5 Sephora Collection Must-Trys

I have recently become a huge fan of the Sephora Collection- I'm really impressed with the quality of these items, the competitive price tag, and well, the way they make me look! So, I thought I would share 5 of the Sephora brand items that I have fallen in love with!!

Review: Sephora Round Powder Brush #41

So, I've actually had this brush for a few months now, but it is the greatest addition ever to my brush collection, so I thought I'd share it with you!

For a year or so, I was looking for a large, soft brush that would evenly distribute powder, blush and bronzer. I had such a hard time finding the right fit; I spent a boatload of ca$h on ineffective brushes. Even the 150 and 134, though nice in their own respect, were not what I was looking for.

Then, I came across the #41 Sephora Professionel Platinum brush. I shuddered at the $38 price tag, as that may be a reasonable price for a MAC brush but I'd never really thought Sephora brushes would be as pricey. But, it looked like everything I wanted in a powder brush: It is extremely soft (softer than my MAC brushes); it is fluffy, it is authentic goat hair (distributes creme products more evenly), and well, it's the perfect size for the cheeks.

As you can see, it is a little pink because I've been using it with my Vintage Grape Blush Ombre. It is great if you want a soft wash of color on your cheeks, and if it's an intense color like say, plum or bronze, you will love this brush because it lightly distributes the product! And did I mention it's soft? :)

Anyways, since there's been a lull in MAC products lately (lol), I wanted to share some other fun products that I've been enjoying. :)

What do you think of Sephora brushes?

Review: Illamasqua Cream Blushers

 

Another great product brought to you, 20% thanks to Sephora... and 80% thanks to me! :) So...I have been hearing rave after rave about the new British line, Illamasqua, and I figured this would be a great time to try it out.

I selected two cream blushes, Lies and Rude. I have been on a cream blush kick lately, and these are both gorgeous shades. 

Lies is a sheer light pink.

Even though it's fairly pink in the pan, when applied, it kind of reminds me of a slightly pinker version of MAC Porcelain Pink MSF. Here it is applied:

I'm on the paler side (my hand is probably NC20-25 right now), so the pink shows up rather well. However, I imagine that for the darker skin tones, it may just end up looking like a highlighter. It is very buildable though, and the formula allows for a little to go a long way.

Next, Rude is a more intense coral color. 

Like most corals, Rude is a universally-flattering tone, and because of its intensity, it can be applied lightly or heavily depending on the look you want. Just like Lies, I find that a little goes a long way.

Here it is applied fairly lightly:

I honestly am having a hard time finding any thing that I don't like about these blushes. They are everything I expect in a blush: 

-Easy to apply (try a 165 or 187 by MAC)

-Complementary, natural colors

-Soft and blendable for healthy-looking skin

-Decent-sized (slightly less than NARS, but still a good amount)

-Long-wearing

Even the $23 price tag, though not the cheapest, is comparable to blushes from other high end makeup lines, so it's really not a bad deal.

Anyways if you get a chance to check these out, you will likely be pleasantly surprised!

Review: Sephora.com

With the internet becoming more widespread and developed every single day, it's easy to see why beauty experts Sephora have offer almost all their products online at Sephora.com. The site offers some interesting incentives for shopping on their website, particularly the "3 Frees": Free Shipping ($50 orders+), Free Returns and Free Samples (3) with every purchase. Sounds great, right? Let's see how good these free things really are:

Free Shipping (on $50 or more): Free shipping is extremely common on many sites today; in fact, it's a rarity to find a site that doesn't offer this incentive to it's customers. At Sephora, $50 worth of product is not hard to accumulate, and sometimes it's nice to stock up on a few faves if it means free shipping. The only problem with free shipping, is it often takes a while to arrive. Sephora.com uses UPS, so depending where you live, it can take up to 1 1/2 weeks for your order to arrive. I live in Utah, and it did indeed take that long for me to get my package. If Sephora used the post office, I have no doubts that delivery would be significantly shorter, so I have to question Sephora's choice of delivery. I know it means cheaper for them, but I'd be willing to pay a few extra dollars if it meant my order arrived a few days earlier. 

Score: 3 out of 5

Free Samples: For every order you place, you receive 3 free samples. And, if you are a Beauty Insider, you have the opportunity to get deluxe samples with your order as well. Samples can be primers, foundations, fragrances, moisturizers, etc. It's a great way to try out new products and add a little bonus to your order. You likely won't find this at many other online beauty retailers, so this alone is worth shopping at sephora.com. 

Score: 5 out of 5

Free Returns: Returns should never have a price. I believe all stores should have free returns, which is why this isn't that exciting to me. I recently returned a product to sephora.com. Their return policy states that it may take up to 30 days to process a return. Well, when my return still hadn't been processed within that 30 day window, I called sephora, and they said it could take up to 6 weeks! I received my credit within 5 weeks, but to me, this is a little long for a "free" return. It's free yes, but I had to worry for 5 weeks that my $100 return could have possibly gotten lost in the mail. Now, this may not be typical, but neither is it super convenient. I'd recommend planning on a s-l-o-w return when shopping sephora.com

Score: 1 out of 5

Overall Score: 3 out of 5

Analysis: Sephora.com is a friendly place to shop, and provides almost every desired beauty line in one place, but when shopping, forget about the "3 frees".

EDIT: Get 20% off at Sephora from Nov 6-10, by using code FF2008!