My Accidental Sephora and Ulta Makeup Haul

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Sometimes you have to give in to the urge and stop resisting. Recently, I did just that when it came to a few makeup products. You know how you kinda keep looking at something and saying no because you don’t need it for real? Then someone decides to give you a gift card for one of your favorite stores and all self-control goes out of the window. Somehow, the one purchase using the Ulta gift card turned into a purchase from Sephora. I went from a quick purchase to a full-on makeup haul. See what had happened was…umm. Can we blame it on my birthday and me wanting my free birthday gift? Will that work? Yeah, let’s go with that as the reason why I couldn’t control myself. hehe

Anyone who knows me knows, I HATE shopping in person. If I can buy it online, I’m all for it. I was never the person who liked to go to the mall with friends. What? Don’t judge me! We all know I’m an odd duck. Geesh! At least I didn’t say that I don’t like to shop. Back to what I was saying, I made both of my purchases online from Ulta and Sephora. The plus to shopping online is being able to use the Ebates site and receive a percentage of my purchase back. Yass!

Let me tell you how this started — I received an email from Ulta for one of their 4-hour beauty breaks featuring Becca cosmetics. For any purchase of $50 or more, you would receive a four-piece Becca gift that included a Bronzing Skin Perfector, Ever-Matte Poreless Priming Perfector, Shimmering Skin Perfector Poured Opal, and Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Opal.

As soon as the email popped up, I made a run straight to the Ulta site. I was in the middle of working on something and I was like hold up, I need to grab this before they run out. Pause! I had the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette in my basket forever, but I just couldn’t talk myself into pulling the trigger. A friend sent me the cream contour palette a few months back and I haven’t touched that yet. Hey! Hey! Hey! This is a judgment-free zone! I just heard you say, “What?” Be nice!

The Anastasia palette was only $40, so I needed to grab something off of my wishlist for $10 to equal the $50. I decided to purchase the Maybelline Blushed Nudes palette. I’ve seen mixed reviews about the palette, but I wanted to try it for myself. When I went to the page, I noticed that all Maybelline products were buy one, get one half off. Since I had a $3.50 off coupon, I decided to add the Maybelline Nudes palette to finish up my purchase. You can’t go wrong with paying $5.00 for a $10 palette. Adding the coupon took the price down to $1.50. Score! Of course, you know I received my free shipping and double points for purchasing in September. Luckily, Ulta gives 2x points during your birthday month, so I now have $3 towards my next purchase on top of earning money back through Ebates. See, I can be a responsible shopper. LOL!

A quick note about the Becca gift set: I knew the set wasn’t going to be full-sized, but I thought it was going to be a little bigger than it was, so that was a bit of a disappointment. However, I was able to try four products that I’ve had my eye on without making an expensive commitment.

On to Sephora! I’ll make this as quick and painless as possible.

Sephora lured me in with a sample bag set. OK! So I’m a sucker for extras and perks! I have to justify my habit so kinda way. I received an email featuring two sample bag sets, the Standout Skin Care bag, and the Must-Have Makeup Bag. I was in the process of testing skincare products and the makeup bag had a few items that I wanted to try, so you know I grabbed the makeup bag.

I wanted to try the Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder because I wanted to try a powder without color or pigment and my choices were Laura Mercier or Ben Nye Neutral Set. I think I might end up trying Ben Nye just to see how the two compare. Of course, I wanted free shipping and figured I should just add something off of my wishlist, so I picked the Too Faced Most Loved Set. I have the Soleil Bronzer (never used it), but I wanted to try the Shadow Insurance and Hangover Primer. For $25, you can’t beat that deal!

Umm…I’m starting to think I have commitment issues and a thing for deluxe sample sizes.

Anywho, I made sure to grab my birthday gift while I was on the site. I had a hard time
trying to add it to my cart because Sephora changed how you add the gift. Y’all know I called customer service and as soon as the young lady picked up, I found what I needed. Don’t you hate that? Ugh! For my gift, I received a Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella and a Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien.

It looks like that about wraps up my Ulta and Sephora makeup haul. This is the first real haul that I’ve shared on the blog. Now I have to get ready and record my haul with swatches; however, I have to cover these little silver critters in my hair. I swear more of them crept up in the last week. grrr

What did you purchase during your last makeup haul? I’m always looking for goodies to add to my wishlist. I love all of my enabler readers. LOL!

Disclaimer: This post may contain products sent by the brand or their PR and affiliate links for the products mentioned. By purchasing with these links, I receive an affiliate commission that I use to help keep Grow It Girl running. All opinions of the products mentioned are 100% honest and my own.