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.

[CookieGirl1]

@lmaster oh how funny that you just now found it!  It's just fashionably late, right?  😉

[lmaster]

@CookieGirl1 I honestly have no idea!!! 😂😂😂

[CynthieLu]

🎁 that's so funny @lmaster it blended in with everything 😋 

Oooh enjoy your gratis and Congratulations! I can't wait to hear your thoughts 😁

[lmaster]

@CynthieLu thank you sweet beauty ❤️

[missjeanie]

@lmaster  lol that's too funny!  It's that time of year with lots of packages!  Hope you have fun trying out some new pretty things!

[lmaster]

Thank you beautiful!! @missjeanie ❤️

[Ispend2much6]

@lmaster   Congratulations!  That's a cute story too.

[lmaster]

😂 thank you lovely!! @Ispend2much6 

[Titian06]

@lmaster - LOL and congratulations! 💖💖💖

[lmaster]

Thank you sweets!! @Titian06 😊

[SportyGirly125]

@lmaster Congrats on the gratis!

[lmaster]

Thank you gorgeous!! @SportyGirly125 ❤️

[missjeanie]

Well I got almost a full face of Sephroa Collection on today!  Will do actual reviews after I've played a bit more, but my initial thoughts...

Spoiler

I started off with a suuuuuper hydrated base since my swatches seemed like they weren't going to be the most hydrating base products. 
Foundation -- was darker than I needed for sure and since I prefer a lighter weight base I went in very light handedly.  I did try to use the brush included and it worked out nicer than I thought it would with the brush (I'm usually a beauty sponge kinda gal).  I'm quite interested to try the brush more often.  I have beyond dry skin at the moment thanks to electric heat and daily mask wearing in combo with my own natural skin type.  Things actually looked pretty good through the day.  It wore pretty evenly and when it did start to wear off it wasn't super blotchy or anything.  I was pleasantly surprised. 
Concealer - the only shade i could work with was the lightest one sent.  I went in a biiiiiit too heavily and needed to blendddddd.  The wee concealer brush was not cutting it so I went back in with the foundation brush.  I think I'll go way lighter handed and with a beauty sponge next tomorrow to get a better idea on it.  Would be curious to see if there's a shade that could be a colour corrector. 
Brushes - I think I prefer the feel of the Pro line better both handles and bristles... but these are nice for their sticker price!
Translucent Powder - It didn't deepen up on me which was nice.  Some colourless powders end up making my make up darker and that's just a PITA.  I was heavy with the blush at first and this worked well to buff that out a bit.  My skin did look VERY matte after using.
Face Palette - Since my foundation was darker than needed I let it be my bronzer and used the bronzer on my eyes.  Worked out nicely for that actually.  The blush... I dipped in and went right to my face... errrorrrrrrr.  Waaaay too pigmented for me to do that lol.  I prefer a cream blush so this was good to try out a powder formula after so long.  I'll use it a bit more and see how I feel but dang... beware the pigment my fellow pale people. 
Liquid eyeliner - again.. something I don't use often these days.  I think I was a bit uneven but I'm a but I wasn't bothered by it.  It is more finicky than I prefer for liner, but It's always good to have one on hand and this was nice.  The tip was smooth and I do prefer the brush tip rather than felt.  I think this would be a good one to replace the KVD that I used to keep on hand. 
Mascara - The formula was way too wet for my liking.  It seems like more of a lengthening formula or natural look where I prefer more volume.  I'm going to let this one breath a bit and see if it thickens up at all.
Cream Lip Stain - I have a few of these already.  I'm not big into liquid lipsticks (i would classify this as a liquid lip not a stain) so I don't want to spend money on something I'll use once or maybe twice so the SC have fit my needs nicely.  I wore shade 13 today and the colour actually was a nice MLBB for me.  I wore it without anything else for the morning then after lunch saw that it was wearing away, but the shade was close enough to my lips and wore nicely enough that it didn't look gross. 
Clear Gloss - this is a basic gloss formula in my mind.  Some will think it's sticky.  I prefer a balmy-er texture for my favourites, but this is a nice enough basic that I could easily use as a 'desk gloss' to just keep on my desk for through the day.  I likely wouldn't purchase as there are too many new formulas to try or formulas that I really love to go back to, but not a bad gloss.

[sister13]

Very nice! Congratulations and thanks for the reviews. You look great! @missjeanie 

[missjeanie]

@sister13 💜💜💜

[curlychiquita]

Thanks for sharing your reviews, @missjeanie! The makeup looks great on you in the end.

[missjeanie]

Thanks @curlychiquita !  I'm still testing out the foundation with other primers and skincare etc, but so far... it's a pretty good one!

[Ispend2much6]

@missjeanie  What did you use to fill in your eyebrows?  It's a perfect shade match, and looks natural- I want it!

[missjeanie]

Honestly @Ispend2much6  It's just the Glossier Boy Brow in brown.  The last few years I've swapped out pencils and gels for tinted gels and that's it. 

[Ispend2much6]

@missjeanieThank you!  I've heard so many good things about Boy Brow; I'll have to try it.

[cianni]

@missjeanie thanks for all your detailed reviews, and the inclusion of how you applied everything (technique can be everything!). i'm curious to hear about the mascara - i'm mostly focused on lash volume as well. the lip color is lovely on you!