I am a makeup enthusiast. I love all things beauty and skincare. Now that I am in college, it is more difficult for me to go to Ulta or Sephora whenever I want. During my first year, I thought that I had found the solution to my problems: IPSY.
IPSY is a monthly beauty bag subscription where, for $10 a month, you get five travel-sized beauty (nail polish, makeup, skincare, hair products, etc.) items. The wonderful thing about IPSY is that the products come in fashionable travel-sized makeup pouches, which are very helpful when I travel home for breaks.
The reason I canceled my subscription to IPSY was because of the items that I began to receive. When you start your IPSY subscription, you fill out a quiz that gauges your skin tone, skin type and preferences for different kinds of items. For the first three or four bags, I was pleased because there were samples of bright shadows, high-quality mascara, eyeliner, various travel-sized skincare products and more. At that point, I was satisfied with the products I was receiving for only $10 while the price of the contents of the bag exceeded even $40 for certain months.
The problem arose around my fifth month of using IPSY when in my bag I received nail polish and a hair care item. Products like these might be great for someone else, but I had indicated that I had no interest in nail art or hair care. While it was underwhelming to receive such a disappointing IPSY bag, I let it go, because not all months could be great months.
What followed turned me off from the company. The whole point of IPSY, other than being a beauty subscription, is that it is supposed to be personalized. The quiz taken at the beginning was supposed to guide IPSY employees as to what items you would want in your bag. I do understand that each month IPSY has a list of products that they can choose five from, but I expected better. I started receiving lipsticks in shades that did not compliment my skin tone. This was frustrating because I had filled out the survey, which indicated my skin tone and undertones, which should have been used in the formulation of my monthly bag.
I decided to switch to BoxyCharm, another beauty box subscription, in hopes of rectifying the problems I had with IPSY. BoxyCharm is not for everyone. For one, it costs $25, which is more than double the price of the basic package subscription I was paying at IPSY. The difference between these two subscriptions is that with BoxyCharm, you receive five full-sized items. IPSY does have the same option to receive the five full-sized products for roughly the same price, but I wanted to try a new brand.
For $25 a month, I am receiving over $100 in makeup and skincare products every month. I am very interested in eyeshadow and, for the past three months, I have received a full-sized eyeshadow palette. As of right now, I am in my fourth month of BoxyCharm, which is around the same time I began to have difficulties with IPSY. I am more hopeful for BoxyCharm because they gave me the ability to pick one of my items from two products–I do not recall ever receiving this opportunity with IPSY. So far, I am very happy with BoxyCharm and I have high expectations for the future.
IPSY may have not worked for me, but if you are new to makeup, it’s a good investment for the price and size of the items. Customer service at IPSY was also very helpful with the issues I did have. I would recommend doing your research on both companies, as well as evaluating the amount of your disposable income if you are interested in starting a beauty box subscription.