to shop / last minute splurging at sephora f&f

Sephora’s annual Holiday event is ending tonight! The tiring year makes me want to splurge on myself (more than usual). I would’ve posted earlier, but encountered technical difficulties. What I got:

• Tatcha Pure & Glowing Trio. This holiday set has a full size dewy skin cream and a travel size of the rice wash and silk peony cream. Of the Tatcha creams, I like the dewy cream the most and have been using it every morning. This set has been popping in and out of stock. I am looking forward to trying this rice wash. (Through 11/11, Tatcha has a great deal on their site – code SINGLES20 for a full size Violet C mask and sheet mask ($80 value) for orders over $100. They have a bunch of new holiday sets. I like the Purifying & Plumping set that has the dewy skin cream, the cleansing oil, and the rice wash.)
• Fresh Mini Rose Deep Hydration Sleeping Mask. I love how there is a mini size. I have never tried this, generally like Fresh, and heard good things from my favorite, discerning Chinese vlogger.

to pamper / sephora holiday beauty insider event

It’s that time of year again for Sephora’s annual sale. Sephora did push up the dates a bit. When you can shop depends on your Sephora Beauty Insider status. The discount applies in US, Canada, and JCPenney.

Rouge: Code ROUGEBONUS for 20% off from Oct 26-29 and Nov 2-5. Fine print for Rouge.
VIB: Code VIBBONUS for 20% off from Nov 9-12
Insiders: Code BIBONUS for 15% off from Nov 16-19. Anyone can sign up for Insiders.

I read that Rouge can use their code during the VIB/Insiders weekends as well. Also, the VIB/Insiders code is one-use only whereas Rouge can place unlimited orders. Sephora has been doing these annual % off sales for the longest. Now, there are other retailers that run similar promotions, however they don’t have all the value sets that Sephora has!

My picks:

Drunk Elephant. In the US, you can buy Drunk Elephant from their own site or Sephora. I quite like Drunk Elephant (old posts). My favorites are the vitamin C serum and the lip balm, then the eye serums, moisturizers, and marula oil. I don’t like the jelly cleanser or SPF.

(1) The Trunk 2.0 comes with 10 full size products, a snazzy acrylic case customized to hold the products, and 28% off. With the Sephora discount, it comes to 42% off. Of course I bought it (with some gift cards I’d been saving). This has since sold out on Sephora, but it’s hard to say whether it will be restocked before the sale ends. It’s also available on Drunk Elephant. Note, it does not include all of DE’s products. Missing: D-Bronzi Anti-Pollution Sunshine Drops, Lala Retro Whipped Cream, Shaba Complex Eye Serum, Umbra Tinte Physical Daily Defense SPF 30, Juju Bar, or Pekee Bar.

Images: Drunk Elephant / Sephora

For the remaining kits, they contain at least one full size product that is priced close to the kit price. It is a no brainer to me.

to pamper / drunk elephant product reviews, value sets, & how much is left in the bottle

(Left: AHA Moment and Let’s B Clear, Right: Dermstore Skin of Dreams Trio, C-ing is Believing)

I’ve been taking advantage of the recent promotions to restock my beauty closet — both on cost-effective drugstore favorites (that the mister uses too) and on the splurges. I consider Drunk Elephant to be a midrange splurge and current holiday value sets makes the price easier to swallow. Each value set comes with deluxe samples that are the same size as what’s in The Littles set — I can’t justify paying $90 for these deluxe samples. In most cases, the set is about the same price as a single regular priced item.

My Drunk Elephant experience to date:

to pamper / 2016 sephora vib sale

Oh, Sephora. I’m an online shopper and the VIB sales are painful when items go in and out of stock. And I chuckle at people who bought too much and are no longer to use their VIB code. Get smarter, Sephora. I mix high and low. This is what I got (or would’ve got if I wasn’t out):

to pamper / sephora customizable skin care & hair care set

This is my favorite time of the year for Sephora because it’s limited edition & value sets galore! And additional 20% off for VIBs! In addition to the monthly Sephora Play! box, Sephora now carries more brands that I like including Asian beauty and natural brands. Sephora has started doing customizable sets of late. They are an affordable $25 (before any discounts), you get to choose 5 deluxe/travel sized items that you want, and due to how the discount is applied in cart, shipping is free! The first one was the Sephora Soko to Tokyo customizable set (sold out). Next was a pure hair care Style, Treat & Repeat! Custom Hair Essentials on the go (there are many sold out options).

Now there is the Customizable Skin Care & Hair Gift Set ($25) where you get to choose from a a selection of 13 items. If any of these are missing, then it’s sold out. I had to let this sit in my cart for a bit before the discount applied, not sure if it’s resolved now.