May 2013 Ipsy Bag: Spring Fling

For those of you just tuning in, Ipsy is a beauty subscription service. For $10 a month, Ipsy sends 4 - 5 surprise beauty products to your door in a cute cosmetics bag. They even mail it in a shiny hot pink envelope! Seeing that envelope in my mailbox always makes me dance around like a little kid. If you don't want to get in a beauty rut, Ipsy is for you.

It's Ipsy bag time again! I'm not a fan of their new shipping partnership with DHL: It took 6 days for my bag to go from North Carolina to Nashville. What, are they shipping it by sedated land tortoise? But all was forgiven when I received my bag. This month it's chock full of fancy full-size products! And they're almost all to my taste, because this month Ipsy started using our beauty quiz results to customize our bags. Everyone received a full size Zoya nail polish, a yaby concealer, a Mirabella lipstick OR a Juice Beauty lip gloss, plus two random items chosen just for you. And some users got a bonus Urban Decay eye shadow! Here's what I got:

Full size yaby Concealer Refill in Buff - $4.85
Full size Zoya Nail Polish in GeiGei- $8.00
Full size Mirabella Colour Sheers Lipstick in Posy- $22.00
Full size Pacifica Perfume Roll-On in Tahitian Gardenia- $12.00
Anastasia Mini Clear Brow Gel - $6.68
(full size is $22.00 for 7.93 mL)
Full size Urban Decay Moondust eyeshadow in Space Cowboy - $20.00
(special gift for active members/content creators)

TOTAL VALUE: $73.53 (HOLY SHIT!)
Ipsy Price: $10.00

I'm so excited that I got a full size Pacifica Perfume! Pacifica doesn't use any phthalates, nitro-musks, or benzene. The Tahitian Gardenia scent is almost overpoweringly sweet and heavy when it's wet, but it dries down to a subtle, citrusy floral scent that's perfect for spring. It's feminine in a classy, old-school way. Some Ipsy users complained that it smells like old ladies, but I disagree. It's probably more sophisticated than the scents those girls usually wear, though. This is not a bubble-gummy, fruity scent for a young girl, and I like that. The packaging is pretty, too!

I was skeptical about the yaby concealer. How would they give us the right colors? But Buff blends well, and it's a perfect match for my skin. I used it yesterday on my undereye circles, and I like the result. Ipsy is still ironing out the customization thing: On the forums, many African-American women said they received Buff, too. And pale Irish girls got Pecan, the darkest shade. But I can vouch for the product's quality--it's good.

I wanted to try a clear brow gel, and it's like Ipsy read my mind. I have long, unruly eyebrow hairs that do what they want, damnit. The Anastasia Clear Brow Gel holds my brows in place without looking heavy or unnatural, and I like that. When I wear it, though, I can feel it. I become distractingly aware of my eyebrows in a way that is weird. I like the way it looks, but it's going to take some getting used to. Still, I'm glad to have this for bad eyebrow days. Yes, I have those. Don't look at me like that!

The Mirabella Colour Sheers lipstick applies like a lipstick, looks like a stain (think BeneTint), and feels like a super-buttery lip balm. It's made with mango butter, and it made my semi-chapped lips look smooth and healthy--major win! The color looks very dark and bright in the tube, but it's sheer, so I like the way it looks on my face. This is an item I never would've bought, because I would have expected it to be garish, so I'm so glad Ipsy sent it to me! 

I wanted to try the Zoya polish because it's free of formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene, camphor, and dibutyl phthalate. Can you pronounce that? Me neither. Anyway, I thought a less toxic nail polish might dry slowly, but this dried even faster than the polish I got in last month's bag. Unfortunately, though, the sparkly baby pink polish makes me feel like Tinkerbell. It's childish; I'd have preferred the mint green or sky blue polish that other users received. But I like the formula, and now I know that Zoya is a brand to look for.

Finally, let's talk about the Urban Decay Moondust eye shadow. IT'S A SHOWSTOPPER. When I swatched it on my hand, I looked like I'd rubbed up against a disco ball. It's a neutral, champagne colored shadow jam packed with silver glitter. It's definitely not for every day, but the neutral color can be used with practically any wild eye look. Ipsy sent it with a note that said, "Thank you for being an active member of the Ipsy community. Because we appreciate the content you create and share to inspire and help members of the Ipsy community, please enjoy this brand new product from Urban Decay as a bonus in your May Glam Bag." Bloggers, take note: If you subscribe, Ipsy will show you extra love!

If you subscribe to Ipsy, what did you get this month? Do you think they customized the bag well?

Right This Second: Cool Songs, Gatsby and Art Deco Sparkle, and Toys for People Who Love Making Lists.

New York City watercolor print by SketchAway on etsy

Right now I'm crazy about the New York Rooftop Party station on Songza. It has a lot of my old favorites... Lou Reed, David Bowie, the Velvet Underground, and Yo La Tengo seamlessly mixed in with newer bands like Phoenix, Passion Pit, Divine Fits, and Alabama Shakes. Alabama Shakes were a strange choice for this mix, but no matter. Every time I hear them, I think of that magical month in 2011 when they played in Nashville, like, a dozen times. I caught almost every one of those shows. I love them!

