Ipsy Glam Bag vs Beauty Box 5

Just because I'm saving money doesn't meant that I have to stop having incidentals like Ipsy. I look forward to getting my Ipsy bag in the mail every month. 
I thought, however, that it would be interesting to compare subscription services. So, for the next few months, I'm going to compare the Ipsy Bag with the Beauty Box 5. 
So the first difference between the two is that you customization the BB5,  and Ipsy you can. Since you can't tell them skin type, style preferences they have to send neutral things to you, which makes comparing these two services like comparing apples and oranges. 
BB5 costs $12 per month, or you can do how I did and pay $30 for a subscription. Ipsy is 10. Both have free shipping. You get a glam bag with ipsy which is actually practical and adorable. With the BB5, it's a box. 
We'll start with my Ipsy Bag.

I actually think this bag is really cute. And as always, I like most of the products in there. This bag was kind of eye intensive for me, so I'll review all the products in there. 

 

Here are the three eye products sampled on my face. 

Here's a swatch of the eye shadow and eye liner. 

J. Cat Blikie Shimmer Eye shadow in the color Tangerine Light. 

Retail price 4.99. 

It was my base crease, outer v, and base lid color. It's really pigmented, but I wasn't impressed with the color. Honestly, I don't wear much orange on my eyes, and I don't really understand how I was supposed to wear this.  

Next, Mr. Write (Now) eye liner in the color Jac B. Bronze by theBalm. 

Retail price $17.00. 

I will admit I was afraid to get this in the mail, but now I have it, I'm excited. It's a nice brown bronze and wears nicely on the face. It seemed to have pretty good staying power too, and I think it's pretty pigmented. 

Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Curl Mascara. 

Retail Price 21.00 directly from the website. 

I'm pretty sure this is a full sized product. I like the application. It doesn't clump or flake. 

Pur-lisse Blue Lotus 4 in 1. 

Retail Price $19.95 for travel size, which I think this is. 

I think I would have to use this regularly to give an accurate review, but I like it. It does take the puffiness out. 

Skyn Iceland Facial Cleansing Cloths

Retail Price 30 count is $15.00. This is a $10.00 count which would be $5.00. 

I like these pretty well. They're a little bit rough on the skin and very soapy, but it's not too bad. I don't have a sticky feeling afterward and they remove my makeup pretty quickly. I do have to do more than one swipe on the eye make up if I want it all off. 

BONUS PRODUCT

Glamglow super mud

Retail Price for travel size, which I think this one is too is $12.70 from amazon. 

One thing that's really cool about Ipsy is that you can build up points by reviewing and sharing things. And once you get so many points, you can cash them in and get a free product. 

I decided to get this glamglow mud because every one is raving about it. I really like it too. It's helped my skin get over it's little freak out because I was a bad human. 

That's the Ipsy Bag. 

Now for the Beauty Box 5

I didn't do as well as I should have taking this picture. But anyway, you get five products like the name suggest. One thing that's different is this sends you coupons, and it also sends you a little informational thing about how much everything costs retail and for full size products and then if you're getting a full size or not. 

Salon Grafics Freezing Hair Spray

Retail Price $3.29 for the travel size. 

This stuff holds. I used it the other day on a curl look, and my hair hold curl pretty well, but it will fall out as the day goes on. However, this stuff kept my hair looking curled days after the fact. I like it and I'll probably buy a full size once I'm done with this guy. 

Not your Mother's Plump for Joy Thickening Hair Lifter

Retail Price $8.00 for full size. 

I was actually not excited to see this guy. I don't have fine enough hair to want to buy it or even use it. But I suffered for the sake of the blog. I was pleasantly surprised. Even if you don't have fine hair, this is nice to just add a little volume to already fluffy hair. Just don't use the entire bottle in one fell swoop. And it smells amazing. I mostly want to use it because I like the smell. 

Novex Bamboo Sprout Deep Conditioning Treatment

Retail Price 14.99 for a full size. This is a travel size. 

 I'm not overly impressed with this one. It doesn't really do much for my hair. Or maybe I'm just irritated that the instructions aren't in English. Not a favorite. 

Bodipure Keratin Gloves 

Retail Price $5.00

I liked this. It was fun, but it was a one time only thing if you follow the instructions. My hands were super sticky after I was done, and they got covered in dog hairs. It did have a kind of floral scent to it, but it wasn't bad.  

Nails Inc London in Shade Grosvenor Crescent

Retail Price $9.99

This is a really pretty plum color and probably my favorite thing in the box.  I know it looks black on the picture, but that's just how dark it is. It has pretty good staying power for being nail polish. (Nail polish never stays on my fingers.) It's a little sheer so I had to do more than one coat, but it dries pretty quickly. 

Scratch Custom Accent Nail Wraps 

 Retail Price $6.00

This is a jamberry. I hate jamberry because Jamberry doesn't stay on my nail. This one did a little better than a jamberry. One thing I didn't really like was I only got four. Literally four. Each of those four really only worked for one finger. So I would have an accent nail on hand. I didn't like that concept. I would have rather gotten a set of one pattern, but this one came with four different patterns.

I had to go to the website for instruction on how to apply them, but that's not too big a deal. 

My only other complaint is that Beauty Box 5 didn't let me back into the website so I could look at things. I'll let you guys know what the resolution is on that though. 

So that is my Ipsy Bag vs Beauty Box 5. 

Ipsy wins this round. 

Come back next month to see who the winner is.