How to Select An Item In Your January 2017 Ipsy Glam Bag

ByLiz CadmanDec 19, 2016 | 47 comments

ipsy-glam-bag-august-2016-001

Several readers have let us know that Ipsy offered them the option to select one of their samples for the January box. So I reached out to Ipsy to find out if any subscriber could email them and select a sample. (Thanks for the suggestion to reach out, Luna!)

Thanks for writing to ipsyCare!

We sent that email to some subscribers as part of a small test we're running. I'd be more than happy to help you pick out a product for your January bag, even though you weren't part of the test group. Let me know which product you'd like!

--Pacifica BLUSHIOUS in Wild Rose
--Naked Cosmetics Mica Pigment in Desert Sunset
--IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer in Light, Medium, or Tan
--SLMissGlam Blend Beauty Brush L34
--pur~lisse Blue Lotus Seed 5-in-1 Mud Mask
--NOTE Fragrances Pink Peony Eau de Parfum

Please let me know which one is your favorite before 12pm on the 30th and I'll make sure that it's included in your January Glam Bag!

If you'd like to select a sample for January, I recommend emailing [email protected] with your sample choice from the 6 items listed above.

This isn't a guarantee, and I'm not sure how long this option to select your sample will be available for, but it's worth trying!

Are you going to email Ipsy and request a sample? Which one are you picking?

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Liz Cadman

Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She's been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have, FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!

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47 comments

Monica

I emailed ipsy and I chose the Pacifica Blush in Wild Rose. Hope I get it. The SLMissGlam brushes look super cute as well.

lupe

I just requested the Purlisse Mud Mask. So excited.

Mary McMillian

I am excited to try NOTE Fragrances! I wrote to IpsyCare and they said I would get it in my bag! I have heard great things about this new fragrance co. so I am eager to try it.

Sara

I emailed this month asking for a powder but they said next month they aren’t sending any powders or foundations. So she’s going to make sure the IT concealer is in my January bag! A product I’ve wanted to try but never get. Still sad I can never get powders, but hopefully February lol. Their customer service seems awesome and I’m loving that you get to pick a sample.

Kaitlyn

Does anyone know for the Desert Sunset if it is one of those 6 colors? There are 6 options on their website, so not sure which one we’d be getting.

Rebekah

The options they gave me were–

Pacifica BLUSHIOUS in Wild Rose
–Naked Cosmetics Mica Pigment in Desert Sunset
–IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer in Light, Medium, or Tan
–SLMissGlam Blend Beauty Brush L34
–pur~lisse Blue Lotus Seed 5-in-1 Mud Mask
–NOTE Fragrances Pink Peony Eau de Parfum

So, I think the shade would be sunset!

Rebekah

Oh snap. Just realized that doesn’t help you at all. Sorry! I thought you only had the ” desert” bit 🙁

Patricia

Thank u Liz for all your GREAT tips and reviews, I asked for the brush and she said she would see to it. I didn’t know u could opt out of beauty items, will try that next. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TOO ALL!!!

Worked for me!

Beth

I emailed Ipsy as suggested with my choice and just got a reply that they would include my pick in my January bag. Fingers crossed!

Car

I had a great experience with picking my one sample in December and chose the Tarte Maracuja oil. Love this and hope it becomes a permanent option similar to birchbox sample choice, but ipsy has way better variety and better sized samples and value for me. I emailed and hopefully I get a choice I emailed two items I liked as I don’t mind which I received. I was getting a lot of weird ipsymatch items in 2016 and was on brink of leaving after signing up in 2011. They definitely will be keeping me as a customer if we get an item choice monthly, knowing at least one item I will be dying to try!

Dea

Don’t hold your breath. Ipsy has more than one million subscribers.

What’s the big deal? It’s just one item. I’ll let myself be surprised.

Kimberly B

Dea, thank you for putting this into perspective for me. I guessed that they probably had the most subscribers worldwide, but over a million, wow! That’s more than a lot of popular magazines. I’m even more impressed at all that they do. And yeah, we’re getting a fantastic deal for our ten bucks.

