Intro
Ipsy has been around a little over a year and is now worth its weight in gold. In that time it has become the go-to place for those who want to subscribe to beauty (or fashion) boxes and the places to find new makeup artists, brands, and brands that offer the latest beauty trends. If you’re interested in discovering new makeup styles or new beauty trends, this is your place.
Ipsy, as it happens, is a monthly subscription service that sends you sample-sized samples of products from brands you’ve probably never heard of before. Each month they send you four items — two of them sample-sized — and they are always free. You can choose which items you want to receive each month by browsing through the “Browse My Ipsy” tab on their site or by clicking on “Browse My Ipsy” at the top right of their home page.
When you sign up for an account on Ipsy, they send you a welcome email with instructions to follow through with some general steps and then gives you a link to an online check-in form where you can learn more about your upcoming shipment. Once your items arrive, they will be sent out in drop-box style shipments and come with instructions on how to open them up and get started using them.
If there’s anything about Ipsy that might not be immediately obvious: It is a monthly subscription service! And it works! The only thing missing from this equation is money! What does this mean? Well since most people start with lower budgets than $10/month (which is what we typically suggest), we strongly encourage people who are on smaller budgets to consider paying for Ipsy as part of their plan for beauty products every month (upward of 10 items). This will allow them to try as many different things as possible without having too much fear in case one product doesn’t work out like they hoped or if they don’t like something but it still meets their needs so they can go back and try another item at another time when money would be available again).
In terms of what each box contains: Every subscriber receives two full-sized samples (i.e., 2 full sized products) per month; however, subscribers who do not meet our minimum requirements may receive one free sample per month if their total order value exceeds $50 during any given month. Also note that every subscriber also receives one free
Ipsy march review
ipsy march is a subscription beauty box, but it’s also a launching pad for many ideas. The beauty box is a great way to start a dialogue with your fans and to build their trust in you. We’ve posted the first surprise of ipsy March on our blog, and we look forward to seeing what they think.
As you may have seen in our blog post today or on our Facebook page today, we are very excited about the launch of ipsy March. This is not your average beauty box; instead you will get something fun, exclusive, and different every month.
This month’s box will be the first to include a $1500 gift card for Sephora! We are working hard behind the scenes to make it happen! Here’s what will be inside:
A headband from Cushnie et Ochs from Sephora + full size blush from Illamasqua
These items are not available online or at most retailers. Please note that this product is not eligible for any ipswich links or discounts during this promotion period.
It’s time for another round of ipswich links where we give away swag! Here’s this month’s link: https://www.ipswichlinks.com/?a=a_14_039_ipswich-swag-giveaway-details Why do we love ipswich? Because it’s well done; slick, clever, and simple enough that anyone can understand it when they read it (no need to admit it was us); but just enough awesome details that people can enjoy giving stuff away too! See more here: https://www.ipswichlinks.com/
Eyebrows
IPSY — the International Productivity and Style Association — is a group of fashion industry professionals who review each other’s products and send out reviews, calling them “IPSY Reviews”. The IPY is a monthly conference where they announce the IPY reviews (because there is no other way to keep up with each other) and give away prizes. In addition to the IPY, an annual conference is held in conjunction with the IPY Review.
It is not just about how many people’s products are reviewed and how many awards they win. It is also about how much time each person spends on his/her product; it’s about what kind of products are recommended; it’s about the expertise of authors who write for the magazine; it’s about how much time readers spend per month reading their reviews; and so on.
A lot of people make a lot of money because they write for these magazines or give talks at conferences (e.g., I do). But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t also making money from their own products (I know someone who makes $500k+/year as an online coach).
The main advantage that I can see in this method is its transparency: you can tell what you are doing compared to your competitors, whether you have a large following or not, etc… And only then can you decide whether or not to consider yourself an authority on your product.
Lips
Ipsy is an annual subscription beauty box service (which offers free samples), with a set of brushes, face and body products, a full-size lipstick and nail polish, as well as other goodies. And the beauty boxes that are offered in March are the best ones: the lipsticks and nail polishes go on sale that month and they’re usually quite good.
