Friday, November 8, 2013

Sephora VIB: The Season of the Sale...and What I Bought!

Purchased by me (Affiliate Links)
There are many many Sephora stores all over the Los Angeles area, and I used to choose where I would shop based upon the convenient proximity to my house and/or hassle-free parking. However, since they have begun to add more and more luxury brands to their inventory, and since not all locations stock the same brands- the scope of where I regularly shop has significantly narrowed.
Giorgio Armani, which is one of the luxury brands that I covet the most, is stocked at a few Sephora physical stores (until recently I think it was only available at select NYC locations), and isn't even available on their website (I have no idea why this is the case). In Los Angeles, I know of two locations that stock Armani: Century City and Malibu, and despite being a touch under-the-weather, I made my exodus to Sephora with my 20% off VIB Coupon, and this is what I came home with!
I will unveil the contents of these pretty shiny boxes soon. As you can see, I bought the biggest box available of the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peel- a must have after my amazing Pro-Peel at SpaceNK!
Check out what's in stock online at Sephora.com (Affiliate link)

Are you shopping the Sephora Sale? If so, what is on your list?

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19 comments:

  1. Looks intriguing! I've always been interested in the Armani sheer blushers, since blushes are my biggest weakness and I always find that sheer blushes are much more flattering than pigmented ones on me.
    The Armani eyeshadow palettes have been on my wishlist ever since I saw swatches of them on Best Things in Beauty. The combination of sheer+glowy brings out the 15 year old girl in me that wanted to be Arwen :)
    Looking forward to the review!

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    1. Hi Hannah! The Armani Sheer Blushes are among my very favorite blushes-- the quality is just outstanding! They are silky smooth, ultra finely milled, and beautifully pigmented. My only complaint is that I wish that they would add a few more colors. All of them tend to be a bit muted, and I would love to have a few cooler clearer colors in that formula (like a light cooler leaning pink). The coverage is definitely build able, but you can definitely sheer them out for a barely there wash of color that looks natural! I have three of their eyeshadow palettes and one of their singles, and I love them all-- the quality is definitely amazing! Lol-- yup the sheer+glowy definitely does bring out the 15 year old girl who wanted to be Arwen!! That's AWESOME!!!!!!!

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  2. I restricted myself to the Hourglass Ambient Lighting palette. There are so many sales going on right now, I get distracted!

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    1. You have such great self-control. I put it in my basket, and then put it back. I have one of the three colors in the palette- so I put it back. If I make one more trip before the sale ends, I will likely revisit this issue again! LOL There are so many sales going on right now, and this gets quite expensive-- one has to find the right place to draw the line-- that is for sure. I feel as though I have blown right beyond that line this season!!

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  3. Armani at Sephora….ahhhhhh….so lucky!!! It's so crazy it's at least not on the website…one of the great makeup mysteries LOL!! You are going to have so much fun…can't wait to read your reviews! I didn't get much that was exciting…some things I needed that I will run out of soon. Then got a nail tool thingy to try to get a more clean line on my manicures (I always have trouble around the base by the cuticle!). Some colored hair bands. I did get the EF concealer though and hopefully Bronzer Bunny is picking up the Guerlain meteorites compact (they were oos online and the store near me I refuse to go to because of their customer service ha ha). Thank goodness for awesome friends!!! So nothing too crazy but I've been going crazy elsewhere!!! Nordstrom online finally has some Burberry Fall items up and others available for preorder (though some of them I saw last night are now not on there anymore so not sure if they are oos already or if it was a slip up or what who knows??)…and it looks like stores are starting to get it too from the locator…all that too say that I preordered a few more polishes last night. And I may have ordered some other Burberry items, and that Chanel accent blush!! And I ended up getting some some things from Barneys after the bag even bc they had extra bags and 10% off…then there was a mix up (on their end) so they were nice enough to send me some of the step up gifts they had left and they were super generous :-) And then there are all the 98367437477 orders I've placed. Quite a lot has been returned, but still it's been a bit ridiculous around here. Feel like I should pull in the reigns but really when does that ever happen??? I need to take a lesson from Belly, as I'm sure ups and fedex are tired of stopping here 3days/week. Doh!!! Why did I tell you all that??? I dunno!!! I really did plan on not buying much the rest of the year, but then pale barley and blossom came back and that was the latest spark. Sigh. At least I'm purging stuff at the same time ha ha :-) Ok, confessional over...

