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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UPR chapter.

Finally, spring is here and the harsh winter cold is melting into warm breeze and beach outings. The year has officially kicked off now with a change of season and as a New Year’s resolution, you might have thought about trying a bit more on your looks. Saying that college can be stressful is an understatement, and managing your academic career along with your personal development is hard. Stress eating, not having enough time for the gym or enough money to buy all the cute things you want can be huge obstacles to your self-care routine. That’s why you need Ipsy.

Ipsy is an online service that essentially delivers good quality, customized makeup at a low cost. Their goal is to make the beauty industry less of a monopoly and fight society’s beauty standards. The idea for the company was thought of in 2011, using YouTuber influences like Michelle Phan to take the concept of beauty off the pedestal it was put on and embrace it. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Ipsy also helps independent makeup companies that offer a more organic route and understand that each person is unique.

Usually, I don’t buy into these concepts because anyone can say they support smaller companies and use the niche market and its lack of competition to exploit their audience, but with Ipsy, that’s not the case. When you sign up, you take a test that will get a general idea of your likes and dislikes, your skin type, your hair type, and your makeup level of expertise.

How does it work? You pay a monthly $10 rate and you get a Glam bag that includes a small bag (each month is unique, and their designs are not repeated) and five makeup or self-care items depending on the information you provided. They deliver on time and make the entire process really simple. As you keep receiving the Glam bags you can rate the item based on its brand and quality. The more you rate, the more custom-made the bag will be.

I personally love it, mainly because it helps me improve my makeup skills almost effortlessly since not only do they deliver the items, but they also give you tutorials and articles on how to use them creatively. From nail polish to leave-in hair conditioners, the quality of the products never seizes to amaze me. More importantly, since I constantly have new products, I get motivated to use them. Ever since I signed up, my makeup skills have improved significantly. But don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself, there’s no contract or any commitment. If you wish to just buy the April Glam bag then you can do just that.