Sephora is truly the one shop that everyone who is obsessed with beauty and makeup needs to visit when they go to America. Unfortunately for me, Sephora is not in the UK anymore, so the only time I can shop with Sephora is either online or visit a store when I am on holiday. There are Sephoras all over the world, from the United States of America to France to Australia. However, the UK still has none (although there were a few Sephora stores in the UK between 1999 and 2005). So when I went to Sephora I decided to save a lot of money to buy products that I knew I could not always get over here in the UK. Of course I had to sign up for their VIB Programme and five trips to Sephora later, I became a VIB Rouge member (I don't know whether to feel ashamed or impressed with myself). I only became a VIB Rouge member because my mum has purchased quite a few items herself, plus other people from back home had given me money to buy them products that they could not get over here as well. So I didn't spend over $1,000 just on me, as that would be a ridiculous amount to spend in one trip to the States.
Originally a French cosmetics store, Sephora has quickly been nicknamed a "Mecca" for all of us who love makeup. It is one of the leading global retailers of beauty, skincare and haircare and it continues to grow into one of the best stores for buying beauty products from. With now over 2,300 stores in 33 countries, Sephora is truly a place every beauty lover must go to. There are over 300 brands to choose from (ranging from Too Faced, Stila, Tom Ford, Hourglass and many more), plus they have their own private brand which is just as good as the high end makeup brands. There are so many to choose from and a lot of the time brands will have exclusive products that can only be found at Sephora. For us Brits, though, we can only purchase items from Sephora online or if we happen to go somewhere on holiday that has a Sephora store. I am definitely going to be making some purchases online in the future because there are products we cannot get over here and even with added Taxes, they often end up being a lot cheaper in the States than they are in the UK.
This haul is the third and final part of my Sephora haul - and this is probably my favourite part of the haul because it is all about the lip products that I purchased. I have a bit of an obsession when it comes to lip products and eyeshadow palettes (but when I went to Sephora, I didn't buy any eyeshadow palettes but I did go a bit over the top with lip products). For me, I can never have too many lipsticks, lipliners, liquid lipsticks and lip glosses in my collection. Now I am looking at all of them together I can see that I love my pinky nude shades and some of them do look similar in the tube to each other but when swatched they all have different undertones (at least that is what I tell myself). I bought these all on different trips to Sephora, so I didn't realise how similar some of the shades looked to the ones I had already bought, but like I say you can never have too many lip products. I tried to get products that I know I cannot get in the UK that easily and some I just wanted to try there and then. It does look at first like this post is not very long, so I could not have bought that many products but I did buy a couple of the same products in different shades, even if some do look identical!
I will leave links to all the items that you can get on Sephora below and I will also give a little mini first impression of each item. So let me show you what I purchased in terms of face products from Sephora ...
Anastasia Beverly Hills does now have a UK website but when I went to America they did not have any of the lip products on their site (that has since changed). So when I found out there was a Sephora in Hawaii, I knew I wanted to buy a couple of their liquid lipsticks. I had heard mixed reviews of these lip products but I wanted to see for myself if they were as good as some of my other liquid lipsticks that I already own. Now you will see in this post that when it came to me buying ABH lip products I bought very similar shades every time, in fact when you look at these two liquid lipsticks next to each other, the colour looks identical. However, when swatched you can see that the shades are slightly different and have different undertones to them. I first picked up Pure Hollywood (a pale mauve nude) and then on a separate trip to Sephora I picked up Crush (a darker pinky nude). I did find that this liquid lipstick is quite drying and can become quite uncomfortable, but it is not as bad as the Kat Von D liquid lipsticks. I do find it easier to apply a gloss over the top of these lipsticks to help keep my lips hydrated. The pigmentation is amazing and does not smear at all throughout the day. Plus the ABH Liquid Lipsticks are $20 (which is a pretty good price), but I do think these are not for you if you have very dry lips.
ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS LIP GLOSS, $16
I am a massive fan of Anastasia Beverly Hills products, but something that I cannot always get in the UK are their lip products. I had heard so many people love the lip glosses from ABH, so of course when I went into Sephora I had to pick up a couple. Now I could have bought so many more but I decided to only buy two as I didn't want to spend all my money on lip glosses. These are not sheer lip glosses, they definitely have an opaque colour to them which I love. Now in the tube the two shades I bought look identical (that was because I got them on separate days) but when swatched they do have slightly different undertones to them). I got Undressed (which is a pinky nude shade) and Butterscotch (which is a peachy nude shade). Both of these are in the high shine finish, and they definitely are moisturising and comfortable to wear on the lips, plus they don't feel sticky at all. I love throwing these in my bag to just wear throughout the day as I feel these two shades look amazing with any makeup look. Plus I think these will look amazing on most skin tones, and I can wear these even when I am at my fairest or when I am tanned. I was expecting for the ABH Lip Glosses to be around the $20 price tag, so I was really surprised when they were only $16, which I think is a great price for such pigmented lip glosses.
