Beauty

[TY]

It's interesting to revisit my post from August. At the time Nest Paradise was $95 -- now it's $98 CDN dollars. I guess Sephora and Nest didn't think anyone would notice a second price increase this year. Well I have.

As to Tarte's freebie birthday gift, I held on to it for my daughter. Wouldn't you know it -- she didn't want it. Well, neither do I as I don't like matte liquid lip products so I gave it away to the toy bank and kept the blush (and gave other beauty gifts for teen girls that I've bought for the toy bank.) I also bought a Tarte gift pack that was available for Black Friday and she kept the mascara and blush, I kept the lipstick but it's too dark and matte. I may remove the lipstick bullet and save the case for a travel lipstick.

Sephora never restocked their own brand lip balms with SPF 20 so I'm not that happy with them. They never carried the travel size IT Cosmetics CC cream in their travel and try me sizes of makeup and skin care by the checkout line so I'm not happy with them. I have one of their emails that I still will use with my daughter to buy her something but I have no interest in maintaining a VIB status at Sephora.

[Trix]

I have a $20 -- yes $20 VIB discount waiting in my Sephora account.  I think all levels may have received this December promotion(amount based on insider level). It's good on specific days depending on your status with Rouge having the longest period.  I wasn't going to use it, but may go ahead and knock $20 off a bottle of No 5 body lotion after redeeming Ulta Rewards points to get a 3.4 ounce bottle of No 5 EDP ($135 value).  The lotion is $55, so with $20 off that would be a good deal to get a No. 5 body lotion for $35.  

[BostonMom 59]

I am fair and col toned with dark hair. I didn't think I would like the free Tarte blush but I really do. The lip color on the other hand was totally not me- makes me loo zombie-esque. I am another person who goes to Ulta because of better rewards plus the fact that they have drugstore brands along with higher end lines, In the area near my work, the Sephora people are snobby and the Ulta people aren't helpful. Luckily, I usually know what I want. Ulta wins because of more discounts, GWPs and samples. The only reason I used my BI discount this year is because a Sephora exclusive lip kit (NARS Lip Pencils- Love those!) was marked down $10.

[segrl21]

I'm a Rogue and rarely if ever receive the samples I select. Instead its normal to just have a handful of fragrance sample literally thrown in the box or receive zero samples. My last orders have took up to two weeks or more to ship. Also when you reach rouge status you are given a so called concierge phone number to call so you can surpass the normal number. It is an outsourced number, accents so think I can't understand them with zero knowledge on any product. The regular number is better than the so called concierge number.  Sephora in its current state is a hot mess. I'm taking my money to ULTA next year. I've given them several chances but after this year, I'm pretty much through with them except for items I can only purchase through them.

[Jordan2]

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@segrl21 wrote:

I'm a Rogue and rarely if ever receive the samples I select. Instead its normal to just have a handful of fragrance sample literally thrown in the box or receive zero samples. My last orders have took up to two weeks or more to ship. Also when you reach rouge status you are given a so called concierge phone number to call so you can surpass the normal number. It is an outsourced number, accents so think I can't understand them with zero knowledge on any product. The regular number is better than the so called concierge number.  Sephora in its current state is a hot mess. I'm taking my money to ULTA next year. I've given them several chances but after this year, I'm pretty much through with them except for items I can only purchase through them.

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@segrl21, for the amount of money you have spent for the Rouge status, Sephora should treat you better.

[I like celery]

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@Trix wrote:

I have a $20 -- yes $20 VIB discount waiting in my Sephora account.  I think all levels may have received this December promotion(amount based on insider level). It's good on specific days depending on your status with Rouge having the longest period.  I wasn't going to use it, but may go ahead and knock $20 off a bottle of No 5 body lotion after redeeming Ulta Rewards points to get a 3.4 ounce bottle of No 5 EDP ($135 value).  The lotion is $55, so with $20 off that would be a good deal to get a No. 5 body lotion for $35.  

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Yes, this is the annual Holiday Reward that's been part of Sephora's Beauty Insider program for the last several years.  The very first year the holiday rewards were offered there was not a purchase minimum to redeem the reward -- you could apply the reward amount towards a $15 or $20 purchase (no Rouge $25 at that point), but Sephora quickly put a stop to that! 

Rouge $25 off $50 : November 30 - December 13

VIB $20 off $50 :  December 1 - December 13

Beauty Insiders $15 off $50 :  December 1 - December 12

[Meluvsit]

I also did a lot of shopping at Sephora but realized at Ulta at least you get CASH back when purchasing.  I also did the big sale days with the 20% off and then found out if you join Birchbox, they OFTEN give me 20 to 25% off the name brand products. Not that I'm in love with Birchbox, as they often send the same type of samples over and over, BUT the deals on Brand name is great, PLUS they give you points which equals cash to use at Birchbox. LOL...just more ways to spend more money on items I prob don't need but do love and give many as presents!  Enjoy!

[Jordan2]

I finally got it. I will continue to purchase from Sephora but will no longer choose 3 free samples. I just got an order from them yesterday and I was sent 3 useless samples I would never choose, not the ones I selected. This happens to me all the time, Sephora should do away with sample selections. 

[depglass]

I'm not Rouge or anything else "special."  I do have Flash (10.00 a year) and I get my shipments within a couple days, usually 3.  That even happened with the Christmas backlog.  

[TY]

So now that it's 2018, I'm just a regular Beauty Insider and not a VIB. It was my choice this past year not to give Sephora enough money to maintain a VIB status as they didn't have in stock what I wanted in 2017. They didn't bring in the 1oz Tocca Stella fragrance until after November -- too late to use their promotion in November.

I was just in

Sephora the other day and it looks like any IT Cosmetics products have disappeared from the Canadian store I visit...not that they ever sold very much IT Cosmetics there. I think it's a combination of poor marketing and poor inventory on this and other brands that I notice the most.