The 2023 Sephora Summer Gratis Thread!! ☀️😎🎁

[Sunnysmom]

📜 Hear ye hear ye, May grey no more! 😎☀️ Summer is arriving and heating up! Time to protect your skin and look sunny spectacular at the same time. 🌞 It’s that most wonderful time to start watching for your summer treats to arrive!

 @TeamBIC is once again, oh so generously, sending many of our fellow beauty lovers the very best of the season. You get a box, and you get a box! 🎁 I know we’re all so excited to see what new goodies await! Please share you guesses, musings, reveals and feedback as you receive them so we can all share in the fun!

As always, many thanks to Sephora and @TeamBIC for their amazing coordination of their newest unveiling. The creativity and work that goes into the bespoke boxes always dazzle! 🤩 You guys are the best!! 😘🤗🥰 

(Someone can’t wait to see what’s coming! She’s been at the door for days!) 😱🥰🐶

[danielledanielle]

Congrats @Mcakes !

[Mcakes]

Thank you @danielledanielle !

[itsfi]

Happy summer, BIC! 

I've been putting all the summer gratis goodies to use over the last 3 weeks and wanted to pop into this thread to follow up with some quick and brief thoughts on my experience with the beauty products. I posted more detailed feedback on each these items on their product page. 

Clear Lip Products:

Spoiler

I wore each of the clear lippies on their own, paired with a lip liner, and with lipstick. My overall favorite was the Ami Colé Hydrating Lip Treatment Oil Reflection. I have 3 of the tinted colors from the brand. The clear lip oil has the same consistency, just without color - moisturizing, on the thicker side but without being overly goopy or gooey.

I didn't see any pH color adjustment with the HAUS LABS BY LADY GAGA Mini PhD Lip Oil Neutral, but I did like the soft sheen it imparted and the thinner formulation wore well alone or paired with a lip liner. This would be a nice one to keep at my desk at work, which is where I currently have it.

This was my intro to the Lawless lip balm. LAWLESS Forget the Filler Lip-Plumping Line-Smoothing Tinted Lip Balm Pink Marshmallow smells yummy and after a few uses, the product softens up a bit to make application a breeze. My lips are more naturally pigmented and the PM tint didn't show up on my lips. The formula is nice, hydrating and my lips looked a smidge more plump. This would make a great every day lip balm. I'm interested in picking up another shade, or maybe two other shades.

Burring Primer: 

Spoiler

I wanted to like caliray So Blown Blurring & Hydrating Collagen Peptide Primer With Niacinamide 1 oz / 30 ml a lot. It's not bad, but it's better suited, in my mind, for someone with oily, to very oily skin. My combination-dehydrated skin can be pretty finicky in the warmer seasons and it showed. My nose is the oiliest part of my face and it loved the Caliray primer. Blurring, indeed. Buh-bye pores, hello smooth canvas on my nose. Unfortunately, that was not the case for my entire face. My cheeks are the driest part of my face and like blackkitty, I found that the primer took away much of the luminosity that my skincare infused into my skin. My skin wasn't made dull because of the primer but it definitely lost its luster on my cheeks. The most challenging area of my face for this primer was my chin. Thankfully no irritation negative skin reaction, but wasn't the best choice for a face primer - no matter what type of base product I used (CC cream, tinted moisturizer, medium coverage foundation or full coverage concealer), the base products on my chin always ended up separating and breaking up. I'll look forward to using it on my nose during the summer months but the primer won't be a repurchase.

Matte Liquid Lipstick: It fared pretty well against a meal of ramen and iced matcha tea. 😍

Spoiler

Even though TeamBIC has always done a phenomenal job of picking out reds that work for me, I still get a smidge nervous when it comes to red lipsticks. Make that an orange red lipstick, and "a smidge nervous" turns into a scaredy cat. But because of my track record with red lippies curated by our amazing @TeamBIC , I decided to give ROSE INC Lip Cream Longwearing Matte Liquid Lipstick with Squalane Mortal Flame a go. I'm so glad I did. 👍 My lips have a deeper tint to them naturally and on me, Mortal Flame was less of a fiery orange red than a deep but neutral red. I have no complaints about that.

