Beauty Deals and Gifts

IPSY

In addition to getting an awesome bag filled with fun samples for $10, Ipsy also offers deals on various beauty related goods at a fraction of the retail price that ship for free.  Normally I like the deals, but pass them up because I have to restrain myself or else I would buy, buy, buy.  But this month the deals are too good to pass up.

I love Pacifica Body Butter for the its moisturizing effects and the tantalizing smells.  You can use this as a hand cream or lather it from head to toe to smell delectable everywhere.  The two scents are Indian Coconut Nectar, my personal favorite, and Sugared Amber Dreams.

Indian Coconut Nectar is a sensuous and delicious blend inspired by travels to faraway destinations. This warm, sultry blend of coconut and delicate creamy vanilla is pure ambrosia.
Sugared Amber Dreams is a dreamy blend filled with sparkling sugar, heady vanilla and warm amber. An intoxicating aura of rainbow wishes, magic, and love for the bravest of hearts.

This is a great stocking stuffer.  Is it wrong that I want to buy two sets so I can keep one and give the others as a holiday gift?  For $7 (retail $12) I don't feel guilty about it.  Buy, buy, buy...

I can't believe this It Cosmetics Contour Palette is only $20!  I've wanted this kit forever so Merry Christmas to me.  I am obsessed with all things It Cosmetics.  This brand is top notch and easy to use.  I could go on and on, but I'll spare you.  If you are scared of the dark shades just remember that you can blend different colours for a more natural look.  Check out this how to video featuring the fabulous Jamie Kern Lima.
Plus, the word on the street is that this palette is great for darker skin girls.  If you already use this I would love to know what you think.

If you aren't already on Ipsy then you can't get these great deals so join here so I can get some points for your referral.

SEPHORA

I am loving this free gift from Sephora.

Sephora never disappoints with free gifts and samples and this bag is no exception.    

Not only do you get a cute bag, but you get 8 samples of awesome products with the purchase of $25.  

This offer is only good for an online purchase so take advantage of it while you still can.  Code is PARTYPICKS.

EBATES

And don't forget to use Ebates for all your holiday purchases.  Ebates is free to join and gives you cash back on all your online purchases.  Right now I have over $70 in my account from holiday shopping.

Sign up here and get your free cash on.

Clubs

I'm not talking about the kind you go to to fist pump the night away.  I'm talking about monthly clubs that send you goodies.  My clubs of choice?  Beauty and health.  I subscribe to 2 different monthly clubs: Ipsy and Bulu Box.  

I've talked about Ipsy before.  Last month I left off initially unhappy with my Ipsy Glam Bag.  Then I tried the Tarte bronzer.  

How I achieve this look:

Tarte bronzer is by far the best bronzer I have ever tried.  While it has a hint of shimmer,  which I don't tend to like, don't let the shimmer scare you.  The color goes on super shear and is not only buildable, but is waterproof.  The finished look is lit from within radiance.  I find that matte bronzers can make me look dirty and flat, but this bronzer gives me a beautiful glow.  I'm loving it!  This reminds me of my favorite bronzer I had years ago from Fresh.  It has been discontinued.

Bulu Box costs me $15 for 3 months of weight loss boxes and is well worth that price tag.

This box included Movit Energy Gummies, Shapeology Garcinia Cambogia, Runa Guayusa Tea, Quest Protein Powder in Peanut Butter, and Earth's Care Anti-Itch Cream.

The Anti-Itch cream is amazing.  I get random rashes and tend to have itchy, dry skin and the Earth's Care Cream instantly soothes my skin.  The Runa tea was also a hit.  The mint taste was refreshing and it provided me with a noticeable increase in energy.  Guayusa has more antioxidants than green tea so I am definitely purchasing this tea to consume for its energy and antioxidant benefits.  And the Quest powder is so of my favorite protein powder on the market.  I had never tried the peanut butter flavor so I was super excited to get to test out the flavor.  