The bags have pretty much everything you might need to get started with makeup and skin care. But I do recommend going through the instructional videos before getting into it yourself to make sure you’re not missing anything important. They also have a handy step-by-step tutorial video that walks you through each step of putting together your bag, filling it, etc.
Here is my review of the first ipsy bag that I received, which featured an Argan oil by Clinique . . .
I was so happy when I found out about ipsy – because it was the exact kind of thing I’d been looking for! But instead of waiting for months for their products to arrive via mail, I could just start using them right away!
And speaking of starting . . . The learning curve was super easy! In fact, I think it was so easy that I had my boyfriend do all the heavy lifting by doing all the research for me – he does this thing where he reads up on stuff about every product he buys (and then reviews them for me!). He has a lot more experience with skincare than me (he used to work at Sephora) but he had no problems at all in doing this!
It really is amazing how simple it is! It really makes you feel like you’ve gotten something special when opening one of those bags!
Ipsy really made me feel like they were really taking care of me – which I think is such an important part of any subscription service. You can feel special because they took time to explain things in detail. And even if you don’t buy anything (because you are in such a rush these days), there are still things you can do over time: like taking advantage of their free spa day or checking out their “secret shopping” section for new brands or collections (which happens every month). Here is what ipsy had to offer us this month: + Free Sample : This month my ipsy bag included a sample from Etude House , which was pretty nice since it came with some
Face remover
The perfect brand ambassador is someone who is an expert in the field, who has a great story to tell, and who exemplifies the product.
If you’re like most people and have never used ipsy before, they’ve probably done all this research and come up with a pretty convincing list of reasons to use it. The thing is, most of us aren’t experts in their field or have interesting stories to tell. The face-remover is the perfect example of this: it’s a great product for those people who don’t want to look at their reflection in the mirror everyday; but for anyone else trying to get into shape it’s just not going to cut it.
To be crystal clear: I don’t think that this review is a bad thing. I think it’s good (and I use it every day). But if you’re looking for something that gets your face out there without being too self-conscious about your appearance I’d pass on this one until you’re more confident with your makeup skills.
Eyeshadow trio
Ipsy has been around for a long time, and it is one of the most popular beauty subscription boxes out there. Ipsy is meant to be a monthly subscription box for people who love cosmetics and beauty. You get products from brands like Sephora and Ulta, as well as your own personal favorite brands.
If you haven’t heard of ipsy before, it’s a good idea to start here. This post will be trying to teach you how this works.
First, what is in your ipsy bag?
There are 3 things in an ipsy bag: 3 different products (that you can buy separately or all together)
1) lipstick/lip gloss
2) eye shadow/eye liner (two colors)
3) blush/bb cream (you can mix them together or separately.) You get 3 different palettes each month, so that’s 12(?) palettes from brands that include Sephora and Ulta at first. The price range varies but ranges from $9-$30+. They also sell some basic items like NARS and M·A·C brushes for cheap ($5-$10). It’s more expensive than buying them individually, but the value of getting so many products at once is great. There are other ways to get discounts on those items though – like buying them with gift cards or online shopping hacks. If you buy them on the site itself, there is a 20% discount during the month of March (so maybe $24 dollars instead of $26). This is pretty good when you consider that they have an average of 24 items per bag these days(!). So yeah – no more 7 dollar lipsticks!
I bought this ipsy bag last year and love it! But when I got my job I didn’t have much money left over for spending so I decided to buy just one product each month instead of all three at once(!) So I would say the value here is about $41-42 including shipping – which isn’t too bad considering how much it costs to actually ship these things! The only catch though: shipping cost varies depending on where you want your package sent to. Usually it takes around 2 weeks for delivery but sometimes up to 10 weeks (which costs extra…again). As far as I know they don’t charge extra for international shipping unless your package contains “personalized gifts” made by them (which
Blushes
Blushing is a common phenomenon in which individuals experience a blush when exposed to an emotional trigger, such as if you are in public and someone else blushes. Blushing is not an actual physical blush, but is instead a change in skin tone. The process of blushing is known as the “fight-or-flight” response.
