A Pouch of Beauty Wonder (November Ipsy Bag)

I have been an Ipsy subscriber on and off for a while now. Ipsy is a subscription service that every month will send you high end products you can try for only 10 dollars a month. It comes out automatically and comes in a beautiful pink foil shipping bag.

Through Ipsy you can take a test and they will send you beauty products (both sample and full sized) based on how you answer your questions. Ipsy was originally called glam bag and was started by the YouTube beauty guru, Michelle Phan.

If you interested in watching any of her videos please go here https://www.youtube.com/user/MichellePhan

Personally I love getting my Ipsy bag. Sometimes there isn’t something you like in it but it’s a fun way to try new products.


Here is what I got this month:
The bag we got this month is a pretty purple and pink and looks like the Milky Way. A girl at my work liked it so much I gave it to her because I have so many little bags from Ipsy.


If you would like to see other Ipsy bag designs. Go to https://www.ipsy.com/glambag


In my bag I received:

Inspr Eyeshadow in Carnival

Jelly Pong Pong Liquid Gossamer (not pictured here. See a description of it here http://jellypongpong.com/face/35-liquid-gossamer-48-water-based-78-natural.html)

TrèStique matte lip color in Chile Red


Smashbox full exposure in Jet black


Tucker Ashley Perfecting Moisturizer

After I received my bag I of course swatched out my products to see what they looked like. I gave away the liquid gossamer because I have oily skin and it was way too illuminating for my skin.

One of my friends at work also has an Ipsy bag so we traded my gossamer for her black eye liner which was by Be a Bombshell Cosmetics in Wild Child. 


 
Inspr Eyeshadow in Carnival:

This slightly shimmery taupe eye shadow is the perfect color for my blue eyes and I’m excited to use it. It isn’t as pigmented as I generally like but it’s a nice shade that I should get a lot of use out of. I've used it as a base eye shadow and in the crease and its a really nice shade. I do really like this shadow. 

Its size is .05 oz. This is a full size product. An eye shadow of this size sells on their website for 13 dollars. 

For more make up by inspr go to http://www.insprbeauty.com/?src=gr



TrèStique matte lip color in Chile Red:

I love the packaging of this brand so much. It looks like a crayon and then bam! makeup. It’s super cute and rolls up easily. The color is a very vibrant chili red color. I don’t often wear red on my lips but it will be a fun color for this holiday season. I love the color its a beautiful red color and its matte. For me, even with drinking and eating I'd say it lasted about 3-4 hours which is pretty good. I liked it quite a bit.  

Its size is .02 oz. This is a sample size but the real lip crayon also comes with a balm on the bottom of the crayon. It’s regularly priced at 28 dollars. I’m actually really interested in this product and might buy a full size to try it out. I think the balm in the bottom is a cool idea.

For more from TrèStique go to https://trestique.com/

Smashbox full exposure in Jet black:

Now for the real fun stuff. A smash box mascara. I am so excited about smash box. I love their primers and I always hear amazing things about smash box but to be honest it’s not something I can really afford right now. Which is why I LOVE Ipsy. A great chance to find great products. 

The brush is huge btw like the size of my eye. It is a nice mascara and I quite like it. I definitely can't afford to regularly buy this mascara but I do like it a lot. 

The size of this product is .14 oz. This is a sample size. The full size of this mascara costs 20 dollars. 

For more from Smashbox go to http://www.smashbox.com

Tucker Ashley Perfecting Moisturizer:

I also got a moisturizer which is oil free and is a face lotion. The website says it can be used as a serum for a treatment at night. I have tried it a few times it is a nice moisturizing lotion but I'm still looking for my holy grail moisturizer.  I like something that leaves me a little matte.  If you know of a product please let me know. 

It feels like a nice moisturizer and not greasy.

Its size is 1 oz. and this is a full size. The cost for this is 19.95, which is too much for me to spend for just one ounce of product.

Tucker Ashley has many skin lines so if you are interested in more information go to http://www.tuckerashley.com/

Be a Bombshell Cosmetics in Wild Child:

I am an eye liner junkie so this product was really put to the test. It’s a black eyeliner. It seems pretty basic though and the pigmentation in this isn’t as dark as some other drugstore ones or the urban decay 24 hour eyeliner which is a favorite of mine. But since using it I find that it pulls at my eye and is hard to get on.  Not only that but its not very dark and the pigmentation only lasted 3 hours.  I need my eyeliner to last all day!  I won't be reusing this product because for me it just doesn't work. 

Its size is .25 oz. and I believe this is full size. It’s hard to tell because this item is not for sale on their webpage. Other eye liners run about 14 dollars.

If you are interested in this brand go to http://beabombshellcosmetics.com/



Overall: I received 3 full sized items. It would have cost me 94 dollars to buy all this in full size. But instead I got it all for 10 dollars! So if I don’t like it who cares! At that price, it was fun just to see what was in my bag.

If you receive the Ipsy bag let me know how you found your November bag!



BTW: I did receive my new bag but once I’ve tried out those products I will let you know and post my thoughts sometime late January. That way I have enough time to test them out!

Please stay tuned over the next week for all of my cookie and fudge recipes. I will be baking quite a bit. I hope you all enjoy my posts!

