Sephora Double Points Haul

Sephora had a promotion a couple weeks ago where Beauty Insiders could get double points, VIBs triple points and VIBRouge quadruple points for anything bought/ordered. I couldn't pass this up so I just bought a few things, including the Becca Beach Tint I've been eyeing forever!

People were saying the color wasn't listed anywhere. They must have changed the packaging.

The tube is VERY tiny, but trust me when I say you don't need a lot.

Seriously, this is enough for both cheeks! Super pigmented!

Becca Beach Tint is a lip and cheek product. I guess they call it a stain, and it is supposed to be waterproof, but I don't think it lasts as long as I'd hoped. I think Dragonfruit is their most popular color, so I figured I would go with that. It's a great shade. The texture of the product feels more like a primer than a cream blush, sort of silky. If you looked at all the pictures, you can see that you really only need to use the tiniest dot of product for a lot of color. I usually spread it out over my cheeks with a stipple brush just because I have a problem spreading cream blush out evenly with my fingers. I really like it on my lips too. It's a soft color and texture but doesn't really wear like a stain. I am glad I finally bought it and am excited to actually try it at the beach!


Then I bought a 'travel size' of Tarte's BB Tinted Primer. I looked at this while I was out buying my Benefit Big Easy BB Cream and decided if I was buying the one, I didn't need to also buy the other. I'm a little sad I waited because this stuff is awesome!

I really like the idea of a tinted primer, instead of just another BB cream, though they still had to put the "BB" in front of this. Sometimes I want to have a primer if I know the weather will be gross, but my skin is uneven, and my powder just doesn't always fix that. This feels like other primers, in that it's sort of silky, but has a nice light coverage to even out skin. I bought the color "Light" but I almost think I could've mixed the light and the medium for my summer skin. This primer works really well on my oily skin and seems to last all day.

Also, a 1oz tube of this stuff is $35, but this 0.5oz travel size was $10. You can do the math on that one...


I cashed in 100 points to get this sample-sized Sephora Rouge Infusion Lip Stain. It came in the color Red Essence, which I would not have picked for myself but I'm glad I got it.

The shape of the tube is very unique and easy to find in a bag. It comes with a doe-foot applicator and as you can see, it's very pigmented! I don't often wear a red lip, but it's nice to have such a deep stain when I want to! I wore this out one night to a comedy club and it lasted through a beer, some fries, laughing and chatting, and a margarita after. And I'm pretty sure there was still some color on my lips when I woke up the next morning. I had to go out and buy a more "everyday" color. Review on that here.


I was also able to get a promotional item, so I chose a sample of Sephora's Color Reveal Lip Balm.

This is just like those "mood" lipsticks from back in the day... yes I had them too. It contains a dye that reacts to moisture and turns pink. It's supposed to turn into a perfect shade for each person, and I don't know if that's true, but I loved the color it turned on me. Just a nice soft pink. The texture of the balm is really nice and moisturizing, and the smell is amazing! Some people may not like it but I love it. It's supposed to be a honey flavor but I get a bit of vanilla too. I will probably buy the full size when I'm all done with my sample :)


And of course I got 3 samples with my online order:

Peter Thomas Roth CC Cream

Amazing Cosmetics Concealer

They didn't have one of the samples I wanted so I got sent this one instead: Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black and Nirvana White fragrances.

Tarte Colored Clay Tinted Brow Gel

Eyebrows - the things I ignored for so long but have recently come to realize they really put your whole face together. But, I'm not skilled enough, nor do I have enough time to fill in my brows with a pencil, so I found tinted brow gels. I started with Benefit's Gimme Brow which had a smaller brush, but it started getting clumpy after a month. So I tried Lancome's tinted brow gel, but the wand is pretty big and sometimes deposits too much color. Then I heard about Tarte's new Amazonian Colored Clay Tinted Brow Gel. I figured I'd give it a try.

