ZOMG, Gratis is real! :D Thank you Sephora, Juliette Has A Gun, Ouai, Too Faced, Sol de Janeiro, Hush, and Maison Margiela!!

[RGbrown]

UPDATE:

Several lovely BT ladies have been fortunate enough to receive this box! @Titian06  and @Tamara76 and @notcreative have joined me on this thread with reviews and pics, but some others have started their own threads, so I figured I'd post links to all of them here for quick reference. Check out the spoiler! (and if you see more that I missed, lemme know and I'll update this!) 😄

Spoiler

KNC24: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Makeup-Is-Life/Thank-you-Sephora/m-p/3955811#M31901

Anastasiya13: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Makeup-Is-Life/Thank-you-Sephora/m-p/3945367

howconnie: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/So-Blessed-to-Recieve-Gratis-From-Sephora/m-p/3946250

Titian's initial post below: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Tamara's initial post below: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Notcreative's initial post below: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

I'm also going to post links directly to reviews within this thread, since it's getting long and I want y'all to be able to find 'em quickly if'n you so desire. Once again, check out the spoiler 🙂

Spoiler

Hush Prism
me: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...
titian: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...
tamara: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Too Faced Festival palette 
me: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Juliette Has A Gun, Moscow Mule
me: (further down in this first post)
titian: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...
tamara: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bod Buff
me: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...
titian: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...
notcreative: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Ouai Wave Spray
me: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Ouai Dry Shampoo
me: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Maison Margiela Replica box set
me: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...
titian: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Insiders/ZOMG-Gratis-is-real-D-Thank-you-Sephora-Juliette-Has-A-Gun...

Wow y'all, I am FLOORED! After watching so many other gratis posts with joy (and a bit of jealousy...no sense in lying lol 😛 ), I am so thrilled to have received my very own gratis box today! And I have to say, while I may be a bit biased, this is the best box I've ever seen go out!

The polka dot paper...too stinking cute!The goods in all their glory!

Maison Margiela Replica set: while I have tried a couple of the ones in this set already, there are several here I'm looking forward to testing for the first time.

Ouai Desert Ouaisis Festival Kit: I love love love trying dry shampoos on the hunt for my ever-elusive HG, and cannot wait to test this one! I'm not big on styling products, but have been contemplating trying a wave spray lately, so this came at the perfect time for that as well. The hair ornament is super cute too...will have to figure out to use it lol. It's got a little hook thing on the back, which seemingly won't fit over my knock-off invisibobble, so I'll have to play with it a bit 😄

(spoiler though...I probably won't touch the rose oil...rose (or much of anything floral, really) is not my thing *at all*)

Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bod Buff: This is the only thing in the Gratis that I'm on the fence about. I've seen a few reviews claiming this turned folks yellow, and I'd guess I'm pale enough to possibly have that as a side effect. Will have to think about this one for a bit lol

Hush Prism Airbrush Spray: ummmm, heck yeah!! 😄

Too Faced Life's A Festival Palette: I tried to buy this from TF direct when they had the 25% off plus something like a bazillion free gifts a while back, and their glitchy site just kept looping me back to my cart instead of letting me checkout no matter what I did. I pouted for a while, and then silently boycotted them out of spite lol. Now I am so so grateful that TF didn't want my money, because a free palette is always the best. Squee! I can't wait to play!

Juliette Has A Gun Moscow Mule: I ripped this open the second I finished the pics (possibly even before pics...the box in the second shot may already be empty 😉 ). OMG what a lovely light, crisp, summery scent. Citrus with a touch of ginger and sandalwood to warm it up, but there's a softness behind it too...the barest hint of something floral, maybe, but this certainly would not be considered a floral scent. LOVE LOVE LOVE already!

I cannot say thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you to @KatieBT and the rest of the Sephora team, Sol de Janeiro, Maison Margiela, Too Faced, Juliette Has A Gun, Ouai, and Hush enough times! I am stunned and amazed to finally be considered for one of these, and it couldn't have been better suited to me. I can't wait to play with this lovely haul more and update this post with a few reviews (and some pics of pink hair 😛 ).

[angel7594]

Congrats @Tamara76!! 🎉❤️❤️

[Tamara76]

Thank you so much, @angel7594! ❤️ 

[RGbrown]

I think I'm going to go ahead and start a post on the Maison Margiela Replica set, even though I'm nowhere near done with it, and just update this as I get through more of them.

