Love At First Sample!!! 🥰

[heartsmyface]

I know you’ve tried a sample (or ten) of something and it was so magical it made you stop everything and buy a product cause it was love at first sample!  What was it and did the full sized version live up to your initial heart-melted impression? Or is it still on your shopping list to pick up at your earliest convenience?  

The first time I can recall this happening to me was when Sephora still carried Dermadoctor.  I had a sample of their KP Duty Body Scrub.  I used it just to push it through my stash and was absolutely blown away by how immediately soft and exfoliated my skin was!  Instant purchase!   It’s been six years and I have yet to find any body scrub that compares -and I’ve tried!

A more recent love-at-first-sample is the Dior Backstage Face and Body Primer!  It’s a slightly peach tinted,creamy gel consistency and is mega hydrating while blurring subtle imperfections on its own but making foundation apply so smoothly!!!  Plus it has a beautiful floral fragrance which may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s very pleasing to me. 🙂  

DIOR BACKSTAGE Face & Body Primer 1.6 oz/ 50 mL 

 

 

[peculiarzmakeup]

It is the cutest! The sample set is a good intro I learned a lot more about what the products did for my hair, I love adorable mini sets there like the in between from sample to full size I feel ❤️ @CookieGirl1 

[CorgiMommy]

@peculiarzmakeup so cool, I may have to try this brand

[peculiarzmakeup]

It’s really amazing I’m liking it a lot, thank you it’s so cool how a sample leads to so many other experiences 🙂 @CorgiMommy 

[danielledanielle]

There's two samples I think about often because they were so good, but then d/c.  One was a Gucci Foundation and the other was Sulwhasoo Gentle Cleansing Foam , which still exists but was reformulated.

(ETA, Gucci Foundation was 24 HR luminous matte, aka the one that got away)

Trying to think about current items I've sampled, there's #Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Care & Glow Foundation​ with Hyaluronic Acid 425C , which is a cool tinted shade that just surprised me on how well it matched. Come to think about it, got it from the Sephora Favorites Foundation Try-On Sample Bag With Redeemable Voucher 

I'm also compulsively hoarding Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Face and Under-Eye Concealer 8 , even though 9 is my match.  Come to think of it, their Armani Beauty Power Fabric + Longwear Matte Concealer is also another one I sampled and was like 🫢😮

[ather]

@danielledanielle  I hate when my samples get away!!!! 

[peculiarzmakeup]

Lovely sample successes I’m still trying to look back and on what I’ve used and then later on purchased for a sample. 🫶 @danielledanielle 

[itsfi]

That Sephora Favorites Try On Kit is such a good deal @danielledanielle! I really appreciate that the $10 off voucher can be used for foundations that are not part of the samples included in the kit. 👍 Ahhh, the Armani Power Fabric is bringing back memories. I loved that concealer long ago; come to think of it, I'm not sure why I actually stopped using it. Making a note to check my stash. 🗒 I'm sure I have another tube of it. 

[CookieGirl1]

@danielledanielle that's impressive that so many of your items are complexion products!  I feel like that's my least "sample made me buy it" category.

[danielledanielle]

Yes, it's wiiiiiillllld given how I feel about shade matching @CookieGirl1 , but there's also something to be said about foundation samples in general.  Like paying $5-10 for options just helps.  Haus Labs does something like that and  Dior is the only other one I can think of that gives that many, plus their primer. 

ETA: I have another one (the name of the Gucci one escaped me, so I went looking in an old thread of mine) and was also reminded of Lancôme SKIN FEELS GOOD Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 23 05N Radiant Tan , which isn't sold here anymore, but that was my tinted moisturizer all of 2022.  Not a perfect match, but workable.  I think this is telling me I should just get foundation packets and leave shade matching tools alone 🤣

[Samtian]

I've probably posted this already and forgot if so, here it is again!

Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm for Hydration & Shine Vanilla I got a sample of this in the birthday gift and instantly fell in love!

I also fell in love with Topicals Hydrating Mask which they don't make anymore.

[ather]

@Samtian  I love my lip butter balms too! What’s your fav flavour? Also the topicals discontinued the face mask? I have a sample on my dresser!! 

[Samtian]

@ather  so far I've only tried two, vanilla and brown sugar. Vanilla wins by far! There are a few more I want to try.  As for the face mask yep, I can't find it on their site or anywhere. 

[itsfi]

@Samtian, the Summer Fridays lip balms are really good and they have some great flavors/scents, too. Rhode lip treatments are still tops for me, but I am a fan of the Summer Fridays balms as well. 

[Samtian]

@itsfi I haven't tried any of that yet. 

