Sephora Mystery Bag and the Big Black Friday Debacle

Did you stay up until midnight for Sephora's Black Friday Sale?  I'm almost embarrassed to say that I did, even though I didn't have to work the next day and thus could sleep in to make up for my very late night.  Ten dollar deals (specifically for Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara, which is my current favorite) were too good to pass up, so I made a trip to Starbucks late Thursday afternoon and had my laptop up and running at least half an hour before midnight EST.

Now, prior to the beginning of the sale there was a fair amount of confusion over when it was actually scheduled to begin.  The flyer Sephora had been sending out via snail and e-mail listed the end of the sale in Pacific Time, but only "midnight" for the start time.  Like many others (too many, as it would turn out) I figured that midnight Eastern made the most sense, so at 10:00 pm local time I started refreshing the Sephora home page.

Nothing.  No change.  No sale banner, no link to the page where we could purchase the items.  Nothing.

I then checked the Sephora Facebook page, where people were posting left and right that they'd been purchasing their $10 deals since 11:45 Eastern, a full 15 minutes before the advertised start time.  Thankfully someone posted a link to the hidden page where one could find the deals, and I quickly clicked over and added the items I wanted (LCL mascara and a Josie Maran blush) to my cart.  Just then, the site crashed.

To make a long story very short, Sephora's site stayed down for roughly two hours.  In that time so much gnashing of teeth and venting of spleen occurred on the Facebook page that you would have thought more than cheap makeup was at stake.  Mixed in with the righteous indignation of tired and cranky would-be Black Friday shoppers were periodic comments from people who wondered why anyone could get worked up about makeup when there were starving children in their communities (fair point, but a bit ironic on a makeup store's Facebook page where presumably people come to talk about makeup and not ending world hunger) and the periodic comment from someone clueless asking when the sale was supposed to start.

Conspicuously absent from the discussion for at least the first hour of the site crash was a representative from Sephora Corporate. 

Now, I'm not one to argue that corporations inherently owe their customers anything beyond a reasonable level of customer service.  Midnight on Thanksgiving is going above and beyond, in my opinion, EXCEPT when you have a major event scheduled to start at that time.  If you don't want to make your employees work during a holiday, don't begin a large sale/promotion during said holiday.  I don't think that Sephora owed customers anything more than an apology for the crash--after all, it was up to us whether or not we wanted to stay awake past our bedtimes to purchase items--but that apology and assurances that the IT staff were working to resolve the problem needed to come sooner given the scale of the sale's promotion. 

In any case, Sephora did start offering free shipping codes and (according to them) opened up the mystery grab bag promotion sooner than scheduled to appease angry and sleep-deprived beauty shoppers.  Seeing as how I'm a makeup whore, I snagged one on Saturday when I bought another few items.  Which brings us to:

It's black!  It's pretty big!  It's full of samples!  It's THE MYSTERY BAG!

List of samples I received:

• Clinique three-step skincare sample pack
• L'Occitane hand cream deluxe sample (score!)
• Clinique spot acne treatment deluxe sample (review of this coming up tomorrow--IT WORKS!)
• Murad skin system deluxe samples
• Dior skincare sample
• Shisedo Pureness sample set

Not too shabby, especially as a GWP of $25 or more.  Extended reviews of all items to come in the next few days.

Did you stay up for the Sephora Black Friday sale?  What did you think of the site outage or of any of the other well-publicized site outages around Black Friday and Cyber Monday (hello, LOFT, looking at you here)?

Sephora Holiday Prep Kit Review

Tis the season! Sephora is currently offering four holiday sample collections free with a $25+ purchase. I snapped up one of the Flawless Foundation sets (now sadly out of stock) and am impressed with the quantity and quality of the products included. I'll review all of them in the next couple of days, but will start today with two of the "brightening" formulas--Lancôme Éclat Miracle and Color FX BritePrep FX Brightening Foundation Primer.

Lancôme Éclat Miracle is billed as a straight-up illuminator, and certainly does the job well. Observe:

I dabbed a pea-sized amount of the serum onto my hand, and rubbed it in for around 15 seconds. The result is quite bright--I'm not sure I'd apply this much to my face--and leaves a very pleasant powdery matte finish. It doesn't feel at all heavy, but also doesn't moisturize even a little bit. It doesn't feel like it would clog my pores, so I'll definitely be giving it a trial run on my face soon.

The Color FX BritePrep Primer Boasts an impressive SPF 50, and the product description lists it as a combination primer/illuminator/sunscreen. Not too shabby, especially for those like me who hate wearing sunscreen in addition to makeup when out in the sun. That said, this primer feels too sunscreen-like for me to want to give it more than a cursory trial run. Observe:

The illuminating qualities of the Color FX aren't nearly as bright as the Lancôme, and instead of a matte finish it stays shiny even after 15 seconds of trying to get it to absorb. This is a big no-no for someone with my oily skin--who wants to start the day looking greasy? I could see this product being appealing for someone with very dry skin or skin that isn't terribly sensitive, but for myself I'll keep it in reserve until I plan to spend some serious time outdoors for the SPF alone.

You can still find holiday prep kits in Smokey Eye, Beautiful Skin, and Fragrance Sampler at Sephora.com using the code PREPKIT.

Sephora Standing Brush Set--Review

I'm not such a makeup newbie that I don't understand the importance of good brushes, but I am new enough not to have a comprehensive brush collection yet.  My first brushes (Sigmas) were for eyes only, and it's been years since I last wore powder blush, so when I decided to give NARS Orgasm a try I realized that I needed to purchase a blush brush to go along with it.  This $25 set, which includes both large and medium powder brushes, a medium eyeshadow brush, a smudge brush, and an eyeliner brush, was a bit of an overkill since I wasn't in need of 4/5 of the brushes it provided, but I decided to give it a whirl anyway. 

