TORONTO/MISSISSAUGA BIC: Caudalie Boutique Spa Event Sherway Gardens on Tuesday, 7/24

[TayBT]

UPDATE: We have filled all 20 spots for this event! Stay tuned for more events in the near future.

Did someone say spa!? **Books flight to Canada**

BIC, Caudalie is hosting an exclusive event on Tuesday 7/24 at their Sherway Gardens Spa location! You’ll be able to try and discover the new Vinopure launch and meet with Mathilde Thomas, the Caudalie founder, in person. Here’s the best part: 10 of our glorious Canadian Community (and +1’s) will attend and take “before” photos and go home with a one-month supply of Vinopure goodies and a Caudalie pouch. Then we’ll invite you back in September to take “after” photos, AND get another swanky gift. More, more, more.

We know our Canada BIC are some of our best reporters , so we know you’ll do us proud. We want to hear all about the new collection, especially since we won’t be getting the Vinopure collection here at Sephora HQ. Please share ALL the photo and I will be living the experience through you!!

Here’s everything you need to know:

• Location: Caudalie Boutique Spa at Sherway Gardens (will share more info with attendees)
• Date: Tuesday 7/24
• Time: 6:30-8pm
• Discover the newly launched Caudalie line, Vinopure
• 1 Month supply of Vinopure goodies (Eek!)
• VIP experience for 10 Community members and a +1 for each (20 total) 
• First come, first served

If you are interested in attending and willing to share back with the rest of us on BIC please private message me with the following information:

1. Your name
2. Your email address
3. The name of your guest

If you won’t have a guest please let me know! That just means another BIC’er who reaches out will get put on the list! Once we confirmed, I will share additional information.

[Anewxa]

Ok so I am not sure why my previous comment from couple weeks ago didn't post, I came back to comment on the samples I tried - in simple words, not for me. My skin has broken out so bad, I want to cry. I also don't appreciate that alcohol is at the top of the list. So this line is not for me. As for the event, I will say that I agree with @shopaholoc15 and the other ladies, the event was very disappointing. I am glad my guest cancelled. I can't even consider it was an "event" really, it was more like a sales pitch type of gathering geared towards their own spa clients and nothing vip about it as anyone could walk in.. I got there at 6:30pm and was not greeted, acknowledged, offered anything or checked in on any list. After much awkward idling by the entrance, we decided to take matters in our own hands and I approached atleast 3 employees before any real movement. They were so bewildered and confused, walked around with my phone with this initial post up on the screen to figure things out. Although Matilde spoke gracefully at the store front and gave some fun interesting facts, but when we went to the spa room it was so awkward, it was kinda a last minute thing with a few of us who had been waitinh, she seemed to be a touch annoyed especially during questions round (I asked about alcohol in her products oops) and even told one girl that it was not her product causing blackheads and it's her whatever sunscreen! Later when asking for recommendations for fine lines, she commented my skin is flakey and my foundation isn't doing much to help me. I was quite hurt by this, maybe its a language barrier but wow. I would not go back to this one in particular, not that they would remember I think and besides there was no facial, and no before/after pics. I appreciate the opportunity, but this was not how I imagined it to be. They seemed to have given preference to their regular customers and their own employees took most of the inner store space, leaving us to hang out by the door. The upside was meeting the gorgeous ladies, it made it worth going. Thank you ladies for your kind words! I hope there will be more events that we will have an opportunity to attend in the Toronto area, I guess this was just an unfortunate case.

[Guessgal]

@Anewxa  Oh wow, that was quite harsh for her to say. I’m sorry it hurt you ☹️ I actually didn’t think your skin looked bad at all so I’m a bit surprised by this ☹️

[pocketvenus]

I'm sorry the line didn't work out for you @Anewxa@Anewxa, and the comment from Matilde is really very blunt for a Canadian to hear! 😞 Hopefully Sephora's staff will learn from this thread to improve future events.

[Guessgal]

I just wanted to preface this post by saying I attended both this event and the Caudalie Masterclass at Sephora Yorkdale. @bonafide11 tagging you in this since I you were wondering how the events compared further down in the thread. 

