Lip Monthly March 2015

Look, a wild subscription bag appears!

I have another Lip Monthly post to share with you all. As always, these are my honest and personal thoughts. I am in no way sponsored or affiliated with Lip Monthly!

lip monthly march

If you don’t know what Lip Monthly is, they’re a fairly new subscription service that’s aimed towards people that love lip products (hey, that’s me!). It’s $10 per month, and typically bags arrive in the middle of the month, closer to the end of the month. Lip Monthly has had some odd moments that I have mentioned before, but they seem to be more consistent now.

I have to give a business props when they listen to their customers and aim to be more consistent. Does that mean they are perfect? No, but I am happy to see their team learning and growing as a business.

This month’s bag was their typical blue bag. Or rather, another bag for my toddler’s collection. Harmony honestly loves when I give her the bags and boxes from my beauty subscriptions. She has her own purse and she puts them all in there with her baby diapers and babies and carries them around with pride.

Anyway, the theme for this month is Spring, obviously. Spring themes and colors tend to annoy me after a bit, but I had a harsh winter physically and emotionally, so I have been welcoming all the colors.

Basically, when I opened this bag it’s like Spring just threw up all over the place. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit, but this month is very pink…and bright. So, let’s get into what’s actually in the bag this month.

IMG_5437

Hikari Lipstick- $13 I’ve received a Hikari lipstick from Lip Monthly before, and I actually adore the formula of these lipsticks. They’re creamy and have a really nice finish on them that isn’t too glossy, and not too drying. The shade is “Crush” which is a super bright pink. I’m trying to explore my color range a bit and incorporate more pinks, so I may save this one for summer.

Jordana Lip Glaze- $1.99 This product didn’t impress me as much since I can pop into Walgreens and buy this, but it is really nice. I like Jordana lip products, and I haven’t tried any of the lip glazes yet. The smell is wonderful and very fruity. It’s glittery and when I was swatching it on my arm it went on very smoothly and had a sheer, shimmery finish. This will make a nice lipstick topper, or can be worn alone on days when I just need a little color on the go. The shade I got in my bag is “Raspberry.”

JCat Lip Crayon $3.99- The last JCat product Lip Monthly sent out was a total flop, but this one is not. I thought the color was red and my heart skipped a bit, but the outside is a bit deceiving. The color itself is beige with a bit of orange in it. This product is probably the most “me” colored in this bag, and I’m actually excited to try this out alone and with some of my newer glosses on top of it.

Let to right: Hikari "Crush", JCat Lip Pencil "Caramel Mocha," Jordana Lip Glaze "Raspberry."

Let to right: Hikari “Crush”, JCat Lip Pencil “Caramel Mocha,” Jordana Lip Glaze “Raspberry.”


Sally Hansen Nail Polish- $1.99 (Kmart Price)
Once again, this is a brand I can go to Kmart or Walgreens to find. However, this is a very bright and pretty color. The shade is “Mighty Mango” and it’s a very bright coral type of shade. Not one that I will wear on my nails, but it will look cute on my toes this Spring and Summer!

Total Bag Value: $21

Eh, not the best and not the worst. The total bag value wouldn’t bother me as much if there had been different brands other than popular drugstore brands in it.

I’m still on the fence about Lip Monthly as a whole. I want to like them, but at the same time I feel like I’m mostly getting things that I won’t use. I’ve gotten a few gems (like my Magnolia Lipstick and Ofra liquid lipstick) but a lot of items that I don’t use or like.

I would like to see a possible quiz for this subscription to better fit individuals and more of a brand variety, but I also know that they are still relatively new and it takes a bit to build up a brand base that will sell wholesale.

If you have Lip Monthly, what are your thoughts on them? Know of any other beauty subscriptions aimed towards lip product addicts for me to look into?
If there’s anything in particular that you all want to see reviewed, let me know!

Comment down below, I would love to hear from you!

As always, thanks for reading!

Unboxing and Review: Walmart Beauty Box and Lip Monthly

I am currently subscribed to 3 different things. The Walmart Beauty Box, Lip Monthly, and I recently caved and decided to go back to Ipsy since I felt a bit lost without my glam bag.
I recorded an unboxing of both of the December Walmart Beauty Box and my Lip Monthly bag, but I wanted to post better pictures and swatches here.

First up: Walmart Beauty Box

This box comes every 3 months (once per season) and is technically free, but the $5 is shipping costs.
This was December’s Winter Box
IMG_3275

Pretty decent amount of product for $5, in my opinion. The one thing not pictured is the Maybelline Dream Wonder powder, but honestly I think that was just a coupon (it had a $1 coupon attached). I’m never too fond of foil packet samples because let’s be real many of them end up in the weird black hole part of makeup drawers where foil samples go to die. Or is that just me?
There was a full sized lipstick in the box as well! It looks like it’s from the new Maybelline line it’s in the shade “Mocha Kiss” and it’s a very brown shade. I don’t know how much use I will get out of this, personally, but I will play around with it.