Ipsys has been around for many years, and has been active within the industry for quite some time (since their inception), yet I’ve never seen it mentioned in nearly any of the content that I produce. Why? Because blushing is not a real thing, nor should it be treated as such.
The whole thing can be summed up simply: there are two components to blushing: 1) The individual, who experiences this change in facial color (which makes it seem like they are flushed), and 2) The neural pathway that sends signals to the face to make this happen. This path starts with the autonomic nervous system (the part of the brain responsible for causing feelings of warmth or coldness); then it passes through the limbic system (which controls emotions); then through the parietal area (which is responsible for perception); finally reaching and activating our tacit understanding system (which interprets emotional signals from our environment).
The term “blush” was first used by anatomists who attempted to explain how people could blush during sexual arousal; however, given that people blush due to physiological factors rather than emotional ones, this description was later abandoned. Here’s what happens when you blush: your skin turns red because some blood vessels dilate when your blood pressure rises. This causes blood vessels at your scalp where your hairline meets your skin to dilate too; so your scalp becomes more visible compared to other parts of your body because it “looks redder than other parts of your body” due to its redness. Your nose becomes more visible because it is larger; so you look more flushed than you actually are because of its size compared with other parts of your body. And finally, your cheeks become visibly flushed because they have more blood vessels than other parts do and therefore get redder relative to other parts.
This entire process can happen very quickly — especially if you experience fear or anxiety — under certain circumstances and at certain times; however, this doesn’t mean that all people experience this phenomenon on a daily basis — or even often enough! So we
Brushes & sponges set
Ipsy is an American beauty and lifestyle company which has been around since 2010. They specialize in sending out free samples of new products to its members, who then have the opportunity to try them and give feedback on them.
I was sent a sample of the brand’s new set of brushes & sponges (which includes my favorites, like the Shiro brush) for review. There had been some confusion about the meaning between “brush” and “sponge” but that was quickly cleared up by the person who sent it to me. This is a set of brushes designed for a lotion/lotion type of application rather than for creamier products. I love these because they are tapered (to reduce shedding) which is nice for people with longer hair, or people who want shorter hair that doesn’t need as much product (I can see this being especially helpful for someone like me with long hair). The handles are silicone so they seem more comfortable than your typical plastic brush. The brushes are also good-sized but not too big so I don’t worry about them breaking my fingers when I wear them to work with my liquids. Overall, I really like the way these look and feel in my hands after applying creams and lotions—they just seem more natural (and less stiff).
The other major thing I love about these is that they come in three different colors: black, white & pink (which looks very rich in person). In this post , I mentioned that some people think glittery gold/silver/pearl items are tacky but I think glitter makes everything elegant and sophisticated—it’s just different from something you would find at department store retail outlets that don’t cater to style or luxury—and important when it comes to makeup .
In terms of value, this set retails for $39 + shipping which seems pretty reasonable given that certain brand sets can run into double digits (like this one ).
You can find out more about IPSY here . You can also sign up here .
Eyeliner set
Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service. Unlike its competitors, Ipsy does not focus on stocking only one product. It comes with an introductory sale price of $10 for the first month and then $10.50 for each subsequent month.
They offer a huge selection of products from brands like Bobbi Brown, Too Faced, and Benefit that you would never find in most cosmetic counters. All of the products are made from natural ingredients and contain no artificial dyes or fragrances – the only preservatives are water and soy waxes to keep them moist. To use the product, simply apply the serum or oil to your face with your fingertips and wait for it to absorb into your skin (it will take anywhere from 10-15 minutes).
I was able to score this set at a great price during their last sale – $30 off regular retail price (you can see my full review here ). The set includes:
Lipstick in Mauve (1 oz) – This is a very sheer pink lipstick that can be used alone or as a base for other colors. It contains Vitamin E & helps plump up lips to make them look fuller – one coat will do it!
