My ipsy September Glam bag review!

I know, I know... it's October already!

Better late than never! ♥︎

It is only my second glam bag from ipsy so far!  Here are the products I got for the month of September! :)

★ Cute silver makeup pouch with studs on it.  Very soft, not stiff.  My 7 yr old already snatched it out of my hands and claimed it hers

★ Nourish Organic Face Cleanser in Cucumber Watercress

★ Mitchell and Peach English Growers Luxury Hand Cream in Flora N0.1

★ Pacifica 100% Vegan Cruelty-Free Nail Polish in Red Red Wine

★ Be a Bombshell Smooth Criminal Powder 100% Silica

I have been keeping this hand cream in my purse and have been using it a couple of times a day since I received it.  I honestly love it!  As most mothers may relate to this...we wash our hands constantly!  I mean CONSTANTLY!  I don't think there is a moment in my day where my hands are dry!  ( k. a little exaggeration)  And being a makeup & hair artist on top of that? I have this permanent sandpaper-gloves on my hand that just won't go away unless I scrape it off using a sandpaper...

We need to, obviously, nourish our hands with extra hydration.  We may find the time to pump some cream out onto our hands and roughly spread the cream all over...however, we do not have time for the cream to DRY!  I don't like creams that take forever to dry or to get absorbed into our skin.  I end up wiping the greasy-creamy residue off onto my pants, towels if they're some nearby.  

But this!  This creamy, easy-to-spread light white cream goes on like water as it is very fluid, and it absorbs into the skin in a blink of an eye!  It doesn't dry out, it really gets sinked into the skin leaving my hands very well nourished.  At first, I wasn't too sure as it left this sticky-like thick feeling on my hands.  As I kept using it, I realized if I  spread it over my hands and massaged it in just a little longer, that sticky feeling would go away leaving my hands feeling soft :)

And the smell!  Oh let me tell you about the smell!  I do not prefer any strong fragrance from any products as they make me nauseous!  This one, instead, has this lemony-flowery, but not too flowery, light garden scent that is very pleasant!  The scent doesn't linger around either :)

Here is their description :

" Blended with Vitamin E, Shea butter, and English Honey, this nourishing hand cream is fragranced with essential oils from the Mitchell Estate."

Oh!  The honey explains the "sticky-like feeling"!

Vegan!?  Oh la la, cooooool :)

I've had one nail polish that was vegan but never really had a change to use it and explore. So I was quite happy to receive one in my ipsy bag!

Having children, two girls but one being the fashion-diva, I cringe and walk away from putting something foreign on their skin and nails.  I don't understand parents who put nail polish on their baby's nails! To me, that's just not right...

Nail polish for my lil' 7 year old was something I allowed on a "only on special occasion" basis like birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's etc. and would only allow it to last a week at most.  

This vegan nail polish I, as a mommy, will cringe little less and feel guilty little less when putting it on my kids.  I mean, it sounds...healthier, right? 

But what does 100% vegan really mean?

I get the "Cruelty-free" part, don't need to google that, right?  It basically means it has not been tested on cutie-wootie animals. :) I'm happy about that!

But vegan...nail polish?  It basically means, without harsh chemicals that are considered harmful to your body.  The 3 main toxic ingredients are DBP, toluene and formaldehyde. DBP has been associated with birth defects (in animals...sadly), toluene is a mild skin irritant that can also be found in gasoline (yikes...) and formaldehyde...well, we all know that one from the biology class right?  The stinky liquid that help preserve organs...getting nauseous.

So yes, it is healthier and makes me a lot less paranoid when applying nail polish on my children.  I should think so for myself as well, and for my clients.

I googled this brand that was given to me...Pacifica and, get this!  Not only any of these 3 toxic ingredients are not being used, there are also 4 others that are omitted from this brand!  It is formulated without Phthalates, Xylene, Parabens, Camphor and Formaldehyde resin and no animal-derived ingredients.  Phew, that's a lot to articulate in one single breath, but definitely makes it less fearful about using them on anyone.

The rule of "only applying nail polish on special occasion" will still apply in my household, however, a ton of weight of fear, guilt and paranoia has been lifted off of my heart and I can breath a little better even if I don't remove the vegan nail polish after one week.  They can keep it on a little while longer :)

Woe!  Watch out!

Do NOT breath as you put on this powder! :P

I used a powder brush to put this powder on and, since it's a loose powder, obviously it goes off everywhere!  I was breathing normally and...cough cough cough cough!  Puwah! Arg!  Holy Schmoly!  I think I have just powdered my lungs!  

Aside from this horrific incident, the powder is great!  It has that starchy texture and it goes on very well, leaving my skin feeling silky :)  My skin was matted down and my pores did seem less noticeable.  I did a little research on this "silica" ingredient and, not to worry as I was when I first heard this word, it's not the dangerous kind of silica.  It's the safe kind to use on skin!  Silica absorbs moisture, perspiration and anything "wet", therefore it is recommended for oily skin.  It's not good for dry skin AT ALL since it will leave your skin looking dried out, cakey, wrinkled and flaky.

How cute is this word 

"Hikari" means "light" in japanese :)

This colour is called Cabernet.  It is not as creamy when applied, leaving it somewhat of a matted feel and texture, but is not a 100% matt lipstick.  The colour on my lips were true to the colour as seen in the container, which means the pigment is great :)

Couldn't tell if it was longlasting as I ate my lunch immediately after this photo was taken...as I am a person who removes all lip products before eating! :)

Felt good tho, didn't feel dry throughout the photoshoot :)

MADE IN PRC?

Both HIKARI lipstick & Bombshell powder had this written on their products and thought..."where?"

I googled it and found out that it is an abbreviation for "People's Republic of China".

Learned something new today :)

xo