IPSY, October 2014: Indie Lee Brightening Cleanser

Hi!

My birthday month was coming up in September so a month or so beforehand I decided to get on the IPSY waitlist. In really late August or Early September IPSY did their promotional thing where if you liked a bunch of youtube channels and allowed IPSY to post on your facebook page then you could get off the waitlist, so I ended up doing that. But I didn't end up getting my first IPSY bag until October 2014 which I was kind of sad about. Oh well. What really interested me in trying the beauty subscription IPSY is that it was $10.00 and the fact that people raved about how you were able to customize your bag to your likes by filling out a beauty quiz and being able to review products. I thought that was super cool! But ultimately after 4 months I ended up cancelling IPSY because IPSY kept sending me products that were not on my beauty quiz and I only rated the products I loved. I don't want to give a product a negative review when it's not that the product is bad or doesn't work for me, it's only that I did not specify I wanted to receive that product. They should make a button for that specific purpose that says something along the lines of did not request item or got too many of this item because I noticed I would get 1 hand and 1 face product pretty much in each bag. I did not request face or hand products. The one that really killed me was the dang hairspray! I don't use hairspray. I also noticed from watching other people on youtube receiving their IPSY bags with the #1 coveted makeup item that were never in my bag. I forgot now what item it was, but I think it might have been a Smashbox item. I did notice there were other items.  I'm not sure what the purpose of the beauty quiz and reviewing of the items is for, but it didn't help my bags and I also noticed maybe some popularity issues came out. If you had a lot of subscribers then you got really good products and if you didn't then you got the crap products they couldn't send to the big youtube followers. I guess that is really how I felt about IPSY, that I was getting left over stuff no one wanted and stuff that I didn't even want. Sorry about the long complaint.

IPSY gives inserts, but they don't list beauty products and prices. I don't know if they changed that or not, but in my IPSY bags I got an insert with advertisements. In this specific blog I am going to be talking about Indie Lee Brightening Cleanser. I can honestly say that when I saw this product and what it was I was not excited about it. I have never heard of the brand and I was not looking for sampling cleansers. It was disappointing. But I figured since I have it I might as well give it a try. I don't think I have ever reviewed a face wash so please bear with me.

IPSY has an insert, but no descriptions or prices.

Rating:

Price: 6/10
Packaging: 10/10
Amount of product: 10/10
Application: 10/10
Smell: 10/10
Texture:10/10
Different skin types: 10/10
For sensitive skin: 10/10
Face feeling clean: 10/10
Brightening: 3/10
Overall rating: 8/10
Would I purchase: 0/10
Total rating: 97/120=80.83%=80.8%=B

My personal rating: 7/10=70%=C

Comments:
According to the official indielee.com website this product is $32.00 for 4 fluid ounces. I want to say the Clinique face wash is half the price, but I guess it doesn't brighten. It might include more product too. I think that seems a bit pricey to me. The packaging of the sample is a clear tube that is 0.5 fluid ounces, but on the website the packaging is a bottle that comes with a pump to pump the product out. The packaging is simple, but cute. I think that the price seems high even for 4 fluid ounces. I guess you would be able to get a few uses out of it, but I still would not pay $32.00 for it. $32.00/4 fluid ounces= $8.00 an ounce. But for the sample you get a decent amount to try out. I would say at least two to three full face washes. The application was very smooth and even. The smell of the product is pretty strong, but it's not horrible. I was surprised at how good it smells actually. I cannot for the life of me describe what I am smelling. It's a bit of sweet and earthly at the same time. According the the website it's supposed to be a strawberry scent. I kind of get it now, but to me it smelled like a sweet fruit of some kind. Like an apple or pumpkin. Who knew. The smell is there, but it's not offensive. But as an FYI you can smell it while the product is on your face and even after you wipe the product off. The texture of this product is gel like. When you squeeze it out of the tube it comes out looking and feeling like gel/jelly, but once you start applying it to the face it is very smooth and even. It starts lathering up a little bit. The more you rub it the more it lathers. I don't think there should be any problems for normal, oily, or dry skin types to have an issues with this product. I have really sensitive skin so this product passes the sensitive skin test. I did not feel the product drying my skin out or any kind of irritation or itchy feeling. I wasn't expecting much from this face wash in terms of feeling cleansed because it is directed as a brightening cleanser. I didn't think it would feel this clean, but it does. I thought I was going to have to exfoliate first, but this did a good job without exfoliating. I feel like it slightly brightened up my face, but I think you would have to use this for at least a few weeks to a month to see any actual results. For first try it did okay. Overall, my face feels really soft. It's supposed to tighten/firm the skin and I can definitely feel that too. The scent is really strong in the packaging and on the face, but it is not offensive. It smells really good. I like it. Just an FYI to reiterate that this face product does smell very strongly on the face even after wiping the product off. I'm okay with that, but some people may not be. If it wasn't for the price I would probably purchase this product.

Sincerely,
Marina