If you do not know what these are, Ipsy and Topbox are both beauty subscription services you can subscribe and pay for every month, and you will receive a variety of different products ranging from make-up, hair products, nail care, fragrances, and skin care. Lets begin.
Ipsy Bag
Price: $10 per month (shipping and taxes to Canada end up being a total of $17)
Ships to: Canada and US
# of Items: 4-6 items per bag (some full size and some deluxe sized samples)
Packaging: comes with a new make-up bag every month
April Ipsy Bag
Demeter Jasmine Roll On Perfume ($10) - Full Size? Mini Full Size?
I usually don't mind getting perfumes in my subscription boxes but I did not like this one. I guess I am not a big fan of jasmine as I thought I was. This smells like REAL jasmine, like literally I am smelling the real deal here. If you love the smell of Jasmine you would probably enjoy this. On their website which I linked above the picture, they come in various sizes, and for this size its $10, which is a pretty awesome since I paid $17 for my Ipsy bag.
Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide On Eye Pencil ($24) - Basically FS
I was super happy to see an Urban Decay product in my Ipsy bag. Those are the best bags! The first time I tried an Urban Decay eyeliner was actually from an Ipsy bag before too! Their eyeliners are so pigmented and black, so I'm going to love this. For a full size liner it is 0.4 oz and this one is already 0.3 oz, so they basically gave us a full size one!! SCOREEE.
Cailyn Tinted Lip Balm in Apple Pink ($19) - Full Size
I was a bit apprehensive about this item because of its weird packaging, but turns out the skinny part of this contraption is actually a brush when you pull it out! How convenient!! The colour itself is a very pretty coral/pink colour that definitely can be used and worn everyday.
Elizabeth Mott Pop! goes the Shadow ($12.99) - Full Size
This is such a gorgeous colour of eyeshadow, so I was really happy to see this in my bag. The colour is called Champagne, and it is the perfect name since its the perfect champagne colour. Perfect for your base for your eyeshadow or even a highlight, or inner eye colour. It is extremely pigmented which would explain the $12.99 price tag.
Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant ($9.75) - Deluxe Sam
I figured out the price of this by going on the website and taking the full price product and dividing it by how much this sample had haha. That actually is a pricey sample considering the full sized product itself is $78! This Ipsy bag has definitely went above and beyond. I'm not a HUGE fan of skin care products but I definitely will test this baby out.
Verdict:
Full Size Products: 3
Deluxe Size Products: 2
Price for Bag: $10+tax/shipping = $17
Value of this month's bag: $75.74
Mel's Rating: 4.5/5
AMAZING!
Topbox
Price: $12 per month (free shipping, but taxes. Total = $13.56)
Ships to: Canada only
# of Items: claims to give 4 deluxe sized samples
Packaging: a nice sturdy and reusable cardboard tube
April Topbox
I'm actually going to include a little rant here about Topbox to start off. I was a Topbox member about a year and a half ago and I unsubscribed due to the fact their samples were pretty shit (pardon my language). Yes I understood that they only give 4 deluxe samples but the samples did not wow me what so ever. I still followed Topbox on Facebook and I saw that they definitely improved business wise and provided other options for boxes, and occasionally some people got randomly selected for awesome boxes (like the Murale one). I decided to subscribe again because I wanted to try different brands since Topbox is known to have "higher end" brands and brands I probably never heard of. My rating and opinions on Topbox may be a little skewed, but I hope it doesn't fear you away from signing up for Topbox. Its a great box to most people, but for me it kind of sucked. I joined again in hopes it will wow me this time, but I guess you will see my reaction at the end.
Sweet Pea: Honey and Oats Soap Bar ($5.95) - Full Size
This was probably the only thing in the box that made me super happy to see my Topbox. The smell of this soap is absolutely amazing, I just want to eat it. It smells super sweet, almost familiar, and super yummy. I don't think I'm going to use it, but I LOVE to smell it whenever I get the chance to. The scent is almost addicting.
LA Splash Nail Polish ($7.50) - Full Size
I guess I kind of enjoy getting nail polish in my subscription boxes, but this colour just didn't call out to me. It definitely is NOT a Spring time colour, more like a fall/winter green colour.
BH Cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadows ($1-5?) - Del Sam
I was sad to see this in my Topbox because I have already received it in one of my Ipsy bags a couple of months ago. Oh well I can just give it to my cousin.
Inside the mini palette it has one shade from each of the three California palettes. I couldn't figure out a price for this because the palettes itself are $18.95 each and right now they're on sale for $4.50.. so this sample could basically be worth nothing really.
Prevage Anti-aging Intensive Repair Eye Serum ($1-5?)
This was one of the products that pretty much made everyone pissed off. Everyone expects "deluxe sized samples" in their Topboxes, and whenever they get a sachet of any kind, they flip their stuff. The full size of this serum itself is $155, so I guess it makes sense that they only offer this as a sample. I guess what really made people outraged is that this sample could easily be obtained from a Shoppers Drug Mart beauty counter, or even at The Bay. I was disappointed to get this because I don't think I'm that old that I would need ant-aging stuff as of now. Unlike Ipsy, Topbox doesn't use the quizzes they make you take to assess what products to give you. Ipsy makes you take a beauty quiz so they can try to match you to products they can give you for the month in hopes you will enjoy them.
Verdict:
Full Size Products: 2
Deluxe Size Products: 1
Samples: 1
Price for Bag: $12+tax = $13.56
Value of this month's bag: $23.45
Mel's Rating: 1.5/5
Mediocre.
FINAL VERDICT:
Winner: Ipsy Bag
Definitely the Ipsy bag because clearly you can see that it was a lot better than the Topbox this month. It was disappointing to see that the first Topbox I get from almost a year now to actually suck still! I was actually happy with my Topbox until I saw the other boxes people got. Topbox gave a randomly selected number of people Murale boxes. If you don't know what Murale is, it is a high end make-up retail store (affiliate to Shoppers), and people got products from brands like Lancome, Bioderma, YSL, and Juice Beauty. Totally not fair. Their box values ranged from $50-$120. That's a pretty big jump from the people who got the regular Topboxes (like me). I'm just wondering how they justify giving some people boxes worth so much more, and giving people boxes worth next to nothing. I guess if the next Topbox is just as bad, I'm unsubscribing, again.
Anyone have a good recommendation on a good subscription box? I think I'm willing to switch it up if I can find a better one!
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