I had just come from the Yorkdale Masterclass, which was amazing so I had high hopes for this one as well. I'll be writing a full post on the Caudalie Yorkdale thread as well, but to sum it up, we did a step-by-step application of the Caudalie products that Mathilde talked about so we really got to experience it on our faces first hand. The Sherway event description mentioned a "before" and "after" picture so I thought the event would be much the same and we would be applying products on ourselves (I mean, how else can you do a before and after??). Now that I look back at the titles of the events, I realized that since the Yorkdale one was a class, maybe they follow the same routine for all their masterclasses so it was more organized? Still, that's no excuse for having a lackluster event at the Sherway Caudalie Spa.

Anyways, when I arrived at the Sherway boutique, I was greeted with a choice of red wine, white wine, or water as others have mentioned. I was surprised at this gesture so thought it was off to a good start. 

I mingled with a few BIC members, then Mathilde arrived and started talking about the brand and its products. Most of this is summarized by others down below, but I think the most interesting point was how Caudalie got its name. Mathilde explained that caudalie is actually the units used to measure how long the taste of wine is left in your mouth!

Then basically, a Q&A ensues and after all questions were asked, it seemed like it was the end of the event. No one approached us to give us any direction or explanations either. We eventually got taken into a one-person facial/massage room after a BIC member spoke up where Mathilde talked a bit more about the brand and there were some more questions asked. 

The best part of the event was definitely meeting BIC members. Here's me with @shopaholic15. We both attended the Field Trip Festival last month, but weren't able to meet up so I guess this is fate that we met here instead! 🙂 

Overall, I'd say this event would not be worth the trek out of the house. I think if it was at a bigger space to accommodate all the people that were there and had more hands-on activities, it would have been a more enjoyable experience.

[blackkitty2014]

Darn, @Guessgal, you and @shopaholic15 are so cute 🙂 Thx for sharing

[bonafide11]

Thanks for the tag @Guessgal. Glad to hear the Yorkdale event went better. Looking forward to your full review! I sort of knew what to expect from the Yorkdale event since I know the layout of that store. They have that nice area with individual stations in the middle and I figured it'd run like any other class I've seen there. I knew it'd have to be a class of no more than 20 people or so because of the limited stations. 

[Guessgal]

@bonafide11  Oh really? I've only been to Sephora Yorkdale one other time and it was for the Mario masterclass where they had more of a stage/audience set-up so I hadn't seen the individual stations before. It is a very nice store indeed!

I just posted the Yorkdale review. Here is the link: https://community.sephora.com/t5/Trending-Now/LAST-CHANCE-ONTARIO-Caudalie-Masterclass-Event-Sephora...#M58866

[bonafide11]

@Guessgal They put in those stations after they renovated, so maybe a year and a half ago? It's really perfect for classes. Those mirrors/stations fold down too so when nothing's going on, they often close them and it just looks like a table for displaying products. It's a clever design!

[sandee07]

Last night's event was sort of hectic. I arrived at 6:30pm and was waiting for my friend and guest to show up when one of the ladies there named Susan asked me if I wanted a mini facial then moment I walked in. I declined since I was waiting for my friend to show up but did get one from her later on in the evening. Another lady immediately asked us if we wanted red or white wine or water and told us that if we wanted to there was cheese, bread and jam, crackers, green grapes and almonds on a board at the very corner of the storefront. Since we were still waiting for Mathilde to show up to the event, we maneuvered our way to the back for some food. After a couple of minutes, Mathilde showed up and talked about her vision of the brand - wanting to make it even more natural and organic than before. She also talked about how she was working with Harvard Medical School in developing more products. After she was done talking and answering some questions there was a lineup to take more photos with her. I went back to the front of the store where Susan once again asked me if I wanted a mini facial so I said yes and sat on the chair. She was extremely knowledgeable about all the products and tried the new vinopure line on me since I get breakouts sometimes. It appears that during this time the other BIC members and my friend managed to track down what the Sephora event actually was because when I was done my mini facial they had all gone into the small room at the back of the store with Mathilde who was passing around products to try out. I missed out half of what she was talking about in the back room but when we all left the room another lady handed us these cute sample bags with "one month trail sizes" in them. There was no mention of coming back in September but someone did ask and they said that there was going to be another event in August? Not too sure what that event was going to consist of.

