ipsy Unboxing: April 2014

The second I heard that the April ipsy bags would include an Urban Decay eyeliner, my usual quest to stay unspoiled until my own bag arrived went out the window.  I was hearing from all different sources that this month's selection of products were some of the best that ipsy had assembled in recent months; on the whole, I'm usually pretty satisfied with ipsy, but there have been some off months here and there.

Loving this funky bag

Products!  Wee!

Beginning with the products I forgot to take closeups of (it was a crazy morning), there's a healthy-sized can of Big Sexy Hair Root Pump, which I'm excited to try out on my fine hair, and an equally generous tube (for skin care, anyway) of the Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant (hey, who couldn't use a good exfoliation every now and again?).

On to the fun stuff!

As I mentioned, the item I was most excited about was the Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black Velvet.  I am powerless to resist a good black liner, be it liquid, felt-tip or pencil.  To date, I've only used the original formula pencil in Demolition (a rich, chocolatey brown), and I've loved it for well over a year now.  I'm excited to play around with this new formula and see how it holds up, especially on my waterline (another perennial quest of mine).

Left: initial swatch. Right: after light smudging with my finger.

A girl can always use a good champagne shadow, right?  This Elizabeth Mott shadow swatches beautifully, and I'm excited to try it out.  A few notes: the packaging, while cute and clear, feels a little cheap, and the pan has already dislodged itself from the glue holding into place.  No matter, though, because the shadow is gorgeous and I can easily pop into a Z Palette instead.

The last goody that arrived in my ipsy this month is an adorable jelly lip gloss from Mary Kay.  I have a couple of MK lipsticks that I like quite a bit, and I recently used up a mascara that I loved but whose name escapes me at the moment.  This gloss is a beautiful nude color, and surprisingly opaque.  I'm thinking it might be nice for a sweet Easter look...

Was your ipsy bag different than mine this month?  What did you love from your bag?

ipsy Unboxing, March 2014

The ipsy bags that have been delivered to me over the last couple of months have been a touch lackluster.  There were a few bright spots, of course (the Pop Beauty lip color I got last month is gorgeous), but overall I've not been terribly impressed.  I generally try to avoid spoilers before I receive my bag because I love to be surprised, but a friend let slip a few days ago that through her online research, she had seen what was on its way for this month and was anxious to see hers in person.

Is this not the cutest bag?  It might be my favorite that ipsy has ever put out.

I was pleasantly surprised this month!  That NYX trio in Bikini Bottom is super pretty; shimmery neutrals are right up my alley.

I'm a little skeptical of the eyeliner that came in this month's bag; I'm not typically one for colored eyeliner, but this blue is very pretty.  As it happens, I gave up wearing liner for Lent this year, but I'm eager to give this a try once Easter time is upon us.

There's also a Bare Minerals lipstick in a pretty, mauve-y shade, as well as a Pixi face primer that looks promising.  Overall, while it seemed like there were fewer products to sample this month, the size and quality of the samples made up for that.  It's a win this time around!