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.

Benefit Posietint and High Beam

Curse you sample section next to the registers at Ulta! This was just sitting there, taunting me. I've actually always wanted to try Benefit's Posietint and HighBeam though. I love my Benetint and was interested in what the creamier formulas would be like.

The top picture is how creamy they are when first applied. The bottom picture is the product smoothed out a bit. The Posietint really does stain if you don't work with it fast enough!

I don't really like the Posietint on my cheeks as much. It just never seems to give me the color I want, always too sheer. I didn't think I would like the pinkiness (is that a word? Is now!) of the color, but after using it, I really do. Once I do find the right amount of color, it looks pretty natural, like a just-got-in-from-10-degree-wind-chill flush (oh believe me... I know what a negative 40 degree wind chill flush looks like too, it's not fun.) On my lips though, is where I love it! It takes a couple layers to get the color I want, but it will stay on there. Very nice pink color that I'm not used to but I like a lot.

I also love the HighBeam! I've been using it every day so far on my cheekbones and under my eyebrows. It just gives a nice glow when you turn your head. Once it's sheered out, it seems to set to a powder finish. I've rubbed my cheek before and my finger comes away a bit sparkly, which I didn't think would happen with a liquid.

If you're curious about either of these products, this is the perfect package for you. The samples sizes have a lot of product in them and one full size bottle of just one of these is $30! Save yourself some money and get these two for $13.

thebalm "How 'Bout Them Apples?" Palette

In March, I received a sample of thebalm's "How 'Bout Them Apples?" cream for lips and cheeks. I had never used a cream blush before, but I found that I really liked it. I was hesitant to buy the full size because it's much larger than the sample and I didn't know if I had room for it. The more I used the sample, the more I really liked it. I had a bunch of Birchbox points to use so I finally decided to get the full palette. ($32)

"How 'Bout Them Apples?" is a multi-functioning lip and cheek cream palette. Each freshly picked color is formulated to have a smooth finish that won't streak or fade, so there are no bad apples in this bunch!

Here is my sample size on top of the full palette.

The name of the palette is in reference to putting the color on the 'apples of your cheeks' and each color is surrounded by a picture of an apple. The names are also references: the sample came in the color "Pie" (apple pie).

The palette also has these cowboys next to each color. Not sure why. It's definitely not a reason I got this product. A lot of people love these pictures... and sure they're attractive, but most of them are badly photoshopped and I could really do without them.

The top of the box has the colors Cider and Cobbler. Cider is a very pale pink that does not show up on my skin. It *may* work for darker skin tones, but I have no idea. Cobbler is a nice red color. Both are very creamy. (Excuse the fingernail mark in Cider. Didn't even notice until after I took these pictures)

The middle section has the colors Pie and Crisp. Pie was my sample color and it's a very nice coral pink color. It's a very natural flush on the cheeks but more on the coral side on the lips. Crisp is the only color that has a sparkle to it. This picture doesn't show very well, but it's a nice pink with gold flecks in it. It's really great on the lips and a nice highlighting color for the cheeks.

The bottom has the colors Candy and Caramel. Candy is a very bubblegum pink color but is very natural on cheeks. Caramel looks like a scary brown color but it's almost like a bronzer-type color. It looks like you've got a nice tan. Very neutral pink color and easy to wear.

Top to bottom on my arm the colors are: Caramel (the neutral, brownish color), Candy (bubblegum pink), Crisp (with the gold flecks - you can kind of tell in this photo), Pie (coral pink), Cobbler (red), and Cider (non-existent pink).

And here are the colors more blended. The Cider completely disappeared, even on my pale forearm. The colors are very pigmented so you don't need to use a lot on your cheeks but it's very buildable for lips. 

I personally love Cobbler (the red) for my lips. It's a very safe red. The formula seems to last a good amount of time on lips, but starts to get pretty dry. It's also very lasting on the cheeks, but I wouldn't call it a stain. 

Overall, I am so glad I bought this palette. It is very large and takes up a lot of room, but I love the color choices. I've been applying them with a brush, but for my sample I used my finger mostly. If you're a fan of cream blushes, or mutli-use products, you should definitely give thebalm's "How 'Bout Them Apples?" a try!