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    1. Hey Gummy! Is it lucky, or is it a curse? You know that I am already thinking of going back for more! I keep checking the website-- it just makes no sense why they would not have it featured on the website. I asked the SA if they knew why, and they didn't even realize that it wasn't available online. I will unveil soon!

      Your list sounds good to me!! Oh, the Guerlain Meteorites compact-- I totally forgot to look at that!!! GAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that Joyce grabs it for you! Thank goodness for awesome friends, indeed! I don't blame you for avoiding a store if it has particularly bad customer service!

      I checked Nordstrom online and only saw the Burberry nail polishes! I did see that Earthy is back, but I didn't see Blossom or Pale Barley, or any of the Oxblood lippies!! I will have to check again! Are you really loving the quality of the polishes still, because I definitely want Oxblood. I keep swatching Chanel Accent blush, and still haven't grabbed one-- it is gorgeous, but I fear that it might be a touch muddy on me. I need to try it on my cheeks before it is gone and I regret not buying it. It really is so gorgeous!

      Wait, how did you get 10% off at Barneys?? Did you get that perk from opening a Barneys credit card (which I am eligible for since I already have a card and got that perk years ago). Cool for you to get another bag, though! What "fails" did you recently return? Yeah, Belly has been showing tremendous self-restraint! I just need to find some balance in my spending! Purging stuff is good, if you know you won't ever use those things. However, trying to use up some of what I have (in #projectmakeadent) is helping me feel better about my expenditures because I am actually forcing myself to use some of my older products that get cast aside when this magpie brings so many new shiny things back to her nest to covet!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxox

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    2. Joyce got the meteorites compact for me!!! Woooo!!! Have you decided to get anymore Armani?

      Blossom is back today!! Pale barley is back up as up yesterday w/ approximate ship date of mid december. You know what though?? Almond and midnight plum were delivered (they had been oos too) and I noticed they both still have the InterParfums labels instead of Burberry labels like the items from Summer and Fall have. I'll be interested to see what the pale barley, blossom and khaki that are supposedly coming later will be labeled with?? And very strange that the Burberry site still doesn't have pale barley or blossom listed. Yes…I'm still loving the polishes!!! They dry so quickly and have made manicures so much easier!!! Only thing I've found is that they don't like the Sephora Formula X base coat - peeled right off. But the other 2 base coats I've tried have been great! I preordered several of the new colors, as well as the LE gold polish in the gold packaging that is on the site (though it's sold out for now - wait weren't we JUST talking about irrational exuberance or something along those lines??). Hopefully they all perform as well as the others. I'm loving oxblood though…such a sexy and gorgeous color :-)

      Barneys was having some kind of charity event where you could get 10% off most things in the store, plus they were giving 10% of that day's proceeds to a charity. I actually didn't participate in the love yourself event. But when I got the voicemail that said SALE and CUSTOM bags….um…you know what happened. She kept saying custom bags and implying they had added items to the leftover ones they had from the love yourself event. She also said there were samples or full size product from every line in the store!!! Yes, please!!! My order was delivered, and guess what??? Had even less in the bag than what was on the website, and had only 1 full size item (that foaming cleanser in the can). I spoke with the cosmetics manager and after a little back and forth she was super nice…apologized…and sent me the chantecaille step up gift, 2 full sized Revive products, and the KA shadow that was supposed to be in the original bag!!! She's helped me before though and has always been pretty awesome!!! I got one whiff of the Rodin body oil though and didn't like it, so I'm giving that and the Rodin cream to my mom for Xmas and belated birthday present :-) So it all worked out ha ha

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    3. I'm so glad that Joyce got the Meteorites compact-- I can't wait to read your review of it! I can't believe that your Pale Barley order was canceled-- what is going on?!!!!!!!!! I'm contemplating Blossom, but I don't tend to go for coral shades because they tend not to look that good on me. We'll see! It will be interesting to see what the upcoming labels say.

      Interesting that their polished don't get along with the Sephora Formula X-- at least you figured out that they were incompatible before assuming that it was a problem with the Burberry formula!

