$100 Sephora Beauty Haul

In case you aren’t already aware, I absolutely love makeup and all things beauty! I’m a huge Sephora fan for quite a few reasons, but mainly because I love makeup and Sephora is the best. If you’ve never shopped at Sephora, you’re seriously missing out. And if you don’t live near one, their online shopping experience is unbeatable… you get 3 small free samples with every online order, plus a deluxe sample when you spend over $25! AND for only $10 a year, you can join their 2-day flash shipping program which gets you free shipping, no purchase amount limit required [usually you get free shipping with every order over $50], so you could get your order shipped free even if you only bought a $4 item! Now, enough about why Sephora is so amazing, and on to the reason for this post…

I recently won a contest that was put on by a group of fabulous authors that participated in an online blog-hop event called Miss Chick Lit 2015. Usually when you see online giveaways, you can win gift cards for places like Amazon in increments of $5-$10 and sometimes the bigger ones will be for $25-$50. When I saw that the winner would get $100 to Sephora, I knew I had to give the contest serious consideration and made sure I got the maximum amount of entries possible to have the highest chance of winning. For me it wasn’t just about trying to win the contest; I truly enjoyed visiting each blog over the course of a few days and immersing myself in the authors’ blog posts. I had so much fun answering each question as an entry for the contest that I decided to share all of my answers in one blog post. [Check out that post here!]

My participation and comments earned me the maximum entries for the contest in the blog-hop event. I can barely tell you how excited I was to learn a few days after the contest was over that I was the event winner!! As the winner, I was the lucky recipient of a $100 Sephora gift card!

This brings me to today’s post… I’m going to show you what I purchased from Sephora with the $100 gift card that I won. If you buy makeup and nail polish sets at Sephora, your money can go pretty far, especially when you figure in the free samples you get when ordering online. Since I purchased these items as I wanted new makeup and products became available, I ended up making 3 separate orders so I got 9 small samples and 3 deluxe samples in addition to my purchased items!

1. Sephora’s Sun Safety Kit [$32, Sephora (Sold out)]

At the beginning of the summer Sephora had an amazing limited edition Sun Safety Kit that came with a clear cosmetic bag filled with 16 deluxe sample sized SPF skincare products. I’ve always been conscientious of taking care of my skin from using the right skincare products to keeping my skin protected from the sun. Not only was the sun safety kit a good deal, Sephora donated $20 to the Skin Cancer Foundation for each kit purchased!

Although I have a naturally tan skin-tone, I’ve always been mindful of wearing sunscreen to keep my skin healthy and young. Towards the beginning of the summer I was trying to find a moisturizer with a high SPF that didn’t feel oily or smell like sunscreen. I figured this kit was a good way to discover great SPF products at a relatively inexpensive cost. At only $2 a sample, I reasoned that I could use any products I didn’t love on my hands and arms in the afternoon to protect my skin during the hour-long drive home after work.

As it turned out, I discovered the 50 SPF face moisturizer from Clarins [$42 for 1.7 oz, Sephora], which has quickly become my new favorite daily SPF that I wear underneath my makeup. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s completely worth every penny! As I try the other items, I’ll be posting reviews, so stay tuned!

 

2. Formula X – The System [$32, Sephora]

I recently tried a ton of different moderately priced nail polish brands and discovered that Sephora’s Formula X System was by far superior to everything I tried. They sell four nail polish items together as a kit that’s worth $44 for only $32. You get one bottle each of the 1) CLEANSE Nail Cleanser 2) PRIME Base Coat 3) SHINE Top Coat and the fourth bottle you get to choose one Formula X nail color. For my kit, I chose a classic red called Pyrotechnic.

3. Formula X – The X Look Limited Edition Set [$13, Sephora (sold out)]

In addition to the Formula X System, I decided to purchase their limited edition set of mini nail polishes. I was drawn to the gorgeous plum and thought it’s always good to have a pretty neutral on hand too. The bottles are so small and adorable, and although the brush is a bit smaller, it’s still easy to use. Nail polish sets are a great gift for yourself or a friend!

 

4. Sephora Cream Lip Stain in Always Red [$14, Sephora]

One of my friends recently had gorgeous red lips when we went out and told me her secret… she was wearing Sephora’s cream lip stain in Always Red. Although the color might be a bit bright and bold for some, I absolutely loved it on her and had to try it out. I was pleasantly surprised with the lip stain by itself, though it doesn’t hold up well when you top it with a gloss. Fabulous color and moderately priced, this is definitely a red that you want to add to your makeup bag!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my Sephora beauty haul! Have you tried any of these products? What’s your favorite recent purchase at Sephora? Drop me a line and let me know what you think! <3