Swim Into Beauty Ipsy June 2015 Review

I’m still catching up! I received June’s Ipsy bag and have had the pictures waiting to be published.

The bag wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the best bag I’ve had from them.

There were about three things I really loved. To begin, the bag was an interesting material. It has “ipsy” all over it with a top orangish colored zipper closure. I personally thought it was ugly so I’ll be passing it on to someone else. The most recognizable branded item was the Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Foundation Primer. As you can see, it isn’t pictured because I used it up! The other brand I recognized was Lavanilla. I was happy to get this sample because I’ve wanted to try their lotions.

Here’s a breakdown of what I received and their values!

Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Foundation Primer, $8

This was an exciting sample for me. I love Smashbox Cosmetics and this primer helps your makeup stay on forever. It feels really slippery and fills in all your pores. It basically perfects your skin before putting on other layers. It’s also good for oil-prone skin like mine!

Pure Vanilla The Healthy Body Butter Instant Hydration by Lavanila Laboratories, $4

This sample was wonderful. The warm scent of the vanilla was really strong and it stayed on my skin. Unfortunately I didn’t find it as moisturizing as I’d hoped. It didn’t seem to make my hands softer in the long run. What I do love about this brand is that it’s 100% all natural. I wouldn’t buy a full sized item, but I’d welcome more samples of other scents.

tre’StiQue Mini Shadow Crayon in Kona Coffee, $10

This is a brand that Ipsy has been including lately. I think this is the first item I received from them. It was OK. Nothing too spectacular. I liked the shape of the crayon and the pigmentation was alright. It’s one of those products that isn’t worth the crazy high price tag for the quality. A full size is $26. I’d rather buy shadow crayons from more established brands for that price. I haven’t used it once since June.

Liptitude Hydrating Lip Stain by J.Cat Beauty, $5.99

When I first saw this lip color, I thought it was a throw-in and nothing special. The color looked OK, but the name, Liptitude, seemed juvenile. When I opened it, I decided to try it. The color was fantastic! My husband even said it looked great on. I think the shade I received was called Blow Your Mind. My mum saw it on me and also wanted one. Eventually I noticed it did move around on my lips. The color stayed, since it’s a stain, but I had trouble keeping it in place. The formula was thick and a little messy. Since I liked the shade so much, I think I’ll try it with a clear lip liner. Overall, I liked the sample, but won’t buy it since it was a little messy and had a strange smell.

BioRepublic Soothing Fiber Masks (3), $14.95

Three masks! Woohoo! That’s a great “one item.” A set of three masks is valued at $14.95. In the picture there is one missing because I tried it the night I opened the bag. Overall these masks worked well. They seemed to help with my irritated skin and smelled really great. I don’t think they work as well as Karuna masks or GlamGlow, but they were the perfect addition for the June bag. BioRepublic is a really interesting brand. It was developed by Americans who traveled in Asia. The website says,

“Not being ones to accept the status quo, Justin and Paolo immediately set out to create their own line of sheet masks, inspired by Korean products but formulated with American tastes and values. Now they’re bringing their masks to you, without parabens, sulfates, pthalates, or triclosan. 100% cruelty-free. Dermatologist tested and totally transparent.”

If you haven’t tried a sheet mask yet, you should! They work really well and are inexpensive.

Overall I liked my bag. I don’t have a lot of complaints because I feel as if I got my $10 worth of products. I loved the masks and the primer. Did you get this bag? What have you been using since June? If you give it some time, then you learn what you really use on a regular basis and prefer!

Love & Laughter,

Tiffany

Disclosure: I pay for my own Ipsy subscription. There are referral links in this post and also Amazon referrals. I receive points if you sign up using my link. Thanks!

Take Me Up Into the Clouds…On a Biplane Ride

9 / 21 / 15

It’s been awhile since I’ve revisited and finished writing about our southern road trip that we took at the beginning of this cram-packed summer. If you forget all we did or want a recap, check out my overview post, which links to each day individually.

If you’re here just to see awesome pictures of our biplane ride, keep scrolling!