The Other Side of the Story: A writer’s and publisher’s tale

Lately I’ve been really into reading again.  I’ve reread a lot of my ultimate favorite authors.  Marian Keyes would definitely be one.  I adore her books and have read a many of them.  If you ever get a chance my favorites are Watermelon, Angels and Sushi for Beginners but most of them are great, engaging and fun reads.  But there are still a few of her books that I have either not bought or not gotten a chance to read yet.  The Other Side of the Story is one of those books. 

 

I bought this book years ago when it first came out and it sat on my shelf unloved.  As any avid reader knows sometimes we overbuy on books and never actually read them.  During one of my collegiate purges I gave away this book to my parish flea market.  And then more recently I’ve joined a website called https://www.scribd.com/ which is a monthly pay service that lets you read as many books as you want.  Its only 9 bucks and they are literally at your fingertips.  So now I read off of my iPhone, Kindle and laptop anywhere I am.  I read every day on my break at work.  It’s a good way to spend an office break if the weather isn’t particularly inviting. 

 

This is a story about three women who are somehow connected.  They all become involved in the publishing world and there is a bit of back story on each one.  Marian does a great job bouncing from character to character to build up the story.  So onto the main players on this book:

 

 

Gemma Hogan

Gemma Hogan is an Irish party planner but not any party planner. She plans epic events!  Often her career life is full of designers, castles and bolts of fabric every shade of gold.  But her personal life is definitely less glittering.  Her ex-best friend stole her ex and the love of her life.  Her father left her mother for someone near her age.  And her mother is completely dependent on her to give up everything to live with her and help her deal with her depression. 

Jojo Harvey:

Jojo Harvey is an American (they don’t often get main appearences in Marian’s predominately British and Irish literature).  She is an ex cop and comes from one of those large boisterious families.  She also just so happens to be Jessica Rabbit’s look alike which can cause her more trouble than its worth.  She is now a top agent at a British publishing agency working her way to partner.  Oh and the last thing I forgot to tell you is that she is sleeping with her married hunk of a boss, who just so happens to be a partner at the agency. 

Lily Wright:

Lily Wright is your average good girl with a guilt complex.  One thing different about her is she unmeaningfully fell in love with her best friend’s ex thus estranging herself from her friend forever.  If that’s not a reason to have a guilty complex she isn’t sure what else is.  She is a new mom to a beautiful daughter and author to a best selling book with a cult following.  Despite her success she seems to be forever waiting for her luck to run out. 

 

Without giving away all of Marian Keyes sercrets in this book, I want you to know that this isn’t my favorite book by her nor is it a book I want back in my collection.  I am not upset that I read it but it was definitely lacking that spark that a lot of Marian’s books have.  I felt myself saying ‘so what?’ after reading this book.  Her book was engaging and interesting but it lead up to a point where I was so done with the characters and what they were gonna do.  Instead of having her characters make a choice, this time things just sort of happened to them.  They ignored the problem until the inevitable happened. 

 

Also my other really big problem with this book was character growth.  Usually Marian’s characters go through some sort of problem or issue and it helps them grow and become a better version of themselves.  More strong, independent, more ready to love, more accepting of their past, working through addiction, death and/or abandonment.  This book had none of that.  I felt that all these characters were more monochromoatic than usual.  They did not grow, in fact, I spent most of the book being annoyed with the way they talked, acted and treated everyone around them.  They just didn’t seem real. 

 

As a teen, I loved writing and would often write short stories for fun.  This book reminded me of my first story.  The characters were simple and talked in a way that I didn’t find believable. 

 

I would have improved on this book by having one of the following happening. Gemma really reflect on her parents relationship and the relationships she was involving herself in.  She would have had a moment of clairty about Lily and her ex.  Jojo would have done something.  How could such a strong character become so weak because of one man.  And how would she put her career either on hold for him or just be happy with whatever she was given.  She would have fought and she would have won.  Or at least she would have tried.  She would have really thought more about the moral implication of separating a married man from his family.  Lily would have grown up a little and stopped being so ungrateful for what she had.  She would have moved forward because her love was strong. 

 

BUT . . . what I really loved about this book was its insight to the publishing world and what its really like to be a writer.  I’ve always wanted to write a book and get it published but its easy to forget that its not easy.  There are stressful deadlines and problems with getting your book bought to being “out in the public’s eye” enough.  And then there is the problems associated with the public as far as reviews and what were to happen if the book were to not do well. 

 

It was interesting watching a book go from someone’s computer to a reader to an agent to a publishing house. 

 

 

 

Overall, this book is a good engaging read.  Its good for a vacation or a beach because you can pick it up and stop without dying to know what is going on.  But to me, that only makes it an average book.  I enjoyed reading it but the characters just aren’t as developed or as good as in her other books.  If you have ever thought of getting published though I would recommend you read this book.  It will both inspire you to write more and to moan that you suck at writing.  (It somewhat inspired my blog).  But otherwise I would recommend the following:

Watermelon

Angels

Rachel’s Holiday

Sushi for Beginniners

Last Chance Saloon

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married

If anyone would like to hear a review on any of these books please comment below.  And I’ll be happy to write one for those books.  Its always a good reason to reread a favorite.