December 2021 Ipsy Glam Bag

I’d like to start with how annoying it is that my bag always comes in at the middle of the month. I don’t know why that irks me so much. Ok, rant over 🙂

This month ipsy theme is Time to Shine

I have the base glam bag subscription and here is what I received

This month I selected Tarte surfer girl volumizing mascara. I like getting to try new mascaras and minis are easy to use up

The other items are

I got the comb as an add on because I needed one, but I didn’t want to make time to go buy one so I’m happy I got this in my bag.

  • Real Her mini lisptick in Girl Power
  • Ahava Sea kissed mineral hand cream
  • Glowiest Youthful Glow and Peachy Glow face mask duo
  • Refreshments Tangles be Tamed con in lavender fizz
  • Benefit Porefessional hydrate primer

The Ahava cream is nice to throw in a bag or leave in the car, especially now that it’s gotten cold and my hands get dry often.

The face masks are eh. I haven’t been using have masks recently but I enjoy them overall and should probably get back into the habit of using them.

The hydrating primer is also just eh. I’ll probably mix it with a mattifying or pore blurring primer. I’ll get use out of it but it isn’t my preferred primer type.

The Real Her lipstick. Hmmm. I’m torn about this brand as a whole. The intent is nice – positive affirmations, enhancing natural beauty and community give back. The issue I have is that I’ve never really liked a product enough to keep it, use it or recommend it. I do like the color, it’s a nice mauve, but the formula is too much like a balm for me. I also like that this is a mini, using up an entire product might motivate me to keep it.

Overall this month’s bag was OK. I’m happy I got a comb for $3 and without having to leave my house, and it’s nice to have a new mascara and hand cream. Plus, I do like the makeup bag. I’ll get use out of two of the other three products, maybe even the third one so I’m overall satisfied with this month’s bag.

Do you have this subscription? What did you get and what did you like?

CP At Forest Site and Morphe Jaclyn Hill Vol II look

Today I really wanted to use the Raw Beauty Kristi Colourpop collab but I also really wanted to use the second Morphe Jaclyn Hill collab. Fortunately, the two compliment each other!

I pulled crease colors from the Jaclyn Hill palette and the lower lash line color.f

From the Colourpop palette, I pulled darker colors to add depth to the look and the lid colors.

I wanted to blend Evergreen into West Coast to the out end but West Coast was too yellow gold for what I wanted to i layered Evergreen on top instead.

Other products used:

  • WetNWild Photofocus foundation dewy in Golden Beige. I usually go for matte but this has the perfect satin finish, not dewy at all!
  • Maybelline age rewind in 120 light. I used to really like this but lately it’s been feeling dry on my skin
  • Marc Jacobs Finish Line powder
  • Doll 10 Popstar Peach. I usually use this under powder but I forgot and figured I’d try it over. I didn’t notice any affect on my foundation but it made for a much brighter blush when I layered a powder over it. This was a Jen Phelps, on YouTube, recommendation and it’s hands down one of the best formulas. In not sure how I feel about the scent though. It’s a nice, yummy vanilla but it feels weird applying it to my face. I haven’t noticed it affecting my skin though
  • WetNWild Mellow Wine blush over to set (can skip two blushes but I don’t)
  • Smashbox Cali Contour palette for bronzer/contour and highlight. I like but don’t love. I want to love this palette so I keep it around
  • Urban Decay Horchata lipstick – the vice lipsticks were reformulated and the new ones are some of the most hydrating matte lipsticks I’ve tried
  • WetNWild Brow Sessive in Medium Brown. This is $1.99 on Target’s website and Amazon. I’ve really been loving this pencil, it’s soft and blends is perfect for my needs – which is just to fill in and brush out
  • Essence lash princess mascara – the purple one

Hope everyone has a happy Thursday

The Nightmare Before Christmas palette remix

When I found out Colourpop was coming out with a Nightmare Before Christmas palette I was stoked to see what they would put out. Not that it mattered because I was going to buy it anyway, haha.

I forgot to take a picture before remixing my palette but the bottom quad is less cohesive in real life and the entire left half required too much effort for me.

I ended up only replacing five colors of the original palette but I feel like this is more usable.

Frog’s Breath is such a pretty color, I applied it over glitter glue. I love the contrast between that and No Drama

How do you feel about “remixing” your palettes?

Melt Cosmetics Matte Lipstick

I am all about bullet lipsticks and the more matte they are, the better! This usually means extra lip balm and nighttime treatment but every now and then I find a nice matte lipstick that doesn’t suck the life out of my lips.

Melt Cosmetics released some matte lipsticks in May but since I was holding out for the Sephora VIB sale (Nov 5-15) I just discovered them.

On-the-go is described as a “dusty rose pink”. The forumla is very comfortable to wear and it fades nicely throughout the day leaving my lips a bit stained. The compact packaging makes it easy to take with you. It has a magnetic closure and a nice weight to it.