Highlighter in Champagne (1 oz) – This highlighter is meant to be used as an eyebrow color, but it can also be used on eyelids as well! It will help highlight any areas of dark circles you might have underneath your eyes, and it contains bronzer which helps give your cheeks a golden glow.
Foundation & Concealer Brush (2 x 0.5 oz) – These brushes are meant for application of concealer onto the face, but they can also be used when applying foundation because they have spongy fibers that apply foundation evenly onto all parts of the face without looking cakey or powdery at all! They contain silicone so they won’t develop pilling over time like traditional brushes would do!
Brushes are really nice because they don’t need to be washed after every use; just hand wash them if they get messy while applying makeup and not touching them again until you’re done! I prefer these over powder bronzers because they blend better onto foundation than powder bronzers, which tend to pack onto pores more than liquid types do!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and got some inspiration out of it too! If you did please leave me a comment below so we can connect
Mascara set
In the past, mascara was a product where you would have to pay a ton of money for something that was pretty useless. In recent years however, mascara has changed dramatically.
At this point in time (and for the next 5 years), there are two main types of mascaras:
1) Cheap ($10-$20)
2) Expensive ($50+)
Both are not much different from each other and the price is dependent on different factors: ease of use, length of wear, etc. So what do you get when you purchase a cheap mascara? You get a product that does little more than smear your eyelashes together and doesn’t last any longer than the cheapest ones. It is a great way to skip up front costs and extra packaging — but in return it will also cost you tears (or at least some time). On the other hand, if you buy an expensive mascara it will last longer but will be more sophisticated looking (a bit like a high end perfume). It also has to be worth it because there are so many products out there with similar designs which is why people spend so much money on them. The important thing to realize here is that design is not just about aesthetics — it is not just “what looks good” and “what looks bad” either — it touches almost every part of the product experience, from how comfortable and easy to use it is to how safe your eyes are from irritating chemicals.
So what we want to do here is go through every part of how we make our products look as well as how we make them feel. There are two ways we can do this: build with 3D printing or use injection molding techniques. Both can look beautiful but both have their trade-offs. But before we go into why one technique might be better than another, let’s take a look at some examples:
* 1) A 3D Printed Mascara Set : This example shows us that while these products all look great they aren’t necessarily better than made-to-order items because they only take around 2 hours to design and put together as opposed to months or even years for other methods (but see below). * 2) An Injection Molded Mascara Set : Here we see that while these products all look great they aren’t necessarily better than made-to-order items because they take less time for design (and therefore cost less money)
Brow gel/shaper/mascara set
The March of the IPYs review was a fun one to do. I’ve blogged about ipsy before so this was a perfect opportunity to showcase my favorite product of the month.
What I love about ipsy is that it is really just a well-built tool for getting you ready for your next payment. It has everything you need to do that, which is why I use it all the time. Their site is detailed, and it gives you lots of information on what to expect and when, in order to make sure that every step and detail of your checkout process is done right.
So here’s what we did with our ipsy review:
We sent out an email with links leading directly to our landing page (making sure not to include any link in the subject line). We were also careful not to say any specific tags — since the site uses tags that help with search engines like Google — but rather simply something like “ipsy review” or “ipsy landing page” or “free ipsy trial” so that there would be a natural expectation around what we might want people who searched for these terms to see when they saw our site.
We used this method for two reasons: 1) The links were direct, so even if someone else had linked their product page somewhere on their site, they would still have them at the bottom of their page (and we wanted people coming directly here). 2) We didn’t want them linking back to other products on their site; we wanted them just coming here because of us.
The results? Our sales went up by over 100% from the last time we tested doing this type of thing (on a random day). This means our sales are now 4 times higher than they were before (which may or may not be due to freebie products we put on sale — I don’t know). We also saw increased click-through rates, which can only mean more sales in the future!