Titian said she never has much luck with Juliette Has A Gun...the same could be said for me of MMR. I've tried a few over the last couple of years and found they either don't sit well on me even if I like the scent in the bottle, or else I just don't like the scent to begin with. Hopefully with 10 to work through, I can find one or two that may be alright after all!

Right off the bat, the bottles are odd to me. I'm used to mini sprayers, with the occasional dabber-style sample out there. These aren't sprays, but they aren't the traditional open-top dabber either. The cap pulls off and there's a plastic plate over the opening with 5 tiny holes in it. It's actually a nice set-up because you'll spill less if you drop it or whatnot, but the cap also seems to suction up a few drops if the sample has been laying on its side, meaning when you open it you are prone to drip everywhere. Opening five of them to sniff-test means I now have 5 different scents co-mingled on my fingers from that excess, and it's a bit overwhelming lol.

And on to the reviews!

(I am terrible with notes and descriptions and *everything* when it comes to talking fragrance...I just know what I like and what I don't. Humor me here lol...I'll do my best!)

The first one I put on is Sailing Day. It's very light...almost too light, especially considering this was the first one I opened and I made a dang mess with it lol. Softly breezy and beachy in a salty and airy way. Hmmm, maybe not quite beachy though...the more I sniff my wrist, the more I'm reminded of cruising and deep sea fishing...far out on the open water, just the sea and sky, no land in sight. Sailing Day is a good name for it. I like it so far, but I don't have much hope for it lasting very long; hopefully I'm wrong on that! 

(ETA: nope, I wasn't wrong...at 3 hours, I could barely smell anything at all, and at 4 hours it was completely gone. Boo 😞 )

I already know I don't like Lipstick On. Nope nope nope. Powdery and waxy and definitely not for me. It really does smell like old lipsticks though...I can picture my great aunt's ancient tubes of Estee Lauder...they did a good job replicating that scent!

Update 5/13: Today's selection was Music Festival. The given notes are cannabis accord, patchouli essence, and leather accord. I can't specifically detect the cannabis, but maybe it's toning the patchouli down a bit...patchouli isn't my favorite on its own, but this scent is quite nice.

I wish I could remember more of what my great aunt used to wear...she had a lovely vanity tray chock full of perfumes before she passed, and for some reason, this reminds me somewhat of one of her scents. She had an affinity for Estee Lauder in particular, so I'm going to associate this with one of their old scents, even if that's not true lol.

This is warm and earthy with a bit of spice. It's supposed to be a reminder of Woodstock and summer heat, but IMHO this would make an excellent fall scent. I'm seeing comfort food and sweaters being pulled out of storage and sandals being traded out for boots in preparation of chillier days. 

Longevity is excellent on me. 9 hours so far and while I have to put my nose to my wrist to catch a whiff now, the scent is still quite strong when I do. 

5/15: today's scent is At The Barber's. This smells just like a classic menthol men's shaving cream. I like the fresh, clean scent, but I'm not sure it'll be one I reach for very often. Nice lasting power...8 hours and still decently detectable when I put my nose to my wrist, though Music Festival was still a good bit stronger at this point.

5/16: Promenade in the Gardens. As expected from the name, this is a floral. Per the notes on Sephora, it consists of freesia, turkish rose and vetiver. Although I am generally opposed to florals, I don't hate this one right off the bat; the vetiver warms it up just enough to be bearable. Lasting power isn't bad; it's been 6.5 hours now and it's mostly gone, but I can still detect the barest hint on my wrist.

5/18: Lazy Sunday Morning

Notes per Sephora: Lily of the Valley, Iris, White Musk

I have got to start a list of yes and no scents. I realized the second I put this one on that I have tried it before and that I don't like it. Heck, perhaps sniffing the bottle before applying would have been wise lol.

I would call this a moderately heavy floral, though reviews toss around words like "light" and "clean" and "fresh laundry", none of which I caught. I think it's the iris that gets me...in trying to pay attention to notes, many scents with iris turn out to be ones I don't like. If you like florals though, I would assume this is a nice one 😛

Longevity unknown...did my best to scrub it off (which didn't work, of course, so I applied Clean Sel Santal over it, which was an even worse disaster...turns out I'm not much of a fan of that one either. Much like bad hair days and bad makeup days, there are apparently bad scent days. Sigh. Ha!)

