Ipsy November Review

I realized that I didn't actually get any of my reviews up from October, and for that I am sorry. A lot has changed with my beauty box subscriptions since September. I have decided to go ahead and cancel Glymm because it has been consistently weak, in my opinion. I did receive the November bag as my last one, and there really wasn't anything in there that is worth writing about. Another shampoo that I am unable to use, a perfume sample that is incredibly tiny, a teeny soap sample and one or two more items that I can't even remember. With Glymm's price increase it is just not worthwhile any longer.

I also cancelled my Glossybox subscription. I'm actually pretty sad about that decision. I have consistenly liked most of my Glossyboxes (and I really love the boxes they come in), but with their 40% price increase it is just not worth it to me any longer. I find these boxes often come jammed with drug store products and don't deserve the premium price tag. I believe I will be getting the November box as my last one.

I have now been signing up to receive the Natural Beauty Box. However, that is not exactly going as planned. I paid for the October box on September 18th and have yet to see it. They tell me there was a problem processing some of the orders. It should be in the mail this week, along with the free November box they are sending me. Not a great first impression, but I am really hoping it will be worth it once it finally does arrive.

I's also now decided to sign up for an Ipsy subscription (formerly MyGlam). I believe this is only just available to Canadians. When I looked at some of the reviews online it looked really great! It didn't take long for my first Ipsy bag to arrive...

The first thing I noticed about this subscription was the cute cosmetic bag it came packaged in. The bag is a chocolate satin with a gold zipper. I know I don't really need any more of these, especially after being bombarded with them from Glymm, but this one is very cute!

The first item out of the bag was a full sized eye liner pencil from Starlet. I have never heard of this brand before. This came in brown and I think it will suit me well, although I haven't had a chance to try it yet. 

The next item was a replacement for a lip gloss that was included in most other bags. It looked like it was a cute color, but I have received so many lip products in the last few months that I was happy to get a different product. This is eclos Plant Stem Cell serum. I tried this the other night and really liked it. A little goes a long way. It feels nice on my skin, although I think it will take several uses to see what it might do for my face.

I was so excited to pull this next product out of the bag. I was really hoping I would get this color! This is a full size bottle of Nailtini nail polish in the color Millionaire. It is a gold micro glitter with multi colored glitter bars in it. I think this will be so perfect for the holidays. I have never heard of or tried Nailtini, so I can't wait!

This next item looks familiar! Benefit They're Real! Mascara. I received another sample of this in November's Top Box. I think the other option was a brow gel, which I don't think I would ever use, so this is a nice item to have instead.

The last thing out of my first Ipsy bag was so cute! This is a sample of the Balm's new eye shadows in their Meet Matt(e) series. I think everyone got a sample of Matt Battali. The packaging is super cute and it is a generous sample. The photos of the eye shadow didn't turn out, but it is a very dark plum color- Perfect for my green eyes!

Overall, I think this is one of my favourite beauty boxes I have ever received and I am really looking forward to seeing what else Ipsy has in store. Their subscription is $10 a month and it is just shy of $5 to ship to Canada. So at $15 it's right on track with most of the other ones.

Novemeber Top Box Review

I received my second Top Box in the mail this week and I really thought it was quite great. I had spent some time poking around online, so I know there were at least two versions of the box. For the most part I was really happy with the contents of mine. Let's take a look!

Again, I must apologize with the way Blogger posts my photos. I still haven't found the trick to rotating those (even though they are saved the proper way).

The first item I pulled out of the bag was Benefits They're Real! Mascara. I have heard a lot about this mascara and I have seen it pop up in a number of beauty boxes, but this is my first sample of it. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever tried a Benefit product. I'm usually not much of a mascara person, I find that they make my eye lashes hurt. I have been wearing it a bit more in the last little while because I received an amazing sample in one of my other beauty Boxes. I really hope this one is just as good! The full size mascara retails for $29.00. This sample size is worth about $9.60.

The next item out of my box was a full sized China Glaze nail polish. This is another first for me, I have seen all kinds of China Glaze polish, but I have never had the opportunity to try it out. I really love this color! It's part of their Safari collection and I am very excited to try it out. When I was looking at some of the other boxes online I noticed that some girls received a color called I'm Not Lion. It's a very pretty iridescent, gold color. I liked it some much that I placed an order for it this morning. I hope it really is as pretty in real life. The China Glaze polishes sell for about $8-$12 depending on where you find them. This is a full size bottle.

