Sephora VIB Sale: My (Actual) Purchases!

Hi everyone,

I'm soooooo excited to share with you my purchases from Sephora's VIB sale! Yesterday, the second of my two purchases finally came in, so I was able to take photos and do some initial swatches for you guys. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the VIB Sale, it's a 20% off everything sale at Sephora exclusively for VIB and VIB Rouge members that I believe (correct me if I'm wrong!) once a year. This year, the sale was from Thursday 11/6 (today) thru Monday 11/10. You can see my intended purchases blog post here and my wish list and recommendations blog post here if you're interested. Sephora had so many purchases during this time that the site was down for hours at a time and shipments from their warehouses were severely delayed. So you'll see below, but I clearly bought more than I was originally intending to, but getting 20% off items that never go on sale was just too good to refuse. I hate to do this, but just a quick disclaimer - I'm in no way trying to brag or boast about the items I got during the sale, I just want to share my new products with my fellow beauty lovers so please don't take this post the wrong way! So with that said, lets jump right in!

LIPS
So I went a little lip crazy because I've been dying for some more nude lip color options and I wanted to try out several brands that I've never tried before. I bought three of the Bite Beauty: Mix N' Mingle Lip Minis, which at $12 a pop are a great way to try several of the different colors in the line. I purchased the Matte Crème Lip Crayon in Gavi and two Luminous Crème Lipstick Duos, one in Retsina & Musk, and the other in Date & Fig.

I also purchased a TooFaced Melted Liquified Lipstick in the shade Melted Nude, a Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in the shade Petal, a Kat Von D Studded Kiss Lipstick in the shade LoveCraft, and a Nars Audacious Lipstick in the shade Raquel,

FOUNDATION
I took the opportunity during the VIB Sale to try out some new foundations and pick up one of my all time favorites. So I picked up an extra of my holy grail powder foundation, Clinique's Almost Powder Makeup with SPF 15 in the shade Light, as well as, I decided to try out BECCA's Ultimate Coverage Complexion Crème in the shade Buff and Laura Mercier's Silk Creme Foundation in the shade Medium Ivory.

FACE
This was a last minute purchase, but I decided to pick up the Ambient Lighting Palette by Hourglass. I've never swatched it before but it has such high reviews that I decided to give it a go and try it out! I will definitely do a more in-depth review once I've used it a bit so stay tuned.

SKINCARE
I also love stocking up on skincare products during the VIB Sale because the items are often very pricey. The first thing I picked up was an item I've been dying to try for a while now, First Aid Beauty's Skin Rescue Purifying Mask With Red Clay. I also picked up Boscia's The Black Collection kit which contains a full-size of the Luminizing Black Face Mask, a 1 oz sample of the Detoxifying Black Cleanser, and the Konjac Cleansing Sponge with Bamboo Charcoal. Additionally I purchase Sephora's Beauty Unmasked Kit which contains a Boscia Luminizing Black Face Mask, Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask, Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Gel Mask, and GlamGlow's ThirstyMud Hydrating Treatment. I also got Sephora's Pearl face mask to try out and a small size of GlamGlow's YouthMud TingleExfoliate Treatment since I've never tried any skincare items from either brand before.

REDEEMED POINTS
In addition, I also redeemed some of my points during the sale. For 100 points each, I picked up a sample of Buxom's Mascara Bar mascara and the DiorShow Iconic Overcurl mascara. I also picked up a deluxe sample of Tory Burch's perfume for 250 points.

SAMPLES
Since I made two purchases online during the VIB Sale I was able to pick out 6 samples to try. I got:
          - Argon Infinity Lip and Cheek Creamy Oil in Limitless Pink  by Josie Maran
          - GinZing Moisturizer by Origins
          - Thermal Cleansing Balm by Omorovicza
          - Pore Medic Pore Minish Primer by Dr. Jart+
          - Rain Eau de Perfume by Clean
          - SuperMud Clearing Treatment by GlamGlow (White Packaging)

With each order, I also received a sampler pack of some of Sephora's most popular fragrances. What a great way to try out a bunch and figure out which scents you like!

What items did you pick up during Sephora's VIB Sale? Please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

-Meg

Kate Spade: Sale Haul & 20% off Promo Code!

Hi everyone,

Today I'm sharing a Kate Spade sale haul with you! Every so often (roughly 2-3 months) Kate Spade has a special sale of up to 75% off some of their items. They will send an email to those on their email list notifying them of the sale starting and it will only last a couple days so shop fast! I highly recommend signing up to receive their emails so you're aware of when these sales start. Below is the email I received most recently.

I always use these sales as an opportunity to buy nice gifts for my friends and family at amazingly low prices. All jewelry items purchased during the sale come with a nice little Kate Spade dust bag, identical to the ones they would give you if you purchased these items full-priced. The items I picked up during the last sale are:
          - Keswick Caining Huggie Earrings

          - Moon River Studs

          - Hancock Park Scatter Necklace (x2)

Keswick Caining Huggie Earrings

I purchased these earrings for my mother for Christmas as she absolutely loves gold hoops and I thought these were stunning. These earrings have 14 karat gold fill and have a gorgeous intricate design with some nice stones in them. They were originally listed for $65, but I only paid $29 during the sale, which is about 56% off!

Moon River Studs

I purchased these earrings for one of my friends for Christmas since these are totally her style. I mean who wouldn't love these adorable bow post earrings?!? They are white enamel with 14 karat gold fill around the edges. These earrings are a little on the large side but aren't completely huge and  I think they will look amazing on. They were originally listed for $28, but I only paid $19 during the sale, which is about 32% off.

Hancock Park Scatter Necklace
The last items I purchased were two of the Hancock Park Scatter Necklaces. I purchased one of these for a friend and one for myself as it was just too gorgeous not to get one for me too! This necklace is rather long and is made of silver and some gorgeous stones. The full retail price of this necklace is $98 but was on sale for $39 during the sale, which is about 61% off - another terrific value!

All in all, I highly recommend checking out the Kate Spade special sales and getting on their email list. These sales are a great way to buy yourself a little special something that you wouldn't buy for yourself normally, and gifts for friends and family members for birthdays and holidays. If you spend $200 during the sale you will get free shipping, but if you do not shipping will cost only $5.

Are you a fan of Kate Spade jewelry? Are there any Kate Spade jewelry pieces on your holiday wishlish? Please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!
-Meg

PS- I received this card in the mail from Kate Spade with a coupon code for 20% off your full-priced purchases in stores! The code is WILDCARD and it's valid between 11/3/14 and 12/7/14. The online code they provided me with was for a single use and I'm actually saving it for some additional gift purchases in the future so I have not included it in the photo below.