April Hauls and Spring Savings Stars 🌟

[lmaster]

Spring is officially here! That means savings sales around the corner 🙌 Please share your fabulous April Hauls here, and happy happy birthday to all the April babies 🥳

 

 

[SportyGirly125]

@itscarin Great Oribe haul!

[Ispend2much6]

@itscarin  That's incredible!

[lmaster]

Oh wow!!! Great deal @itscarin 

[ather]

@itscarin  Awesome deal!!

[Kim888]

Wow what an awesome deal @itscarin !

[Meilleure]

My birthday month is April so I really splurged on the sale. I went from not having shopped for much besides essential skincare/hygiene basics in years, to going VIB over the course of a few months. 😳 But I’m super grateful, and it feels well-deserved after the financial stress of the pandemic making it so I had to put 100% of my income (and the stimulus checks) towards rent and groceries and necessities like that. Anyways, here’s the haul!
🐸🌱🍄❤️

Beauty

PAT McGRATH LABS Mini OpuLUST: Lip Gloss Trio Sublime Sparkle 

Sephora Favorites Lashstash To Go 

Sol de Janeiro Glowmotions Glow Body Oil Master Flash 

Fragrance

CLEAN RESERVE Reserve - Mini Perfume Set 

Ellis Brooklyn VERSES Fragrance Layering Kit 6 x 0.07 oz/ 6 x 2 mL 

Juliette Has a Gun Mini Perfume Discovery Set 

Skincare

First Aid Beauty FAB AID Ultra Repair® Cream Home & Away Kit Value Size - Home and Away Kit 

iNNBEAUTY PROJECT Slushy Serum Moisturizer Crush Infused with Bakuchiol 1.7 oz/ 50 mL 

#Sephora Favorites Sun Safety Kit (no longer listed/taggable)

Supergoop! PLAY Body Sunscreen Mousse SPF 50 6.5 oz/ 181 mL 

Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40 PA+++ Limited Edition 2.5 oz/ 73.9 mL 

Thoughts:

Spoiler

The Pat McGrath trio really added the birthday pizazz with the cute packaging, and it was such a good deal being on sale already plus the additional VIB discount. I know a product is for me when the bad reviews are complaining about how they wanted a subtle glow and they got a glitter explosion, lol. For the Lashstash, I knew I couldn’t go wrong since I’ve tried minis of the MILK Kush and Lancôme Monsieur Big and enjoyed them both, so worst case scenario I don’t like the others and I trade in the voucher for one of those at a great price. The Sol de Janeiro is another case of “their loss, my gain.” I think a lot of people didn’t like the stickiness of the product overall but the iridescent purple didn’t seem too popular since it was the only one on sale. Yay for me! 

The Clean Reserve set is awesome with all the info about their support of the Protect Our Species campaign. I tried their Warm Cotton rollerball mini and I love it —I have sensitive skin so I can’t used fragranced detergent or anything like that but warm, clean laundry is one of my biggest comfort scents. Contributing to the protection of crucial pollinators, a spritz type bottle of a scent I know I already love, and some more promising Spring scents to try! The Ellis Brooklyn set was another sale plus VIB discount item. I really like the concepts of their scents so I’m excited for this little introduction. Man, the Juliette Has A Gun set...After taking off the packaging I took a whiff of the box and the collective scent was gorgeous. And I’m so excited to try everything, but...After my little photoshoot I immediately put on the Not A Perfume since I’ve heard so much about it. Not gonna lie, it smells like grandma breath. That’s the best way I can describe it. Or like, when you do that little trick where you lick your skin and smell the spot you licked after it dries to see if you have bad breath, and you do, and now your skin just smells like morning breath stank. I’m starting to smell something spicy or woody as it wears but there’s still that old people denture mouth base note. I’m not even mad since it’s such a weird, funny, surprising experience. Maybe my chemistry is the problem honestly, I’ve been eating too much junk food lately and I feel wack. So I’ll give it plenty of other chances, and there’s always the entire other box of samples, so I’m sure I’ll find one that works, haha.

Another “how could I pass this up” buy, the FAB duo. My regular nighttime moisturizer is the full size jar of this stuff I got in a gift set for Christmas. It moisturizes just enough that it doesn’t feel heavy or pore clogging when I put on my final layer in my routine, which is always some kind of occlusive like a face oil or CeraVe’s Healing Ointment. And on nights my skin really just needs to breathe, it’s still enough as a last step. Good opportunity to stock up, and I liked that they’re making a pledge to help pay off $1M of student loan debt along with donating a percentage of proceeds from the sales of this specific set. My daytime routine is the same as my nighttime aside from the fact that I just rinse with water and leave out most actives. Even though the FAB works fine as a day cream under my SPF, I just had to try the INNBeauty Project Slushy Serum Moisturizer. I’m going to work it into my routine as my daytime moisturizer since I also don’t have any Vitamin C product currently. Formula and review-wise it seems perfect, so I hope my skin likes it because it’s also really awesome that the bottle AND pump are fully curbside recyclable. I can’t wait to reach a point in our society where that’s standard, common sense, but somebody has to lay the groundwork and take the first steps so I’m happy to support them!! Not much to say yet about the Sun Safety Kit other than I’m excited —both about trying everything, and about the fact that I managed to snag one of the restocks. I’m really careful about implementing new products one at a time, veryyy slowly, so it’s going to take me a while to get through these. Most of the expiration dates are around 2022, though, so I’m not worried. With my jumbo Supergoop Unseen which I know I love from trying it in one of their mini kits, I’m set for days I just want to play it safe and use something I know works and performs how I want. Lastly, I’ve been using the PLAY Mousse for a few days now since I had two orders and it came in the one that shipped quickest. Gimmicky, but a well-executed gimmick that I will probably never go back to regular lotion or spray sunscreens because of! Spreadability is better than regular lotion, application is a little less convenient than mist but I like to put my sunscreen on before I get dressed, so. I can’t exactly go outside to apply, which means I end up inhaling a lot of the mist and I see it floating around in the air for a while. Sorry Neutrogena, I’m definitely a proud member of the Supergoop cult. 

