Sephora Makeover and Haul - March 2015

As a treat to myself for my birthday, I used my free 45 minute custom makeover I received for becoming a VIB and scheduled it in the King of Prussia, PA store. My Personal Beauty Advisor and I had a great consultation; I felt that she really listened to me and appreciated my input. Her selections included a nice mix of higher-end brands and Sephora products, with some things I had been wanting to try and others I had never heard of before.

After cleaning my face with the Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water, she used a combination of Fresh Rose Water products. She followed that up with Sephora CC Cream, then corrected my undereye circles with a combination of the Tarte CC Undereye Corrector and Urban Decay Naked Concealer. For my eyes, she chose the Kat Von D Interstellar Palette, Bobbi Brown Violet Ink LongWear Gel Eyeliner, and Urban Decay Perversion Mascara. She used Anastasia Brow Powder Duo in Caramel. Blush was Stila Convertible Color in Peony, while the lipstick was Sephora Collection Rouge Cream Lipstick in Decollete.

Like I said above, this was a great makeover and a lot of fun. In the process, I found some great new products that have already become part of my regular rotation, and others I picked up that I can't wait to start using. What I've picked up so far includes:

Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water – I've actually had this micellar water for a while now. I use it as part of my makeup removal routine at night especially to help remove the last traces of eye makeup. I may also use it in the morning almost like a toner after my shower or to remove any traces of makeup that appear afterwards, again usually eye makeup.

Urban Decay Naked Concealer in Light Neutral – This looked great, and was a nice, lightweight concealer. I haven't had the chance to use it yet, and actually hesitated buying it because of how many concealers I have right now, but it was so good I couldn't pass it up.

 

Stila Convertible Color in Peony – This was something we all agreed on, the Beauty Advisor, the kiddo, and I. This felt great on, and provided the most natural-looking flush. I'm already a lover of cream blush, so this has entered my regular rotation.

 

Sephora Rouge Cream Lipstick in Decollete – This is a bright cool-toned pink with a hint of coral, and I was really surprised at how good it looked on. I wouldn't have normally picked this for myself, but this became a must-have.

In addition to these, I've added the Tarte CC Undereye Corrector to my wish list. It was really nice, but I just couldn't justify it yet.

Aside from those from the makeover, I also picked up:

 

Benefit Gimme Brow in Light/Medium - I've been looking at this for quite a while now, but have talked myself out of it for years due to the cost and the fact that I don't usually do much with my brows.  I decided to bite the bullet after trying it the last time I had my brows waxed and liking the results.  I do like the brush much better on this original than on the drug store one that I have that was supposed to be a dupe.

Sephora Look Color in the Eye Brush Set - I had been thinking about getting a new travel brush set since I do most of my makeup away from home.  This seemed to be a decent deal, so I thought I'd try it.  I wish the brushes were a little softer, but they're not bad.

 

Beauty Insider Birthday Gift - This year's Beauty Insider birthday gift is a set of two NARS lip crayons.  These are my first NARS products, so I was really excited!  So far I've tried the pink lip cream, and it's very much lip colored (it barely looks like I'm wearing anything).  It does feel really nice, and I may try it over a lip liner to see if that changes things a bit.  I do wish these were twist-up, but I understand that they are only samples.

Have you ever gotten a custom makeover at Sephora? Did you wind up purchasing any of the products they used?

Mini Sephora Haul - December 2014

Another Sephora haul, at least this one was kind of small. :)  This purchase put me into VIB status for 2015! That's actually why I wanted to get it in before the end of the year. Since this was my first time, I made sure to grab my VIB welcome kit, more because I wanted to see what was included than anything else.

Of course, I grabbed some free samples (none have been tried yet):

Kat Von D Lock It Tattoo Foundation in Light #46

Guerlain KissKiss Lipstick in #368 Baby Rose, #325 Rouge Kiss, and #344 Sexy Coral

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

Clinique All About Eyes Deluxe Sample

Purchased Products:

Too Faced Melted Liquified Long WearLipstick in Melted Fig – I LOVE this color! It is a medium purply-pink that, while not a true MLBB shade, it is a great everyday shade for me. I also really like the liquid lipstick formula. You only need a very thin application and you get fully opaque coverage. Although it wears very thin, when you press your lips together, you can definitely still feel the product on your lips. I also really like the felt/sponge applicator; it gives a really precise application as long as you don't squeeze too hard.

Benefit Lemon Aid – I've mentioned before that I really like Benefit products. One of the YouTubers I follow loves this product, and I don't have a yellow or green concealer in my collection, so I wanted to grab this. It is a rather thick, dry cream that definitely stays opaque yellow when applied, even after blending. This is marketed as a an eye concealer, but I have worn this on other areas as well. Because of the color and coverage, I found that I need to apply this before my foundation if I'm wearing foundation that day, and if not, I need to make sure to layer another concealer closer to my skin color. In addition to being a decent concealer, this also makes a decent eye shadow base I the way that some people use NYX Eye Pencil in Milk.  I will say, this could be better if it smelled like lemons, but that's such a minor thing...

