Beauty Army

Last week I decided to cancel my Ipsy subscription (formerly Glam bag) and subscribe to Beauty Army instead. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with Ispy - each month I received a cure makeup/travel bag FULL of makeup - but I honestly got more pink lip glosses and black eyeliners that I can use for a good long while so I thought I'd switch subscriptions for a while to get some new items.

Beauty Army is a little different in that you get to choose 6 products to try each month from 9 options, and if you don't like the options you can redo your profile to get another set of 9 products to choose from. My first kit arrived tonight and I'm looking forward to trying out some new products!

The samples I chose are as follows:

• Lipsi Cosmetics Aphrodite Powder
• Nelson J Beverly Hills Argan Oil 7 Non-Foaming Shampoo
• Whip Hand Cosmetics Loose Pigment Eyeshadow (Green Beret)
• Enspri Moisture Duo
• Mark Hook Up Lip Gloss (Blow Kisses)
• GG Gatsby Raise Volume Conditioner

The Mark gloss is full size, and they even threw in the connector that you would use to connect another gloss at the other end. I'm actually a Mark rep (though I never sell anything - just buy products for myself) and I've been a big fan of these glosses for years. The formula is great and it's a perfect sheer red that is nicely buildable. As far as glosses go it's actually slightly less sticky than some other formulas (I'm looking at you, Bare Minerals) and the wear time is pretty good for someone like me who can't seem to keep lipstick color on for more than a half an hour.

The eyeshadow pigment is a nice green, slightly lighter than I expected from a color with a military theme but I'm actually quite happy with it and it will go nicely with the pearl pink eyeshadow pigment I got from Ipsy last week.

I'm almost out of my Bare Minerals Mineral Veil so I'm looking forward to trying the aphrodite powder, and I'm always interested in trying out facial serums and moisturizers so the Enspri duo will also be put to good use. While they are in foil packs they are a good size and should give me at least a couple uses.

Normally I would not get a conditioner without the shampoo but I got a volumizing shampoo without the conditioner from Birchbox last week so the timing on the GG Gatsby sample couldn't be better! And the argan oil shampoo is really a multi-use product that claims to take the place of shampoo, conditioner, and treatment all in one! I absolutely love argan oil for my hair so I'm anxious to see how this compares to my current Organix products.

All in all this costs me $12 a month, I can choose what products I want to try, and since they are based out of CA the kit arrived within days. Each month on the 11th (the day I signed up) I will receive a notification that the selection window is open and I can select my products, or I can choose to skip for the month. This service is very much like Julep in that aspect, though instead of selecting from several pre-selected boxes I can choose exactly what I want! While most of my products were deluxe sample sizes it seems that they also include full size products, so I feel that this subscription is a great value for the money!

*Disclaimer - links contained within this post are referral links, and I will receive credit for anyone who signs up and makes a purchase.