Category Archives: Fall

Sephora Favorites Sun Safety Kit 2016 Review

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The Sun Safety Kit for 2016 is available now. No one puts Favorites Kits together the way Sephora does. This review goes over the 2016 Sephora Favorites Sun Safety Kit I purchased at the VIB Rouge Event on 06/05/16. It is my favorite set of the year, because I love sunscreen. I love that Sephora donates $20 of the $32 price tag to the Skin Cancer Foundation. My Dad has skin cancer, so I appreciate a cause that furthers cancer research and helps protect me from the sun at the same time. There are 15 deluxe sun protection items in the set making each item a bargain at $2.13.  Continue reading →

Sephora VIB Rouge Skip The Line, Nab The New Event Review

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See the latest VIB Rouge Event.

A new Sephora VIB Rouge exclusive closed-door event launched earlier today, June 5th, 2016. This private event granted First Access to Fall Launches. Unlike previous closed-door events that offer an actual shopping perk, like a discount or a point multiplier, this event only offered a chance to spend the same amount and get the same perks as everyone a little sooner than others. Like the open-door events for Face Mask Friday, Lip Boldly, and Flash Your Card, there was a gift available with a $25 purchase. It was promising to see closed-door events return, but I think they should return with a real benefit instead of a glorified GWP that we can get online with any order. I’d like to see the event return in August with the Point Multipliers or November with the VIB sale.

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Sephora VIB Rouge Qualification Gift, My Black Friday Haul, and the MIXITUP Promo Bags

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I tried not to re-qualify for Sephora VIB Rouge until the end of the year, but I got really close. After getting there on July 12th last year, I’d say November 26th is a huge improvement. Fingers crossed for December 31st next year. During the VIB Rouge sale, I purposely stopped short of qualifying thinking I would make one last purchase when we get our $25 off $50 gift cards. The Black Friday deals were a lot better to me this year than last, so I was not able to pass them up. There were two that instantly caught my eye, which I mentioned in my Black Friday Deals article.

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Sephora VIB Sale 20% Off Holiday Shopping

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See recent articles on Sephora Sale items.

The annual VIB sale which runs from the beginning to the middle of each November is in full swing. This is the first year Sephora decided to exclude Rouge clients from the VIB part of the 20% off sale. I was curious to see whether HOLIDAY20 or VIB20 would work for Rouge clients. Sephora said it would not work, but parameters on new codes can fail. A VIB exclusive code had never been released before, so it was worth checking. The VIB sale runs 11/13/15-11/16/15. The code officially went live at 11:41pm PST on 11/12/15, so it came 19 minutes ahead of schedule for the west coast and was behind schedule for some others. When I tried to enter the codes from my Beauty Insider account (created solely for receiving email offers) and my Rouge account, I got a pop up that you must be a VIB member to redeem.

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Sephora VIB Sale 20% Off Holiday Shopping Event Rouge First Access and Gift 110615-110915

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See recent articles on Sephora Sale items.

The annual VIB sale which runs from the beginning to the middle of each November started. By now, all of my fellow Sephora US Rouge shoppers should know our private shopping event to kick off the annual VIB 20% off sale did not happen. Apparently after surveying us about our satisfaction with the last event, Sephora decided to cancel the event instead of making improvements. There were certainly areas I felt could be improved. As I mentioned after attending the August event, my store event could have been better. If my store stepped it up the way some other stores do, I may have enjoyed the events a little more. While I appreciated the Face Mask Friday event added this year (which I now wonder if it was a replacement to the private shopping event we usually have in November), I was not into the jar masks my store opted to go with.

Had Sephora not canceled the event, I may have attended. Guess we will never know one way or the other now. While I took the survey after the August event, I cannot remember what I wrote. I do remember being asked to rank event happenings and am pretty sure I rated brand reps presence lowest. Sorry, I really enjoyed spending time with them in August of 2014, but I found something missing in November of 2014, and August of 2015. Some people reported brand reps would still be visiting the stores, but I did not see any at my store yesterday. Not sure I really missed them either.

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Estee Lauder Holiday Blockbuster 2015

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Estee Lauder’s Holiday Blockbuster is $59.50 with a qualifying fragrance purchase at most stores. I have no desire to purchase fragrance from any brand. On top of the fact that I do not use perfume often, I have almost 200 mini vials (varying in size from 0.02oz to 0.33oz of unique scents. That is more than enough variety, and over half of them are still new to me. After connecting with one, I did get a 1oz bottle only to trade it away unopened a few months later. My aversion to purchasing perfume has kept me from ordering the Estee Lauder Blockbuster in the past.