IMG_3266

However, I am pretty excited to try everything else. I’ve never heard of a body BB Cream, but from what I’ve read on the sample bottle it looks pretty neat! Overall, I am happy with this box and it’s a cute little surprise every season for me. It does look like there are different boxes sent out depending on your age group, because I’ve seen another version of the Winter box on several blogs.

Second: Lip Monthly Bag

I’ve reviewed Lip Monthly before on this blog, and on Youtube and I will link both at the end of this post.
I’m still very confused about this subscription. I love the concept, and for the most part the products are awesome, but there is something a bit off about their customer service. I feel that they need an overhaul and need someone better marketing for them and handling customer service issues. I know that running a business is extremely hard (my parents did twice) but if you’re not willing/able to answer your customers concerns, no matter how rude or odd they may be, what’s the point in having a business? There’s my small rant on that matter.

IMG_3274

With that aside, the products are so spot on if you’re a lip product lover. I loved every single thing in this bag, and that’s not common for me. The total value of this bag was $25 compared to the $10 I paid, so that’s pretty rad. I do hope that whatever is going on with Lip Monthly is just a bump in the road for them, because I do wish them every bit of success. I love the idea of a monthly bag catered to those that love trying out new lip products. I can already say that I have worn that Magnolia Makeup lipstick twice since getting my bag. It’s so dreamy. I’m rooting for you, Lip Monthly. I really am.

IMG_3276

Swatches from left to right: La girl lip liner in “mauvelous,” NYC lipstick in “Mocha,” Magnolia Makeup Liquid Ultra Matte Lipstick, Milani Lipgloss in “Nude Touch.”

Lip Monthly Review

For anyone interested, this is my very first video about my Lip Monthly bag for the month.
Please subscribe to me, and if you have a beauty channel let me know and I will for sure take a look at yours as well ❤

This is a huge step for me, and I know my video isn't the best. I'm going to pretend that most vloggers don't have great first videos haha.

Subscription Fever: Lip Monthly

Last month I decided to cancel both my beauty box and ipsy subscriptions because the samples I was receiving from both were merely piling up and ending up in a tiny sample landfill. I stumbled upon a relatively new subscription service called Lip Monthly, and decided to give it a try since I am a lip product addict. Lip products of any sort are probably the few things I get ridiculously excited for when it comes to subscription services.

It’s $10 per month and they say they will send 3-4 full sized products and 1-2 sample sized products. I was automatically intrigued just from reading that. So, I used a coupon code (will link at the end) and got my first box for $5 and started the subscription. The reviews I had watched seem mixed. Most seem to either love Lip Monthly or hate it. However, it seems that’s how the cookie crumbles with most subscription services. You can’t please everyone.

I received my tracking info last Friday and received my bag on Monday. So, shipping time seems to be about average.

IMG_2319

These were the products that came in my bag. From what I have seen on instagram and youtube, this was the standard bag for everyone with a few differences like maybe their eyeliner pencil was a different color. The bag came with a card, but the prices were not beside the products so I can’t tell if I got more than my money’s worth in terms of product value. It looked like there were 4 full sized products and 1 sample sized, the sample being the lip scrub.
The J Cat lipstick in my bag is actually defective. I opened it and can’t even swatch the product because the lipstick is broken in half on the inside. I will have to email them about that, so next month I will update about their customer service. However, I can tell the color isn’t going to be for me. The one thing that does upset me a bit about this subsciption already is that they sent out the same color lipstick to everyone. When it comes to nudes, one color does not fit all. This color probably looks stunning on people with darker skin tones…it just makes me look dead. It looks like, well, my skin.

There was a purple shimmery lip tiny (balm?) that came in the bag and it smells pretty nice. Much like grapes if you’re into grape flavored things. There was also another chapstick that I have actually tried before (and like) from another subscription that smells like cherries. I’m not too sure what the point of sending two balm/chap stick type products is? The shimmery one doesn’t exactly compliment the weird nude tone lipstick, and I am not one to put on balm on top of more balm.

The last full sized product was a LA Girl eyeliner, which I like. LA Girl is a product I have talked about before and I have been wanting to try a few more of their products. The color I got was a very pretty blue color. I’ve been digging the blues lately since I have been playing around with black lipstick, and I have a few blue lipsticks so the eyeliner will double as a lip liner for me since blue lip liners are hard to come by.
The sample product was a lip scrub. It seems like your typical lip scrub. The smell is…okay. It smells natural, and the ingredients seems to be all natural as well, so that’s a plus.

Overall, I am neither over the moon or extremely disapppointed in this subscription for the first month in. I will give it a few more months, because I know they are newer and I can’t base it on the first bag I get. I would like to see a bit more of a theme with this subscription. It seemed like they tried to make a theme, but it just didn’t come together well. An option for individual profiles to ensure great product selection for each person would be nice as well. Not everyone is the same skin tone, and not every lip color is going to be suitable for everyone. I’m sure there are people that love the lipstick in the bag, but I can tell despite the defect in the product that it will make me look like my lips have disappeared, and that’s not what I am going for when I wear a nude lip color.