Sephora Sales Shopping

Good Day Everyone,

Sephora had a 20% of all items sale last week for three days and naturally I had to pop in and have a gander at all the delightful things. I went in on the second day of the sale and it was crazy!  Despite all of the checkout tills being open the queue was about 30 customers long all the time I was there. However, I persevered and walk away with a few bargains although I must say I was most restrained and bought mainly Secret Santa presents for my hubby’s office. I didn't buy any makeup even though Sephora in Singapore have now started to stock Tarte cosmetics... finally! I was sooo tempted by their blushes and lipsticks but exerted some serious self control and did not succumb to the temptation but I did walk away with a few bits for myself... after all it was 20% off ;o)

I bought three Secret Santa gifts for my hubby’s office that I’m really pleased with and think the recipients will also like them. I bought a Stila Holiday Essential Kit. This contains their famous ‘Kitten’ eye shadow, a waterproof liquid liner in the colour Intense Black and a liquid lipstick in the colour Beso. As this is a gift I haven’t opened it and therefore have no colour swatches for you, but I did swatch the red liquid lipstick in store and the colour is amazing. You can never go wrong with a good red lip around Christmas time. It’s one of those reds that just lights up your entire face and all you need is swipe of some black eyeliner and a subtle sheen of shimmery shadow on your lids and you’re good to go. In that respect, this kit is perfect for creating a Christmassy look.

I bought a Soap & Glory gift set called Good, Butter, Best which contains their three best selling body butters in trial size. I always think miniatures / trial size packs are a great way to sample multiple products or scents from a brand. This way if there’s a product or scent that you don’t like then at least you didn't waste your money on a standard size which costs more. Whilst Soap & Glory isn't too difficult to come by in Singapore, I know that a lot of the people in my hubby’s office haven’t tried Soap & Glory products and so this will be a great gift for someone who’s new to the brand.

I picked up another Soap & Glory product. This is their A Wash Upon A Star gift set with a travel size of The Righteous Butter body butter and the Clean on Me shower gel. Soap & Glory products always smell amazing and so make the perfect little gift. They are also packaged in rectangular boxes making them nice and easy to wrap – a definite plus for those of us with less than perfect wrapping skills, like me! Both products also have a little red tag that you can use to hang the boxes onto the Christmas tree as they are not that heavy.

For myself, I bought a Caudalie makeup remover cleansing water with organic grape and camomile as I’m running seriously low on makeup remover. I recently purchased the Caudalie instant foaming cleanser with grape and sage which was my first ever purchase from the Caudalie brand. I think together these make a nice little duo and I’ll keep you posted on how I get on with these products.

For a while now, I've been looking for a convenient way of carrying my perfume around with me. As I’m living in a very hot humid climate it’s all the more important to have something portable for those moments when you just need to freshen up and smell better than... well sweat, if I’m being honest. So I bought this universal atomizer from Sephora hoping it would do the trick. It is supposed to be adaptable to all perfume bottles, even sprays and can be filled without needing a funnel. I just tried filling this today and have to admit it was not all that easy. I managed to get perfume all over my hands and the atomizer which in turn started to rub off the black Sephora branding. So I took it upon myself to complete the job and remove all of the black Sephora branding and now the atomizer is just plain silver which suits me fine. 

I guess I should also confess that I tried to fill the atomizer based on the drawing on the back of the box before I realised that there was an instruction leaflet tucked underneath the lid of the box. In my defense, the leaflet was folded into a tiny little piece and neatly tucked underneath the lid so when I opened the box from the bottom and pulled the atomizer out the instructions remained tucked under the lid – that’ll teach me to open things from the wrong end! Hopefully the filling experience will be better next time, when I actually pay attention to the instructions and in the meantime fingers crossed that the contents don’t leak into my handbag! Oh and FYI the atomizer is supposed to contain around 55 sprays, in case you’re interested :o)

Finally, as I’d bought a couple of Soap & Glory Secret Santa gifts, I realised that I’d never really tried much from the brand myself! Even when I was living in England and had Boots to indulge myself, I tended to opt for The Sanctuary Spa products over Soap & Glory on the Boots 3 for 2. I’m not sure why but I was always put off by the packaging, a bit like I have been with Benefit cosmetics. The packaging always looks too busy and I have a preference for the clean, minimal, sleek look. Anyway last week I decided it was about time I looked beyond the packaging! Sephora has several Soap & Glory gift sets and I picked up the Bubble Barrelled set. The set comes with a great selection of mini-sized products to try including hand cream, foot cream, body butter, body scrub, shower gel, shampoo and a headband which is actually really nice and soft and will come in handy when I do my face masks etc. 

All of these products come inside a lovely vanity case which has a black and white design with a red zip. The case is surprisingly large and will come in very handy for travelling. The only thing that I dislike about the vanity case is that the handle isn't at the top, but at the back which means if I pick the case up by the handle, the contents all tumble around inside. I haven’t got round to trying any of the products yet and so cannot comment on these but rest assured I’ll let you know my thoughts once I have.

So there you have it, my Sephora sales shopping. I think I was pretty well behaved, don’t you? Did you pick anything up from the Sephora sale where you are? What did you buy? Have you tried any of these products yourself? What did you think?

Love Sheen xxx

(Note: I purchased these products with my hubby's money)