My Glam Bag Has An Alter Ego? I Couldn't Find It...

When October strolls around we all have pumpkins and Halloween on the mind. We think about how can we alter ourselves for the one holiday we are allowed to play dress up and be something that we normally are not. But nowadays, clothes aren't the only thing we use to transform our appearance on Halloween. With makeup we can transform ourselves on into anything we want. A mermaid, a superhero, a skull, you name it, it is possible. That was allegedly the idea behind this month's Glam Bag from ipsy.

My alter ego Glam Bag included a gold and black makeup bag which had the following products inside: AURORA Gel Effect Nail Polish in Inky Dinky, theBalm Cosmetics Meet Matt(e) Hughes Long-Lasting Liquid Lipstick, Beauty Without Cruelty Fragrance Free Hand and Body Lotion, Nourish Organic Pure Hydrating Argan Face Serum and pur~lisse BB Tinted Moist Cream SPF30.

The AURORA Gel Effect Nail Polish in Inky Dinky is a nail polish that gives off a gel effect. Now I'm not familiar with gel nails so I have no idea how it differs from regular nail polish. I'm not a nail expert and I never will be. The shade Inky Dinky is a nice navy blue/purple shade, honestly to me it looks like indigo. This nail polish claims that it will last for two weeks but I sincerely doubt that, I put this nail polish on two or three hours ago and it has already started chipping. With this nail polish you have to do at least two coats for it to look somewhat decent. The brush is really thick and when you're painting your nails the polish gets a little clumpy.

The theBalm Cosmetics Meet Matt(e) Hughes Long-Lasting Liquid Lipstick was a complete surprise. Then again I really shouldn't be surprised because theBalm has such amazing products and their puns are always entertaining. The shade I received was called Committed, which is a pink nude shade! Which is a shade I LOVE! Thank you ipsy for finally listening to my critiques. Pink nudes are my go to and I'm in love with this one. Also I'm normally not the biggest fan of liquid lipsticks because they never last long, even if they claim they do. But this lipstick actually does last for a long time. I finished a grande Chestnut Praline latte and my lipstick is still visible. It's everything that I want in a lipstick, and there's no need for constant reapplication.

The Beauty Without Cruelty Fragrance Free Hand and Body Lotion moisturizes and softens your skin. It is supposed to help your skin stay youthful and vibrant while being a vegan, cruelty free and paraben free product. It is scentless which just reminds me of the free lotion you get from hotels. There's nothing super special about this lotion besides that it does its job and makes your skin soft and smooth.

The Nourish Organic Pure Hydrating Argan Face Serum is an oil that hydrates and smooths your skin. The oil itself is very runny and that just seems to be a common thing with Nourish Organic products. But the fact that it was runny didn't bother me because this product has a lot of pros instead of cons. Pro #1, it smells so good and I just loved putting it on my face. Pro #2, it made my face feel so good. After using this product my face felt smoother, softer and it actually evened out my skin tone and texture. I love this stuff and it surprised me, especially since I didn't think I would.

The pur~lisse BB Tinted Moist Cream SPF30 was an exciting find in my Glam Bag. I've never used BB Cream but I've heard so many good things about it so I was excited to give it a try. If you don't keep up with the latest makeup trends (like myself), BB Cream is a moisturizer, primer, foundation and sunblock all in one. It's soothing on your skin while it protects it from UV rays, thank you SPF. It really does help brighten and shine your complexion and improves your skin texture all while it makes your skin soft and smooth.

Overall I was impressed by the products in my Glam Bag, the only thing that disappointed me was how none of these products went with the theme of an alter ego. An alter ego is defined as a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. Which I don't think any of these products did and they certainly did not make me feel any different. These products didn't change anything about my appearance. Although these products are amazing and I'm very happy with my Glam Bag, I just wish Michelle Phan and the people at ipsy would work harder on the theme of the Glam Bag and integrate the products in a better way. I've noticed that the themes never go hand in hand with the products and that's something ipsy truly needs to work on. Instead, the Youtubers at ipsy use the themes to promote themselves and their content rather than the actual products which we are paying for. I bet none of the Youtubers actually use any of the products we receive. If this does not change in the future, I bet some consumers (like myself) will switch to other beauty boxes like Sephora's new box Play! or Birchbox.

Rating this Glam Bag is going to be tough because I really enjoyed the products but the theme just did not even belong with any of this products. Most of these products would have done better in last month's bag Face Fashion. If I'm judging this bag solely on the products it would receive 4/5 stars. BUT since the theme and the Glam Bag go hand in hand I'd have to give this bag 2.5/5 stars. This is because there were only three things that were even related to an alter ego, the lipstick and the nail polish, and the glam bag itself.

Did you get a Glam Bag? What did you think? How do you feel about ipsy's themed bags? Am I being too hard on them or do you agree their themes seem pointless and have nothing to do with the actual products? Have you tried any other beauty box subscriptions? Tell me all about them! Until next time.