I also picked up Old Rose and have since ordered a couple more shades.

Have you tried these? Are you interested in these lipsticks?

Ipsy Glam Bag Aug 2021

I received my ipsy August bag this weekend and here is what I got

Lately my favorite part of the subscription have been the bags. These are perfect to organize my bag or to just carry the essentials around with me. I love this design and the clasp feature.

For the products:

BRTC Korea Vitamin B5 Velvet Mask & Vitamin A Velvet Mask Duo
m2ü nyc Eye Primer in Nude
Shades by Shan Highlighter Single in Irma
Tatcha The Rice Wash
TheBalm Bronzilla


Well, just realized this never made it out of my drafts and I’ve already received October’s bag. Oops.

The one item I’ve been consistently using from this bag is the Tatcha Rice Wash. It has just a bit of texture that feels like it’s washing away any dirt or oil stuck in your pores.

The only items I haven’t used are the face masks, I haven’t really been using them lately. The rest of the products are all nice and will be perfect for travel or even to keep in your purse to lightly even up after a long day.

Do you get ipsy and what did you get in November?

Colourpop Sandstone look

Sandstone is one of my favorite palettes despite having so many of the matte with tiny glitter shades.

I think the mattes with the glitter apply nicely and blend easily. If you tap your brush you can tap off most of the loose glitter. You can also apply the color with a brush then tap it on with your finger to apply/keep the glitter on. I wound also recommend using a glitter or loose pigment primer.

I love the metallics/shimmers in this palette and love this color story in general. Here is a step by step on this look.

The palette is currently on sale for $11 as part of Colourpop’s “last call” sale so if you’re interested, now’s the best time to buy!

Purple shimmer look

Recently I’ve gotten more into single shadows and depotting my palettes.

I love being able to see so many options to chose from.

Sydney Grace, Coloured Raine, Makeup Geek and Colourpop

Buying singles also gives me the opportunity to try more brands, especially indie brands that only sell single shadows.

This is also a great way to utilize more than one palette and brand.

For than look I used the following shadows:

  • Colourpop – Zested, West Side
  • Makeup Geek – Cocoa Bear, Steampunk
  • Sydney Grace – Golden Wheat, Aim High

To bring out a little more of the lilac I used Colourpop Piggy Bank gel liner.

I’d love to know what others think of using singles!

NYX Ultimate Utopia Vol II

In my previous post I mentioned a friend selected colors for my to use from the NYX Utopia palette and here is a second look from another suggestion

  • I used 1 to set my base, from my crease to my brow.
  • Applied 2 to the crease to deepen it
  • I applied 3 to the outer 1/3 of my lid
  • Applied NYX glitter primer to the rest of my lid and using my finger, applied 4
  • Used 5 in the center, over 4, to tone down the teal a little
  • Applied 6 all across the lower lash
  • Used 7 to darker the lower lash outer edge

I loved the way this look came out. I’ve really been enjoying using color stories suggested by others.

PS I tried the tiktok lip liner trick and…it’s not my thing. Lol!

NYX Ultimate Utopia

As soon as I saw this color story I was on love! Too bad regular price the palette is $35. I’m not sure why but to me that seems like too much to pay for a NYX palette despite the amount of shades offered

Ulta stock photo
Purchase here

I ended up having to wait a few months for the palette to go on sale and when it finally did I paid about $25 for it, in case you’re like me and don’t want to pay the full price.

I do love the color story, and the products are easy to blend, durable and the metallics are gorgeous.

Here I went with something fast and simple but was about to make it exciting by using the lime green yellow

I started with 1 in my crease, softly blending it out and very lightly building it up until I achieved the color I wanted

I darker the outer V of my lid with 2 and lightly swept it into the crease

Then I applied NYX glitter primer in the remaining 2/3 of my lids and applied 3 to the center portion and 4 to the inner 1/3. I blended between the two to avoid a hard line.

I used a little bit of 5 to blend 3 into 2.

For my lower lash I used 6 so over the lower lash and 7 tight against my lash line.

I asked friends to select colors for me to use and this incorporated two options.

What do you think of this palette?

Are there any looks you’d like to see? Feel free to DM me on Instagram a screen shot selecting colors if it’s a palette without color names!

Colourpop Misunderstood Palette Look Vol III

This isn’t a palette that I look at and immediately have a look pop out at me but I’m always able to put together a look that I love.

This was a very simple look but the shimmers are so pretty and really pop.

I lightly packed Devious in the crease and blended up to the brow. I applied Sing to the outer V of my eyelid, Underworld to the center and Pain and Panic to the inner 1/3.

I used my fingers to apply the shimmers and then I took small brushes to softly blend the shimmers together.

I took a small fluffy brush and brushed back and forth in the crease, with no additional product, to blend the shimmers.

I went back and packed on a little more Devious to the outer V to bring back some depth.

What are your thoughts on this palette? What kind of look would you do or would you like to see next?