ipsy vs boxy charm

i love make up.  so much so that i will spend mindless hours watching youtube channels of various girls putting make up on or showing off what they bought at ulta.  it's an obsession.  i will literally go buy whatever they suggest is a "great" product that is "life changing" - and sometimes it truly is.  and sometimes i don't fully understand the hype.  however, youtube has taught me how to contour and how to do brows like a champ.

buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut - my wallet hates my make up obsession.  especially when some of the better products are $20+ a lipstick.  why are you so expensive!????!!! so, i did a little research, watched a few girls open some boxes on the youtube and decided on getting an ipsy bag.

ipsy is a monthly subscription that costs $10 a month.  there are usually 4-5 products in each bag.  sometimes they're full size but mostly they are travel size.  very rarely is it awful packet samples.  and every month comes with a pretty sweet make up bag.  they're always different designs and some are square, rectangle and round.  so, that's nice.  i love the bags for travel or organization around the house or in my purse..  but like most monthly subscriptions some months are GREAT! and some months suck.  but for $10 i felt like it was worth the risk.  the other upside to ipsy is that they have a survey you take to make the products more compatible with you.  like i'm fair, blonde and blue eyed.  so a lot of my products will go along with that.  some of my friends get ipsy but they are brunette or have darker skin tones and so their bags are different from mine.  which is really nice.  and makes swapping out stuff you don't really care for easy with other people who may have the same product just a different color.  also if you don't care for what you're getting or want to try something different, you can always retake the quiz and receive different things than what you were originally getting.

after getting my ipsy bag and having it for a year, i wanted to try another service just to compare.  i researched again on youtube to see what other people were getting and if they were saying it was worth it and went with boxycharm.  boxycharm is the same thing as ispy but is $21 a month and the sizes are more full size than travel size but there is no make up bag.  i also like that in boxycharm you get a card that says how much each item costs, if it's full size or travel size and a description on how to use the product.  sometimes you get coupons for companies like tarte.  the downside to boxycharm is that there is no survey.  everyone gets pretty much the same box.  the difference may be they're rotating 3-4 nail polish shades and you just get which ever one they choose for you.  i like it because it's larger samples but you could be stuck with something that's totally not you because you don't really have a say on what you get.

i wanted to do a side by side comparison of the two for the month of October.

ipsy comes in a pink envelope.  usually a card and a make up bag are down inside the envelope.  boxycharm comes in the box.  both come usps.

the top is ipsy open and the bottom is what boxycharm looks like when you first open the box.

inside this months ipsy bag i received a travel size bwc hand cream, arura gel polish in a dark purple shade, travel size nourish organic argan face serum, sample size the balm matte lip gloss and a pair of emite make up tweezers.  the make up bag was metallic gold on one side and black on the other side.  this bag was mostly sample sized items.  but i'm pretty happy with my options.  i haven't tried any of the products except for the hand cream and that seems to moisturize my hands just fine.  i think the nail polish will be a staple for the fall/winter season.  i'll need to see if the lip gloss is a good shade for me.  but tweezers and face serums always come in handy.  i also like the makeup bag.  there have been months when the designs are definitely not my style but i'll use this one when i travel or toss it in my purse to hold electronics or something.

boxycharm is normally full size items.  this month we got palmetto derma antioxidant rejuvenating face mask, doucce punk volumizing mascara, bella pierre blush, cult nail polish in a grey color and a black eye pencil.  pretty much this entire box is legit size but the blush.  however, i hate these samples.  i never use a liquid version of blush/bronzer - mostly because i'm not sure how to use them and because i'm so much more comfortable with powder.  i get these all the time between the two services that i'm mostly always giving them away..  however, the face mask i'll use for a personal spa night.  the mascara and eye liner is great in black.  i hate when they send some crazy color like purple or green eye liners.  i get that i should step out of my comfort zone but i'm almost 30 and i look like i'm 12 so i'm trying to stay away from anything that makes me appear more younger than i am..  the grey nail polish is my fav for this month from both services.  i'm currently obsessed with grey manicures! so that's a win.  really both shades of polish were a win.

one month boxy had 3 different shades of polish they rotated - mint, coral and baby yellow.  i hate yellow nails.  they're totally not me.  i reaaaaaaaaaally wanted the coral but ended up getting the mint.  i like it ok but would've preferred the coral.  so that's a problem when they do that.  you never know what you're going to get.  there's no way to tell the company what you really want.  but i noticed some subscribers were trying to swap colors in the comments on boxy's instagram.

speaking of the instagram - i don't follow ipsy but i do boxy.  and boxy will usually do a "sneak peek" on 2-3 of their items before they start shipping them out.  i kind of like knowing what i'm going to be getting so i'm not completely surprised. but it does suck if you're wanting to be surprised.  and once they start shipping, they'll post photos of the entire box so if you don't get yours til last, you'll already know everything inside. but one of the big reasons i joined boxy was because i saw their instagram and looked at some previous boxes.  i'm somewhat a fan of coastal scents.  i have a lot of their eye shadow palettes. and one of the boxes they gave away coastal scents revealed palette which is a knock off of urban decay's naked palette.  coastal scents now has 3 of these palettes and i own all 3 mostly because i got the other two in my boxy.

all in all i think boxy is worth the extra $11 every month because you get full sized items every month.  but if you're only wanting to spend a little then ipsy is a great option to try new things.  i have purchased full sized items because i liked the samples i got from these subscriptions.  i would highly recommend signing up for any kind of subscription service.  there are so many available depending on your interests!  let me know if there is something out there worth trying!  i'm debating on if i should sign up for food one, clothes one or puppy one!