It’s almost here! Sephora’s biggest sale of the year (20% off all purchases) is the Sephora VIB sale and this year’s taking place Friday November 13-16, 2015 both online and in stores. Be sure to check out last year’s Sephora VIB Sale 2014 post with lot’s of reviews and recommendations of products that are still available. As a refresher in order to be VIB you must spend $500 in a calendar year. The good news is that if you spend more than that then it rolls over towards the next year. To find out your status you can log on to Sephora.com and click “(Your name)’s Account” in the top right corner. If it says “VIB Beauty Insider” you’re in! You can use VIB20 online during the sale and get 20% off your entire purchase. If you don’t have VIB you can ask one of your beauty obsessed friends to add a few things to their basket for you. If you don’t have VIB or even a Sephora account you’re not getting the discount, BUT they always offer the BEST gifts with purchase. This year you can pick 1 of 4, it includes 8 samples and a free clutch, and you only have to make a $25 purchase which is like half of 1 thing at Sephora. You can use the code “partypicks” to get in on that fine deal.
Let’s start off with updated reviews of last year’s purchases because liking a product an entire year later is a real testament to whether a product is truly worthy or not.
I couldn’t help myself I had to do a little online “window shopping” and pick out all the items I’ve been dying to try from Sephora. If I had unlimited funds this is what my Sephora shopping cart would look like right now:
The Sephora VIB sale is starting in 2 days on Thursday April 16th, 2015 and will go until Tuesday April 21, 2015 both online and in store. The sale is 15% off your entire order if you use the code VIBLOVE. There is a VIB event – VIB Early Access Day on Thursday April 16, 2015 all day at all stores and VIBs can bring a friend to share in early access to 15% savings, mini makeovers and new trends, personalized advice from brand ambassadors, and a free Sephora foldover clutch. As a reminder- in order to become Very Important Beauty Insider (VIB) status at Sephora, you must be a registered Beauty Insider (which is free) and spend $350 on merchandise either online or in store during one calendar year (January-December). If you log-in on Sephora.com you will be able to see your status. There is also VIB Rouge for those that spend $1000 per calendar year, but there aren’t any additional perks during this VIB sale that Rouge members don’t already get everyday (like free 2-day shipping on every order and Rouge Only exclusive products). If you’re ordering online don’t forget to go through Ebates they’re offering 4% cash back bringing the VIB sale up to 19% savings! To do it just 1. Sign up with Ebates 2. Search for Sephora on Ebates and click the link 3. Order from that link in order to get your 4% cash back on PayPal! I can’t remember the last website I shopped on that didn’t have Ebates cash back it’s seriously the easiest website ever. You can even add all of the items to your cart on Sephora while logged into your account, then close the window, open it again through Ebates and all of your items will still be there and then you’ll get the discount! Here’s what my savings looks like so far:
So now that I’ve had a chance to use my purchases from the 2014 Sephora VIB sale I wanted to give a quick review on them and let you know what I think. I especially wanted to get this up because Sephora sent out another perk for VIB members which is $20 off your purchase of $50 or more and the holidays are coming up so I’m sure you want to know what gifts are worth it.
1. Smashbox Photo Finish Pore Minimizing Foundation Primer ($39) – So far I’m happy with this little guy. The product is a little thick so you have to warm it up on your finger tips before you apply it. You then want to kind of push and roll your fingers into your skin to best cover your pores. When I’ve applied it and look in the mirror there’s no huge “WOW where have my pores gone!?” reaction, but it feels silicon-ey and smooth and blurs your face a tiny bit. The main thing I like about it is that I think it controls my oily skin without making my face too dry which is a delicate balance. My foundation maybe looks slightly better on top of this vs. without it, but it’s not anything that a slower more intentional application of the foundation couldn’t replicate or beat. It maybe keeps my makeup on a tiny bit longer as well, but again no huge day and night transformation. It’s supposed to last for up to eight hours, but I usually have my makeup on for about 12-14 hours per day. Overall I’d recommend this if you’re oily, if you’ve liked Smashbox primers in the past, and if you aren’t counting on it to change your life. It would also be good if you’re sweating or somewhere that’s humid because it’s supposed to be resistant to those things.
