letters have been applied, take your glitter glue (Stickles is my favorite because it is super sparkly, easy to apply, and dries flat) and decorate your lettering.  I squeezed out some Stickles on a piece of paper and applied it to my letters with a small paint brush.  After that, you can decorate your page with more glitter glue and let it dry. Once dry, apply rhinestones, stickers, or whatever else you want to.  You can check out all the extra photos to see what I did.

Inner Cover Page and Back Cover Page

Right inside the front of the booklet (and again in the back), I took the opportunity to add a few pictures and quotes about love.  These are definitely pages you can do whatever your heart desires, but I will tell you a bit about what I did for each page.  Each one was built from its own cardstock page base because I knew it was going to need time to dry.

For the inside cover page, I added some decorative metallic paper with glue dots and/or mounting squares.  Then I cute a couple rectangles of patterned paper for decoration and mounted those.  Whether you use vellum quotes from the craft store or print out your own at home, vellum can be tricky to adhere if you want it to look nice.  I focused on attaching it with glue dots underneath the picture page area, then used Stickles to go around the edges and keep them in place.  The big picture was cut with decorative scissors, with a line of glitter glue following that scalloped edge.  Make sure you punch your hole in the correct side before decorating with more glitter glue.  After the page dried, I also added a few rhinestones. 

For the back cover, I put down a patterned piece of paper the same size as the cardstock page.  Punch your hole before you get started with picture placement and decoration.  I secured the pictures on the page, outlined them with glitter glue, and used glitter glue to affix the vellum to the page.  I also added a heart of glitter glue in the upper right corner and fanned out the glitter towards the inside of the heart.  (See below for a larger photo.)

Don't forget to decorate your actual pages!  For my Star Trek Movie Marathon coupon, I used some glitter paint to make the black border look a bit more like space. lol  I also added stickers, and rhinestones to all the other pages.  Just make it look pretty and not all plain.

The Finished Product

Once your pages are dry, adhere the cover and inside cover to one another with mounting squares.  Decorate the very back with your name and the year or a little message of love.  Put all the pages together and slip the album ring through the holes.  Now prepare to wow the recipient with all your hard work!

Want a few more ideas for gifts?  Frame a photo or photos or make a collage with scrapbooking elements.  Make a booklet of all the reasons you love your significant other.  Buy a pre-made heart-shaped chipboard booklet at the craft store and decorate it with paper, pictures, and quotes of love.

I leave you with a little collage of Sean and I from all our Valentine's Days together:

What do you and your sweetie enjoy for Valentine's Day?  Do you have any traditions?  What have been your favorite gifts to give and receive?  Feel free to share more gift ideas as well!

What I Wore: Plaid Leggings

Often times, we don't think outside the box when it comes to clothing or push ourselves to buy multipurpose items.  Even as someone who loves wearing things in different ways and remixing outfits, I don't feel like I do it often enough or get creative with it on a regular basis.  I don't condone wearing pajamas in public, but sometimes pajamas don't have to look like pajamas.

When Lane Bryant started offering pajama sets with patterned leggings and a corresponding tunic top, I thought they would be so comfy to wear around the house.  I recently had to toss a few of my old pajama pants/house pants because they were too old and getting pretty ratty.  But I also loved the patterned leggings and needed more leggings to go with my chambray tunic.  So I snatched up a couple sets to try.  (You may also remember a similar outfit I posted with leggings from the pajama section.)

I love the burgundy, tan, and blue colors of this particular plaid pattern.  I thought it would be a great fit with my dark blue tunic.  The cotton material of these leggings is thinner and stretches out a bit easier, but they still looked fine at the end of the day.  I also bought the grey dachshund thermal set, but those leggings were baggier and, therefore, not right to wear with boots.  I kept them as an around-the-house set.

I find an outfit like this easy to throw on for running errands or hanging out with friends.  There is really no excuse to look like a raggamuffin in baggy pajama pants and slippers at the grocery store, even if you are going to Wal-Mart. lol It's such a pet peeve of mine!

Plaid Leggings - Lane Bryant  (Similar sets here, here, and here)
Chambray Tunic - Lane Bryant  (Similar)
Stretch Riding Boots - Avenue (Similar)
Sequin Infinity Scarf - Wal-Mart

Have you found a great every day piece in the sleepwear section?