L-R: Butterscotch and Undressed
I am a massive fan of Anastasia Beverly Hills products, but something that I cannot always get in the UK are their lip products. I had heard so many people love the lip glosses from ABH, so of course when I went into Sephora I had to pick up a couple. Now I could have bought so many more but I decided to only buy two as I didn't want to spend all my money on lip glosses. These are not sheer lip glosses, they definitely have an opaque colour to them which I love. Now in the tube the two shades I bought look identical (that was because I got them on separate days) but when swatched they do have slightly different undertones to them). I got Undressed (which is a pinky nude shade) and Butterscotch (which is a peachy nude shade). Both of these are in the high shine finish, and they definitely are moisturising and comfortable to wear on the lips, plus they don't feel sticky at all. I love throwing these in my bag to just wear throughout the day as I feel these two shades look amazing with any makeup look. Plus I think these will look amazing on most skin tones, and I can wear these even when I am at my fairest or when I am tanned. I was expecting for the ABH Lip Glosses to be around the $20 price tag, so I was really surprised when they were only $16, which I think is a great price for such pigmented lip glosses.
HUDA BEAUTY LIQUID MATTE LIPSTICK, $20
I don't own anything from the brand Huda Beauty as I have always heard mixed opinions of the products that they put out, especially about their liquid lipsticks. You can buy this brand in the UK but I have never been tempted by any of the shades because all of the swatch photos of the liquid lipsticks will look really dark and not shades that I would ever wear. So I am glad that I did swatch a couple of shades as in real life they are a lot lighter than the photos they have on their websites. I decided to buy the shade Bombshell, which is a pinky nude shade that I think looks so pretty. The formula itself is pretty runny at first and I thought it would not be something I would like, but because it is such a thin formula, it is much more comfortable to wear. Plus if you do have to layer up the product it doesn't feel as heavy. These are high-pigment liquid lipsticks that don't dry out the lips at all, however I did find that it would be a bit streaky but I managed to apply another coat and it did not feel too uncomfortable. Once applied, the lipstick dries down fully matte and you can wear this all day without it budging, even when eating food. The Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lipsticks are $20, which I think is a great price for how long these last on the lips.
I don't own anything from the brand Huda Beauty as I have always heard mixed opinions of the products that they put out, especially about their liquid lipsticks. You can buy this brand in the UK but I have never been tempted by any of the shades because all of the swatch photos of the liquid lipsticks will look really dark and not shades that I would ever wear. So I am glad that I did swatch a couple of shades as in real life they are a lot lighter than the photos they have on their websites. I decided to buy the shade Bombshell, which is a pinky nude shade that I think looks so pretty. The formula itself is pretty runny at first and I thought it would not be something I would like, but because it is such a thin formula, it is much more comfortable to wear. Plus if you do have to layer up the product it doesn't feel as heavy. These are high-pigment liquid lipsticks that don't dry out the lips at all, however I did find that it would be a bit streaky but I managed to apply another coat and it did not feel too uncomfortable. Once applied, the lipstick dries down fully matte and you can wear this all day without it budging, even when eating food. The Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lipsticks are $20, which I think is a great price for how long these last on the lips.
One product that I really wanted to get was Sephora's own brand liquid lipstick. Now this is not a liquid lipstick like Kat Von D's or other more drying liquid lipsticks; instead this is more of a cream liquid lipstick that dries almost matte. Because this has more of a cream formula, it is a lot more comfortable on the lips and doesn't dry them out, like other liquid lipsticks. These are so pigmented and you don't have to layer up the product to make it fully opaque (one swipe is all you need to get a fully opaque finish). The product is a lip stain so even when you eat or drink you still get that beautiful colour on your lips. This can last me up to 8 hours and I don't have to reapply the lipstick that often - sometimes it will disappear around the edges but it can easily be fixed by touching it up. I only got this product in one shade, and I wish I had bought more, but the colour I ended up choosing was the shade number 40 Pink Tea. This is a really pretty dusty rose shade that has a brownish undertone. There are 40 shades of this liquid lipstick, ranging from beautiful nudes to more unusual shades like green and blue. There is a shade for everyone. The Cream Lip Stain Liquid Lipstick is only $14, which I think is a great price for such an amazing liquid lipstick.
