Ipsy Glam Bag August 2014 review, unboxing

What on earth am I doing with an Ipsy Glam Bag, you wonder? I did my third-ever beauty box swap recently and, in view of all the recent and prospective hauls I have done or will do in the near future, I decided to request US-only beauty boxes this time, rather than any particular products. Incidentally, I have a swap with Italy coming up in a month or so and hope I can sample their beauty boxes! This swap itself included Ipsy, Birchbox and so on, and I will do a separate post on everything I got. But I want to show you the Ipsy Glam Bag for August 2014 before the end of the month.
The August 2014 Ipsy bag is themed "Beauty Schooled", and is a back-to-school bag. The bag itself is white with orange polka dots and can be used as a pencil case, rather than anything else, which is in keeping with the theme.

Here are the contents of the Ipsy Glam Bag for August 2014.

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara

Squee! I love trying out new mascaras and have stopped buying full-sizes in wake of all the samples I have been getting recently. In fact, I now prefer sample-sized mascaras since they last me three or four months anyway. This one was at the top of my must-try list and I was wondering when I would ever be able to try it, and here it is! I can't wait to show you how I get on with it.

StriVectin 6% NIA-114+ Antioxidant Complex

This is my first StriVectin product. Incidentally, there is another in this swap, in one of the Birchboxes, but that is an eye cream. This is a paraben-free, non-comedogenic antioxidant defence lotion which helps fight the earliest signs of ageing. Something that sounds ideal for me! I wish the sample had been bigger than 7ml.

Jersey Shore Sun Mongongo Anti-ageing Lip Conditioner in Mandarin Green Orange Ginger

This is the only full-sized product in this bag. Lip balms will always come in use, but some people received a balm in a tin. As I keep getting the stick-versions all the time and have a weakness for tins, I wish I had got the tin instead. I am not a fan of ginger on my lips so this will be used as a cuticle balm.

Coastal Scents Forever Blush duo

This is my first Coastal Scents product as well. There is a peach blush and a pink blush in this duo. The peach looks very good on me, but I do not like pink blushes. Ah well, beauty boxes are hit and miss anyway.

Lord and Berry Black Silk Mini Kajal Kohl-Liner

This is also my first Lord and Berry product. Somehow, I have never got around to buying their products. This is a neat black eye pencil with no problems. I will add it to my travel bag, since it is quite tiny.
Summary
The good part first. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of receiving my first Ipsy bag - there were two in this swap, but the second is from May, so you can see it in the swap post itself soon. Having said that, would I buy an Ipsy bag for myself, given the opportunity? I did like getting to try some brands I have not tried before, such as StriVectin and the lip balm. And, Perversion was a huge hit with me. - easily the best product this month.
Now for the down side. I completely get what other bloggers mean when they say the sizes are all too tiny now. Having been used to seeing many Ipsy unboxings over the last couple of years, I was expecting the samples to be a little larger. Ipsy costs $1.5 more than the infamous "Crap Bag", but the brands sent out are far better-known and there are a couple of samples more.
My swap partner Casey has offered to get me Ipsy bags regularly, if I could pay her via Paypal. I haven't decided yet - it comes to almost $20 including postage to me, which, given the size of the products here, may not always be worth it - that is almost the cost of a Memebox, which contains a lot more products, most of which are full-sized. The domestic rate of $10 for an Ipsy bag is all very well. Maybe I could get the better bags once in a while? I will keep a lookout for spoilers and decide by the end of the month. Let's see.

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