Rhinestone Headpiece by ShopElizabethPerry on Etsy

Who isn't inspired by the 1920s right now?! I saw The Great Gatsby on Friday, and I loved the music, lush costumes, and over the top set design. As much as I appreciate historically accurate art deco design, I did love Baz Luhrman's outrageously orchid festooned, bodaciously bedazzled re-imagining of flapper style. This headband looks like something straight out of Gatsby! 

Also. During the scene where Jay showers Daisy with his clothing and it begins to look like rainbow confetti, was anyone else reminded of the scene in Spring Breakers where James Franco crows, "I have shorts in every color!!" Um, yeah. I started laughing uncontrollably because for a brief moment I imagined Leo with a big nasty grill.

Antique French Game Board Print from inkpainter on Etsy

If you've ever watched someone play video games for hours and days and years and thought If he improved himself in real life as much as he improves his character, he'd be a super-fit millionaire Ph.D by now, then you've probably wished there was a way to turn real life into an RPG. Now someone has done it! In the last two months, I've become completely addicted to HabitRPG. 

You simply enter in the things you want to do on a regular basis, like take vitamins or read a book for half an hour or work out for an hour. You also enter things you don't want to do, like eat junk food. You can set tasks to be done every day, or only on certain days of the week. When you do the awesome stuff, you check if off your list, earn points, and eventually level up. When you do the less awesome stuff--be honest!--you lose health. At the end of the day, you also lose points for the healthy tasks you didn't complete. You can enter one-time chores on a separate list, and earn points when you complete those, too.

For an obsessive list-maker like me, it adds an element of fun to my daily chore list. I'm using the principles I learned in the book Switch: How to Change When Change Is Hard to make difficult tasks easier to complete: I'm breaking each job down into very small, specific tasks. For example, "clean the bathroom," can sound overwhelming, and it doesn't provide much direction. It's better to break the job down into specific tasks, like clean the bathroom mirror, wipe down the vanity, put fresh towels out, etc. And it works! I'm beginning to develop better habits. My bathroom has never been so clean, my laundry pile has never been so small, and I haven't forgotten to take my vitamins in weeks.

Have you played it? I'd like to talk to someone else who is using HabitRPG to see what kind of things other people use it for!

Handmade Felt Wedding Bouquets Look Like a Fondant Confectionery Dream Come True!

Here's a little preview of my wedding flowers! I took on a huge project when I decided to make all of my wedding flowers by hand, but I absolutely love it. I've made about 60 flowers so far. The more I make, the prettier they get. My maid of honor says they remind her of frosting or some other edible confection. Mmm, that's exactly the look I'm going for! It's been so much fun to come up with my own designs. 

You probably recognize the rosebuds and chrysanthemums. They're fairly standard felt flowers, and they're very quick and easy to make. I use them as filler, and they make up about 2./3 of the bouquet. The real showstoppers are the heart daisy and pansy. They take longer to make, but they're very special. The loose petals on the pansy give the bouquets a touchable, unstructured look. And the petals on the heart daisy are so full and lush--each flower has 16 hand-cut petals! The lazy daisy is another filler flower, and the crazy daisy is a good way to use small scraps of leftover felt. I don't make many of those, but a few in each bouquet gives the bouquets more variety.

Best of all, when it's all done, my wedding flowers will cost $200. I ordered a 10 yard bolt of ivory colored eco felt on Etsy for $106. I bought another 2 yards of colored wool blend felt for accents from TaDaa Studio Felt for $23.50. Then I bought 432 pieces of floral stem wire from Save On Crafts for $37. I'll probably buy more stems before I finish the project. The bridesmaid bouquet pictured here contains about 25 flowers. I have 6 bridesmaids and 20 tables to decorate, so I definitely have my work cut out for me. Luckily, I have 5 months to do it all, so I'm not worried.

I do wish the eco felt wasn't so fake. It's made of recycled soda bottles, and the texture is like a thin sheet of fiberglass. Is isn't opaque, and it doesn't keep its shape well. Worst of all, thousands of tiny plastic fibers get into the air when I cut it. I probably shouldn't have worked on this while I had bronchitis! I set up an air filter next to my workspace, though, and that helps improve the air quality. The wool-blend felt from TaDaa Studios, on the other hand, is so luxurious. It's thick, soft, easy to sculpt into whatever shape I want, and it doesn't shed nasty fibers into the air. The eco felt was so cheap, but If I could do it over again, I'd consider splurging on a big bolt of wool-blend felt.

Overall, though, I love them. This bouquet isn't finished; I'm going to make a fabric collar and wrap the stem in the same fabric. I'll use leftovers from the fabric we're using to make table runners, to keep the look cohesive. But I just couldn't wait to share! What do you think?