Sephora Precision Sponge – I love my BeautyBlender, but it seems to be starting to shed a little bit. To try to save it and try to save a little bit of cash (and also qualify for free shipping), I decided to pick up the Sephora version. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know what I think.

Elizabeth and James Nirvana Rollerball Set in Black and White – Sephora was having a points special on fragrance, offering an extra 250 points with any fragrance purchase. I'm a big fan of rollerballs in general, since they allow you to have a good amount of product at a fraction of the cost. I had been finishing off a sample of White and had heard good things about Black, so I thought I'd pick these up. My only complaint about White is that, when sprayed, it didn't seem to last very long. I'm hoping that might change when applied by rollerball. I haven't tried the Black yet, but on initial whiff, I like it even better than white.

Are you a VIB? What did you buy to get to that level?  Do you like Sephora or Ulta better?

Sephora Haul October 2014

While I was spending money on beauty products, I thought I should try to get some foundation that was actually appropriate for me. Every time I try to pick out foundation on my own, it winds up being either too orange, too pink, or makes me look sallow.

I discovered that Sephora has a ColorIQ system that will tell you exactly what foundations are best for you so never wear the wrong foundation again. So the kiddo and I went off to Sephora to have our ColorIQ tested and to scope out some foundation.

We did get our readings and I got some samples as noted below. There was also a Benefit Cosmetics special going on, so there were brand sales associates on site particularly knowledgeable on their products. I had been scoping out some Benefit products anyway, so after making my way through the store I wound up at their display.

Benefit Majorette

• This cream-to-powder pink/peach blush is a new product from Benefit. Benefit had beauty associates in-store to assist and push product, which was actually very helpful. I am not a fan of powder blushes and currently only use a gel blush, The Balm's Stainiac, so I was very skeptical. But since this is a cream, this is very easy to apply and blend without brushes, which I prefer. The person helping me was also kind of floored when I told her that I had never used bronzer before, so she applied their Hoola bronzer and actually instructed me on how to use it. She also showed me how to apply highlighter since I would be receiving a sample if I pursued the special deal they were running.

Benefit Fake Up

• I have been looking at Fake Up for a while now but read and heard mixed opinions about it. So while I had the help of the beauty associate specializing in Benefit products, I asked her for her opinion on concealers. She showed me Boi-ing, Erase Paste, and Fake Up, and we tried out the latter two since they were the least likely to settle into creases. Erase Paste was on one eye and Fake Up was on the other. Between her, me, and the kiddo, we all agreed that Fake Up was the way to go. And I must say, my under eye area stayed moisturized the rest of the night.

Benefit Bonus Sample Pack

• They're Real Mascara
• Posie Balm
• Watts's Up!
• Cyndibands
  • Sephora was running a special deal on Benefit products, which was fantastic since I LOVE Benefit. Almost everything I've tried from this brand has been great. The deal was that if you purchased 2 or more Benefit products you received several Benefit samples and a hair tie. The star of these samples is the Watt's Up!, a facial highlighter. This sample is huge! I expected it to be a quarter of the size at most. The woman who helped me with the products mentioned that other peoples frequently asked for the sample size of this product to be sold, and now I understand why. The Posie Balm and mascara were both products I tried before with mixed results.

Samples from ColorIQ

• Benefit Big Easy in Light/Medium
• Hourglass Hydrating Base Serum Primer test
  • The kiddo and I went to Sephora to have our ColorIQ checked. I had a very good feeling that I have been using the wrong color foundation. Turns out that I have. Anyway, this was one of the matches Sephora found using their technology. The beauty consultant there used these products on me, then gave me samples so I can try them at home.

Sephora 10HR Wear Perfection Foundation in Color 12 Light Ecru

• The kiddo and I went back to a different Sephora the following day because once I went home and entered my ColorIQ number given to me at the store on Saturday, I thought it was incorrect. So we went back and I got tested again, and was also able to get colormatched to this foundation. Color 14 was also a very close shade, and going into summer it may be better. I was advised to go with the lighter shade for now because we are heading into winter.

The Original Beautyblender

• The Beautyblender was used on me when the Benefit Big Easy was tried on me on Saturday. I did some research into alternatives and found that most people found that they did not compare favorably to the original, so I decided to shell out the money.  So far, I understand why this is so well loved in the beauty community.  It is very easy to use, even for relative novices.  I may pick up some knock-offs to compare.

Samples

• Versace Bright Crystal fragrance
• Bare Minerals 5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow Broad Spectrum SPF 15 in Barely Nude
• Sephora Instant Depuffing Gel
• These were all free samples provided by Sephora with my purchase. So far I've tried out the eye shadow and Depuffing Gel. I've liked the eye shadow but was a little surprised how matte it was. The Depuffing Gel really doesn't do anything for me. I don't see any depuffing, nor do I feel it doing anything.

Stay tuned for Part 3, Ulta.

Are there any Benefit products that you love?  Any I should try out?

*All photos are from the Sephora website.*