Sensational September 2025 Hauls

[lmaster]

Fall into September and share your Sensational hauls!

Happy birthday to the Bic beauties!

[SportyGirly125]

@lmaster @Amazing haul!

[lmaster]

Thank you sooo much @SportyGirly125 

[WinglessOne]

@lmaster  Last I heard (either inBeauty Insider Community Feedback or a different @TeamBIC-hosted thread), the new product tagging glitch is a known issue that’s being worked on. Hope it gets fixed soon.

Meanwhile: which Lassi Lips shade is that? Kulfi’s lip stain formula is really good. Hope you enjoy it and all your other goodies!

[lmaster]

@WinglessOne oh I love it!! I bought Kulfi Lassi Lips Staining Long-Lasting Moisturizing Lip Oil Rose thank you!!

[WinglessOne]

Nordstrom:

Happy to have that candle home in one piece! 😄

Notes:

Spoiler

Malin+Goetz Tomato Candle - this and the Byredo lipstick were a BOPIS order. Last month I ordered this candle from elsewhere and it arrived shattered, so this time I opted to buy from Nordstrom and pick it up in person. Whoever took this candle off the sales floor also securely bubblewrapped it before putting it in my BOPIS bag with tissue paper. 👍 I look forward to lighting this candle; its cold throw is promising.

Byredo Liquid Lipstick Vinyl shade Thar Desert - I have the matte version of this shade but haven’t worn it yet. Thought I’d try the gloss version and yikes, this formula’s a sticky gummy mess that cracks very noticeably along all my lip lines whenever my mouth moves. I’ll definitely return it—after I’ve finally tested the matte, because I might wanna exchange the gloss for a second matte shade.

Diptyque La Droguerie Room Spray - a restock, and an excuse to try a tester of the next item on this list. While M+G’s Tomato room spray is very tomatoey + basil, Diptyque’s adds a mint kick + a bit of lavender + a few green herbs. I like both sprays, though Diptyque’s lasts longer in the air.

GWP: samples of Lazulio EdP - copying what I said in theProduct Releases: 2025 thread: “It’s a bright herbal vetiver. On paper, it reads very grapefruit. On my wrist, it’s more rhubarb + herbal vetiver, with a rose undercurrent and ambery wood. Opens very airy rhubarb and citrus, melds into something warmer and grounded.” Vetiver and rhubarb are still in the drydown, just a lot warmer and less airy.

Ulta:

I think I ordered all this during a K-beauty point multiplier and/or sale.

Notes:

Spoiler

Anua Heartleaf LHA Moisture Peeling Gel - tried it last night on my whole face. It’s messy but non-irritating. I’m not sure it brightened up my skin much, but I didn’t expect it to after just one use. I’ll put it on a once-weekly rotation and see how it does over time. It won’t replace chemical exfoliation for me, though it does contain LHA (lipo hydroxy acid, a gentle oil soluble exfoliant). I appreciate the lack of fragrance and abundance of heartleaf extract.

“But wait, you said you’d never use a peeling gel!” Yeah well… 

Spoiler

I’ve always turned my nose up at peeling gels because brands claim/imply the pre-rinse pilling is visible dead skin. (It’s not.) Always seemed like a shady gimmick to me. I think I’ve even said that here on BIC a few times before. 😅 Eh, dishonest marketing* is one of my peeves. 

Anyway, last month I considered reintroducing physical exfoliation to my skincare routine, so I started looking closely at scrub and gel INCI lists and realized “hmm, peeling gels do use cellulose so they probably do remove dead skin, just not in the gimmicky way implied.” When a Lab Muffin short confirmed that, I decided to test a peeling gel. I think Anua was on sale at Ulta when I ordered this one. Its ingredients seemed like a good fit for my fussy skin.