      What a score you made with the Barneys charity event! 2 full-size Revive products?!!!!!! WOW!! Sorry you don't like the smell of the Rodin Body Oil-- it feels so good on the skin!! The Cream has been on my list for quite a while-- one of these days! I hope that your mom LOVES it!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

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  4. omg! i totally didn't know that! i've been eye the armani foundations for a long time now but wanted to keep my beauty spending in sephora. i wonder if it's worth driving out tomorrow... i collected all the items in my cart and was waiting to place the order at the stroke of midnight. sadly thousands of other people must have the same idea. sephora website actually crashed a bunch of times due to sheer volume and it took 8 tries before i was able to put my order through. i picked up some sunday riley (discovered after reading your raves. the scar routine post was my favorite), verso and some ysl lip stains.

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    1. I knew that at least one store in Manhattan stocked Armani, but had lost hope that they would do the same in LA, but I walked in to the Century City Store a while ago after they had just received the line, and I got so excited that I nearly screamed! Plus it is in the same aisle right across from Guerlain and Hourglass-- so you can just imagine my unmitigated delight!! I have heard all about the frustrations of the Sephora website crashing-- I can only imagine the level of frustration that you felt!!! If you live close enough to the Century City store then it's worth a trip to that mall- at least at some point to see their selection. THey told me that Malibu is the only other store that has GA, but I haven't driven out there to see for myself. I am sort of surprised that they don't have it at the Santa Monica location (or at least didn't since I went there a while ago)-- especially since they have lines like Edward Bess. I'm so glad that you liked my SR healing my scars routine!!!! YSL lip stains are so gorgeous-- such a nice pick! Have a lovely weekend! Keep me posted!! :)

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  5. Armani plethora! I want so many things. Starting with Givenchy photo foundation, Guerlain Parure Lumiere foundation, pen illuminator, and Lingerie de peau BB cream, Marc Jacobs Gel foundation, and Koh Gen Do aqua foundation, among others. I also want the YSL Youth Liberator but they dont have it at Sephora :( I also want the Lea Journo (sp?) Plum oil ufffff! Lola is going to think I have a complexion complex ;)
    Cannot wait for you to unveil your Armani beauties. Happy Friday!

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    1. Indeed it is! Wow, that is one super lovely list that you have going, wefadetogray!!!!!!!! Is this a wish list, or a buy list? I can't wait to see what you end up getting! LOL!!! Poor Lola, to love makeup so much, and yet to be covered with fur! I will unveil these beauties this weekend, and post pictures of the contents!

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    2. Have a lovely lovely weekend! <3

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    3. This is just a wishlist, sadly. There is no way I will buy so many foundations since I own over 14 already. I know it sounds excessive and it is! but base makeup is my perdition. I will probably get just two. Probably the Marc Jacobs foundation and the pen illuminator, not sure, not sure. I just want them all, honestly :(
      Gorgeous, elegant Lola! The good thing about being covered in fur is that you dont need any perfume to smell cozy because you already are a musky, cozy, sweet beast! I adore the smell of a cat's fur after they take a warm nap. It's heaven.
      Hugs to you and your musky lovely ones.
      xxxxxx

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    4. A lovely wish list, indeed! What is scary is the fact that it doesn't sound excessive to me. This is what happens when one loses perspective on what regular levels of consumption looks like :-). I am continually trying to keep myself in check! I can't wait to hear which products make the final cut, and whether you love them!

      I agree, I love the smell of my kitties- thankfully all of them have nice natural scents! I love living with cats-- they are such extraordinary beasts!

      Enjoy the rest of your weekend! xoxox

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  6. So much GA!!! I have a nice makeup angel offering to help me with the Sephora VIB sale, but I already splurged quite a bit in Taipei, so I think I'll sit this one out. Can't wait to see your new GA goodies though!

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    1. Hi Sunny! I pretty much lost my mind. I kept stalking their counter to make sure that they had a lot of the things in stock that I was interested, and then forced myself to wait until the sale to get them! I went early before the displays were ravished by beauty-crazed among us. THe really good news is that I had two big gift cards, and after all of the discounts I only had to spend $80.00 total!!! If you already splurged in Taipei- then you are wise to sit this one out-- they happen with enough frequency that you can definitely get whatever you want from them on sale once your wallet has recovered! I will shoot some pictures this weekend and post pictures on the contents of these boxes!! Have a lovely weekend! <3

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