By: Amelia

Recently, I’ve been hearing a ton of great things about ipsy from a few YouTubers (Eleventhgorgeous, Brigitte Courbe, & KathleenLights). If you’re unfamiliar with ipsy, it’s a monthly subscription of deluxe samples and full-sized beauty products for $10 a month. I know, I know… How AWESOME?!

Before you join, there’s a quiz that they require you to take. But it’s a fun quiz. They ask you questions regarding your skin tone, eye color, hair color, type of skin, type of hair, your style of makeup, your fashion sense, etc. etc. They ask you these things so they can learn a bit about you, and what suits your personality best.

Each month, they send you a “Glam Bag” that is filled with about 5 items per pouch. From what I have gathered from the video reviews that I have watched, most of the items are from brands that are well-known. Since this is my first month of receiving a glam bag, I have many unanswered questions about ipsy that I would like to answer for myself and possibly you, too. Other than reading and watching reviews, the only way to truly answer those questions is to see it with my own eyes. So with that been said, if you are iffy about ipsy, and don’t want to spend your bucks yet, allow me to do your dirty work and figure out if ipsy is HOT or NOT.

The package arrived about 4 days after I subscribed. Once it had arrived, it was packaged in a pretty pink bubble-wrap envelope. The entire package was lightweight, and super thin. I was a little concerned at how light it was, but I didn’t want to judge too soon. The glam bag itself is super cute. It’s got a holographic print (which I absolutely LOVE), and it has little… round/spikey/odd looking… candy cane things that I think are meant to be the top view of beach umbrellas. Buuuuut I could be wrong. Overall, the bag is super cute.

Inside, there was a postcard that was pretty much useless but I’m keeping it anyway.

The first product I pulled out was a tiny little package of “the Balm cosmetics” eyeshadow from their “Meet Matt(e) Trimony” collection. The color is called “Matt Kumar” and it’s a really dark reddish brown tint. The eyeshadow is 0.018 oz so it’s not a whole lot. I think the concept of the eyeshadow collection is super cute, but am I impressed with this? Not really. I feel like if ipsy put in an eyeshadow, it should have been a little bit bigger. Overall, this was a NOT.

The next thing I pulled out was a lipliner by OFRA in the color Maya. Three things about this product… First, OFRA carries some of my favorite lip products soooooo a great first impression. Second, it’s a full-sized lipliner weighing in at 0.04 oz, which is pretty normal for a lipliner soooooooooo two out of three, OFRA, two out of three. Lastly, the color is similar to the eyeshadow. It’s a reddish brown color which I’m always okay to put on my lips. (Who knows, maybe I’ll do a look with reddish brown eyeshadow and lips for the fall.) This product was a definite HOT for me.

As I continued pulling out each item, I became more and more excited. Next, I discovered a brand that I had never heard of and a product that I have never tried before… It was a rejuvenating antioxidant mask made by Palmetto Derma. I love masks. Love em, love em, love em but when I say this item is so small… I mean, this item is SO small. It is about 34 fl. oz. but I can’t imagine getting any more than a single use out of this. Had the item been a tad bit bigger, I would have given this a HOT for sure, but very unfortunately… I am going to have to say NOT.

Next up, I pulled out a full-sized small angled eye brush made by the brand LUXIE. I have never heard of the brand LUXIE but from what I have seen on their website, they sell a good variety of brushes and makeup. Although I already own several small angled brushes, I was still pretty stoked to get this because it was full-sized. I’d say this was pretty HOT.

The last product I pulled out didn’t look too exciting at first glance. But once I figured out what it was, I almost wet my panties. The brand was one that I had never heard of… treStique? The item was not full-sized but it wasn’t a sample size either. It was more of a travel-size or as ipsy would say…. deluxe sample. It is a pencil highlighter, and I am pretty damn excited to add this to my makeup collection. I love highlighters, and the fact that its a pencil/crayon highlighter makes me so happy. I have never tried anything other than the MAC Cosmetics pan highlighter, so again, I’m flipping’ excited. I’d kinda, maybe, just probably, rate this a HOT. Just kinda. (Sarcasm, just fyi)

Three HOTs out out five isn’t so bad. Overall, the July glam bag was HOT. My top fave would definitely be the highlighter. The makeup brush and lipliner were awesome as well, but I’m definitely stoked about the highlighter.