ipsy

I was visiting with a friend recently who is a stay-at-home mom.  She told me she likes to experiment with makeup and clothing styles now that she stays home, since, if she turns out looking crazy, not many people will know.

A couple weeks later, I discovered ipsy.  Ipsy is a makeup website.  You pay $10/month (including shipping) (taking months off whenever you want) and they send you five new name-brand makeup products every month in a new makeup bag.  Remembering what my friend had told me, and also that I'm a teacher who doesn't work during the summer, I thought it would be fun to try.  And it is!  I've gotten two months so far and I love it.  They come with some full-size products and some glorified samples.  Like, compare a shampoo sample (a flat envelope with one or two applications in it) with a hotel shampoo.  The hotel shampoo is not really a sample, but it's also not full-size.  That's what I mean by glorified sample.  

Oh, and when you sign up, you take a quiz regarding your style, the color of your skin/hair/eyes, and what kinds of samples you want (yes to mascara, no to hair products...) to get so you don't get a ton of stuff you don't want / doesn't match you.

The first month, I got a roll-on perfume (love), a full-sized lipstick (creamiest lipstick I've ever used), a full-sized nail polish (works great, don't love the color), a glorified sample of brow gel (cool), and a glorified sample of concealer (love).  It's so fun.

I haven't tried most of what I've gotten this month yet, but I got a full-sized lipliner, a full-sized  highlighter crayon (love), a glorified sample (I think) of gel eyeliner, a full-sized blush, and a full-sized "sparkling cream palette" (that I have no idea what to do with:).  

I won't use ipsy forever, if for no other reason than because I don't use makeup this fast, but it's fun to try new brands and products that I've been wanting to try without having to pay full price.  Getting new bags is fun, too.  I'm totally going to use them for wedding / baby gifts.

In case you're curious about the brands...

roll-on perfume - Pacifica

lipstick - Mirabella

nail polish - Zoya

brow gel - Anastasia

concealer - yaby

lipliner - Starlooks

highlighter crayon - Chella

gel eyeliner - Cailyn

blush - NYX

sparkling cream palette - J.cat Beauty

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"Rosa wishes she'd had a chance at more in her life… But life gave her this chance, and she ran with it."  - Po Bronson, Why Do I Love These People?