Sunday, May 31st we left The Yellow House, a quaint bed and breakfast in North Carolina and headed back to Pigeon Forge for our last night on our road trip. As usual, I was looking over Groupon and found a bunch of different things to do. The thing that kept hitting me was a biplane ride. Of course I talked Dustin into letting me buy us tickets. After a quick call to the pilot, we determined a time and drove to the Pigeon Forge airport.

The deal we purchased was $79 for a 15 minute biplane ride for two people. I called ahead to make sure we could redeem it that day and then purchased it with my debit card online. The owner, Marc Hightower, (click on the link for a cool post about him) was welcoming and personable. He explained that business was slow and he decided to do a Groupon to get more business and get his name out there.

In the short time we spent with him, we learned he had rebuilt this 1927 Waco Model 10 himself. It was fascinating to hear that he flies it from Key West every summer to offer rides in the Smokies. His life was just as interesting. He had lived on a boat, owned a postcard store, and currently lived in Key West. Marc took the pictures you see of us with the vintage plane. Don’t let the smile fool you…I was terrified!

The company he owns is called Sky High Air Tours. You can see pictures of his plane and learn more about it there.

We brought our camera to get lots of pictures in the air. Takeoff was simple and so was the landing. The thing that surprised me the most was how loud and windy it was. After awhile you became used to the noise and it became really cozy and relaxing. Honestly, I could see taking a nap while flying! Marc was nice enough to give us hair ties (yes, Dustin too) so that our hair didn’t get in knots.

We both had headsets on so we could hear Marc communicating with the other planes and the airport before lifting off. It was really interesting. Dustin’s had a microphone and mine didn’t. While in the air the pilot gave us a tour, explaining the different sites.

Above is inside the pilots side. There’s a mini GPS and all the other things he needs to fly the plane.

Above is Dollywood’s water park.

Rain was coming in. We were able to get the flight in before it hit. The main highway here is the main strip in Pigeon Forge.

This was us landing.

Marc explained this was a canyon in Pigeon Forge. I’d never seen it before.

There’s me looking at the view.

Taking the bi-plane ride was one of the coolest things we’ve done together. It was really neat that it was vintage and restored. Overall I’d say it was romantic and the perfect touch to end out trip down south. The next place we stayed at wasn’t a good experience. I’ll write about that next.

Would you do a bi-plane ride? Have you?

Love & Laughter,

Tiffany

September 2015 Ipsy Glambag Review

9 / 18 / 157 / 18 / 16

This Ipsy bag from last year was one of my all-time favorites. I loved the bag and loved the contents even more. Of course, like a few of the other posts, I took pictures and then forgot to post about them. So I’m backlogging and clearing all my drafts to stay up-to-date. Also, you get some more beauty reviews!

Ultra Repair Cream by First Aid Beauty

This product is lovely. I used almost all of it up. When I went to Sephora for a makeover they used this product on my face as a moisturizer. It was a little heavy for me but I love it on my hands. They feel so soft! I like carrying it in my purse. It also doesn’t have a strong scent so that’s good if you have more expensive perfume on and don’t want another scent messing it up.

NYX Eyeshadow Trio for Ipsy

Ipsy collaborated with NYX for this little eyeshadow palette. The shades were more neutral. I liked the dark matte and have used it for smokey eyes. It was a great addition and I like the quality of NYX’s eyeshadows!

Formula X Nail Polish

This itty bitty nail polish was only good for one to two uses. The color was nice and the brush helped it go on thick. An all around good polish!

Liquid Freud Hand Lotion

The play on “Freud” and emotions is super cute in this lotion! I really liked the smell but it wasn’t very hydrating. Bummer. I wouldn’t buy this.

There was also a pencil of sorts included but I can’t remember if it was for lips or eyes. Oops Well, this has been almost a year ago. Feels good to get it up finally! I no longer subscribe to Ipsy. This was one of the better bags but the others seemed like repeats and it wasn’t worth it for me.

Love and Laughter,