*I kinda feel like a hypocrite using an Anua product while boycotting Sunday Riley, even though both brands are guilty of posting fake customer reviews. Anua did it repeatedly (after several warnings) in the AsianBeauty subreddit and caught a permanent brand ban: folks aren’t supposed to discuss any Anua products there. Is that as bad as Sunday Riley’s fake Sephora reviews and FTC wrist-slap? Kinda, yeah. (I still say the FTC went way too easy on Sunday Riley.) Did I completely forget about it when I read the INCI list of Anua’s peeling gel at Ulta’s site, and saw it contains nothing my skin hates? Yep. Sigh… I’ll use up this tube for test purposes. If my skin likes it, I’ll look for another brand’s replacement. 

fwee Blurry Pudding Pot shades Fav and Slayyy - why not pick up two more shades, now that Ulta carries the brand? I now love Pudding Pots just as much as Glossier Cloud Paints, but for different reasons: the latter give me a natural flush look; the former give more of a soft blur finish. Both are easy to apply and blend with fingers or a brush.

fwee 3D Voluming Gloss 70% shade Taro - haven’t tried it on my lips yet, but my hand swatch looks very pretty in person. Hopefully it’s not too sheer on my lips.

rom&nd Blur Fudge Tint shade Mauvish - oh hey, Ulta now carries this brand too so why not finally try a couple things? I’m now at the one hour mark of my at-home wear test. The formula reminds me of one of NARS’s whipped mattes (they’ve had a few over the years), except for the demi-sheer (but kinda buildable) finish. Definitely feels like a liquid matte, so I’m glad I applied an Aquaphor base first. It’s not super drying, but I keep wanting to apply gloss or balm or a sheer creamy bullet over it. Eh, it’s neither awful nor fabulous.

rom&nd The Juicy Lasting Tint shade Pink Pumpkin - haven’t tried this on my lips yet. It smells very yummy though! Hopefully this tint’s more to my lips’ liking than the one above.

GWP: fwee Glowy Jelly Pot keychain shade Cherryppo and rom&nd Juicy Lasting Tint Key Chain - not sure I understand the point of the rom&nd key chain since it’s just a rubbery jelly ring… maybe I’ll give it to one of the littles among my friends or family. But I’ll keep the little fwee heart: it’s a compact that holds a Glowy Jelly Pot sample. Good way to try that formula for free. 

Inside of fwee heart, after inserting the jelly sample.

Sephora App Fest:

Yeah, I re-downloaded the app just to get these point multipliers + discounts. 😄

Notes:

Spoiler

I wasn’t going to participate because I’m not an app shopper. But then I saw overlapping point multipliers for Sephora Collection (5x) and Armani (4x). Good enough excuse to try 2 Armani things I haven’t yet, and get 30% off some Sephora eyeliners I’ve wanted to try. 

Armani Beauty Prisma Glass Hydrating Lip Gloss with Squalane 06 Amber Shine - a sheer, lightweight, non-sticky gloss that gives a mild shine and does feather a bit. I’m underwhelmed, maybe because it lacks a color punch—or because MAC’s Lipglass Air performs better for me. Maybe I’ll apply this over the rom&nd matte tint I’m testing right now. 🤔

Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Blurring Natural Glow Powder Blush 52 Ecstasy - I worried this would be too pale and ashy on my skin tone, so I’m very pleasantly surprised it works for me. It is truly blurring; such a lovely finish! Took me long enough to try one of these, and I’m glad I did. (My wallet might disagree.)

SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Concealer Brush #71 - a smallish angled brush I’ll use for various things that are not undereye concealer.

SEPHORA COLLECTION Waterproof 12HR Retractable Eyeliner Pencil 27-Matte Forest Green, Shimmer Green, and Matte Terracotta - the forest green shade must’ve snuck the other two into my cart while I wasn’t looking. 🙃 I’m happy to have all three though. I’ll test at least one of ‘em on my lids this weekend.

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Cream Eyeshadow Dusk - it’s been a long time since I bought a LM shadow stick. They’re not nearly as budgeproof as Bobbi Brown’s matte sticks, but that makes them a bit easier to blend out. Besides, LM was on sale and who am I to resist a purple eye shade.

GWP: Dagne Dover Phone Sling - this bag didn’t call out to me until I started wondering how much makeup I could fit inside. Answer: all the makeup in this post except one of the two fwee blush pots. For me, that’s plenty enough room for a 1-3 day makeup travel bag or daily on-the-go bag. I’m sure I’ll find other uses for it too.

Swatch party: 

Spoiler

Ugh, my bathroom’s too-warm lighting strikes again: the left side of my hand is bathed in that yellowish glow.
Anything that looks like gold shimmer is just the swatch reflecting the warm lights in my bathroom. None of these lip products are shimmery.

