I went Sephora shopping over the past two days and picked up some Makeup Forever, along with some other items. During trip #1 I got the HD foundation and Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I wanted to try the MUFE HD foundation for the longest time and finally got it in the shade 117. Then trip #2 I returned the Too Faced Shadow Insurance because it was a watery runny mess,
see yesterday's rant here. Now correct me if I am wrong, but I am not happy with Sephora's return policy when using a coupon. I purchased the MUFE HD foundation $46CAD, and the TFSI $24, and used a $20 off VIB discount, the way they do that is take a portion of the $20 off each item (I had two). Then when I returned the TFSI I only got $19.37 back instead of the full amount. I tried asking the cashier why, and she agreed with me, but that's how the system does it. If I had used the $20 off on the foundation and then did a separate purchase with the TFSI I would of not run into this problem. Have you encountered this before? I know it's just $5 but it bothers me you know? I am getting penalized for returning it, but the foundation alone was the $40 minimum purchase.
I also picked up the MUFE Face and Body in the shade #20. I really wanted to get the Mat Velvet +, but after reading review after review about how it's not good for dry skin (which I have) I felt it was better to leave it out. The Face and Body comes with a pump which surprised me because the youtube videos that I watched people do, it did not. And despite being very watery and not great coverage, I think it's a good bet for my skin.
I am a Sephora newbie, but I tried my best to get samples today, since on the first day I got nothing, too scared of the staff there. Today I told the girl that I have dry skin and am looking for a hydrating foundation, she suggested Laura Mercier's Silk Creme Smooth, which was no surprise to me since I heard it recommended before by beauty reviewers, she got me samples in the shades Blush Ivory and Warm Ivory. However, I am probably more likely to buy the one that comes in the pump bottle, which is moisturizing too, we shall see how this one works out. Then I got some MUFE HD blush samples, that at point, she staff girl seemed irritated with me, I got the lilac colour and a peachy coral one, not sure of the numbers, I think it's #13 and #6.
I also picked up the Sephora #55 brush (picture above). This was $44, I know a lot but it was on my "to get" list for a long time and despite having a ton of makeup brushes, I thought this one would be sweet to have. Like others have said before, the packaging on this brush is ridiculous, took me like 5 minutes to get it off. The brush is soft, not super dense, but looks like it will be good for liquid foundation.
I also picked up the new Almay Wake up Hydrating Makeup in the colour 020 Buff. I read about this and the Revlon Mineral Makeup on
Nouveau Cheap and noticed it was on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart. Both products are pretty much the same I think, marketed to do the same thing, Revlon has coconut water and Almay has cucumber something or other, both look to be good for dry skin. Almay was $13.99 and Revlon was $15.99 (both are around $20 normally!) so after humming over it for a few minutes I grabbed the Almay. First impressions: The brush is nice, but I won't use it, the powder has a sifter so I left the peely thing on in case too much comes out for me. The powder does have shimmer which annoys me (zoom in on 2nd image above to see it), I wonder if the Revlon one does too.
I am loving Toronto living so far. I can take a streetcar to Union station and then two stops and I am at the Eaton Centre, which is crazy good. But I am afraid I won't be seeing Miss Sephora for a while now because I have no moola to spend on her. But I am excited to try out these new beauties.
Have you tried any of these products? And have you encountered that hassle with returns at Sephora too? Le me know your thoughts.
19 comments:
nice brief review on the almay makeup! i dont think im going to look into that anymore since you mentioned it has shimmer which i hate in foundations lol.
i totally forgot sephora gave out samples! im going to try out mufe's foundation!
Great haul! That really sucks that you didn't get your full amount back though. If I had known about that policy, I probably would have returned it without a receipt so I could get store credit, since I'm always buying stuff at Sephora anyways.
@Donna - The MUFE HD is like liquid gold, really great foundation, doesn't feel like you have anything on at all, and doesn't bother my dry skin so much either.
@Rinny - I was trying to be honest and it didn't get me anywhere. If I had known beforehand I may have done the same thing, oh well, at least it wasn't that much difference.
Ohh I want to try MUFE HD too, everyone is raving about how fab it is! And I've been thinking about sephora brushes, but they're a little expensive :S
I wasn't aware that you were now living in Toronto! I hope you'll like it a lot :)
Marie
marielovesmakeup.blogspot.com
I absolutely love sephora! It's good you get to try it out now :)
I've been wanting to check out that brush for a while now; review please?
