Hello Shiquers and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! I hope you all enjoyed the Holiday Matsuri gallery post, don’t worry we will get the Joshua Seth interview up since one part still needs to be edited. I do have my Ipsy and BoxyCharm for January 2016 though! I got my Ipsy bag yesterday while Boxy came in the mail today, which I was excited about both, but really wanted my paws on the Boxy box since a lot of things are awesome and saw videos and was impressed. Let’s see what I got!

Ipsy: This month’s theme is “Eyes on You!” and it includes eye items, a few lips stuff, even body and face care. I like how they decided to start this year with eye products, well mostly eye products and a few of the staple items like face and body since we need to take care of that! I like the bag which is almost like one of those 1960s or 90s feeling bags with women wearing glasses. I did switch to this bag from using my November bag since I loved that one from last year since I do love stars and planetary stuff but gotta change it up. Plus, it’s nice and roomy for my hair ties that I carry in case I lose one or Gondras decides to take it out of my hair and toss it aside. I also have my usual tubes of lip balm, I carry extras since I tend to lose them, lip colors like my Bath and Body Works lip gloss and Steela lip glaze if I am stuck on what to wear on my lips, and now wearing my MAC Pet Me Please to try and finish it! Of course tissues and hand sanitizer, which those come in handy! Still, nice and roomy!

The Balm Cosmetics Mr. Write (Now) Eyeliner: The first item in the bag is something that everyone has received and that is by The Balm Cosmetics and it is the Mr. Write (Now) Eyeliner! I tried the Balm before since they gave out an eye shadow from the Newtude line last April and I have one of the eye shadow pallets, wait I have two because I got the Newtude shadow pallet finally since I missed that offer last year and was given another chance! I also did try out the Balm lip stain they gave out in November if I remembered and liked that! This eyeliner is a mechanical one and normally I don’t like them but they have grown on me since I do have one from Hikari, Essence, and one from another company I don’t know and a few others in my pencil case of eyeliners. As said, they grown on me. People who got this got either Scott Be Bardeaux which is a plum liner or Jac Be Bronze which is of course bronze and I got Jac. I am still using my Jelly Pong Pong bronze shadow liner pencil from last year and somehow I like doing bronze eye looks and I do use the Mica Beauty cream shadow for that. I am also trading my Ofra brow pencil I got from Boxy last year for another one of these eyeliners with one of the main Ipsy Trade girls and hoping to see if it’s in the other, if not it’s good to have an extra of Jac for whenever I run out. Plus, being with these subscriptions do save a lot of money on getting more liners.
Mitchell and Peach: English Leaf Body Cream: Next is a body product I got this month and it’s by Mitchell and Peach and it’s the English Leaf Body Cream. I heard about Mitchell and Peach and a lot of Ipsters got hand creams or body creams from these people and finally I get to try them out. It smells soooooo good! I use this as a hand cream actually since my hands do get dry and it helps get them moisturized along with using curitcle products twice a day. It came in a pretty good sized tube and hoping I get another item by these guys again in Ipsy because after getting this and trying it out my first time it is very good!
Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Curl: Speaking of Jelly Pong Pong, I got another item by these guys and this time it is a mascara known as the Fairy Lashes Curl! I thought this was going to be a set of lashes until I clicked on it and saw it was a mascara. As you know, I don’t wear fake lashes. I am trying it out now and man it feels good! It curls up my lashes very nicely and does have nice volume to it. It is pretty lightweight like what the description says and there is no mieral oil which is pretty good. In case if anyone is asking, this is pretty much full-size which is even better! I am impressed with this brand and hoping I get more items by them in both Boxy and Ipsy, since I did get my highlighting cream in the box last month.
City Color Cosmetics Shadow Trio: The next item is the City Color Cosmetics Eye Shadow Trio in Falling Leaves. I have tried items by these guys and that is the huge eye shadow and blush set that I got from the web site alongside a lip set that comes with three tubes of lip gloss and a lipstick compact, and a lipstick set from Ipsy’s Offers. Oh right, also an eye shadow primer from them. I enjoy this brand and I am glad to try another shadow item by them and this would fit better in fall but probably it’s a new trio for the Triple C and also wearing it now to feel for it for the review and like it. The trio has a burnt orange shadow which is supposed to be the definition shade, a bronze, for the crease, and a champagne highlight. I did use my Mica Bronze shadow underneath for added definition and as a nice base with the eye primer. And it applied weird due to my brush so I decided that brush is not great and tossed it, so decided to use the Smashbox brush that came in the Full Exposure pallet and it worked better that way. I am lking the feel and hoping that more of these trios come in Ipsy or in Boxy depending on who gets what.
Pur~Lisse Blue Lotus Eye Serum: Final item of the bag is something I got as a full size item in BoxyCharm and that is the Pur~Lisse Eye Serum! I gave this to my mom because she is older than me and her skin would fit more with that and she loved it. She wanted to buy it at first but when I revealed that it was $64 she was kind of surprised. At least I got it in my bag again and handed it to her despite it being a sample.

BoxyCharm: Next is BoxyCharm and this month’s theme is “Eyes on 2016!” Oh yeah, they went eyes as well and all of them are eye products and this month we got four instead of the usual five and sometimes six! They do mention on the website there are times where four items only get placed and this is my first time getting that since two months last year had the six items and the rest was five items. Interesting to experience this my first time after being subscribed for over a year and two months now. I was really excited about this box because of two of the items and I was watching my e-mail like crazy for my tracking and it takes forever to get that thing in my e-mail, even found it in my Spam and had to tell my Google account that it’s important. Hoping I get the tracking as boxes get shipped. Plus, good news, now Vivi is subscribed to Boxy and she wants her box. Let’s see what made Mari Blue Cat happy!

