Field Trip: Sephora

Hey, guys!  How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was pretty good.  Armed with a 15% off coupon from Sephora, I attempted to do a little online shopping (my preferred way of burning a hole in my pocket), but got frustrated with the number of items I wanted being listed as "out of stock".  I'm a "Beauty Insider", which is the lowest tier in their beauty rewards caste system.  Therefore, I received my coupon a few days later than the "VIBs" and "VIB Rouges", the higher tiers.  So the fact that a lot of the most coveted items were gone was not a total shock.  Dismayed, but not discouraged, I decided to take a trip to the mall to see if I would fare any better at procuring the items in person.

 
As soon as I got in there, I made a beeline for the Hourglass display to see if they had any of their much talked about Ambient Lighting Blushes available because NONE of the shades were in stock online.

Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Blushes are more like pigmented highlighters (sans glitter and sparkle) than a traditional blush.  The focus is to achieve a soft glow rather than an overt pop of color.  The one I wanted in particular was Luminous Flush, which is a lovely champagne rose.  And, of course, it was out of stock at the store, too.

Luminous Flush

But I'm glad that I at least got a chance to try it out on my skin, as well as the other shades.  The lighting in the store is so dim and the pic is doing it absolutely no justice, but I'm hoping you can see the soft-focus glow it left on my hand.  In person, it really lives up to its hype.  Very pretty.

Radiant Magenta

Radiant Magenta also gets an honorable mention as it is a bright, golden fuchsia and looked fabulous against my dark brown skin.  Alas, this was M.I.A., too.  In fact, the majority of shades were, but I did stumble upon one that ended up capturing my heart even though it wasn't even a blip on my radar in the beginning... 

And so after that serious sorting out, I spent the rest of my time casually strolling around the store and looking at all the assortments of eye (and lip and face) candy on display.  Ooh-wee!

Oh, I did pick up some more of my Phytojoba shampoo as I had just finished up my bottle earlier that week.

Betsy (pink, above); Valentina (orange, below)

Two of the bolder Stila Color Balm Lipsticks caught my eye so I just had to swatch them.

And then I got distracted by Too Faced's A La Mode Eyes palette so you know I just had to dip my fingers in that...

and I ogled their Chocolate Bar palette as well.

By the time I was done promenading and perusing the store, my hand looked like an abstract painting awash with bright, chaotic swatches of color.  I literally swatched until I dropped (well, my sugar dropped and I got tired and hungry - but you get my point).  I was a swatchin' fool, y'all.  Swatchin' FOOL!

So that was basically my weekend - a trip to Sephora.  I love shopping there as they have a great assortment of brands and everyone there is more than accommodating.  But I have to admit that the trip reminded me why I prefer shopping online; the store was quite crowded since it was the weekend and I'm not really a "crowd" person.  However, I did have fun during my excursion and you already know that I'll be posting a show 'n' tell of any and everything I bought.  Oh, yeeah... it's coming, so stay tuned!