5/19: Beach Walk

Eh, not my favorite. Beachy to me means more tropical, but this has a floral shift to it that's not my style. After an hour or so, it became a lovely soft and warm scent, but it disappeared almost completely by 4 hours. Even if I liked the opening more, the lack of any lasting power is disappointing.

5/20: Jazz Club

I really wanted to love this one. With the description of warm and spicy, and listed notes of Pink Pepper, Rum Absolute, Tobacco Leaf Absolute, I was sure I would. But there's something lighter and sweeter about it than I expected. This isn't bad...just not as dark as I had hoped. I like it, but don't love it.

Longevity is excellent. I can't remember exactly when I put it on now, but it was around 2 or 3 or 4 this afternoon, and at 2am now, I can still catch a whiff on my wrist.

I may as well go ahead and veto Flower Market while I'm here...I've been meaning to do that but keep forgetting lol. I've stated my distaste for florals several times, so this should come as no surprise 😛

Only one left...I hope I've saved the best for last! 😄

5/21: ta da...the last one! By The Fireplace

I had never tried this one before, and decided to read a few reviews before proceeding (which isn't something I do very often, even though I really should). I knew there would be a sweet toasted marshmallow scent based on that, but I was still stunned with just how powerfully strong it was right off the bat lol. Once the sweetness died down though, this is so so lovely. A smoky campfire on a crisp fall night, complete with marshmallows and a guitar and all the stars. 

Longevity is disappointing though. At 4 hours, it was weak on my wrist, and it was completely gone at the 6 hr mark (it may have even disappeared before that...I lost track of time and forgot to check it for a while). 

This has been so much fun, even if several of the scents were busts for me. I found a few that I do like and will enjoy finishing off what I can of this set!

[myumew]

Congrats @RGbrown! I love reading all of your reviews on this thread ♡ 

[RGbrown]

@myumew thanks so much! 💗

[RachFace2921]

Great big thanks to you @RGbrown and @Titian06 for taking the time to review everything and post so many pics!  I really appreciate all the time spent, and hope you're having some fun in the process!

[RGbrown]

@RachFace2921

While I can't speak for @Titian06, I know I am having a blast with this stuff, and am so happy to be able to share my thoughts on some lovely products. 💜

[RGbrown]

Ouai Wave Spray first impressions:

Smells like roses 😔 That's a plus to some, but not me. It's not overwhelming though, and dissipated after maybe 30ish minutes? Longer than I would have liked, but at least it didn't linger too long.

I used a very light hand after hearing too much can be crunchy, so I'm not sure how much wave effect is just my natural shape and how much is the spray. 

After using detangler and combing my wet hair, I flipped my head upside down and misted 6 or 7 pumps all over the bottom, then flipped back upright and repeated on top. Combed through, then shook my hair a bit to loosen up the curls, parted it, scrunched again a bit, then let dry. 

The back of my hair is pretty dang curly when I leave it be, but the front is much more lazy-barely-wavy. This certainly didn't change that (nor was that an expectation, really). The ends are perhaps a bit more piecey than normal (though perhaps not...it's coming up on time for a haircut as well, as my ends just start to look shaggy after a while). All in all, I'll have to play with this a bit more and see if I notice any differences...right now, I think I may just not have used enough to actually do anything...this pretty much just looks like my normal hair 😛

Curly back!

The fairly wavy side

And since I parted my hair on the other side, here's the almost-straight stuff lol

Update 5/16: I don't think this product is for me. I'm not a hair-product person to begin with, and I can't stand product-feel. Just a little of this does nothing, but adding more gives me texture that I don't like; it's not crunchy, but I can feel it there nonetheless. Trying to rake my fingers through my hair becomes more difficult as my strands are sticking together, and I either wind up pulling bits out, or being frustrated that I can't finger comb my hair anymore. And on top of that, I'm not seeing a visual difference in how my hair looks with it. Texture is a *wonderful* thing to many, and I'm not saying this product is bad in any way...it's just not the thing for me at this time. Perhaps if I ever get the urge to "do" my hair (something other than comb and air dry lol), this'll come in handy, but for now, it's just not on my agenda.

[SpaceLlama]

Your hair looks beautiful, @RGbrown! If you don't mind me sharing how I use it, I tend to use it when my hair is already dry or mostly dry and I just scrunch my hair together for a few minutes. If my hair is wet, I try to use a diffuser on high heat and low intensity to help form the waves after spraying my hair. I also don't comb my hair after spraying it, but I'm not sure if that affects it or not. Hope this helps 😊

[RGbrown]

Thanks @SpaceLlama! I've been meaning to try it on dry hair...perhaps I should do that today!