Val
@Marie - Ya this is the only Sephora brush that I was considering, it's a nice one, and yes they are expensive.
@Val - I'll definitely do a review in a couple of days, pretty great impression of it so far though.
oOoh super interested in hearing about that almay foundation! revlon and almay are both under the same "house" or "mother" brand... so their products definitely are similar!
Maricela
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ... VividFusionBlog ....Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ
VividFusion on Youtube
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I've been dying to try out the MUFE foundation. It's so great to have sephora outlets near you. They are gonna open one in the country i stay soon and I am soooooo excited for it..
xx
I've also encountered that same issue with returns -it's happened at some online website(for me.) I WISH they would just make it like a gift card (like it should be) instead. Now that you brought it up, I'm glad I didn't ues my $20 off on something for myself since I might've had to return something. I used it on gifts so there shouldn't be any returns! =P
At least you did get some great samples. =) Hope you enjoy everything you got.
Glad you're liking your new home! Sounds exciting!
Lots of stores do the discount breakdown for each item now, I found. Did it show on your receipt how much each item cost after discount? I know it's not fair :(
Take it slow on Sephora, lol, now that you live near one. No rush, right?
hi, i agree MFHD is a great foundation. If you want a moisturizing dewy foundation i suggest Chanel VitaLumiere, its fantastic. If you want more coverage ProLumiere. Give it a try:)
I think they implemented this strategy after last year when the VIB $20/BI $15 gift cards were actual gift cards. People were returning the products and pocketing the value of the GC. It's dishonest people like these that make honest folks such as yourself lose out :( Btw, I remember you said you got 2 GCs. Were you able to use both? I got 2 as well but I haven't tried the other one yet.
@Halifax - It did show the breakdown on the receipt yes, it took a portion of the $20 off each item.
@whimsysophisticat - I was totally wanting to get the Chanel foundation, thinking Sephora carried Chanel, but they don't, so it's going to take some effort to try and get to a department store to get it instead. But ya, I have heard great things about that one too, maybe if I get gift cards for Christmas.
@Ludmila - I did use two from two separate emails. They don't ask for any sort of proof that is your account which I find bizarre, in theory anyone could use anyone's coupon and they wouldn't know it.
I checked my bill today.. they def. do that $15 or $20 off incorrectly.
makes NO sense!!
From all the talk on MUA, I thought the $20 was entered as a GC code. I guess not! Could you not have asked her to return both items, then repurchase the foundation with the $20 credit? I am glad that I didn't get the $20 this year. It sounds like such a hassle. When Sephora first came out in my city, I was in there practically every 2nd day. It was not good for my wallet. Don't worry though...there is light at the end of the tunnel for you. I hardly go there now =]
@Junerose - It makes total sense for the store to do it this way, it gets people buying cause it's a good coupon and it screws them over if they return something, most people won't return anything and it's a win for everyone. I could of returned both, but at the time (first time shopping in-store) I didn't think it through enough and thought since I had spent over $40 with the return included I wouldn't encounter this problem. Now I know. ;)
And ya, Sephora = very bad on the wallet, but makeup makes me happy!
Oh my!! That's good to know about the return policy. I have never returned anything there before and good for you for getting all those samples! I have yet to ask for any but realize I should before spending $50 on a bottle of something! MUFE HD foundation was the first non-drug store foundation I bought. The only thing I really have to compare it to is the tinted MAC liquid something or other and Lancome's Teint Idole Fresh Wear. A little goes a long way but I find it a tiny bit thick. I don't want full coverage so I've actually been preferring the Fresh Wear for it's oil controlling properties. HD does zero oil control for me if I don't use a mattifier and powder. Don't visit Sephora "to look" cuz you'll be playing with fire!!!
Would you say that the Almay Wake up Hydrating Makeup is similar to the Bare Essentials foundation? I haven't tried either and was just curious since they are both a loose powder.
@Sandy - I know it's so hard to not buy anything at Sephora and just look around, I can't help but look at what others are buying and buying it too!
@Lisa - I haven't compared the two, but as far as BE goes the only foundation I've used is the matte version. I think Almay would be lighter coverage though. I will do a full review soon. Not much of a powder girl myself though.
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