Thank you to everyone who reached out and asked about getting a specific sample, and if they could not be given certain categories of items for a few months. I wrote to them yesterday, and am very happy to have gotten the answer that it sounds like most people are getting:

I asked if I might be able to get Bye Bye Under Eye in Light, or else the pigment Desert Sunset 05 [the purple one, yum!] for January, and if perhaps they could not send any bronzers, brushes, or mascaras for a few months.

I decided since I was already emailing them, I’d add some feedback: that I LOVE that they have a creator who’s a guy, because visibility and representation matter; and that I love the December bag, especially with a strap on it, and love almost all their bags; and that I like the old review questions better because I think they were better at pinpointing what I would like to receive; and that I’d really like to receive more “adventurous” colors rather than nudes and neutrals, and that I have adventurous checked on every place possible on my profile.

I got a very nice email from Rupert saying that he’d make sure I got Bye Bye Under Eye, and no bronzer, brushes, or mascara for the next three months. He also said the right now they can’t adjust likes & dislikes for color, for example, they can not send lipstick at all, but they can’t not send only red lipstick but still send lipstick in other colors.

tpop

I was in the first test group that got emailed and was given a short list to choose from for the Dec. bag. However, I did not receive my choice! So I can’t say they impressed me; in fact, I’d rather they not have offered at all.

Carolina

I did this for December and totally missed the cutoff with my answer lol. But they let me do it for January instead, which was nice. Here are the options I received:

–Pacifica BLUSHIOUS in Wild Rose
–theBalm Cosmetics Bahama Mama
–IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer in Light, Medium, or Tan
–TEMPTU Base Smooth & Matte Primer
–pur~lisse Blue Lotus Seed 5-in-1 Mud Mask
–Trust Fund Beauty Lip Gloss in Method to the Madness
–Global Beauty Care Dead Sea Wash Off Mask Skin Treatment
–Sally’s Box Loverecipe Mask Set (Loverecipe Aloe Mask + Loverecipe AcaiBerry Mask) Skin Treatment

I chose the Loverecipe mask set, since sheet masks is what I had initially emailed for.

I had also asked for less eyeliner, red lipstick and eyeshadow brushes in my email and got this response:

“l’ll make sure our ipsyMatch system strives to exclude eyeliner and brushes in all your future Glam Bags, starting next month. Feel free to let me know if you ever change your mind! However, I’m not currently able to opt you out of a specific shade of product. For instance, I can make sure we don’t send you eyeliner, but our system doesn’t have a way to prevent you from getting black eyeliner while still receiving eyeliner in other shades.”

I’m ok receiving red lipsticks every once in a while if the alternative is never receiving lipsticks at all. Anyway, after these emails, and the fact that the new quiz seems to be working for most, I feel much better about future bags!

Heather F.

I said the same thing to Ipsy during my ‘rating of the December glam bag’..”PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANYMORE EYELINERS OR MAKEUP BRUSHES”… Lol ..thanks to monthly beauty boxes, I have so much that I try giving it away so it doesn’t expire.

Marion

Thanks for letting us know some other options!

I love the bye bye undereye…but not for under eye because it creases something fierce lol it’s a fantastic concealer though. I use it on a couple of dark spots I have. A tube will last forever. But again, it bombs completely in the undereye area. May just be me though lol

Melissa

I have a full size one that I use as a concealer also that I was able to swap for (as I wasn’t able to swap for more of the cc cream). I don’t use it for under my eyes, although I have tried it there before, and you’re right. It just doesn’t seem to work as well. But I do love it for covering some hard to cover blemishes and such.

Exactly! Maybe they should market it as a full coverage concealer rather than undereye.

Laura

When I asked about this – they let me pick 3 out of about 8 choices and they said I would get 1 of my choices. They also said that this was a “one time deal” and would not let me pick again.