First off, the large powder brush, which I use to apply Orgasm, is soft, supple, and provides even coverage.  It's perfect and lovely in every way, and if it was the only brush out of the set I liked I would still be pretty satisfied with my purchase.  The other two winners in the set are the medium eyeshadow brush and the smudge brush.  I already have Sigma versions of both, but these new ones provide slightly different coverage from the Sigmas that I'm really liking.  From the eyeshadow brush I can get a far lighter dusting effect when I use it to pat on a dark shadow, and from the smudge brush I can get a much denser (but still softened) eyeliner effect.  In short, they're keepers.

The medium powder brush isn't getting much use at the moment since I'm not really wearing anything these days that calls for a brush that size.  When I do, however, it'll be nice to have a brush on hand that I can likely trust.

My only criticism of the set lies with the eyeliner brush.  Before using any of these brushes I cleaned them (because...ew) and was really surprised when the eyeliner brush didn't return to its original shape after gentle cleansing.  There's a gap down the middle of the bristles that will not go away, no matter what I do.  Suffice it to say that it's headed for the trash.

Overall, I can heartily recommend this set for any makeup newbie (or longtime user looking for some good backup or full-sized travel brushes) who's looking to round out their brush collection.  Eyeliner brushes are really a dime a dozen, and the fact that this one wasn't up to par certainly isn't reason to write off the entire set.

Sephora Friends and Family--Protect Me From Myself!

I'll say it: I need a Sephora intervention. 

The annual friends and family sale started today, and I've been like a kid in a candy store.  A kid with a credit card in a candy store, at that.  I'm really excited about my haul (and will be doing swatches here, especially of the newer products that have just debuted) but it's a bit...large.  And expensive.  And large. 

Perhaps I can pass some of these things off as early Christmas presents to myself.

In any case, here's a rundown of my final haul:

 

Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes Gold Mascara: This was a total impulse buy, and there's at least a 50/50 chance I'll be returning it, but OMG look at how pretty it is!  I've always loved the look of Givenchy's mascara brushes (though I'm slightly concerned that I'll stab myself in the eye with one) and my hope is that the gold sparkle will be subdued enough that I can wear it over black mascara without looking overly glittery.  

Sephora Favorites--Give Me Some Lip: Another impulse buy, and another product with a high return probability.  I love the Tarte LipSurgance in Moody already (it's one of my daily-wear favorites), and I have a Smashbox lipgloss that I love and adore in Endless, but I've never tried their Fame shade.  The others look...okay.  I don't see myself wearing either the super nude Kat Von D lipstick or the peachy Lancome gloss, but we all know how different something looks in the tube compared to how it looks on the lips. 

NARS blush in Orgasm: Like the Naked Palette, what more does one need to say about NARS Orgasm blush that hasn't already been said?  I have yet to try this supposedly universally flattering shade, so I'm giving it a whirl, and don't expect to be disappointed.  If I am, there's always the fabulous Sephora return policy!

Bobbi Brown Cool Party Palette and Party Palette: I fell in love with early swatches of these palettes, and actually had them both in my shopping bag on bobbibrown.com as of October 19th because they weren't coming up on Sephora's website.  Thankfully I checked for them one more time before I placed my F&F order because sometime overnight they'd been added to Sephora's stock!  After much rejoicing in the streets (actually a happy dance in my bathroom, where I was huddled with my iPad at 6:00 am on the first morning of the F&F sale) I was able to save $20 off the original price of both palettes.  Hooray!

Sephora Standing Brush Set: I don't actually have a good blush brush anymore (cheekstain has been my friend lo these many months since I started wearing makeup again) and had heard reasonably good reviews of Sephora's eyeshadow brushes.  Even if they're not wonderful, this will make a good travel set.

So what did you haul?

Sephora Friends and Family--Counting Down the Days!

Sephora's annual Friends and Family 20% off sale is expected to begin in the next 2-3 weeks, and I know my online shopping bag is already filling up with goodies.  Purchases I'm planning to make include:

Bare Minerals refillable Mineral Veil brush--$15

• I've been a fan of the Mineral Veil since I first tried Bare Minerals back in 2008.  I used their complete line for a couple of years before switching to Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and Tarte cheekstain, but I still love the Mineral Veil as a finishing powder.  At only $15, I'm willing to give this new delivery system a try.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara

• I love, love, love this formula.  It adds just enough volume to my lashes (which are reasonably thick to begin with) and lengthens without making them look unnatural.  It's just a great product and absolutely worth the $19 pricetag.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner Travel Set in Naked

• This set includes my daily favorite, Bourbon (shimmery brown), plus Zero (black), Demolition (dark brown), Underground (metallic taupe) and Stray Dog (silvery taupe).
• At $32 this is a great deal if, like me, you're looking to try out some new shades of Urban Decay's fabulous 24/7 liners without spending $18 for full pencils.

On my maybe list:

Tarte Starlet Limited Edition Makeup Vanity

• At only $52, this huge shadow collection seems like a no-brainer, especially when you consider that it comes with a full-sized tube of Lights, Camera, Lashes! which I was already planning to spend $18 to buy.  That brings the price of the palette down to just over $30!  I'm really hesitating to pull the trigger on this purchase after my disappointment with the True Blood palette, though.  Plus, I'm seeing some negative reviews about the pigmentation of the shadows.  This may be one I need to see in person before I buy. 

So what's on your "to buy" list this Friends and Family season?