This product comes in 3 colors and has a teeny tiny brush. So far.... it's just ok. It does give a very natural look, but doesn't quite fill in the sparseness of the tails of my brows. If I had thicker eyebrows (not that mine are super thin, but I have fine hair naturally) this product would probably be perfect. I love the teeny brush though! It's perfect for brows. The problem is that it doesn't hold too much product being that tiny, so I end up having to dip it in the container several times for each eyebrow. 

I still really like Benefit's Gimme Brow, but I don't want to pay $21 if it's just going to clump after a month of using daily. So I'll stick with this Tarte product until something else comes along.

More from Sephora

I used to work at Target and it's always a big joke about how you can go in with a list of 3 things and come out with a cartfull... every time. And it still happens to me. I even told boyfriend that I'm not allowed to shop at Target alone anymore. Well, that's how it's becoming with me and Sephora. Ever since I joined Birchbox, I have started to get to know all of these other beauty brands: Stila, Smashbox, Benefit, Urban Decay, Tarte, etc... and there are so many new things I want to try! This weekend I had some time and I knew I wanted to buy the solid blendercleanser for all my brushes and sponges so I could have a good cleanser (I've just been using shampoo like my costume/makeup designer in college told me) and I would be able to take it with on my vacation back home this summer. Well of course I found other things I had to buy! I was actually pretty good this time. If boyfriend hadn't been waiting outside the store for me, I probably would've been in there over an hour!

Well, of course I did buy my solid blendercleanser, but it happened to be located with all the trial/travel sized stuff near the registers and look what happened to be right above it! A beautyblender!

I originally wanted one a couple months ago and remembered I had seen one at Urban Outfitters. The closest store to me was next to a Barnes and Noble so when I wanted to go buy a book, I had to pop over to get the beautyblender! To my disappointment, they didn't have it anymore. But they did have a dupe set: for only $10!

Photo taken from urbanoutfitters.com

I had read reviews about dupes and most said they were fine but you should really get the real beautyblender. Spend the extra money because it really is better. And I agree. The "Dynamic Duo" was fine... I was mostly only using it for primer and concealer since I don't use much liquid foundation or anything... but when I used the real beautyblender for the first time this weekend, I couldn't believe the difference! It's so much softer! I should've saved my $10 on the dupes and just kept looking for the real thing. Seriously, buy the real beautyblender if you're considering using something like that. You'll thank me and all the other reviewers later.

The blendercleanser is awesome. I love the solid. I feel like it will last much longer than the liquid too, probably less product waste. It comes in a plastic container and is just a solid round soap. Just wet your brushes or sponge and swipe across the surface of the cleanser, then lather and rinse. So easy! I really do feel like it gets everything a lot cleaner too. And I'm more likely to clean everything more often (right now it's about once a week) if it's just: open container, wet sponge, wipe across cleanser, lather, rinse, dry. Rather than: get the shampoo, get hands wet, get brush wet, pour shampoo, later, rinse, keep rinsing, repeat a couple times, then it's probably clean enough - ok so it's not that complicated, but I love my blendercleanser.



I also walked by the Tarte section: bad idea. I just started getting into their products. I've been eyeing the Lipsurgence collection for a while but didn't want to spend $24 on a lip product, but I've read it's supposed to be hydrating and stains a little bit. So I took the leap:

I bought the color "Enchanted" which is a sort of 'safe' red. It's a little more on the purple side, and I love it! It does stain a bit, and is VERY moisturizing. 

Tarte's Lipsurgence Lip Tints are made without:

- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrances
- Synthetic Dyes
- Petro-Chemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

so I can feel pretty good about the money I spent. And I've been wearing this every day since I bought it. It's a little crayon shaped stick that twists up at the bottom for more product. You can layer it on for more color too. And now I want more colors!

The last thing I bought was a glass nail file with a holder for myself. It is the travel-size found next to the registers. They're supposed to be more sanitary and I've been trying to buy things that are better for my body.

Trying new makeup!

I received my Ulta catalog in the mail this weekend and was interested in the Tarte Colored Clay CC Primer in there. I looked at probably 20 reviews online because it's $35 and I wanted to make sure it would be something I would like. I don't wear foundation - usually just a tinted powder because my face gets very oily - and I tried BB cream for a while, so I figured this would be good too. I also like that Ulta has a 60-day return policy if you don't like a product - I'm in the trial phase with all of these products.

