Beard balm with vanilla and cinnamon leaf oil
While out shopping with a friend, he started checking out some beard balm and beard oil. He didn’t pick any up, but when his birthday rolled around, I bought him something, and wanted to make him some beard balm to gift him as well.
I started out with three recipes, each with different ratios – I figured I’d try a few different things and see what he liked in terms of scent and texture/moisture/etc.
Three oil blend beard oil
While out shopping with a friend, he started checking out some beard balm and beard oil. He didn’t pick any up, but when his birthday rolled around, I bought him something, and wanted to make him some beard oil to gift him as well.
Looking up recipes online had a LOT of suggestions. Some suggested single carrier oils mixed with single essential oils, some had single carrier oils with a blend of essential oils, and others had blended carrier oils with single or blended essential oils.
Super-short post today about my February Glam Bag from Ipsy, so I can get back to other posts in my queue.
My Ipsy Glam Bag this month contained:
Baby Blush Stick in Bora Bora Coral
My Ipsy Glam Bag for December arrived yesterday, which was a nice surprise (sort of.. only because I wasn’t paying attention to the calendar) in my mail box. (Better, some of my holiday shopping also arrived, so that was good timing- enough time to wrap stuff up!)
The good: Goes on smoothly, seems to be fine with one-coat (better with two), seems to wear well (so far, I’ve only had it on for a day and a half at this point).
The bad: The colour is really not my thing – it’s sort of a cherry pink… I’d prefer something deeper, darker, and less bright.
Rating: 4/5
On June 15 I started seeing friends on my Facebook feed posting about already getting their ipsy packages, and started to get excited to see what I’d be getting in the mail this month from them too. (I’m also waiting on a few other packages, so it’s just a constant state of being it seems…)
Since I went into ipsy to review my past orders (and with the site redesign it looks like all of my previous reviews were erased… 😦 ) I figured I’d get that sneak-peek about what to expect…
The sneak preview page said I’d be getting:
IT Cosmetics Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil – with a shade intended to “match all hair colours” and “cover grey perfectly” I was interested in the product, but the shade worried me. Ipsy keeps sending me shades that are either way too bright, or way too light… and a ‘universal’ shade just sounds unrealistic….
Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Foundation Primer – I have another primer (I think it might even be from Smashbox) which I love, so I was really looking forward to this one.
BeFine Cucumber Facial Mask – Masks are cool.. I don’t use them very often, but this sounded good…
Tre’StiQue Mini Shadow Crayon – the site indicated that we’d be getting either a pink-nude/pearl, a soft gold, a classic brown, or a deep earthy green with a gold pearl. I thought I’d like the gold or the green.. but given ipsy’s habit of sending me super-light shades… I imagined I’d be getting the pink-nude instead. I do really like shadow crayons though, especially for travel or to put in my work make up kit.
J. Cat Beauty Lipitude Hydrating Lip Stain – this sounds great for summer, but the colours look lke either an orange-y pink or a bright-hot pink. Neither of which do I really love for lip stains…
Once the order actually arrived on the 16th, I was able to look at what I had received – here’s what I thought:
IT Cosmetics Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil – as I anticipated, the “universal” colour doesn’t really work with my light brows. Using even the lightest touch (and actually seeing something happening!) results in brows that are darker than I’d normally wear… but not by much, so I’m ok with this. The brush on the back is a good idea though. 5/10, with a recommendation they at least do three colours…
Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Foundation Primer – This actually comes out of the tube looking matte, which I loved – and it feels great on the skin, very smooth. However, the matte effect isn’t strong, and I think I’ll stick with my green (colour correcting) primer instead. 7/10.
BeFine Cucumber Facial Mask – This mask has a very fresh fragrance.. but I suspect that for people who have sensitivities to scents, it might just be too strong. After having it on for just a few minutes, it was starting to annoy me more than anything – though luckily it’s not a scent that triggers a bad reaction for me. The mask goes on smooth, and since I only put on a thin layer, didn’t have that clay-mask cracking/tight feeling I usually think of with masks. It rinsed off easily and I think I could notice my skin feeling slightly softer and smoother immediately after rinsing. 6/10, with a recommendation to turn the scent down.
Tre’StiQue Mini Shadow Crayon – When I got this, I thought it was missing it’s cap – turns out the cap is just shaped like an eyeshadow pencil! Inside the cap is more of a tube with a creamy crayon rather than a pencil, which is fine, but as expected, they sent me the pink pearl colour which is so light I can barely see it on my eyelid. The crayon goes on smoothly, and it blends well. One of the challenges with crayon shadows that I’ve experienced is transfer/bleed/shifting of the product.. it tends to move around long after I’d like it to stay put if I don’t powder over top of it… I had it on for about an hour, and it hadn’t shifted yet… (but an hour isn’t a lot of time, and I was indoors at my desk, not outside in the sun or moving around a lot…) 6/10 for the formula, but 2/10 for the colour. Seriously ipsy, stop sending me champagne-colored eyeshadows!!!
J. Cat Beauty Lipitude Hydrating Lip Stain – This has a very nice applicator, but the product goes on VERY opaque, and heavy. There’s a slight, not pleasant scent. It definitely stains, I touched up a corner with my finger, and my fingertip stained quite well. After blotting four times, I still had colour on my lips – but this time a nice stain instead of the opaque lipstick look. However… the colour…. once blotted it’s all right – a bit bright for my tastes, but ok. But before blotting? Wow it’s bright. Far too bright for my taste or complexion I think. Its one of those “do up your whole face” colours, rather than a “throw on some lipgloss and some mascara and run for the bus” colours. 6/10 because I think it’s probably a good product, in a better colour.
oh.. and the bag..
I kind of like the bag again this month – it’s a soft knit bag, a scuba-like fabric on the back, and an ipsy-embossed knit on the front. Just a simple bag with a top zipper, and a waterproof lining. I think it will be more useful than some of the other bags I’ve received in the past 🙂
If you are curious to receive an assortment of make up/hair/skin samples every month, come join in. If you sign up using my link: https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=1ledf then I’ll get 250 points towards additional samples in the future.
(oh yeah.. I’m on Instagram now too! Come follow me if you’d like – though it’s mostly travel and music photos right now 🙂 )