A friend recommended that I purchase the Elizabeth Arden Blockbuster last year, and I figured out that Herberger’s (Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, and Younkers) sells it without meeting the purchase minimum. Those are all the same department store (Bon-Ton) with different names based on the region. My emails are always addressed from Herberger’s, but I have specifically made purchases from Bon-Ton as well. No matter which site I sign into, I see my order history from both stores. After successfully checking out with just the Elizabeth Arden Blockbuster in 2014 (and a cardigan that was too cute to resist), I vowed to finally purchase the Estee Lauder Blockbuster this year if I could forego the fragrance purchase.

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Sephora Party Favors 8 Sample Filled Clutch

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It’s that time of year at Sephora again. Time for sample filled bags. There are four bags to choose from containing seven samples in Canada or eight in the US. All Beauty Insiders can redeem a bag of samples. If you’re a VIB or higher, you can redeem two. On my main account (Rouge), I received the code VIBFAVORS to redeem a bag. My secondary account (Beauty Insider) received the code PARTYPICKS to redeem a bag.

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Sephora Employee Appreciation Sale 101515-102815

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See recent articles on Sephora Sale items.

The 2016 Employee Appreciation Sale.

There is a two-week period each year where Sephora employees get to send unique 20% discount codes to friends and family. It almost always starts in mid October. This is a real friends and family code meaning recipients are personally selected by an employee to get one. While some people may ask employees who are not friends or family members for codes, many will be unsuccessful. Some employees may offer theirs to strangers and customers they like where others will stick to the original reason for the code, friends and family. We all want to believe that our favorite rep is our friend, but unless the rep offers a code, the relationship is probably not a friendship. A good salesperson can make you feel like a friend though.

I was pleasantly surprised last year when a wonderful Sephora employee asked me to give her my email, so she could send me a unique discount code for 20% off. She’s pretty awesome, but that was above and beyond. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from a different incredible employee this year. Sephora employees usually go above and beyond, but this particular one is incredible. In case she happens upon this post, I will thank her here in addition to the message I already sent. Thanks! If you have not received a code yet, there is still time. The sale ends on the 28th. Assuming you are a VIB or higher, the VIB discount sale will also be coming shortly (probably around the 4th for Rouge and the 5th for VIB), so another 20% discount is coming.

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Nordstrom Beauty Trend Show

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The Nordstrom Beauty Trend Events/Shows are in full swing. If you have not already registered, check the schedule for your city. There are differences between the Event and the Show. My Event conflicts with a personal obligation this year, so I am going to share my experience from last year. I also shared this on Beautytalk right after the event where people asked questions and shared their personal experiences.

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Sephora Face Mask Friday for Rouge Members

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The Free Face Mask Event on 01/26/18 was for all Beauty Insiders.

This was an open-door Sephora VIB Rouge Event. Private, closed-door Rouge Events were canceled after the Points Promotion in August 2015, but they returned in June 2016 to launch new items from the Fall.

The Sephora VIB Rouge program has some great perks. This week I took advantage of two. You may have read about the VIBTOKENS code I used on my recent order, but one that pops up less often is an exclusive Rouge event. While I expect to see an event at the beginning of next month to kick off the 20% discount in the VIB sale, this Face Mask Friday event is a new offering. I like face masks, but I really wanted the free gift Sephora advertised with a $25 purchase, the umbrella. When I arrived at the store, I did not even know what I was going to buy. That umbrella would be mine though!

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Sephora Favorites Give Me More Lip 2015

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See the 2018 Give Me More Lip Review

When it comes to favorite sets, no one puts them together like Sephora. The Give Me More Lip Kit usually releases every year in mid September, but it released a little later this year. I have a really hard time passing on favorites that are makeup and skin care related causing me to buy more than I should. My favorite kit each year has is the Sun Safety or the Give Me More Lip. The smaller Give Me Some Lip Kit looked nice as well, but I sat on buying it for too long and missed out. It was cuter than the one I got in 2013 and 2014, so I regret my decision to wait until I had more used than unused lipsticks to buy it.

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Disney Collection Belle and Snow White Mirrors at Sephora

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The Reigning Beauties mirror collection by Disney was released at Sephora on 09/15/15. Stock has gone in and out since the release, but Sephora is restocking the mirrors. If you have not procured yours yet, be sure to sign up for in stock emails and add the mirror of your choice to your Sephora loves list. From this list, you can periodically check stock as well. There are times when demand is high and stock is low that items are out of stock again by the time your in-stock email reaches you, so I adopt a multi-step approach to increase my odds of getting these limited edition items everyone else wants.

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