**REVIEW** Ipsy Subscription Box

Walmart has a good box, Birchbox is awesome, FitFabFun is great for those who can afford it, and Ipsy is...

Well, I got the first Ipsy box and I did like almost everything in it. It's priced right in there with Birchbox, that's a big Plus. Also, it comes with a little cosmetics bag, another Plus. So, if there are 2 great subscription boxes, both at the same low $10-price, how to narrow down which one to keep?

If this Ipsy box had included better profile-matched samples, I would have had a harder time choosing between it and Birchbox (which I loved for May). Let's take a look at what was in the Ipsy box and what I thought of each item.

The delivery came in a cute little hot purple (pink?) puffy envelope.

I removed the label so that I can repurpose the mailer for sending my little nephew a gift next month. He will love that color.

This photo reps the color better than the
above photo

There were 5 items in a cute little cosmetics bag that I will be able to use.

Patterned side of the bag

I will start with the one thing that I liked most and that is the Trestique Mini Matte Blur Stick.

It works great - easily tamping down shine and absorbing excess oils on the face. It was nice to see something like this in a stick instead of in a squeeze tube or bottle. There is a mild, powdery feel that is pleasant on the skin and I thought that this would be something I would actually use Ipsy points to purchase at some point. That's what I thought. I will come back to that in a moment.

Lord & Berry's Maximatte Crayon Lipstick is my 2nd favorite from this box even though I hated the color sent to me.

The shade choices for the bag were to be either "Spicy" or "Intimacy". Despite my profile indicating my dark complexion and preference for darker hues in lip products, Ipsy sent me the lighter shade of "Intimacy". Just looking at it, the shade wasn't so bad, but when I tried it on... Ugh. So why do I name this as a favorite from the box? Because although on my lips, the color makes me look like I'm in need of a water infusion, it works beautifully as a color for just under my brows. The soft, peachy shade is similar to colors I've chosen in the past to highlight my eyes. Still, Ipsy loses points for ignoring my profile preferences.

My 3rd favorite: Air Repair Skincare's Complexion Quenching Facial Mist. 

This almost tied for 2nd place because it did do a nice job of hydrating my face. The reason it came in third is that I wouldn't be able to use it "on the go" as is touted. When I sprayed it on, it left a slight residue and shine that would require me to blot my face. That's fine if going bare-faced but so much an on-the-go deal if wearing makeup. I do think this is excellent for having on hand during hot days when you want to cool and hydrate your face.

Next in the bag is this Slmissglam Eyeshadow Brush. It's cute and if I were younger maybe, I'd like it a lot for the playful colors of the bristles. If I used such brushes.

"Tools" was not a marked preference on my profile and neither was eyeshadow. 

The one item that I absolutely hate is the Jivi Lavender Moisturizer.

First off, there was nothing in my profile to warrant a product to "counteract redness". Second, this is so heavily scented that there is no way I would put on my face. I did a very small patch test near my jawline and my skin automatically began to react by feeling itchy and warm. Yeah, whatever Jive Jivi. (EDIT: Hated this so much I forgot to include a photo first time around!)

So, not only did Ipsy seem to care very little about my beauty preferences, I also found the samples to be skimpy and somehow not as high in overall quality as those in Birchbox. That's Reason #1 for not being impressed.

Reason #2 was that even for the products I liked, ordering them was inconvenient because of the odd shipping calculations Ipsy uses. Since I had earned some "points" to use toward a purchase, I wanted to see what the ordering process would be. Apparently, every product/brand has their own shipping prices. Um... what?

Now, remember when I mentioned maybe being able to use my points to ease the cost of future purchases - like if I wanted to order that Mini Matte Blur Stick? Well, whatever points I earned were eaten up in double when shipping was calculated.  I wouldn't mind losing just the points, but shipping went way over the points I earned.

Now, you know how you are going to cancel something (like one of these subscriptions) and you get roped back in because you are offered all kinds of incentives? Well, there is nothing Ipsy could offer to get me to stay with them after the hassle of canceling my account. It was tricky to find the cancellation page, then  I had to be sure to respond to a verifying type of email by a certain time and without closing the Ipsy page - or else my cancellation would be invalid. What the happy hell kind of runaround is that???

Whatever. I jumped through all the hoops and got the subscription canceled and now I have to add Ipsy to my SPAM folder to make sure I don't get any more of their "are you sure" emails. Why would I stay with them if I can't afford to buy any of the products because of the stupid shipping policy? And why would I want to stay with them when they don't care a flip about that pretty detailed "beauty profile" I filled out?

Between Ipsy and Birchbox, I can only keep one monthly subscription  - especially since Walmart has such an excellent quarterly box - and Ipsy didn't try that hard to win me over. At least with FabFitFun, it was just the price that scared me off. Also, I'll admit that shipping would eat up any "rewards" I would use after 1 month of Birchbox, but at least the shipping charges are consistent and set.

Of course, I know the whole "to each his own" rule of life so I'm not knocking anyone who prefers Ipsy over Birchbox. The whole idea of these types of services, I think, is to do a little something for ourselves. Birchbox just fits me better.

Oh, and I didn't do the price lists for the Ipsy box items because once I canceled, I couldn't access the Shop pages... Yeah, Ipsy, I see you being petty.

Peace

--Free