Ipsy Glam Bag - January

The theme for this month's Ipsy Glam Bag was 19 Reasons 2014 will be amazing.  The idea is to write a reason on the card Ipsy sends with the brands for the month, take a picture of it and then share it on instagram or facebook to win a 1 year subscription.    This was probably my least favorite Ipsy bag so far.  It wasn't great but the value didn't seem to be as big.  There's a twist of irony because I've been heavily recommending Ipsy for months and have had a few friends sign up in the last couple of weeks.  I'm hoping this is just a miss for me and not start of a trend.

This is what I got in order from left to right:

The bag this month is a medium blue with a lighter blue outline of lotions and soap bottles.

Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner - I had gotten another Sexy Hair product in a previous bag and really liked it so I was pleased to see this conditioner.  I have very thick fairly coarse hair and it was definitely feeling a little dry.  I used this after washing and conditioning my hair like normal.  It took a pretty good bit but my hair definitely feels much softer.  I don't think I liked it as much as my Number 4 Super Comb Prep and Protect but it's still a nice product and I'll use the travel size if I ever travel again.

Elizabeth Mott Smooth Shadow in Pearl - This is the second Elizabeth Mott product I've gotten.  The first was a mascara that I really liked.  I wasn't quite as impressed with the pencil.  The tip is more like a pencil than what I normally associate with a stick shadow.  It'd take for ever to use it as anything other than a highlighter.  However, the shade has been great as a waterline pencil so I'm getting quite a lot of use out of it. I probably won't buy this though.

Tinted Lip Balm by MicaBeauty in Natural - This is a really good sized sample.  It looks to be close to full size and if you factor in that this is a $30 product it definitely ups the value of the bag.  This is much more of a stain than a balm.  I didn't find it very moisturizing and the color was much more pigmented and had much better staying power than I generally associate with a balm.  The color is nice - a neutral pinky brown and the staying power is nice.  While it isn't moisturizing I don't find it drying either.

Mark Fading Pads by Proactive - I was excited to see these in my bag since my chin periodically decides it belongs to a 13 year old versus someone 2 decades older.  My skin is actually doing pretty good right now so I haven't had a change to use them but I know it's only a matter of time.  I got 4 wipes which I think is enough to get an idea of how these work.  The only problem is it doesn't look like these wipes can be purchased on their own.

Purifying Exfoliant by Epice - This was another product I was excited to see.  I've been loving a scrub I got in a Birchbox a few months ago so I was hoping this would be as good.  This exfoliates very nicely and even seems to be a little moisturizing.  This is really nice since so often scrubs can be really harsh and irritating.