Too Faced is a brand that I can easily get in the UK, so I didn't have to buy this in Sephora, but I wanted a different lipstick to wear for an evening meal out and I knew that something I wanted to try from this brand was the Melted Latex liquid lipsticks. I am a massive fan of Too Faced liquid lipsticks so I was intrigued by this new formula. I am a fan of liquid lipsticks but I usually always wear a lip gloss over the top to give a shine and to help moisturise my lips, so I thought this product would be the perfect lipstick for me. This is a liquid lipstick that has a high shine finish which I absolutely love. The shine is not as intense as a lip gloss but it just gives a beautiful finish to the lips. The formula itself is not too sticky and it helps to give my lips that extra hydration that I need. I did choose a shade that I believe a lot of people have purchased and that is the shade Peekaboo - a beautiful soft pink nude. This is so flattering on my skin tone and it looks amazing if I am going for a full glam makeup look or if I am going for a more natural makeup look. I would have bought more shades but the current shade selection is not usually shades I would choose every day so if they bring out more shades I will definitely buy some more. I absolutely love the Melted Latex Liquified High Shine Lipstick as it is so comfortable to wear, plus they were only $21.
A brand that I cannot get over in the UK, is Bite Beauty. This is a brand that I have heard quite a few people talk about so of course I had to get a couple of items from this brand. The first product that I got, was recommended to me by someone who worked at Sephora. I had told her I was looking for a lip product that would look great all year round but would be perfect for the Autumn months, and she said her favourite shade and lip product is the Amuse Bouche Liquified Lipstick in the shade Chutney from Bite Beauty. This is a beautiful rich mauve shade with pink undertones that I think will be perfect for the upcoming months. I decided to swatch it and see how it dried down before buying it and I loved the fact that it felt so creamy when I applied it to the back of my hand. Also it did not seem to dry down fully matte, and the employee explained that this has a satin finish so will have a slight sheen even when it has dried down. This is perfect if you are not keen on the really dry liquid lipsticks as this product will not dry out the lips making them look crusty and horrible. The pigmentation of this lipstick is amazing and you only need one swipe to get an intensely pigmented finish. These are more expensive than the other liquid lipsticks I bought, retailing at $24, but I do think these are worth it and I really want to try some more of the shades in this collection.
I was really intrigued by the Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayon, and although they were $24 which I think is quite expensive for a lip crayon, I decided to buy one in the shade Leche. This is a really pretty dusty pale pink shade that reminded me of the colour of my lips but better. To me, they looked like a creamy lip pencil and thought that this would be perfect for getting precise lines and to just throw in my bag for those days when I want a natural lip colour. These are so creamy and do not dry out the lips at all - I love to personally put a clear lip gloss over to give a beautiful shine to the lips. These are super pigmented as well but I don't think they are worth the $24 price tag, and think I would have gotten more if they weren't as expensive. These were more than the Anastasia Beverly Hills lip products that I bought.
Usually I am not someone who will buy lots of lip liners as I don't wear them that often. I can usually get away with wearing a lip product without a lip pencil underneath but I thought I would buy a couple to see how I get on with them and if they make much difference to the lipstick. I got two lip pencils from the brand Bite Beauty, after an employee at Sephora recommended them to me. There was so many shades to choose from (I believe there was over 40) and I could have easily bought every nude shade they had but I decided to only get two shades from the collection to see how they perform. There is literally a colour for every natural lip shade you can think of. These are so soft and creamy when applied to the lips - I have had some lip pencils in the past that almost drag across the lips and are so stiff that I can't get a perfect line with the pencil. This is not the case with these lip pencils, they glide on effortlessly and smoothly, plus the pigmentation is amazing. I have definitely become someone who will now always wear a lip pencil before applying a lip product. I got the shades 004 (a rose pink) and 012 (a mauve taupe) and they are amazing. I will definitely be buying more of the Bite Beauty Lip Pencils even though they are quite expensive at $18 each.
L-R: 012 and 004
Let me know in the comments if you have tried any of these products? And let me know what your must have lip products are from Sephora and why?
xoxo
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