June Ipsy Bag

I've been so busy I nearly forgot to post about this month's Ipsy bag!

This month's haul was pretty great! I mean, a Rebecca Minkoff bag? Are you kidding me with this?! 

I am most excited about the Be A Bombshell Mascara and the NYX Butter Gloss. I needed new mascara so that was just perfect timing, and it's excellent! As for the gloss, it really does feel like butter! It's a nice pale color, and it doesn't get as sticky as some of the other glosses do. 

I'm also pretty happy about the OFRA Eyebrow Pencil. To be perfectly honest, my eyebrows are a little sad.  Let's just hope this gives them the help they need.

The bag also had some perfume, Realtree for Her. Thing is, I'm not really a perfume kind of girl. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with the sample yet, but it's probably going to find a home with somebody else. It smells good! I'm just more of a body splash person. I feel like all the other products I use already have so many scents that adding more on top is just overkill. I'd rather just smell clean. 

The last piece in this month's collection is a bottle of Marc Anthony Dream Waves Beach Spray. I gave this to Betty, for two reasons. First of all, she has gorgeous natural waves and I thought it would be a lot of fun for her to play up on that. 

Second, I chopped my hair off. 

Well, I went to a salon and had a stylist chop my hair off. 

Your guess is as good as mine as to why my lips are blue. I didn't edit this picture except to crop it, and my lips weren't blue when I took the picture. Weird.

I was really hating my other cut. There was nothing specifically wrong with it, it just didn't feel like ME. I felt like my hair was making a statement that I just didn't agree with. As if I was trying to be edgier than I actually am.

Ipsy

I mentioned in the first post I did about my nail addiction that I signed up for Ipsy, this is the post where I get to tell you all about it. (In the spirit of full disclosure, if you click on that link and sign up for Ipsy then I get points towards free stuff. That doesn't color my opinions at all.)

I know it's been a long time coming, but I wanted to get a few months in. I wanted to be sure that I really do love it and that it wasn't some kind of fluke the first couple of times.

I love it!!

As I said before, Ipsy is a subscription service that sends out beauty products in a cute bag every month for a flat rate of $10.

Ten dollars is totally worth it. They don't cheap out on the products. Some of them are trial size, but even the smallest container of product that I've gotten is enough for many uses. A lot of the stuff I've been getting is full sized products. Some of these full sized products are worth more than the price I pay for the whole bag! For example, in my May bag I received a full size bottle of Nailtini polish (which I already blogged about) I was curious, so I looked it up and found that it sells for $13 a bottle and that doesn't even include the shipping.

I don't wear a lot of make up, but I do enjoy it. Even if I didn't wear make up at all I'd still love Ipsy. In addition to the make up and nail polish, I've been shipped hair supplies, sunscreen, moisturizer, a mud mask, and even a make up brush.

Here's the break down of the four months I've been subscribed and everything I've been sent! (Quick note: I was cleaning up my Google Drive and accidentally deleted a bunch of my pictures. I had to recreate March, April, and May. The pictures aren't as good, and some of the products look used because I've been using them!)

February:

A cute pink bag containing: POP Beauty Plump Pout Mini in Fuchsia Freesia (Love it!), skyn ICELAND Fresh Start Mask with Ice Age Mud (haven't used it yet), City Color Be Matte Blush in Fresh Melon (also haven't tried it yet), Zoya Nail Polish in Odetta (used it and liked it a lot!!), and a pair of J. Cat Beauty Eyelashes and Eyelash Glue (Used them with mixed results. The product is great, my technique... not so much!).

March:

This bag was made by an artist especially for Ipsy and is a representation of city streets. I've been carrying it around as a wallet, I totally adore it. It held: Pixi Beauty Flawless Beauty Primer (used it once, didn't notice much difference), bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Get Ready (LOVE IT!! This tube has lived in my purse. It's tiny, but perfect!), NYX Love in Rio Eye Shadow trio in Segredos de Giselle (Also love and used many times!), and Chella Indigo Blue Eyeliner (used it and thought it was cool, but not for every day).

April:

Betty totally called dibs on this bag. A rock and roll theme was right up her alley! I kept the fun stuff inside: Big Sexy Hair Root Pump Volumizing Spray Mousse, Starlooks Luscious Longwear Lip Pencil in Naked, Elizabeth Mott pop! goes the shadow in Champagne, Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion, and Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil travel size in Black Velvet. (I haven't used any of this stuff yet, but I'm looking forward to it all!)

