Sephora

Stores & Services
Find a Sephora

Happening at Sephora

View all

Services

From makeovers to personalized skincare consultations

Free Classes

Get inspired, play with products & learn new skills

cancel
Showing results forย 
Search instead forย 
Did you mean:ย 
Post in Beauty Confidential
|

The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

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 Iโ€™ve been finding that while itโ€™s easy to initially post about receiving it and initial reviews, itโ€™s not as easy to follow up! 

 

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

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@Cyncynnthe lip oil is a BIC favorite 

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

Here is my full review after having the brushes for a week

 

Contour #79

I have used a lot of contour brushes and this brush was just okay for me. Itโ€™s easy to pack on color and apply to the temples of the forehead and to the hollows of the cheeks and blend out.  I just wish it was angular instead to make contouring the face a little bit easier especially for beginners. The bristles are soft on the skin but after washing there is still a chemical smell to the brush.

Brow #20

I love using eye shadow to create my brow shape. I have thin brows and like to gradually create my brow shape with powder and then define the tail end with a brow pencil. This brush was just too stuff to deposit the brow powder. I only used a little powder on the brush and gentle strokes but because of the stiffness it didnโ€™t lay the powder down naturally. It looked too harsh and I would continually have to brush through with the spoolie to soften the harshness.

Crease #19

If you are looking for a fluffy crease brush this will not be for you. Itโ€™s more on the dense side which works great for packing on a dark color in the outer corner of the eyelid and blending it out with another brush. Or just using one color to blend out harsh lines on the lid.   Since It is tapered you really get into the crease/eyelid fold. I donโ€™t know if this would be the brush to use to transition from light to a darker shade color as I feel itโ€™s not soft enough and it could pack on too much color at once if you are not careful and be a pain to blend out.  It felt stiff compared to other crease brushes I own and I also couldnโ€™t get the chemical smell out after washing it.

Foundation #70

This is similar to a flat top kabuki brush which does a good job at picking up foundation and buffing it into the skin.  The brush was soft on the face and easy to work with and didnโ€™t absorb the foundation into the brush so a little goes a long way.

Powder #59

This brush is a nice size but I wish it was fluffier to really pick up powder and deposit it all over the face. I felt using it in back and forth motions as described disturbed the foundation I was wearing. This is better used in a tapping/rolling motion.

Foundation #56

This brush could easily be used with the #70 brush. The 56 would lay the color down and then the 70 would buff the foundation out. I feel if you use this brush you may need a sponge afterwards to blend it out as it may pack on too much foundation and you could end up with cake face.  When using this brush I had a wedge sponge handy to really blend out what the brush couldnโ€™t.

Blush #96

This brush did a great job at picking up color and applying it to the apples of my cheeks.  It didnโ€™t pick up too much product so it was easy to gradually build up the cheek color.  Itโ€™s best to tap the color on the cheek and then sweep up the color.

Concealer #57

This is a densely packed brush for under eye concealer.  It was hard to get it to pick up cream concealer from the tube to the under eye area so I used my fingers to rub the concealer out of the tube and apply it to the areas I needed and then buffed the area with the brush. I think it would have worked better with liquid concealer.  It didnโ€™t feel harsh on the skin which I liked.

Shadow #14

This brush was a little too big for my Asian eyes and was hard to pack on color cleanly to just my eyelid area only.  If you have smaller lid space like I do I would suggest to get the #15 brush or try to control the eye shadow placement carefully because it could end up messy where you will need to get a q tip to clean up the edges.

Shadow #15

This brush was perfect in size for my eyelid and is a great detailer. It picked up powder nicely and was easy to control shadow placement.  This brush could also be great if you wanted to do a cut crease or be more precise like highlighting under the brow or the inner corner of the eyes.

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@SportyGirly125 Great reviews on the brushes.  I ordered one today.

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

Thank you for the tips about using the 56 and 70 in tandem, @SportyGirly125. I love the 70 so much, I wasn't sure how to re-incorporate the 56. I will use your recommendation! 

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@SportyGirly125  Thank you for your honest reviews on your brushes!! Iโ€™ve heard lots of great feedback on the SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Foundation Brush #70 I might have to pick one up!!