Bulu Box offers a ton of perks.  Some of these perks include discount membership for renewing the club.  Also you get the option to add on items to your monthly box for a reduced rate.  Additionally when you review the products you receive on bulubox.com you gain points towards future purchases of items that you can buy from Bulu Box and the items are not just limited to what is sent in your monthly box.  Bulu Box offers everything from the items you see in the image above to DVDs and vitamins.  

To spend $5 on a box of health instead of a fancy coffee is worth it.  I've been exposed to some awesome stuff with Bulu Box.  If you are interested in Bulu Box use code FANTASTIC to get your second box for free.  

Ipsy Summer Lovin

For a few Ipsy Glam Bags now I have been questioning if I want to continue to subscribe to the $10 a month beauty club.  It is not about the money, since I always feel that the products I get are well worth the $10 price tag.  The turnoff for me is the products that Ipsy tends to send.  Here is my July Glam Bag:

Summer Lovin

So at first glance the bag doesn't look bad at all.  In fact, I got a nice shade of mineral lipstick and a Tarte bronzer that I know is highly rated.  Go me!

But alas my complaint.  Ipsy has you take a survey before joining the club to know your beauty preferences.  For example, they want to know what kind of makeup you like, what types of makeup and beauty products you want, don't want, etc.  I specifically made sure to check off no bronzer / blush, lip product, or lipstick.  Additionally, one of the makeup styles you can choose is "WORLDY" which features a woman with bright eye makeup.  None of the other images on the makeup styles show anyone with bright (in my opinion ridiculous) eye makeup.  Clearly, I didn't choose to have the "WORLDLY" look.  It is not for me so what's up with neon blue eyeliner?

I find that Ipsy tends to send me products that I specifically have not asked for while generally failing to send me the products that I want.  And the 5 products you see pictures above are just 5 of the 27 products that you could potentially get.  There are other products this month that would be a much better fit.  I'm not sure how Ipsy chooses the products to send to people because my friends also feel that Ipsy does not take into consideration the quiz you take prior to joining the beauty club.  From reading Ipsy customer comments it would seem that this is a common theme.

Despite my annoyance I don't think I can part ways with Ipsy quite yet.  For $10 a month I love getting a surprise in the mail.  And every now and then I have found something that I really love.

Today is the last day you can join Ipsy without being on the waitlist.  That's huge!  Click here if you want to try Ipsy out for yourself despite my above rant.  If you do join please let me know how you like the Glam Bags and if you feel Ipsy is using your questionnaire as a guide to the products you receive.

Carefree Acti-Fresh Body Shape Pantiliner

Let me preface this post by saying this is going to be some TMI.  If TMI is not your thing I would stop reading right about now and go check out itcosmetics.com because they extended their friends and family event one more day ending today!

You're welcome.    

I joined Influenster and had the privilege of receiving my first Voxbox.

My sample contained Carefree Acti-Fresh Body Shape Pantiliners.

I was shocked.  I thought my sample would be a liner or two, not a full size bag of 20 regular liners.  But hey, I'll take it!  Reviewing liners is not something I'm going to shy away from.  As a woman, a nurse, and a graduate student pursing degrees in Midwifery and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, I know women are afraid to talk about their vaginas.  Vaginas get discharge and it can be normal.  Think of your menstrual cycle.  Your body produces more mucus when you ovulate and you can have discharge with hormonal fluctuations.  (Your vagina also produce discharge for other reasons, which sometimes require treatment, but that's not the point of this.)  A woman wants to feel clean and fresh, and pantyliners are a great way to be able to help with that without feeling like you need to throw on a funky pair of underwear because frankly I still want to be able to wear my cute bras sets from Adore Me.

These Carefree liners were absorbent enough for me to last all day and discreet enough for me to throw in my Ipsy beauty bag to have on hand.

Prior to trying the Carefree Acti-Fresh Body Shape Pantiliners I was using U by Kotex Barely There Panty Liners that claimed to be the thinnest of them all.  The U by Kotex do not seem to stay in place as well as these Carefree liners and are definitely not as absorbent.  I actually prefer (gasp) these Carefree liners even though they are thicker than the U by Kotex.  I guess size does matter...go figure.  They are a great product and I will definitely use the Carefree liners in the future.

