I promise this isn’t one of those ‘I dropped £xxx in Sephora’ type things. It’s actually a case of being a very bad-blogger and accumulating a few smaller sized hauls over a pretty long period that I’ve been stashing away in my ‘to blog’ pile. But rather than do each one on their own I thought I’d accumulate them into a mega Sephora haul post.
With the one exception being that I’ve not included the brands or products that have been discontinued or gift with purchase type things (the Sephora VIP birthday gift from both 2016 and 2017 as I was fortunate to be in the US in my birth-month both years! But when it’s out of date there’s not much point sharing!
So here’s a mega round up of (almost) ALL the bits I’ve purchased on trips to Sephora in the US. Rather than group by purchase I thought I’d link them by category or product – for example, I’ve pretty much picked up versions of the Sephora sheet mask every time… plus a couple that I accidentally doubled-up on (oops!) so I’ll stick these together… you get the drift. I’ll crack on and tell you what I bought and a little about how I shop when in Sephora… clue: it’s pretty calculated!
I LOVE a Sephora trip. I know I’ve been hoarding these items but sometimes for me the joy is the searching and the ‘hunt’ in store. I love browsing the shelves and taking my time (to say the least…) in making decisions on what to pick up and what to skip.
The thing with shopping Sephora is it can be overwhelming AND a lot of the ‘success’ of it comes down to the store. There are good Sephora stores and there are not-so-good Sephora stores. Which is why I love visiting New York and shopping Sephora whilst I’m there – there are so many stores you always know you can find another one if one doesn’t have what you want in stock or maybe doesn’t have all the brands you want to browse. FYI my favourite Sephora in NYC is a tough call. I’d say my top three are the one in Union Square (Bigger than it looks from the entrance on the square and always pretty quiet), Fifth Avenue (purely because it’s very pretty from the outside but does tend to be well stocked) and the one on 9th Ave (Meatpacking District) because again it’s always pretty well stocked and never too crazy busy.
I tend to do some googling before I head to store and make a list of brands I want to check out. I try to stick to brands I can’t get in the UK easily as frankly there’s not much point picking up brands I can get easily at home. So I tend to skip looking at anything like Clinique/Lancome/Dior etc in Sephora. I love to check out brands like Milk, Bite or Anastasia Beverly Hills. Which of course I can order from the UK but the range in US Sephora stores means I can try in person which is always more fun.
My favourite bit though? Always the mini sized product displays. As you can probably tell when you look at the list above. For me it’s a great way to get to try something without shelling out for a full size product – which isn’t always necessary! If I do love something I can always re-purchase the full size another time.
But the travel/mini section is usually the bit I spend the most time browsing. Or you know, going through with a fine tooth comb to make sure I’m not missing anything. Sometimes there are brands in there that might not be elsewhere in a store. For example there’s a brand called Verb with a product called ‘Ghost Oil’ that sometimes can be found in the travel sized bit but might not have any others from that brand in store.
Travel size shopping in Sephora is my favourite for the perfume section too. I never buy full size there and instead stick to the handbag sized spray or roller ball options. Again, perfect way to try something without shelling out for full size.
Of all the products here, my ‘highlights’ would have to be the Anastasia palette I built which I can’t wait to get stuck into. I’m also going to do stand alone reviews of the two IGK products as IGK AND Drunk Elephant are both due to launch into Space NK this year – very exciting news. Whoever is doing buying for Space NK at the moment is very much on my wavelength…
Let me know if you’re a Sephora fan and what brands you love to pick up whenever you get chance to hit the store – or if you order online now they ship to the UK?
All products bought by myself
[shopr shopstyle=”48555325″ order=”random”]
I love Sephora but never have a plan when i’m in store (which I should) I usually flit about like a kid in a sweet shop doing some kind of supermarket sweep style assault on everything.
The shampoo and texturiser sounds great – that’s a perfect combination x
franklyflawless.com
franklyphotos.com
It’s really good if you have fine hair and want to add a bit of ‘oomph’ easily. Not for every day though as think would cause build up!
I’d love to try that shampoo! Also wish we had Sephora’s in the UK… I think one is due to come to London at some point…
Katie | katieemmabeauty.com
It’s great to add texture, not a good one for every day I’d say though! Best news is IGK launching in Space NK this year!
I love a Sephora shop, the last time I was in the US I did 3! Thankfully I was given some advice prior to my trip on what to look for (thanks Jen!). My main go to is always Tarte Cosmetics as you can only get a limited selection here from QVC. I do like a browse of the travel sized section too, so many fab bits have been snapped up there.