I'm also not complaining about its lasting power - it definitely held its own against a ramen meal. Yes, it does transfer, but it doesn't claim to be transfer proof, only transfer resistant. When I went to wipe my lips, some of the color transferred onto the napkin. But there was no transfer onto the glass of iced matcha tea and there was still a decent amount of color / pigmentation after my meal. I was / am impressed. So much so that I've already placed an order for two more colors. Another win for @TeamBIC! 🏆

Lovin' the bucket hat and fan as well. 💖 Those are the workhorses of the summer gratis package. Thank you again TeamBIC! 

[Mellmars1185]

@itsfi Thank you for all of the helpful feedback. I still need to try out the primer. Your feedback makes me think it might work well on my skin type. Mortal Flame looks great on you. I tried mine out with Greek food! Your ramen looks so tasty!! Your green tea drink looks very refreshing and what a bonus that the lipstick didn't transfer to the glass.

[itsfi]

Yum, Greek food @Mellmars1185! Nom, nom, nom. I had some for lunch today.

[Mellmars1185]

@itsfi Ohh that reminds me I just made homemade tzatziki. I am going to post over on What's on your plate? 

[CorgiMommy]

@itsfi thanks for the reviews.  Maybe one day I will receive a box  to review 

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, adding a meal to the mix was a fun way to test out the liquid lipstick. 😄 The gratis box was a nice treat; there have been many that I have not been selected for. I seem to find new products to pick up in either case though. lol. Sending good thoughts your way for a future gratis box.

[sister13]

Amazing reviews and pics! I love the Rose Inc looking deeper on you. Beautiful! @itsfi 

[itsfi]

Thank you @sister13! I was expecting more orange but am happy with how the shade turned out. Excited to try out a couple other colors from the range.

[Sunnysmom]

Thanks for your good reviews and yummy pics too @itsfi ! Now I’m hungry. I wish the lip color looked like that on me! Lucky you! 🥰

[itsfi]

@Sunnysmom, thank you; it was a happy surprise for me that Mortal Flame wore more red on me. The orange red looks lovely on so many folks here but that color family typically doesn't agree with me so much. 

[tsavorite]

Thank you for the reviews and the photos, @itsfi ! 

[itsfi]

@tsavorite, you're welcome; hope they were helpful. I was surprised by the longevity of the liquid lipstick.

[tsavorite]

@itsfi ,

Mortal Flame is great on you!

I'm fixated on the Ramen!  In the Ramen photo, are those Potstickers doing a photo bomb?

[itsfi]

@tsavorite, I was pleasantly surprised with how Mortal Flame turned out; just enough orange for me. lol, yep, those are gyoza (similar to postickers) sneaking themselves into the photo. 🤣 We shared several different ramen dishes and appetizers. I guess the gyoza wanted to make known they were also involved in testing the performance of the liquid lipstick. Hahaha!

[curlychiquita]

Thank you for the comparison pictures, @itsfi! 

[itsfi]

@curlychiquita, you're welcome. It's helpful to see how the lipstick wears. 

[danielledanielle]

Love the evidence @itsfi , before ramen/after ramen 🤣

[itsfi]

@danielledanielle, ramen's going to be my new testing mechanism for all matte liquid lipstick now. I did it with a GXVE liquid ipstick and now this Rose Inc one. Feels like I need to keep at it for the sake of consistency. 🤣 

[Skincare222]

 

 

 

Staring off this summer right, I just got these amazing sunscreens, eye creams, lip oils, and lip masks! I am fully in love with these products! The Keils Eye Cream saved my life for moisturizing! The Unseen Sunscreen from Supergoop cause me a protected face without all of the white lines! Also without all of the rubbing. The Lip oil is the classic Doir Lip Oil. I love this lip oil since the second I saw it. The lip mask might be a new favorite…