The Gratis Thread 🛍🎉

[cianni]

A place to say thank you, provide reviews and first impressions, or follow up on gratis received after more use!

Many of us have been very lucky to receive gratis (thanks Sephora!), and I’ve been finding that while it’s easy to initially post about receiving it and initial reviews, it’s not as easy to follow up! 

I thought maybe we could have a dedicated thread to follow-ups and reviews with products we’ve received after we’ve been using them for a while, especially because it’s sometimes hard to find the original thank you and first impressions threads.

[eshoe]

Congrats on this gratis and thank you for sharing your thoughts, @GalPalVal17. Korres makes a few of my favorite skin care products so it was interesting to hear!

[thmz]

Great review!! Thanks 😘

[Kim888]

thanks for the great review @GalPalVal17  - I have this in my favorites and I've deff been curious!

[MissPuff]

I am woefully late but still super grateful and appreciative of this amazing gratis from @SephoraBIC , the mods, @benefit , @GlowRecipe , and @ShuUemera  🙂

I've had the box for about a month (!) and had a chance to use (and fall in love!) with everything 🙂 Some thoughts and swatches below:

BENEFIT COSMETICS - Cookie Highlighter

BENEFIT COSMETICS - Tickle Highlighter

My daily routine is a bit low key, so I was surprised to love and use these highlighters as much as I have! Cookie is a warm champagne gold in the box, but wears as a slightly frosty silver sheen, while Tickle is pinky gold in the box, but shows up as beautiful pure gold BEACON OF LIGHT on my face 🙂

Tickle - still there after a sweat sessionCookie - use a light hand because this silver is BRIGHTCookie on Top, Tickle on Bottom

Tickle is my favorite out of the two, I feel very cool cali/surfer girl while wearing it 🙂

SHU UEMURA - Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil

This hair oil is magic. I love the smell and actually wish it would stick around a little longer! I've been using it as a pre-blow dry/post wash treatment and it leaves my hair so soft and shiny, super smooth like liquid silk. Absolutely my new favorite hair oil, one pump and done! Will absolutely repurchase 🙂

Glow Recipe Avocado Fine Line Eye Cream with Retinol 0.5 oz/ 15 mL

My skin does not seem to tolerate retinol, and I'm too much of a vain crybaby to endure the acclimation/breakout period, so I didn't have high hopes for this. The jar is the cutest thing on the planet, comes with a little spatula which seems necessary if you've got normal human sized fingers. The texture of the cream is quite lovely, creamy, buttery, melts right into my skin, non-greasy. I've only used it 4 times total so obviously, no real results to report, BUT, no breakouts or adverse effects so far either 🙂 I'm going to guess there's not a high concentration of retinol since I'm not reactive, but it's a nice moisturizing cream if you're into that.

Thank you again @SephoraBIC and the rest of the wonderful ladies that make BIC such a fun place 🙂 

[RebeccaBT]

@MissPuff Love reading your thoughts! Thanks for sharing!

Best,
Rebecca

[cianni]

@MissPuff Just popping in to say that this post added the tickle highlighter to my cart for the sale tomorrow 😂 thanks for the review !!

[eshoe]

Congrats on your gratis @MissPuff - Shu hair products 💗♥️💗🤩!!!! No surprise that was a love for you. Enjoy!

[Cyncynn]

@MissPuff Thanks for sharing! Both highlighters look beautiful on you.

[lmaster]

awesome gratis!! @MissPuff

[Kim888]

congrats @MissPuff and thanks for your thoughts - particularly on the avocado melt!

[sephoraaddict918]

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on the gratis! Secondly, both of the highlighters look REALLY good on you @MissPuff. Of the two, I also prefer Tickle. 

I have never used retinol before because of my sensitive skin, so I was worried about using the Glow Recipe Eye Mask too. I have only used a few times, but I am also happy to report that I haven't had any issues or reactions. No dramatic results either, but I wouldn't expect any after only a few uses.

[Ispend2much6]

@MissPuff   Congratulations!

[tsavorite]

Congratulations, @MissPuff !

The highlighters do look lovely on you!  Thank you for the swatches!

[PenelopeBT]

Congrats on the gratis! What lip color are you wearing in the first photo? It's really pretty. <333

[MissPuff]

@PenelopeBT  thank you! It's MAC Love Me Lipstick - Maison Rouge!

[Samtian]

@MissPuff Ooh those look amazing on you!

[mrsmouse]

Congrats on this fantastic gratis @MissPuff!  I am really loving the highlighters on you!

[curlychiquita]

@MissPuff, I love how the Cookie highlighters look on you!

[Titian06]

Congratulations, @MissPuff !  The highlighters look great on you, especially Tickle!

[sephoraaddict918]

Update about my experience with the BENEFIT COSMETICS - Tickle Highlighter and BENEFIT COSMETICS - Cookie Highlighter after using them in my makeup routine for about a month. Tickle shows up on me as a natural golden glow. Cookie looks like a poppy silvery champagne. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose Tickle because Cookie looks kind of ashy on me, but Cookie does work nicely as an inner corner eye highlight. For me, a highlighter is not worth it if I can only use it for the inner corner of my eyes. 

Overall, I would say these highlighters are not necessary purchases if you already have a huge stash of highlighters because they don't give makeup looks anything special unless you are looking for a more natural and less glittery highlighter. If you already have these on your must-buy list, then I would say to wait until there is a sale.

TL, DR: Go for Tickle if you like gold highlighters. Go for Cookie if you like silver highlighters. Don't buy unless you have no other highlighters or you want a highlighter with no glitter and a soft glow. Wait until a sale if you NEED it.

[curlychiquita]

Thank you for reviewing them for us, @sephoraaddict918!