Here's what it does:

"Buff your way to complexion perfection with this revolutionary correcting stick. Infused with Tarte's new color-correcting Amazonian colored clay, this powerful, skinvigorating™ primer blends easily to help brighten skin, even skintone, blur imperfections, and neutralize redness and discoloration. Use this multitasking corrector before foundation as a color-correcting primer or alone as light coverage for an allover flawless look. Its antioxidant-rich formula delivers the perfect balance of color correction and coverage with a soft, matte finish."

So yes. There is the color, a lavender wedge for brightening, and a green wedge for correcting redness. It feels really soft and light on the skin. Lots of reviews said it doesn't cover very much, and they are correct but that's ok for me. I just want a little something extra to put on to even things out before putting my powder on. The BB cream I use sometimes has more coverage, but this is supposed to be a primer I guess. I feel like it did smooth my pores a bit and I *think* it's helping with the shine. Apparently my face hates LA because I haven't been this oily since high school... but it's not making it worse so I think that's a plus! I'm going to keep using it because it is really simple and quick to put on in the morning and blends really easily. 


While I was walking around Ulta, I saw a display with mascaras on it. My eyelashes are very long (have been since I was a baby, I've been told) but they're like the rest of my hair where they're fine and won't hold a curl. I've been looking for a mascara that curls and saw Tarte's "Lights, Camera, Lashes!" mascara.

I remembered seeing a youtube review on the 'Lights, Camera, Flashes' mascara, which is similar so I decided to look at it a little more. It is a 4-in-1 mascara that lengthens, curls, volumizes, and conditions. Perfect! I've only worn it for about a day and a half now, but I like it. I've had a little bit of irritation (like, a teeny tiny bit) but I'm pretty sure it's because it's about time to change my contacts, and I'm tired, rather than the mascara. I haven't noticed any flaking but I also haven't been paying attention to whether or not my lashes are still curled at 3:15pm since putting it on at 7am. I do know that my lashes look great with it on! I'm not sure how much better it is than the Maybelline mascara I've been using for much cheaper than the $19 I paid for this... but I'll keep it for now. I like trying new mascaras.


After walking around the store for probably close to an hour checking out all the new brands I've been learning about through Birchbox and Ipsy, I finally went to the check out and found something that someone set off to the side that I decided to try. It was the Benefit POREfessional Agent Zero Shine.

Well, first I asked the woman ringing me up if she knew anything about it and she said she used it herself (though, sometimes I feel like all employees at Ulta are supposed to say that, because another woman told me the same thing about the Tarte CC primer.) I figured I'd try it because my face has been very oily lately and this powder is specifically designed to stop that. What I love about it, is that it comes with it's own brush that twists out from the bottom and the cap doubles as a little pot to dump the powder into. The top also twists open and closed so no spilling powder everywhere! It's really nice for travel, or just taking to work. It looks tinted but blends easily and disappears right away. It also doesn't look white or ashy. I've also only used this for a day and a half, but I like it. I put it on my tzone after I put my usual powder on at 7am and a few hours later I ran the side of my finger down my nose and it seemed shiny already. Around 2pm I checked the mirror and my face actually didn't look that bad. I could feel it by touch, but it didn't look terrible. I did a touch-up just because. I'm usually not someone who brings makeup to work for touch-ups but this was so easy.

It seems like I can't find anything that will keep the oil at bay longer than half a day, so I could really just buy something cheap from the drugstore instead of paying $30(!) for the Benefit brand. I think I'll keep it and use it up and decide then.

*Update 4/8/14*
I decided to return the Tarte CC Primer. I loved how easy it was, but my face got so oily during the day. I mean, it gets oily a lot during the day but this product didn't seem to help it, or seem to make my other makeup stick any better for a "primer". I actually exchanged it for Benefit's Hello Flawless powder foundation. You can read that review here.