August Glamour Acadamy Ipsy Glam Bag!

 

This month's ipsy glam bag is super cute deep plum colored with a gold crest (reminiscent of Hogwarts' school crest!) saying Ipsy Glamour Academy.  I actually got this a little later then I normally do, I read something on their site that they were having a slow shipping month. But here we are!

Michael Todd true organics Pumpkin facial mask $34 for 3.4 fl oz
You can find this HERE.  My sample size is 1 fl oz, which means at 3.4 fl oz this full size is huge for a facial mask. Well worth the $34 for the amount of product you'll get in my opinion. This is a super thick paste, much thicker then other facial masks I've come across. It literally looks like they pureed pumpkin, removed the water, and bottled it. It is orange like roasted pumpkin and it also smells exactly like the pumpkins I roast for pie, minus the pie spice. The tube says, "for all skin type except sensitive." It has a creamy texture with just a small amount of grittiness. Within about 15 seconds of applying this it started to tingle, not in a horrible way but in an almost uncomfortable way. It smells much less pleasant on the skin, almost like roasted pumpkin that's gone slightly sour. I left it on for 5 of the recommended 5-10 minutes. It washed off easily, left absolutely no residue, my skin felt firmer, and definitely looked brighter. The best part? I smelled none of that sour pumpkin scent after rinsing it off! I would use this again. It says on the bottle you can use this every 1-2 weeks, which is doable for me. Overall this is a solid OK product. I can't argue with the results but the scent on my face is almost unbearable. This product is also "Certified Vegan".

Smash Box Photo Finish facial primer $36 for 1oz
You can find this HERE. If you've subscribed to any beauty box of any type, you've gotten a sample of this primer. This claims an Oil Free finish but on me I might as well be slathering my face in butter. I do not have oily skin normally, my skin is generally on the dry side, but this primer brings oil from somewhere deep within my pores right to the surface and jacks up my make up. I always end up giving this to my friend who has oily skin and loves it. So I guess, if you have oily skin, try this out. But if you have dry skin, steer clear. Aside from making my dry skin oily, this has absolutely no scent and has a gel like consistency. It's very easy to get every inch of your face with minimal product, and it absorbs rather quickly leaving almost no residue. My face feels slightly velvety right after applying this but the oiliness sets in after about 30 minutes.

On the left is where I blended it out you'll see it gets lighter towards the top.

MICA Beauty Cosmetics Shimmer powder in Bronze #17 $14.95 for 2.5 grams
You can find this HERE. As far as a loose shadow is concerned this is a huge package. You are getting a ton of product for your money. Bronze is in the Day eyeshadow collection on the MICA website. The color pay off from this is fantastic! Even without a primer, I easily achieved an opaque bronze on my lids without having to pack it on. It also blended out to a nice, extra shimmery, light bronze, which was again, easily achieved. I had minimal fall out from this as well. This could actually be used as a highlighter on your cheeks as too, if used sparingly. This would look gorgeous on fair and dark skin tones, and could go from a day at the office to a night on the town seamlessly. Overall I'm super impressed with this. The only problem I had was that my powder didn't want to come out of the little sifter holes, I had to tap it on my desk pretty hard a couple of times to get enough for my lids. It did come out eventually though so that isn't really a huge problem.

Pixi Beauty Last Booster Mascara in Blackest Black #2 $17 for .25 oz
You can find this HERE.  This comes in 2 shades, Blackest Blue and Blackest Black. The brush is an old school chubby bristle brush, as opposed to rubber nubs or plastic spikey tips you find on a lot of mascara wands, it's fuller at the tip and comes in slightly as it nears the base. Because I smell all of my make up, I'll just point out that this smells like wax, straight up candle wax. This is supposed to be waterproof as well as nourishing. This went on just fine, one dip of the brush coated all of my lashes, top and bottom. It took about 3 passes to get a nice even black  though. It dried a little on the slow side though, maybe 5 minutes at the most. It didn't leave my lashes stiff or clump them together either. As I've said about a million times prior, I have shorter lashes on my left eye then I do on my right, I noticed a slight addition in length and a small curl, nothing to write home about though. Overall it is a decent mascara, I wouldn't recommend it if you are in a desperate need of lengthening or a dramatic curl, but it works just fine.

I just wanted to include all Revolution Lipstick colors

A close up of 69

A side by side with their previous signature red Revolution on the left and 69 on the right.

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in 69 $22
You can find these HERE. As with every other Urban Decay lipstick this was incredibly creamy. It was opaque in 2 swipes, and it lasted on my lips (no liner/no blotting/no layering) for about 6 hours with normal wear and tear. I had several glasses of tea and ate a bbq sandwich while wearing this, I had minimal rub off on my glass and none on my food. It did wear down to a nice wash of red in the end, instead of rubbing off and completely disappearing. Prior to this launch UD had a signature red  lipstick (lipstick, not stain, crayon, pencil, or gloss) called Revolution which we will call "R" from now on so it doesn't get confusing. "R" is a color, Revolution Lipstick is a new type of lipsticks UD launched. I swatched them side by side to show the slight difference. 69 is slightly blue based while R seems a little more on the yellow side. R was perfect for me when I had my natural ginger hair but looked horrible once I went platinum. However, 69 is perfect with my blonde hair, which makes me so very happy. The Revolution Lipsticks also have a sleek new packaging, instead of the sword bottom on the regular lipsticks, these are packaged in a shiny silver tube with Urban Decay stamped on the side. While UD is on the pricier side I feel this lipstick is worth it. I fully believe in investing in a nice red lipstick no matter who you are. I mean, unless you're a man who doesn't wear lipstick... or an animal...  I am, however, deeply saddened by them taking away the little sword on the bottom. I love that about my UD lipsticks!



I don't generally add photos of myself to these, but I am not only wearing the Revolution Lipstick in 69 but I'm also wearing the MICA shimmer powder in Bronze on my lids.

 

Just wanted to add in the sword bottomed lipstick tubes so everyone knows what I'm talking about. They are normally plain silver as well, just with the sword on top, I have a cover on mine which is why it looks funky.

As always, if you would like to receive your very own Ipsy Glam bag you can do so right HERE.
The subscription is $10 a month, sometimes there is a small waiting list.

Enjoy! 

 

*Ipsy Glam Bag is a monthly beauty sample bag that I paid for with my very own money. I do not get paid to give good reviews*