Rainbow Honey and Beauteque Mask Maven March 2015

It’s subscription service time! I’m currently signed up for three total, but the Beauteque BB bag won’t start ’till next month.

Rainbow Honey was its usual awesome self polish-wise. Fragrances were meh. It came with three scented products to celebrate the release of their La Patisserie line. These were hit or miss for me – one was a scented top coat, which I never ever think to use. The solid perfume was rose-scented, which is a fragrance that immediately turns on me and smells skunky. (All the other women in my family have this problem. I will have to re-home it with a friend.) The fragrance oil was a lovely sweet/spicy scent that I will get some use out of.

The polishes, however, were lovely!

From left to right, crystal sword is a pink jelly with bar, round, and butterfly glitters inside. Lemon honey is a bright, warm yellow with teeny bronze glitters reminiscent of dirty mintini. And Kozmic Blues is a royal blue with lots of shimmer and a purple shift to it. It reminds me a lot of asteroid b, but a bit more subdued. (And without the stars. Which is regrettable.) I’ll be wearing the heck out of these this summer!

This month brought my first Beauteque Mask Maven bag. For $15 and shipping, I got 9 sheet masks and one rinse-off mask. I approve of that ratio! Some of the masks were from familiar brands My Beauty Diary, Dermal) while the rest were new to me, but with familiar ingredients and essences (cucumber, snail, coenzyme.)

I feel this is a much better value for me than Ipsy was. I’ll use everything. And at the price, each mask comes in at just under $2.00 apiece.

And now for a bonus kitten photobomb montage! 

She arrives, investigates...

...yawns in boredom and leaves. Thanks for your support, Janers!

Goodbye, Ipsy! Hello Beauteque!

Yeah, I cancelled Ipsy. This was the last straw bag.

I don’t think Ipsy is bad in general. I just feel that it’s better suited to folks who are just starting their makeup collections or people who can use everything.  Here’s what I mean:

We have a blush. Most days my natural redness shows through foundation, making blush redundant. We have a lip stain. I’m a sheer balm kind of girl. We have a silver eyeliner with glitter in it. I’m a 36-year-old librarian with sensitive eyes. A volumizing heat protectant spray. My hair is 50 inches long and has not seen a blowdryer since the ’80’s. And finally, a face oil. Which is the only thing I might be able to use if I’m not allergic to the fragrence.

One useable sample and a cute bag does not $10.00 make. Yes, Ipsy is sort-of customized. I can give feedback. And I do! But no matter how many times I indicate that I don’t want hair products I still get them. Ditto with blush. Ditto with glittery eye products. Their monthly pool of samples just isn’t large enough to make sure someone as fiddly as I am gets stuff she can use.

Ipsy, it’s not you. It’s me.

Mostly.

I decided to replace it, because I really enjoyed the idea of Ipsy. (Just not the actual Ipsy.) I did some searching around and settled on Beauteque’s Mask Maven subscription. It’s a little more a month – you get 9-11 masks for $15 a month plus shipping. But I have a feeling it’ll be a much better value for me, personally, since I mask so often.

I haven’t heard much buzz about the mask service. I saw one of my favorite Youtubers, Victoria Donelda, review Beauteque’s other service, the BB Bag. It seems to be focused on Korean beauty companies, which I have actively been seeking out over the past 6 months or so. So I signed up for that, too.

I don’t want to become a haul/box opening blog but I feel like writing about these things will help me become accountable and more objective than I otherwise would be. We’ll see how it goes!

Friday the 13th, Broken Nails, and the Great Fast-dry Top Coat Battle

I have been a great big grump most of the week. I might go kaboom the next time someone barks the words “tax” “form” or “instructions” in any configuration or context.

There’s also nothing like having to Scotch tape your blouse to your boobs to keep from flashing patrons whilst working in the stacks. Fat girl problems. The struggle is real.

The looming holiday isn’t helping my mood any. I am the Grinch of Valentine’s Day amongst my group. Not because the Hubster isn’t sweet and thoughtful. Because he is. I don’t even object to setting aside a day to societally celebrate love. But what I hate is the mass-produced compulsoryness of it. You must celebrate the same way, get and give the same gifts. Tuesday morning, I will see at least twenty different women wearing the same necklace that Kay’s has been advertising on TV for weeks. It’s a bit depressing, actually.

And then I broke some nails. One of them twice. In one day. This takes talent.

Even on ratty nails, this holographic is mesmerizing!

So I cut all of them off. Which is just a really good opportunity to wear all my very dark and very bright polish. There may even be some galaxy nails involved. Oh yes.

And then Friday the 13th happened. I don’t know why, but I always have good days on Fridays the 13th. For instance, this year, The Hubster got news of his raise at work, I hit all the green traffic lights everywhere I went, patrons were generally cheerful and nice, which is not usually the case on a typical Friday. My Rainbow Honey bag and the KB Shimmer box both came. It felt like all the good little things that usually occur over the course of the week waited until Friday. I will totally take it!

This weekend, we’re going to avoid the V-day revelries, do a little work around the house, and I will enjoy President’s Day off with a little shopping and a good book. So exciting, I know.

Around here next week, I’ll probably talk a little about those indie polishes. There will be swatching, although I may take a bit of a break until I get some nail back. I’m a couple weeks ahead anyway. And Ipsy will probably be happening. (The more I think about it, the more I want to cancel and try something different.)

I’m also planning a battle of the fast-dry top coats and will start testing next week. (If there’s one you want me to include, let me know! I’ve got Sally Hansen Insta-dry, Out the Door, Seche Vite, KB Shimmer’s Clearly On Top, HK Girl, and Superchic Laquer’s Marvel. All new bottles.) Now I just need to decide which polish I like well enough to wear weekly for a while that is versitile enough for me to stamp over.

Ipsy – January 2014

After almost a year of Ipsy, I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to look forward to, and open, the little bags each month.  I usually get samples from brands I haven’t tried yet. And the more feedback I give, the more useful the products are to me each month.

But after ten months, I have gotten duplicates. (If I get another bronze-colored Pacifica eyeshadow, I’m quitting Ipsy on the spot.) There’s really been nothing I’ve tried that’s made me want to do backflips. Only one thing that led to any sales, and that was the double-ended Crown brush everybody got a few months back.

I think I’m going to post the bags here and do a look back to the previous months’ products for a while. If I feel continually meh, I think I’ll cancel and try something new.

Anybody else out there conflicted about Ipsy? Do you have a subscription service you love?