@SportyGirly125, That was a great detailed review of the...

@SportyGirly125, That was a great detailed review of the brushes.

Re: @SportyGirly125, That was a great detailed review of the...

@Luvstravel Thank you 

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

I have used these brushes almost a week now. I didnโ€™t expect to love them as much as I love my natural bristle brushes but I do. The most loved brushes are no 70, 59, 15 and 19

DA1E196B-BF71-4EFA-B3DF-9B38FB3EEB00.jpeg11327869-A370-4590-8C9E-9D4958F9A22A.jpeg912C7DA2-3DE5-496D-B2CF-D05CDA111383.jpeg

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

Nice set of brushes.

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

Love the 19 also, @blackkitty2014

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@eshoe Iโ€™m really impressed by it. Itโ€™s soft not scratchy at all. Love it ๐Ÿ˜ 

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@blackkitty2014  Great pictures!!

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

Thought I'd give a mini update on just a few of the Sephora Pro Collection brushes I received from @TeamBIC and Sephora.  I've been using them for the last few days and I'm super-happy with them so far!  There are only a couple that I haven't tried--the flat Pro #56 Foundation brush (because I've never perfected the technique of using this type of brush) and the Pro Brow #20 (I normally use a brow pencil and don't have a gel/pomade to try this one out with)--but the others have been used.  

I'm not the biggest fan of the #57 Concealer brush, admittedly, because somehow it just doesn't apply and blend concealer the way that I'd like.  It's as though it's a little too scratchy and the bristles somehow aren't shaped quite right to do what I need it to do under my eyes.  It's not a bad brush--and maybe it'll work great for other people--but I have other concealer brushes and sponges that I prefer to use.  

The eye brushes on the other hand are definitely my favorites!  The ones that were sent are awesome for my slightly smaller, hooded eyes.  I especially appreciate the Pro #19 Crease brush because it's the perfect density and size to really get in the crease and evenly distribute the shadow there.  The other two eye brushes are every bit as great as well.

20200314_142914.jpg

If I'm being 100% honest I genuinely didn't think I'd like the Pro #70 Foundation brush, only because it's very different from the It Cosmetics foundation brush that I've been using for a long time.  The Sephora brush has much shorter, denser bristles and comparatively the It brush has longer, slightly softer/more loosely packed hairs.  Ummm...I was wrong.  I actually like this new brush way more than I thought I would.  Yes, it's different than what I've been accustomed to using but I've found that I enjoy using it every bit as much as my other go-to foundation brush and it truly creates a beautiful finish.  I've tried it with three different foundations now, all with varying textures and formulas, and I've liked how each look came out.  I still just feel very lucky to have gotten these and it makes me want to explore more from the new collection when it launches soon.

20200314_143140.jpg

*BTW, excuse the fact that I didn't wash these right before I took the pic.  Blame it on this being a lazy Saturday, lol.

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@CookieGirl1 Great info

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

I'm with you on the concealer, @CookieGirl1 - I didn't even try it on my under eyes, I was afraid it will pull too much. It's nice for covering up other areas on my face, though. Congrats again ๐Ÿ™‚

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

Thanks, @eshoe.  Hope you liked your brushes as much as I've been enjoying mine :).

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@CookieGirl1, I am. I'm not well-versed with vegan/synthetic brushes, so it's been a bit of a learning curve for a few of them. I forget that since natural hair absorbs product, and synthetic doesn't, that more of the product goes on my skin with these. The shape of some of them help so that I don't apply too heavy-handed, but with others I've got some playing around to do ๐Ÿ™‚

@CookieGirl1, I appreciated the #19 also, it did a great...

@CookieGirl1, I appreciated the #19 also, it did a great job!

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@CookieGirl1  Thanks for the reviews! I agree - that crease brush is so nice! If it makes you feel better, I posted some photos of brushes with product on them as well. ๐Ÿ™‚ 

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@PrettyPaint Thank you!  I keep my brushes relatively clean but I just wasn't going to be bothered for these pics, lol.  I really appreciated YOUR pics that you posted, BTW.

Re: The Gratis Thread ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽ‰

@CookieGirl1  So awesome to hear!!!

testing