Well, there you have it, my stream of consciousness translated to tangible form. Not really true reviews yet besides for things I restocked on, but feel free to ask about anything so I can put a pin in it and get back to you when I have more fully-formed opinions about all these products. :•}

 

[Loretta55]

I am so glad that you were able to go advantage of the spring sale to haul some wonderful birthday treats @Meilleure . Hope that you enjoy your treats and that you have a wonderful birthday celebration!

[haleyvvvv]

Amazing haul, @Meilleure!! So many great products here!! Enjoy your goodies!!

[tsavorite]

@Meilleure ,

Superb Haul! Great choices! ❣️  Happy Birthday Month!

[Ispend2much6]

@Meilleure   That looks like even more fun than Christmas. 🙂  Enjoy!

[lmaster]

Happy birthday haul!! @Meilleure 🥳 

[ather]

@Meilleure  Awesome haul!!! I’ve been eyeing the clean reserve!! Enjoy!

[SportyGirly125]

@Meilleure @Great birthday haul. Enjoy your goodies. 

[newcarlee]

Awesome haul @Meilleure @and happy birthday! You got some really great things - those Sun Safety Kits are the best! 

[WinglessOne]

Happy birthday month, @Meilleure ! I'm glad you could get so many goodies that feel rewarding! I especially like seeing all the sunscreens you picked up. Supergoop is always a reliable choice there. I haven't tried their body mousse but it's on my radar, so it's good to hear you're liking it. 

And yeah, I know what you mean about Not A Perfume. The first time I tried it, I didn't like it at all. I gave it another chance a couple weeks later and it fared better. Maybe fluctuating hormones have an effect on it, I dunno. 😄 Even if it ends up never working for you, hopefully another scent from that kit will—and I hope you enjoy the Ellis Brooklyn kit! 

[itsfi]

Excellent haul @Meilleure! 😍 Fragrance sets are a fantastic way to try out the various scents - you picked up some great ones! Happy birthday month! 🎉

[Meilleure]

Oops, forgot about the little sample packets.

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant 4 oz/ 118 mL 

Lord Jones High CBD Formula Body Lotion Fragrance Free 

I selected the same samples for both orders to have a better chance at receiving them. I got what I selected for both orders so now I just have two of each. Which is great, so I can have a longer trial period to look out for any negative reactions or positive results and form a better opinion. Earlier in the sale I was still deciding on my final order, and the Paula’s Choice kit that came with I think the full-sized BHA Exfoliant, and minis of the 1% Retinol and the Niacinamide 20% sold out. (It’s also no longer listed. What’s the difference in Sephora making the decision to remove a listing versus marking it Out Of Stock?) So I’m really happy I’m still getting to try the BHA! I have a previous sample of the Lord Jones Acid Mantle Repair CBD Moisturizer that I haven’t tried yet, so it’ll be nice to try the body lotion along with that some night. 

[Titian06]

Happy birthday, @Meilleure !  Enjoy your haul!  💖💖💖

[curlychiquita]

I'm glad you could get so many great things you enjoy, @Meilleure!

[Ispend2much6]

Smashbox Gilt City voucher haul, and next to last Sephora sale haul.  One more is coming!

Top to bottom: Rose, Suede, and the foundation shade is 1.0- fair with peach undertone.

These shadows are great!  You only need the tiniest dot to cover the lids.  They are really smooth, smoothing out my eye wrinkles (I look 80 years younger!) They do not wash off easily with soap, (Dawn dish detergent and some serious scrubbing took the swatches off of my hand,) so I suspect they will hold up well.

The foundation is also nice.  My husband told me my face looked smooth (I was also wearing Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Stress Rescue Super Serum with Niacinamide 1 oz/ 30 mL also.)

Suede and Rose- I did a very heavy swatch to show the colors more clearly.

Blush and foundation

Ignore the Laura Mercier blush gwp picture.  It's much lighter and is a warm rose.

I'm excited to try the natural deodorant.  It has a nice scent (and I'm really sensitive to those.)  It smells almost like baby powder with enough herbal scent added to it to prevent it from being cloyingly sweet.)

[Loretta55]

Thank you very much for the swatches @Ispend2much6. You hauled some awesome items. I did not have much luck with Smashbox Studio Skin 24 Hour Full Coverage Waterproof Foundation . I tried it when it was first released but I was not impressed with it.