Next up was this bright red lip paint by Pari. I wasn't too sure about this color when I pulled it out of the box. I don't often wear very pigmented lip colors and this one is quite bold for me. I tried it on right away and actually really liked it. It is just as red as it looks but it goes on very smoothly and feels incredible on your lips. I'm hoping I will be able to get some good use out of this at Christmas time. The full size of this product retails for $14 and the sample size is not much smaller than the full size, so this sample is worth just over $10.

The last item I pulled out of the box was this beautiful perfume sample. The tester is for Vera Wang's Lovestruck. I have to admit that I am usually pretty leery about perfume samples. I am very particular on the kinds of scents that I like and some of them really bother me. Top Box describes this scent as a mainly floral scent, with soft hints of fruit and musk. Usually must and floral scents really turn me off, but this perfume is quite nice and well balanced. I could see myself using this on a regular basis. The full sized bottle of Lovestruck retails for $79 making this sample worth about $6.50.

That was it for this month's Top Box, but I really was very happy with it. Can't wait to see what December has in store!

More Befine Reviews

Wow, looks like I have been slacking off again! I am so behind in getting any of my beauty box reviews up. I promise, I am going to try harder in the next little while. I do have to mention though... I have cancelled a couple of my subscriptions.

For those of you that haven't heard, Glossybox increased their price by 40%. Boxes are now $21/month. They did give us the October box for the usual cost of $15. To be honest though, I really wasn't too juiced about this box. It contained a lipstick in a dark brown color, a nail polish that doesn't even show up when you put it on, shampoo that I can't use because of the sulphates in it, and a drug store brand razor. The box just doesn't seem like it is worth the price any more, so I cancelled.

I also cancelled Glymm after receiving the October box. I actually didn't mind this month's box. In fact, it came with the BEST mascara I have EVER used! I'm sorry, I can't remember the brand off the top of my head, but it is amazing! Overall I have just felt the Glymm bags are a little lack lustre and I was getting bored with them. I can't use a lot of the skin care products at the moment because of the Pro Retinols in them. My mom has been benefiting from that fact, but I am just getting tired of so many skin care samples.

I did however sign up for another new box, Ipsy- formerly MyGlam Bag. It looks like this one has only just become available in Canada. It also looks like this subscription in mostly make up! That makes me pretty excited. I am really looking forward to trying this out. I think it was just short of $15 for Canadians.

I have also purchased the October Natural Beauty Box, although that has yet to show up. Hopefully in the next day or so.

I want to go back a couple of months to one of the items that was included in one of the Glossyboxes. They sent us a box that contained 5 different samples from Befine. I tried the mask first and hated it! The cleanser I tried second was amazing. I instantly fell in love with it and have purchased the full sized bottle.

Now I have had a chance to try out the other 2 cleansers that came in that box.

The first one was this Befine Food Skin Care Gentle Cleanser with Sugar, Mint, Oats, and Rice.

This cleanser smells great! Very minty and sweet. But that was about the last thing I enjoyed about this cleanser. The formula is so runny I had a hard time containing it in my hand before I could put it on my face. It's honestly as runny as water. That really turned me off this cleanser and it really had no redeeming properties for me after that. Total disappointment.

Then I tried the Befine Food Skin Care Exfoliating Cleanser with Brown Sugar, Sweet Almond and Oats. This cleanser was even better than the one I had already fallen in love with! It smells like hot oatmeal, sweet and caramelly (if that is a word). The texture is rough like sugar and ground almonds. I love that! I really love good exfoliators. It smells like heaven, and left my skin feeling so smooth afterwards. I instantly bought the full size in this as well. I am hopeful that it will be a little easier to get out of the bottle than it is to get out of the foil packet. The rough texture really makes it stick in there.

Overall, I just don't know how I feel about this company. Their products seems so inconsistent to me. The other item in the box was a nice cream. This was just ok for me. So looking back there were two samples that I loved and 2 that I hated. Not a great track record. The plus is that, of the products I loved... I really loved them and purchased the full size. Wish things were a little more consistent though.