Samantha

I know that tou can either pick an item or request a type of item. I emailed them last month and they didnt give me a list of items to pick from. I just asked for a brush or tool and they selected the blending sponge for me. Then i saw the full spoilers and saw that the tarte Maracuja oil was gonna be an option for the month and she told me i could choose that or the sponge and told me about the opt out options too. So you dont have to just pick from those items. If they dont need to know what item you want until the 30th you can wait to see full spoilers (if they release them) then request the item you want.

Sara

I emailed last month that I heard they were letting people pick products and I said I wanted a primer or bb cream in my December bag. They responded quickly and no problem and said I’d get a primer in my bag and I did!

Kimberly B

Before I email them, I’m catching up on all my rating / reviewing and will double check my profile. I know they have tens of thousands of people to deal with, but more and more it’s starting to feel like they don’t pay attention to people’s preferences at all.

I’ll be requesting the under eye cream too. Partly I want to be sure to not get the perfume! I’m also going to ask if I can opt out of bronzers and mascara for at least a few months.

Lauren

Out of curiosity – how behind are you on reviewing? Do you do it every month? I only ask because most of my friends who complain about their bag contents either tell me they stopped reviewing due to ipsy not paying attention to their preferences or because there’s a lack of rewards incentives (which I agree – ipsy wasn’t as good as birchbox was in the past.)

I’ve been a member for two years now and caught up on my reviewing probably six months ago (it let me go almost all the way back and I do each item and then the full bag.) Every month I diligently do it now and I can’t even tell you how good my bags are getting each month. I no longer get the balm (UGH), hair products or nail polish in strange colors (all of which I stated I strongly disliked in reviews.) Now almost every month I get a tool, a Lippie, a primer, mascara and usually a single eyeshadow. All of which are at the top of my preferences (I’m going to try “un-liking” primers soon.)

Just was wondering your review frequency to see if my experience can be attributed to extreme luck or if I’m really setting preferences by diligently doing my reviews. Or maybe they’ve changed their system a bit recently due to feedback? I just wanted to mention it because I’ve definitely seen a change in the last six months or so with mine. I would say on average I like 4 to 5 of my items each month, where it was only 1-3 when I started.

Kimberly B

Also I just thought of something else. I’ve always been doing my reviewing in the same way I do for reviews on a place like Amazon (except that my ipsy reviews are much shorter), talking about the good and not so good qualities of a product so a potential buyer will get some key information. Then I’d see reviews on ipsy that said things like “I could never wear a red lip” and give the product two hearts, and it exasperated me, because even if they wouldn’t wear the product, they can still tell a bit about the product, how did it feel, how did it wear, what was the pigment payoff, etc. But maybe ipsy reviews are meant to be “this is how much this products works as something I’d like.” Wow, maybe I haven’t been doing it right the past seven months! I could change my review style and see what happens.

Kimberly B

Well, now that you mention it… yeah, I’ve so far only reviewed about a fourth of what I’ve gotten, and I started in May. I’m not good at making a review fit in one Tweet, much less a few words. I’m bummed about their new reviewing format because it seems even less likely to pinpoint what a person wants, and I’m also bummed because it appears that you don’t get points anymore for sharing your review of a product on Facebook and/or Twitter. I didn’t think they actually read thousands of reviews per product, but maybe they do, or at least count up the stars. I’m trying to gripe less in general, because it’s still fabulous for only ten bucks. TYSM for sharing that info with me!

Marion

Liz, have you heard anything about when they might be opening up the Ipsy Shopper app to more users?

Chris

I hope I get my pick. I picked the it under eye cream in light.

Katy

Hmmm interesting. These options aren’t quite as good as the other anticipated spoilers but I sure could use a stellar undereye concealer for when those sleepless nights start adding up and IT has been good to me so far so it’s worth a shot. Thanks for the info Liz!