2. Sephora Cream Lip Stain in 07 Dark Berry ($13) – I got this because I want to be Samantha aka ssssamanthaa on Instagram from Batalash (see video below), but instead I look like I’m failing miserably at trying to look like Lorde. I’ve only worn this around the house to try it because it is BOLD as hale. It smells really nice like the Stila Stay All Day Lip Colors a nice cake scent. It stayed pretty well and I don’t remember my lips feeling too dry and crispy. I hope I’m brave enough to wear it out into the world one day, but we’ll see. The color is really cool and I’d recommend it if you want to try something new and fun I just don’t know if I’m cool enough to rock it yet.
3. L’Occitane Voyage En Provence Set ($39) – Ugh I haven’t used all of the products in this set so far, but so far I’m super disappointed. I had very high expectations for this especially for the famous She Butter Ultra Rich Body Lotion and it was nothing special. The scent was whatever and it’s not super thick or long lasting or curative to very dry skin or anything like I was expecting. I would not recommend this and I’m wary of buying more products from L’Occitane now even though so many people are obsessed! I’d recommend this to no one because I hate it and I’m pissed. The more I think about it and write about it the more I think wow why am I not returning this to Sephora I don’t need products to travel with so desperately that I need to keep this $39 set!
4. Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup in color 2.0 ($39) – I knew this guy was not going to be the perfect fit because it’s a luminous light weight virtually invisible foundation and deep down I’m a full coverage kind of girl. It’s very thin and fluid-like and reminds me of the bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation in that it’s luminous and nice for a day that you want to look natural and take a break from full cake face mode. This would probably work better for me at night because when I wear these luminous foundations during the day I get oily and then they’re a mess, but the problem is that I want full coverage when I go out at night. This does have build able coverage though which is good. I need to experiment with it a bit more to figure out how it can work best for me. I wish it had sunscreen in it. I’d recommend this to someone that wants to look younger (a more sheer, luminous foundation will make you look younger than a matte full coverage one), someone that already has pretty good skin and doesn’t need a ton of coverage, and someone with dry, normal, or combo skin.
5. Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush ($25) – This is a vegan brush that was developed to work with the Naked Skin foundation and overall I like it a lot. It blends out the makeup quickly and evenly. I have used it with both the super thin Naked Skin foundation and the super thick BECCA foundation. I’m back to using my tried and true Beauty Blender, but when I mix it up I love using this guy. I’d recommend it to someone looking for a good foundation brush to use with liquid foundation. I think the price point on this is great and very reasonable for the quality.
6. BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme in Buff ($44) – YASSSSSSS hunny. I am absolutely loving this foundation and I’m using it everyday and at night for going out as well. It is super full coverage and gives you a very flawless finish. I normally use a generous amount of foundation so when I accidentally put two whole pumps on my beauty blender and then went to blend it out and I was wearing a serious mask (which was fine for that day, but meant I don’t need to use as much in the future because it’s so pigmented). This foundation is easy to blend but the only thing you have to look out for is once it dries (relatively quickly in 1-3 minutes) it is DRY and SET so don’t try to blend it out again because you will just mess it up. This foundation lasts me all day and/or night long and keeps me relatively matte without drying me out too much. Once it’s on it doesn’t feel super heavy or cakey which is nice for how full coverage and pigmented it is. I spent at least an hour trying to figure out online which color to get in this and while I like to think I picked the best match I do definitely have to blend it very well down my neck and blend very very well if I’m wearing my hair up. This foundation color is also super yellow which I like because I think it balances out my redness, but I know not everyone likes super yellow foundation. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a full coverage foundation with great coverage and staying power who has normal to oily skin. This is my favorite thing I bought. This price tag is a little high, but I’m hoping that since it’s so pigmented that I will use less and it will last me longer (fingers crossed!) Here’s a pic of me wearing it:
Pic I posted on Insty of me wearing BECCA Ultimate Coverage Complexion Creme www.blushinginhollywood.com