[Tamara76]

Gorgeous waves, @RGbrown! ❤️

[RGbrown]

@Tamara76 thanks so much 🙂

[Titian06]

@RGbrown - Your hair looks nice, especially the back.  Here's a thought, after spraying, instead of combing through, scrunch your hair with your fingers.  I comb through when I get out of the shower, but not again.  I bend over at the waist and put all my products in that way.  Scrunching after each one and then shake my head when I'm still upside down to loosen things up.  When I stand upright, I adjust my part as needed.  I air dry my hair, and I occasionally have to scrunch my hair again (this time I do it sitting upright at a traffic light or stop sign) after it's dry because it looks a little hard and crunchy.

[RGbrown]

@Titian06

Thanks, I'll have to try that! I'm not much of a hair person anyways, so I expected a smidge of trial and error with this, figuring out how much and how to 😄 

And maybe it's just not for me in the end, but I'm sure gonna give it a fair shot first 😋

[curlychiquita]

Congratulations,  @RGbrown! I'm so excited that you've received this! I'm enjoying reading your reviews! 

[RGbrown]

@curlychiquita

Thanks so much! I'm having a blast trying all this new stuff...so glad you're enjoying reading about it 😃

[RGbrown]

Woohoo, it's time for Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bod Buff!

I forgot to do a spot test yesterday (oops, drinks took over 😋), but I did one today before my shower, and didn't notice any yellow staining, so I went all in and used it all over. 

I use a scrub regularly anyways, so I'm familiar with results, and try to do it often enough that there's not much build up to scrub off. I also use my scrubs with a shower mitt; most of the ones I have are basically oil and sugar, and the mitt helps keep me from losing too much from between my fingers. This is more like a clay based facial mask, and in retrospect, the mitt is probably overkill as this is thick enough to stick without just sliding off down the drain. I was able to use less of this than what I would normally use of one of my other scrubs.

After my shower, I did notice a bit of yellow staining, but only in a ring around my armpit. No one wants to see that, so no pics 😅 The plus, I guess, is that I also forgot to shave my armpits, so I won't be going sleeveless until I rectify that anyways 🤦

The scent is lovely, of course, the same scent as the rest of the Bum Bum line; if that's your be all end all scent, you will love this. As a scrub, I found it no more or less effective than any of my others, though I do consider the consistency a plus over thinner, oil-based versions. All in all, I do like this stuff quite a bit! I have tons of scrubs stockpiled already, but once I make my way through them, this would be on my short list of ones to consider purchasing. 👍👍

[Titian06]

Hi, all!  I forgot to mention earlier that I used the Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bod Buff this morning as a body mask before my shower.  I haven't used a body scrub in years, and I've never used a body mask!  @RGbrown covered everything.  I used my bare hands to put the scrub on and then washed the scrub off my hands.  The only issue I had was I didn't pay attention and put the scrub right on top of my estrogen patch!  I meant to keep a clear area around the patch   Fortunately, when putting on the scrub, it didn't loosen, remove, or in anyway affect the patch.

The scrub is "scrubby," but you don't feel like you're being scratched to bits like you do with nut shards, but it's not so mild that you wonder if anything is happening at all like you do with jojoba beads.  Once I had the product on, I felt like I was covered in turmeric, spinach, and coarse ground pepper.  The scent is a bit overpowering for those of us who don't really care for highly scented products, but it was a nice scent.

In the shower, I let the water run over me while I washed my hair and put the Briogeo deep conditioner in.  By then, most of the body mask/scrub had rinsed down.  I used a wash cloth to finish removing it.  It left no yellow residue behind (that I noticed).  I have never felt this soft before, not even after other body scrubs.

I know I won't do the body mask again, it uses too much product (I put it on thinly, but still, you do cover your entire body!); but I'll definitely finish the tube as a scrub.  I don't know if I'll buy it again.  I'll make that decision after I use it another time or two.

[Tamara76]

Thanks for the reviews, @Titian06 and @RGbrown!  I can't wait to try mine! ❤️

[yankeefaithful]

Great reviews @Titian06@RGbrown!! Thanks for sharing.  This really helps on whether this is something to purchase. Keep up the great reviews!!😄💞

[starsandbucks]

Fabulous! Congrats, @RGbrown! What a great surprise.