Miscellayneous

I put in my first order at Sephora this year to receive my birthday gift. I am on their Beauty Insider list, but I have never bought anything from them because walking into their brick and mortar locations makes me anxious. I feel like my makeup never looks up to par to even step inside, let alone shop there because I have no idea what I'm doing and I hate when I don't know what I'm doing and it's obvious. I also prefer online shopping because I really only go into stores if I know what I am going for and I can beeline in and out whereas if I shop online I'll browse around more and end up finding things that I did not initially think of when I started shopping, but it's something I need.

Aside from my birthday gift, they offered three samples if you spent $50 and you get free shipping. Therefore, I bought two big items and received a box with six things in it. I love that they send you samples and I leaned towards the fragrances because I have been looking for a staple perfume, but it's expensive for even travel sizes. It's small, but it's something that will keep my coming back to try new things, especially as an amateur at this. 

First things first, I bought my first actual eyeshadow palette. It's the Naked palette by Urban Decay and she needs no introduction. It's the first one of the series, all nude colors, comes with a proper brush, and it's beautiful. This was a big reason I asked for a gift card for my birthday and I was able to clean out my makeup of all my smaller, cheap eyeshadow sets I wasn't using. I love her already and I have only used her a handful of times.

Next is my first bronzing/highlight palette. I picked up Tarte's Pro Glow to Go and it's ideal for my skin tone. The bronzer pairs well with my skin and looks natural, as well as the highlight which I need a bit more practice with, but I love it. Each piece is glamorous and soft and it makes me feel confident when I'm wearing it which is the purpose of makeup. 

The final thing that brought my total to $50 was Sephora's micellar water in Pomegranate. They have several scents that all do different things for your skin and after about a week of using the Pomegranate one my skin just feels better. It feels tighter, more awake, and it doesn't get oily. It's become a staple and it will continue to do so as long as it keeps working this magic.

For a birthday gift, you pick between a lip kit and a skin care duo and I went with the skincare because lipstick is just not made for me. It's a GlamGlow Beauty Inside exclusive that comes with a mask and moisturizer both in travel size tubes. I haven't tried them yet, but I am really looking forward to it because I am trying to get my skin to a healthy point and also keep it from drying out throughout the next few months.

In the meantime, if anybody has suggestions for moisturizer, please comment down below.

You get to pick from either 8 or 10 items what you want your freebies to be and I chose the fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Rescue Mask and two fragrance samples: La Vie est Belle by Lancome and Black Opium by Saint Laurent. I'm not sold on either of them as becoming a staple to me, but they both smell beautiful and I will definitely use up the trials that came.

They also sent me five different fragrance sample sheets for different perfumes which was greatly appreciated because I despise walking through the perfume sections at department stores, but that's the only way to try new scents.