[PrettyPaint]

Thank you for the tag @itsfi, as I hadn't noticed this thread before. What a cool idea, @heartsmyface 

This isn't a super exciting one, but probably the use of mascara primer in general. I hadn't necessarily gone out of my way to purchase it before, but after sampling (I always get so many of the mini Lancome Cils Booster samples), I really think it makes my mascara look so much better. My lashes are fairly wimpy, and it just provides so much more volume. I often don't have to purchase it because I get so many samples, but I sometimes buy the L'Oreal Voluminous version instead because it's more affordable. 

Lancôme Cils Booster XL Super-Enhancing Mascara Primer .18 oz / 5.5 ml 

[itsfi]

Ahhh, yes! I am also a member of the wimpy lashes club @PrettyPaint. I’m reminded by your post that lash primer is such a great tool. Need to remember to use it more often. Like daily. 😂 

Yes, yes, this is such a great thread! I try to come back to it regularly but that doesn’t always go the way I want. It’s fun and helpful to hear what samples have hooked them into purchasing a full size. ♥️

[cianni]

Thanks for the tag @itsfi ! I definitely have fallen in love with something off a sample. A few notable products come to mind:

• KILIAN Paris Angels Share Eau De Parfum - I hoarded free samples for long enough before I decided it was time to commit to buying. I dipped my toe in at first with a travel size, but I now have a FS and a refillable travel size as well 🙊
• MAC Cosmetics Fix+ Alcohol-Free Multitasking Setting Spray 
• Touch in Sol No Pore-blem Primer - an oldie but something I still like to keep in my collection when I see it 
• Dermalogica Mini Precleanse Cleansing Oil 1 oz/ 30 mL - this was a foil sample win from years ago but I still keep coming back
• caliray Freedreaming Blurring Lightweight Skin Tint - this was a newer discovery in a foil and I needed to have it asap!!

[happyskincare]

Im glad you found the caliray Freedreaming Blurring Lightweight Skin Tint its a personal favorite for summer @cianni❤️ i find it externally underrated😅❤️

[itsfi]

I 💯 support your having Angels Share in every size @cianni - it’s such a gorgeous scent! ♥️ Oh, the Touch in Sol is a blast from the last; I really like that primer. Your post is nudging me to pull it out and set it on the counter for use another day.

[itsfi]

Sol de Janeiro has a beautiful range of scents. My gateway to the brand was the original Cheirosa 62 scent of the Brazilian Play Moisturizing Cream-Gel, but as more scents were introduced, it's been the fresh floral scent of the Cheirosa 68, Beija Flor that I keep going back for. I have all the products in this fragrance line and the cream, in particular, is definitely one that fall in the love-at-first-sample camp. I have picked up the Sol de Janeiro Beija Flor™ Jet Set as gifts (for others and myself, ha!) and may do so again in the next couple of weeks.

Sol de Janeiro Mini Beija Flor™ Collagen-Boosting Elasti-Cream with Bio-Retinol and Squalane 2.5 oz/... Sol de Janeiro Beija Flor™ Collagen-Boosting Elasti-Cream with Bio-Retinol and Squalane 8.1 oz / 240... Sol de Janeiro Biggie Biggie Beija Flor™ Elasti-Cream 16.9 oz / 500 mL  

Wondering if there are others for whom a current favorite or well-loved product was the result of it being a love-at-first-sample product? This inquiring mind (and I'm sure others here as well) wants to know. 

Spoiler

Tagging a few folks @jaaayp @caitbird @ather @Buootiful @CookieGirl1 @CynthieLu @danielledanielle @faeriegirl @Guessgal @lmaster @melissapurple22 @Mellmars1185 @missjeanie @Missnur @niki172 @Samtian @Saradestin @sister13 @SportyGirly125 @Sunnysmom @cianni @peculiarzmakeup @Cissy63 @heartsmyface @PrettyPaint There's apparently a 25 tag limit, so I'll be back another time. lol

[caitbird]

Thanks for the tag @itsfi ! Love this idea for a thread! There have definitely been quite a few products that I have t

fallen in love with after trying a sample (or the mini size in some cases). One was Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion Originalwhich I tried a sample of when I was just starting my makeup journey, which was my first time trying an eyeshadow primer. Here I am a couple of years later, still using it every time I wear eyeshadow! More recently, I tried a deluxe sample of ONE/SIZE by Patrick Starrr Secure the Blur Makeup Magnet Primer 1.18 oz/ 35 mL and really liked it, so much that I ordered a full size as soon as I finished the sample. It's been my go-to primer for humid days all summer! And of course, I am slightly obsessed with hoarding and trying perfume samples, so there have been a number of fragrances I've fallen for after trying a sample vial and subsequently purchased a larger size. Some of my favorite "love at first sniff" perfumes have been NEST New York Wild Poppy Eau de Parfum 1.7oz/50mL , Parfums de Marly Delina, and a recent love, Zoologist Hummingbird. 

I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting! I love samples (and minis too), it is a great way to try new things and potentially discover a new love without committing to a full size.