May:

This leafy bag had fun stuff that's making me long for sun and sand: Hang Ten Classic Sport SPF 50 sunscreen, Pacifica Mineral Eye Shadow Duo in Moonbeam and Unicorn, Nailtini Straight Up Color Nail Lacquer in Champagne (already blogged about this one!), Pur~lisse Pur~Moist Hydra Balance Moisturizer, and a Crown Brush Pro Blending Fluff Brush.

I'm having a lot of fun, every month is like Christmas! As you can see, I'm getting some really quality stuff for a really reasonable price.

Champagne Nails and a haircut.

My last manicure chipped, so instead of a Sunday manicure I had one on Friday.

I actually took the nail polish off on Wednesday and just painted my nails with two coats of OPI Natural Nail Strengthener. I just couldn't decide what to do this time. There are so many ideas buzzing around in my head but nothing seemed right.

Turns out I was waiting for a reason! My May Ipsy bag came on Friday and included a bottle of Nailtini Lacquer in Champagne. Talk about serendipity!

Two coats of OPI Natural Nail Strengthener and two coats of Nailtini Lacquer in Champagne

I really like the Nailtini Lacquer, but I'm not sure how I feel about the color. Sometimes I think I like it, then I see it in a different light and I'm not so sure. It's a pretty shade of copper-y beige, with a pearl glimmer. I just don't know if I like it on me. Feel free to let me know how you think it looks, I'd love some honest feedback.

There is another thing I'm not sure how I feel about.

I had my hair cut on Tuesday. I wanted to go much shorter for summer. I took a few ideas into the stylist, told him I wasn't afraid of going short, and then told him to do whatever he wanted.

It looked great when he was done, after he blow dried and styled it. I totally loved it.

The after pictures were taken by Joshua, the super talented stylist who came up with this look.

I did a little tweaking in the car and liked it even more.

But now that I've had it for a few days I'm not sure how I feel about it. I wore it today with no product in it at all and that's clearly not something I can do.

Eric told me it looks like something bad happened to my head, "Something that wasn't supposed to happen." Shanon said it looks like something from the 80's a la Cyndi Lauper. It's definitely much spikier when I don't have stuff in it.

I'm thinking it's a little more avant-garde than I'm used to. As it stands right now, I think I'm going to grow it out for a while and then go in for a simple pixie cut. Then again, I'm also considering dying it light blue with dark blue accents.... I do know I need more time to play with it, so don't be surprised if I post more pathetic selfies!

Favorites Friday: Tiaras

There aren't a lot of truly elaborate things I really love. I tend to like simple things, basics, clean lines.

Even in my jewelry, I like things to be simple. I'd much rather have a pair of pearl studs over a pair of glittery chandelier earrings. A simple silver I.D. bracelet over a diamond tennis bracelet, or going completely unadorned to being garish.

Glitter doesn't rule my life. Normally I prefer a soft sheen.

Unless we're talking about tiaras!

A tiara is basically as elaborate as it gets. It is the polar opposite of everyday wear. It takes a seriously special occasion to break out a tiara, and they're seriously pricey, so they're also very rare.

Opulent, over the top, and completely unnecessary, there is a special place in my heart for tiaras.

This week I've found a bunch on Etsy for my Favorites Friday. Maybe in the future I'll do a post on my favorite royal tiaras, but for now here's ones you could actually own yourself. Watch out though, these are mostly quite expensive. Don't fall in love only to be heartbroken by the price!

I'm starting with my absolute favorite. I cannot tell you how much I wish I'd found this when I was shopping for my wedding. This tiara is absolutely my idea of perfection.

Silver and Pearls Princess Tiara by KeshiJewelry $360

Isn't it gorgeous!?!!

Okay, now that I've wiped the drool off my keyboard, here are the rest of my favorites. In no particular order.

Victorian Look Rose Cut Diamond and Pearl Tiara by TraditionalJewels $1,349.11

Drusilla Tiara by AncaPeelma $640

Queen's Rose Cut Diamond and Pearl Tiara by Suratcarat $699

Crystal Circle Tiara by MadisonLaneBridal $25

Art Nouveau Zarina Tiara by Castens $1,360

Diamante Bridal Tiara by HelenCurtisTiaras $83.03

Pearl Sterling Tiara by gurlygirl $620

Extraordinary Rhinestone Tiara by yesteryearglam $68

Frederika Gold Tiara by OliviaHeadpieces $76.47