[itsfi]

@WinglessOne, the scent on Diptyque La Droguerie Room Spray is lovely. Excellent restock. A mini of it and the candle were part of last year's advent calendar. Which of the products from the La Drouguerie collection have you tried?

[WinglessOne]

@itsfi  I’ve only ever tried the room spray and candle, and I actually prefer the room spray. (When a scent comes in both spray and candle forms, I usually like the candle better.) I wanna try the multi-surface cleaning spray but keep getting hung up on “but… isn’t it basically diluted vinegar + fragrance?” I mean, I can mix that up myself at home. I’ll probably still pick it up eventually, especially if I need to burn some Nordy Notes. 

What about you? Have you tried anything else in this collection? 

[itsfi]

@WinglessOne, I’ve only tested the surface cleaner and dishwashing liquid in store, so I can only speak to their scent, not how they perform. The vinegar in the cleaner was definitely noticeable, too much for me. The scent on the dishwashing liquid was very nice but there are a few other items in the store I’d like to get before that item. 

[CookieGirl1]

@WinglessOne Have you tried the Fwee gloss yet?  I have a couple of shades in my cart but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[WinglessOne]

@CookieGirl1  Nope, not yet, but I will this week. I’ll try to tag you with feedback. (Feel free to remind me if I forget. I’ve gotten bad at catching up with folks who wanted feedback on specific products. 🤦‍♀️) Which shades are you considering?

[CookieGirl1]

@WinglessOne Taro and Scotch look like shades that I would wear.  Have you tried yours yet?

[WinglessOne]

@CookieGirl1  I’ve only done a 2-hour home wear test so far, and I forgot to post about it, d’oh. I did take a photo about 15 minutes after application: 

When first applied, Taro looks very juicy plump. It’s a mauve shade, so it’s not very far from my bottom lip’s natural color. I had some slight feathering that’s hard to see in my photo. (Some of what looks like feathering/bleeding is just the natural pigmentation around my mouth, especially on the upper left side of the photo. I didn’t use a lip liner for this quick test.) It felt a little sticky. I think I was drinking chai that night… I was definitely drinking something, and this gloss wore down like many glosses do when I drink anything: the shine and “voluming” were about 50% lower when I was done with my drink. Oh, and there’s no capsicum or menthol burn with this gloss; it’s not that kind of plumping, thank goodness. 

The next day, I tried the rom&nd Juicy Lasting Tint I bought. I liked that better than the fwee gloss. In fact, I have another rom&nd shade coming and probably won’t buy another fwee gloss. The latter’s not terrible, but also not special enough for me. 🤷‍♀️ If you decide to try one, lemme know what you think of it. 

[CynthieLu]

You got some good looking beauties here @WinglessOne. I appreciate you adding the shimmer in your swatches was actually your bathroom light, I was doing a double take at the gold shine in Cherryppo 🤩

[WinglessOne]

@CynthieLu  Those swatch photos reminded me why I stopped taking such photos in my bathroom. 😂 (Unless I’m intentionally trying to show something in both warm and cooler lighting at once. Then I use a cool toned portable light on one side of the swatch and let my “sunny” bathroom lighting handle the other side.) Adjusting/editing for overall temperature and tone is a pain sometimes. In that thumb swatch photo, I couldn’t correct the fake gold shimmer without distorting true color/tone of each swatch. Cherryppo would be fun with a little shimmer though! 

[SportyGirly125]

@WinglessOne @Lovely hauls! Enjoy your goodies. 

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @SportyGirly125 !

[lmaster]

How cute is the heart?! Wonderful hauls @WinglessOne 

[WinglessOne]

@lmaster  Right? It’s a cute freebie, and Ulta/fwee were offering a few different shades that came in different colored hearts. They let customers pick the GWP shade we wanted.

[curlychiquita]

Wonderful hauls, @WinglessOne! Thank you for the notes and swatches. I think I want everything in your Nordstrom haul now. 😄

[WinglessOne]

Thanks @curlychiquita ! I don’t recommend that Byredo gloss (eh, your results may vary), but everything else is worth trying. 😅

[Ispend2much6]

@WinglessOne  Are you saying that because you ordered Armani at the same time as the Sephora Collection multiplier,you ended up getting 9x points on the Armani? 

I absolutely love that particular shade of Armani gloss.  I think they look so pretty on; a little shimmer and not too much shine (for me anyway.)  And I agree about the Armani blush- it is a beautiful formula!