IPSY is a monthly beauty subscription bag that, according to their website, “delivers a set of personalized beauty products straight to your door, making it easier to discover your new go-tos, feed your passion for beauty, and try your favorite brands at an incredible value.”
I tried IPSY out and here are some of my thoughts on it:
How Does It Work?
To get started with IPSY, you head to their website and fill out a Beauty Quiz. This quiz goes over your skin tone, eye color, and hair color. It also asks you about your confidence level with makeup, where you shop, and what kinds of makeup you love, wear, and use.
One of the things I didn’t like about the quiz was that they don’t have an option to say that you don’t wear a certain kind of makeup. For instance, I don’t wear eye shadow or eye liner — ever. I’d love to have the ability to put this on the quiz and then have them remove that from ever getting sent to me. But, unfortunately, that is not a quiz answer they offer.
After you take the quiz, you then sign up for which IPSY beauty bag you want to get each month and wait for an email telling you that your first bag is ready to preview. If you choose the Glam Bag (which is the only one I recommend — see below), you’ll get to choose one item in your bag. Everything else is chosen for you.
What is a Glam Bag?
The Glam Bag is IPSY’s flagship product. It is $13 and contains five personalized, deluxe-sized beauty samples sent in a cute makeup bag each month. The value of the contents is around $50. Each month, you get to choose one product for your bag from a few different options.
How Much Does It Cost?
The Glam Bag is $13 for five large samples. (They call them deluxe samples, but some are close to full-sized and some are enough for 5-10 uses.)
IPSY also has two upgraded options — Glam Bag Plus for $28 month that gives you five full-sized beauty products or Glam Bag X which is $55/quarter and gives you seven to eight full-sized products every quarter.
Is it Worth the Cost?
That depends upon your personality and your makeup use. If you are very minimalistic in your makeup use, I can tell you that it won’t be for you. It’s also not for you if you have sensitive skin.
If you love trying new products and you are the kind of person to prefer lots of different makeup options to choose from, then it definitely could be worth the cost — especially to get to try out higher quality products at a big discount.
That said, I heard from many people that they found that getting a Glam Bag every month was a lot and they couldn’t use the products fast enough. However, some people told me they shared them with friends or even gave their extras as gifts or stocking stuffers.
Another thing to keep in mind is that I’ve heard from many people that they often sent similar products (people mentioned lots of mascara) and they would sometimes send the same product in more than one bag over a year’s time. It seems that their claim of it being the “most personalized beauty bag on the market” didn’t necessarily hold up for some people. Or, at least they felt like what they were sent wasn’t in line with the Beauty Quiz they had filled out.
Are There Any Discount Codes?
If you want to try out IPSY right now, they are offering a rare offer. You can get a FREE month of Refreshments — IPSY’s new personal care bag — when you sign up for IPSY. This is an $18 value freebie!
Have you tried out IPSY? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it — what you liked, what you didn’t like, and whether you thought it was worth the money or not.
