The hot thing right now is subscription boxes and I wanted in on the action. I obviously am not going to do a clothing subscription service, 1 – because I focus more on a capsule wardrobe, so I don’t continuously buy clothes but rather I focus on seasonal purchases, and 2 – I think I’m pretty darn good at stylist myself :). Instead, I decided to try a glam bag service. There are a couple of famous ones out there, Birchbox and Ipsy, and based on reviews, I decided to go with Ipsy. From what people said, it had more makeup versus skin care and you could use points to buy full size things you like on their site. I got my first bag yesterday and thought I would share my thoughts.

Let me just start out by saying that in my younger years, I was a makeup addict. I had all kinds of eye shadows, blushes, lip gloss, lip stick, lip pencil, you name it. I loved trying to different styles and studied some wonderful makeup artists. Then I started working full time in a high stress job. And then I quit my job to be a stay at home mom. A couple of years ago, I completely decluttered all makeup and although it was difficult, I paired my makeup down to a minimum. Because of all that, I’m not even 100% sure that I’m going to continue with the subscription service for a long time because I don’t want a bunch of clutter that I never use. Because Ipsy sends sample sizes, I felt like it might not be too bad so that’s a concern I have. The reason I wanted to do it though is because it’s just so exciting to receive something in the mail! And maybe I’ll learn about some new products that I’ve never seen so hey, why not. It’s only $10, right?

My first bag contained a makeup brush, some eye shadow, a blush, and two masks. The shadow was a golden brown which I was kind of like, meh. It’s a pretty color but I’ve had it before and it doesn’t always look right with my skin, at least that was my first thought. The blush was pretty but it had some shimmer which made me nervous as I’m getting kind of past that glittery makeup age. The brush I could do without as I invested in some quality makeup brushes from Mac Cosmetics several years back and now, I am a total makeup brush snob. Lastly, the masks always make me a bit nervous because my skin is so sensitive and I don’t want it to break out from cheaper products. The packaging kind of threw me off because it was flimsy, but then I brought myself back to reality and remembered that this bag cost $10. I don’t think there’s anything in my makeup bag that cost $10 on it’s own, much less this amount of product.

I decided to try the eye shadow and blush today and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. They did look pretty good and i would say they’re a better quality than I originally thought. The shadow lasted all day and the blush did not shimmer in the way I thought it would. I didn’t use the brush and so far, I’ve just let Alex play with it. I’ll try the mask this weekend and let you know what I think. Maybe I’ll be surprised!!

I just thought I would show a little behind the blog – here is my photography assistant today.

Ellie still prefers the Clinique

Do you do a subscription service? What do you think about it? Ever tried Ipsy? What about Birchbox? As always, thanks for reading!