Liz Cadman

I love that IT concealer! If you’re looking for full coverage, it is my favorite! 🙂

Katy

I’ve been using Well People Bio Correct that Birchbox sent me months ago but it doesn’t really give me the coverage I need for those I only had 8 hours of sleep all week times. Plus it makes my eyes water. I definitely need to test some others.

Jane

LOL I love it that liz gets no love from IPSY. I’m sick and tired of companies bending over backwards for her and her blog and offering the rest of us garbage.
Good job IPSY, you have my business!

Katy

Im not fully certain of the point of your comment Jane but it comes across as a bit rude and uncalled for. Liz and Eric and their team do a pretty fantastic job of keeping us subbox junkies in the know. Ive been here daily for almost a year now and I love this site and the information provided here and I feel that Liz really goes out of her way to keep us informed. This may be her livelihood but its very clear that its her passion as well and she and her team care. Ipsy, as a company, provides excellent customer service compared to its competitors and they do actually truly care about their customers. I’ve reached out several times since I started getting bags in February and it took a couple of emails at first but I’ve had nothing but amazing customer service since. No person or company is perfect and its impossible to fully please every single one of us every single time but having an open mind helps. And Ive really enjoyed getting fashion and beauty advice and tips here. And I can personally say that there have been several instances when I feel that all my beauty boxes (Ipsy, Birchbox, Boxycharm, Lip Monthly, Play, and recently PopSugar) have had better products than what were reviewed by these ladies. I’ve seen no real favoritism. Ipsy in particular is a company where the more input you give, the more satisfaction you get so perhaps focusing on the company itself and what you are putting into your personal experience with it would be best.

Abigail

I don’t personally know Jane but what I interpreted from her comment was the following;

Many subscription box services pull a bait and switch with regular customers. The general population sign up for a subscription assuming they are going to receive the same quality of products that they see in reviews–that were received by bloggers. In actuality what they get is a substandard box with less than stellar items.

To reiterate what I perceive as her point, it’s good to see that each individual is treated equitably by Ipsy—blogger or just a normal subscriber. It means they care about each of their customers–which is a hallmark of good business practices.

And it’s not alway the case–for instance today, I’m trying to resolve a dispute with a seller on Amazon who shipped me the wrong item. Their idea of a resolution is to let me keep the wrong item in exchange for a $5 goodwill credit.

Amanda

Do you have any idea how much work goes into a blog and posting reviews…or how many referrals she brings these companies….wow…crazy!

monah

Whoa! How sad for you

Samantha

This is an odd place to troll. While not all of the reviews on this site are created equally, I always enjoy Liz and Haley’s reviews and find them very helpful. I’m an individual with my own opinions and I don’t like every product, and I’m happy to see when reviewers on this site are honest about their opinion of a product. For example, I hated the Mad Lash mascara that Ipsy sent, and while some people liked it, the review on this site said it was disappointing. Many of the boxes Liz reviews are the exact box that is available to any customer, such as the PopSugar boxes, Birchbox curated box, etc. If any company is deceptively sending a nicer box to reviewers from this site than they send to their regular customers, maybe you should consider that business shady rather than judge the people reviewing the boxes. I love this blog, and I complain about or praise what I get in the comment sections all the time, but I don’t blame anyone but the subscription box company itself when I feel the value or customer service isn’t good.

Kate

Wow at the very least.

Jessica

Wow. That seems very harsh. 😳

jen

Wow! :/

Charlene

Thank you for let us know. I just recommend it in my last Ipsy bag review. I can’t believe they are actually doing this. I guess a lot of people have the same thought and suggestion to them. Yay~

Julie E

Interesting! I hope they start letting us do a sample choice 🙂 I have the bye bye under eye so I think I would pick the blush or the perfume. I did email them last month and opt out of receiving eye liner! That alone makes me super happy!! Maybe not so much my sister who ends up getting them each time but I’m glad I will get a chance at another product each month that I will actally use 🙂

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How to Select An Item In Your January 2017 Ipsy Glam Bag

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