Blog 4: Shopping Time! : Sephora

Where do I typically buy my skincare and beauty products?

Usually, I buy my skincare and beauty products in a few different places. Lately, I have been shopping online a lot more on websites for stores like Sephora, Ulta, drugstore.com, Bare Essentials, Smashbox, and Benefit Cosmetics.

If I do shop in a store, I buy products at Sephora, Ulta, or at supermarkets, while I'm grocery shopping.

The store I chose to shop at for this assignment was the Sephora on 150 Broadway in downtown Manhattan. It was quite the task taking pictures of products with my phones. I was afraid to get yelled at by employees, so using my sleuth like skills I snapped photos of all the products you are about to see.

I went to this particular Sephora because it is the one closest to my job downtown and its pretty big, which lets customers have more variety of what to find and buy.

Below are all the pictures of beauty and skin care items that called out to me as I was walking around. I'll tell you what they are and why I was so interested in them.

Benefit Posie Tint:
This caught my attention because I love how Benefit Cosmetics High Beam Highlighter works for me, so I was interested to try other products created by them. This caught my eye because its a liquid-gel like formula that enhances your cheeks and lips with just a hint of color.

Smashbox LipGloss

I love the (3) different shades of lip gloss I already own, so I was curious to try other colors and so I took a picture. They have a slight lip plumping effect without stinging your lips and the gloss isn't overly sticky. It also gives you the perfect shine.

Benefit Finding Mr. Bright collection - $36.00

This small collection caught my eye because I'm always looking for products that will help brighten up my face and those dark circles and I loved the fact that you could try 4 of the company's products in miniature versions to see if they work for you. If they do, you can go on to buy the larger versions. 

Benefit "That Gal" - $28.00

Since I love their highlighter, I feel like this brightening face primer would be a good product for me to try. According to the marketing of the product at the store, it says it is good for all skin types and it will help smooth and tone your skin, so you look luminous.

Benefit California Kissin' - $18.00

I chose this because I'm always interested in keeping my teeth as white as possible and this caught my eye. A lipgloss that can help you do that. Since it has a light blue tint to it- which helps your teeth look white and yummy minty flavor, it's definitely  a product I would go back to Sephora to try. 

Girl Meets Pearl - $30.00

While I took a photo of the product in the box, the actual product is a glide on stick with a golden-pink color to give you a better complexion, which I'm always for. I love the fact that you can wear it alone or over makeup for an added glow. 

Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Stain - $24.00

This appealed to me because some days I would just like a little bit of matte color rather than a shiny lipgloss. This seems like the perfect solution and it seems that it will last a long time becasue it is a stain that glides on smoothly. It also seems like it won't try out your lips either giving you that chapped look (Yuck!). 

Skin Care Products That Appealed to Me:

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash

Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask

Bliss Clog Dissolving Cleansing Milk

Bliss Fabulous Face Lotion SPF 15

Bliss Triple Oxygen+C Energizing Cream

All of these products below appealed to me for different reasons and here is why.The face wash looked like it could be quite refreshing especially after a long day at work. The Energizing Mask seemed like a good way to revitalize your face every week. Kind of like a treat for your face. The Cleansing Milk actually seemed like it could be quite soothing and help with redness and evening out skin tone. The Face Lotion seemed great because it had SPF 15 and it seems like it would be moisturizing in a way that I like to help combat my dry skin. Lastly, the Energizing Cream seemed well Energizing. I could actually imagine myself putting on this product right before bed and starting a nightly regimen to revitalize and hydrate my face. 

Based on the packaging and the easiness to understand how to use the products because of their marketing and packaging, I actually pictured myself incorporating these products into my everyday routine.

bareMinerals Pure Transformation Night Treatment
bareMinerals Exfoliating Treatment Cleanser
bareMinerals Purely Nourishing Cream
bareMinerals Purifying Facial Cleanser

These four products caught my eye first of all because they are by a company that I have used a variety of their products. I was interested in the Active Soil Complex in the formulas. I love any good exfoliating cleanser and the moisturizer seemed like it could be very hydrating, but what I was most interested was in the Night Treatment. I've been looking into acquiring a nightly skin care regiment and it looked like this could be it, especially since it has all these other products to complement it. 

Ren Clearcalm 3 Anti-Blemish Starter Kit
Being that I have a small hill growing on the side of my mouth, a few kits attracted my attention at the store. First it was this REN system. Second was the Boscia. I was actually almost going to purchase the Boscia system because of it's promise of a clear complexion and all natural ingredients. What deterred me was the $55 price tag. Products are expensive and while I'm willing to splurge sometimes you have to draw the line. I wish they had offered a more minitature/test size I could buy for a cheaper price to see if the systems would work for me and then if I knew it did I would go out and purchase the full kit with the expensive price tag.

Boscia Clear Complexion Kit

Clinique Acne Solutions Oil-Control Cleansing Masque

Clinique Acne Solutions Cleansing Foam 

These last two skin care products I was interested in was the Cleansing Masque and the Cleansing Foam. Clinique has a great reputation and I've tried a few of their other products, so I was more confident that this system might work for me best. I again, loved the oil-control, and the fact of the cleansing. The packaging looks clean and simple too and is synonymous with a legendary brand, so that's also an enticing factor to trying to see if this system would work for me.