Blink Amplified Mascara: First is the Blink Amplified Mascara! First time getting this brand before since I never heard of it and it’s good to try them this way since I saw the price of this one and it’s$26. I know, a bit pricey but a bit cheaper than the mascara from last July’s box since that was going to be $35 over here in the states when that brand started coming over. It’s been a while since I got mascara in Boxy since the last one was by Doucce and still like that mascara. Anyways, this one is interesting because it forms waterproof tubes around your lashes and when they come off…well…it looks like you’re taking fake lashes off as in you are taking the tubes off your lashes. A bit Halloweenish there, eh Blink? Anyways, this will be kind of interesting in the name of cosmetic science!
Coastal Sense Revealed Smoky Pallet: This made me happy! Let me say this, I found out that Coastal Sense released the Revealed Smoky pallet while watching MakeUpFreak’s video about it and almost thought about buying it and then realized what if BoxyCharm gave it out? I asked on the board on their Facebook and got the whole “Can’t tell you yet.” From a few Charmers because they only do sneak peeks when the next month rolls around. The first sneak peek was this pallet and oh man, was happy and glad to have all four now! Yes, I do have the Urban Decay Naked Smoky and this pallet is supposed to be compared to it but has eight more shadows than the Urban Decay one and I did hear mixed reviews of how some shadows are patchy like in the Revealed 3 and others glide on smoothly. I will see how it goes with me since I do have good luck with the Revealed pallets, especially 3 since that stayed on my eyes due to the primers I use, even it stays with the ELF one by what I remembered. I am not sure, maybe I should make a versus video between the two and give my opinion in full that way to say which one is better in budget, pigmentation and so on. Need to have Gondras to help tape it.
Royal and Langnickle Three Brush Set: Oh man, this really really REALLY got me happy! I am a major brush junkie, trust me with the sets I have gotten from Amazon and Ipsy and the brush singles from both of these subscriptions I am crazy. Oh forgot, I do have a set from ELF. Anyways, I was really happy that Boxy was giving out a mini set of three brushes from Royal Langnickle which is not only a makeup brush maker but also an artist brush maker, which you can find their brushes in art stores. I think I may have gotten some of their paint brushes for class. Anyway, these brushes come with a smudger brush, a crease brush, and a definition brush which you can get individually on the website and they retail for $7.99 each and the set paid for the box altogether which is $23.99. Hello Brush Addicts Anonymous, I am Mari Blue Cat, I love makeup brushes way too much! But you can’t have enough of them.
StarLux Liner Pen: Finally item, which I am surprised that this only came with four but loving it anyways, the Star Lux Eyeliner pen! Yay, more eyeliner! This is a felt tip pen that is supposed to make precise and detailed lines. I tend to use these kinds of pens for my Itachi wrinkle lines and sometimes for regular eyelining because they are easy to use. If you remember when I did my Top Drugstore Items for Cosplay post from two years ago, I mentioned the Wet N Wild felt tip liner pen and those are amazing as well and the proof was with Gondras using that for his .hack cosplay for the body and face markings he had to do. I am not sure if I will save that for cosplays or using it for the eyes since I have tons of black liners, hey at least I have a new felt tip liner. $19 is the price for this according to the card, if you can’t spend that much, you can get the Wet N Wild one for $2 if you need that cosplay look that allows detailed lining on the face or for any Gray cosplayers, help outline the Fairy Tail Guild Mark and fill it in with body paint or the Maybelline Leather Color Tattoo in black! Forgot to mention, this was not the only eyeliner to be given out, I saw Manny Mua opening his Boxy and he got the Ardency Monster Liner Marker in Navy. I almost hoped to get that one since I sometimes wear blue liner with blue shadow but I got the Star Lux one instead and it’s been a while since I got anything by Star Lux since I tried out the lip gloss and glitter liner pencil. I hear the Ardency liners are good but the same price as this liner.

Well, that is it for the items! I am glad that both Boxy and Ipsy had the same kind of theme for eye products and well Ipsy did add the body and face items for the fifth item, hey it was awesome all the way! I am excited to use the Royal Langnickle brushes since I did get a mini set from Ipsy and still using the shadow brush I got in October by them. I did wish I got the smudger brush and did hear that there was a Coastal Sense limited edition brush, but hey there is always the points page if they have it there or more offers for the year! I am also exited to have all of the Coastal Sense Revealed shadow pallets including the Smoky one now! I am also happy to try more things by Jelly Pong Pong and City Color plus get to try out Blink Cosmetics! I will try and see about getting a video up about both the Urban Decay Naked Smoky and Revealed Smoky which would bring something new to the YouTube side of Nerdy Shique Universe!

Well, that is it for this post! All I have to say is that the start of 2016 for subscriptions kicked off right and glad that BoxyCharm started off bold with Ipsy in the eye department. Hoping both stay strong for this year in products and new brands would show up in both. That is why I like trying new brands each month and new items by existing brands. Of course I do the swapping if I don’t like something. Anyways, hoping to get the Josh Seth video up since I gave Gondras the YouTube info because he is still editing the interruption we had during the interview and hoping if we do have Omni Expo this year for press, we have editing software in case anything like that happens! Let 2016 be bright for us and for newer posts this year. Oh yeah, plus I have an Instagram finally, you can find me at MariBlueCat! I will probably put up the Holiday Matsuri pics as a nice start there.

So, stay tuned for more stuff to come!