And while I have not tried them I just wanted to mention that Carefree Acti-Fresh Body Shape Pantiliners also come in thin, long, extra long, and thong.  My review is on the regular size liners, which I tried out with thong underwear and they fit just fine.

Note: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.  My review of this product, however, is my opinion after my own testing of this product.  

Ipsy Match Glam Bag Review

In early March I wrote about Ipsy. At that time I was excited because I received a sneak preview of what I would receive in my March Glam Bag and I thought the color of the NYX Butter Lipstick was fabulous.  Little did I know, however, I would not receive the pink color pictured, but instead a dark purple colored lipstick called Hunk.

I'm not afraid of taking makeup risks, I think that is part of the fun of beauty, but the purple looked clownish on me.  Let's put it this way, when your husband who knows enough to tell you that a new lipstick looks, "great," even if he doesn't "really" think so, but for once says, "well..." with a long pause, you know that the color is a miss!

Lucky for me a friend of mine also receives Ipsy Glam Bags and she did not like her color either.  So we swapped and I got to try out the color I had originally wanted, Little Susie.

From left to right: the two eyeshadow swatches from Pixi by Petra in Apricot Glow and NYX Butter Lipstick in Little Susie

Little Susie is definitely Barbie pink, but I find it a much better Spring color than Hunk.  The third NYX Butter Gloss color some folks received in their Glam Bag was Pops, a nice mauve, which I would have loved, but you get what you get.  These lipsticks retails for $10.

I definitely was not crazy about this month's Glam Bag.  Frankly the only items I really liked were the:

• Coolway Glow Oil Treatment - Normally hair oils make my fine hair greasy, but this manages to tame flyaways without weighing down my hair.  And my hair never looks greasy!  I loved this product.
• Crownbrush Infinity Shadow / Crease Duet Brush - You can never go wrong with a crease brush.  The quality is good.
• The Ipsy bag, which is super cute and I love neon.  

I wasn't impressed with the:

• Pixi by Petra Mesmerizing Mineral Duo - While I like the color selection, the eyeshadow is not very good quality.  
• skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels - These did not feel like they did anything for my sensitive, under eye area.  Last month I received a sample of GlamGlow under eye mask and I would highly recommend that product instead.  
• NYX Butter Lipstick - I am undecided about this item.  I'm not the biggest lipstick fan, but the color is pigmented and it does feel somewhat moisturizing.  I found this product just OK.  

Overall I still love receiving my $10 personalized, surprise Ipsy Glam Bag and I would still recommend it.  February's bag was awesome and I hope April's bag will be even better!  

Ipsy is for beauty lovers...

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Here is a glimpse of my Ipsy Glam Bag and I already know I am going to love the NYX Butter Lipstick!  The color to me screams Barbie pink.

The other items in my personalized Glam Bag are:

A super cute floral bag

Coolway Glow Oil Treatment

Crownbrush Infinity Shadow / Crease Duet Brush

Pixi by Petra Mesmerizing Mineral Duo

skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels

Not bad for $10 a month.

But for those of you who haven't met, let me introduce you to Ipsy.  Ipsy is a great website that brings you a vast assortment of high quality cosmetics to sample each month.  After taking a quiz to personalize products to your preferences, hair type, skin type, likes, and dislikes you get a cute makeup bag filled with 5 products each month.  The products are chosen for you and many of the items you receive are full size.  To top that off, the cost for this service is $10 including shipping.  (It's a splurge that I am willing to indulge in since I don't buy Starbucks everyday like some of my friends.  If you do the math, that is way more expensive.  End rant.)  Ipsy offers discounts for most of the monthly glam bag items if you want to buy full size products through the manufactures website.  In addition, Ipsy also offers special beauty deals for members only on products from brands like Cargo to It Cosmetics.  And you can cancel at any time, but why would you want to?

My favorite item I received last month was a Luxie blush brush.

Luxie Rose Gold Large Angled Face Brush 504

The Luxie brush retails for $16!  That was a steal.

Ipsy is a great deal, fun, and an affordable way to be exposed to new products that you might end up falling in love with.  Give it a try and sign up here.  You won't regret it.  You'll just regret not signing up.