December IPSY glam bag: celebration

As you can imagine things got pretty busy this month. But hey! The month's not over! So my review is still on time.

I know you guys have missed me (hold the applause) but I am ready to dive head first into 2014. I have so many posts lined up, so many goodies to share, and so many plans for this blog! So I hope you're all down for the ride!

This month's bag was a new design. I love that IPSY is branching out with not only the print design on the bags but the bag design themselves. This month's design had the zipper on the front, instead of across the top. It was a 'patent leather' material with a quilted design. Personally the material gave off a very strange scent at first. It was so strong at first that I couldn't stand it! I put away my bag for days before really looking through it.

The smell eventually settled down, though. 

This month's bag is eh. I am not thrilled but I am not disappointed, either. I feel like I say that frequently about IPSY bags. But that's fine by me. As long as they aren't disappointing then I don't mind dropping $10 a month on it. 

The first item I found was this set of false lashes. It comes with adhesive which is awesome because if it didn't I'd be shit out of luck. 

I am not the type of person who wears falsies that often- mostly because I am really bad at putting them on! I know that's something that comes with practice though so I am glad that I got this.

This is exactly the type of product I like receiving from IPSY. Something that I wouldn't normally want to buy for myself, but enjoy having.

Included was #33, a safe choice. They are just run of the mill lashes. Full and simple.

I've never heard of this brand and the IPSY website links to Ulta to buy it from, so I'm guessing that's the only place to buy it? It can be found here for $3.99

It's no secret that I love nail polish and may have a slight addiction. This is an interesting mini bottle from Indie polish brand Starrily. My first indie polish actually!

Bzzz Bzzz is a glitter bomb with various size glitter in yellow and black. Makes sense with the name, huh? 

However, realistically this is such a random color. Like, unless you like the Steelers, when the heck is this an appropriate color combination?

I can tell you right now I probably won't use this much. But since nail polish pretty much never goes bad, I don't mind tossing this in my collection.

Starrily polish can be found here, however, the store is closed for the holiday. You can't even look at the polishes, which is a bummer. SO I have no idea how much this retails for. I will be updating this as soon as the store is back up and running!

One product that I couldn't be bothered to look twice at is this eyeshadow trio from Pop beauty. 

It's a staple for most collections, a smoky eye trio. shimmery white, grey, and black. However once I saw it I didn't even have interest in opening it. Does that sound bad?

It's just, the truth is, those colors are boring to me. I have a million white eyeshadows and even more black shadows. 

To be completely honest, I didn't even open it to swatch it. I offered it to a friend right when I opened it and really, I had trouble trying to open it anyway so I didn't even bother! I think she will enjoy it so hey that's fine by me! 

So this is another confusing product to find the price for. There doesn't seem to be any trios at all on the Popbeauty website. So if a 10-pack runs for $24, a trio would cost approximately $7.21

After I was less than impressed with the Be a Bombshell chubby pencil, I wasn't too excited to find the Be a Bombshell The One Stick in my bag. It's an extremely chubby cream stick that is supposed to function as lipstick, blush, and eyeshadow.  

I got the shade Flustered, which is described as a "warm, bright pink". 

Swatch is on the left with a blended version on the right. In my opinion this is too bright and pigmented of a color to really work as a blush for me. I like subtle blush, personally. I suppose it would work as a lip color, however since it's so large and shapeless, it's a bit harder to apply than regular lipstick. As an eyeshadow it's more subtle, just a slight tinge of cream color. 

So I'm not stoked on this product, but it's not horrible. It did not sell me on the Be a Bombshell brand, though. Especially since this product retails for $16. I would never pay that much unless it really functioned extremely well as all 3 products it claims to be. 

The last product I accidentally didn't take a picture of the product itself. It's a Nyx round lipstick. I love Nyx but I have never tried their round lipsticks- only their matte lip products. 

I probably would have been happy with any shade. But I was pleased with the one I received- sunflower. 

Sunflower is described as a shimmery red-orange, but I see it as a coral. In the swatch above, it's the one on the far left. I really like this color because it's not one that I would buy for myself in the store because I'm not usually drawn to coral colors. However I will gladly wear it now that it's in my collection. For that reason alone I can be happy with this month's bag.

Unfortunately I'm disappointed that the two lip products I received were so similar in shade. I would have much preferred receiving a deep or even nude Nyx color, to contrast with the pinky red 'all in one' stick.

Nyx creamy round lipstick can be found here for $4. 

One last thing that I got- a beauty blender!! I traded my IPSY points in for my very first Beauty Blender. I haven't used it yet but I can't wait, since all I have heard are raving reviews!

So that wraps up my December Ipsy bag. All together it was worth approx. $31.20 (that's without the Starrily polish!) So once again, a great deal for only paying $10. 

If you'd like to get in on this great monthly sub service, you can click my referral link here and sign up! 

For those of you that have IPSY, did we get similar bags? Were you happy with your December glam bag?

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling

P.s. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas, if that's what you celebrate. Or just winter holidays in general :) Have any big plans for New Years Eve? I'll be sharing lots of Christmas goodies (makeup, nails, & a haul!) this week! So be on the look out for that!