[sayarida]

Guys 😞 I'm so disappointed. This event was terrible. I don't want to sound ungrateful, I'm so glad Sephora is doing events and engaging with their customers more. But this event was NOTHING like it was advertised to be. There was no "before" pics, there wasn't a "one month" supply to test out. It wasn't an intimate event at all and it didn't seem like they knew we would be attending this event. No one checked our names from a list or even asked if we were from Sephora BIC. I was at the event from 615-830 and throughout the whole event I had no idea what was going on or what the purpose of us being there was. We were all standing around in a tiny store front waiting for some direction, which was never given. What I've come to understand is, this wasn't an event at all, rather they wanted to bring a bunch of people to the store in hopes of us purchasing items and to gain attention from people passing by the store. I'm extremely upset because this new line would have been perfect for me as I have problem skin and I already love and use several of their products. I definitely won't be purchasing this new line and will discontinue using their products because this event left a bad taste in my mouth. If only I could gain back the time I wasted at this event. Not to mention all the traveling I did.. ugh.

[GG84]

Wow I'm sorry it was such a let down. It sounds like the US events are much more organized. It really makes no sense - there IS a CANADIAN SEPHORA HEADOFFICE - It's near Toronto Pearson Airport, on the other side of the highway. I've been to it for an interview for a management position - why aren't THEY taking the regins and organizing events on the Canadian side? 

[shopaholic15]

Oh boy, I hope no one booked flights to Canada for this.

I'm sorry to say but this was a hot mess, which is really disappointing, especially because some ladies travelled quite a distance for this event.

First of all, there were more non BIC people there than BIC people. I was under the impression this was an intimate event, exclusive to Sephora, but it wasn't. It seemed as though Caudalie's regular clients were invited (I would even go as far to say they were preferred guests over the BIC crew) and random passerbys were joining in. The tiny Caudalie storefront was very crowded. Mathilde, the founder, came to speak about the brand, but I was at the back of the store (the front was occupied by Caudalie's staff and mostly other non BIC people) so I couldn't really her anything, plus there was a lot of general noise from the mall (notably, a lady yelling at her kids for a solid 5 minutes). So that wasn't fantastic.

Caudalie did offer red and white wine, along with water and a selection of cheese. They were offering mini facials, but each station was occupied for the hour and half I was there. I thought we would be brought into the spa and have a one-on-one facial, where I wouldn't be perched on a chair in the middle of the mall. This was not the spa-like environment that I envision for this event, but my expectations may have just been too high. I hope someone else had a better experience with the services they were offering.

The biggest issue was that no one from Caudalie knew what was going on. They were completely unaware of the Sephora event, leaving most of us confused and stumbling around the overcrowded store. @Anewxa came to our rescue and flagged down what appeared to be the Caudalie manager and showed her the post from this thread. She was very confused. She asked if the surprise was for us to hear the founder of the brand speak... After a few of us explained that wasn't the case, she went and spoke with someone else to see what was going on.

After about 45 mins of confusion and wandering around a loud, hot, crowded space, a handful of us  - including two Sephora employees, who I assumed worked in Sherway - were shimmied to a treatment room where Mathilde explained the new Vinopure line to us. It was very awkward. I can't say it was the most friendly or welcoming environment. I felt bad and almost embarrassed that I brought a guest to this lack lustre event.

No before pictures were taken, there was no instructions on what to do next, or if we were coming back in September. We were given a small bag of samples of the new line to try. My guest's gift bag and mine were different. I had 3 products, 2 which were the same vinopure moisturizer and she had 4 products (toner, moisturizer, divine oil and serum). Unsure why there was so much variance between the two.

The best part was getting to meet some fellow BIC members! @Anewxa @Guessgal @sp1771 are all gorgeous, friendly, lovely girls and they were the saving grace for this event. We should just plan our own spa day! Body Blitz anyone ? 😉

Overall, this was not a good use of time. It was really poorly organized. At no point was my identity confirmed by a Caudalie or Sephora rep, which makes me feel sorry for those who had their invite revoked (not that you missed much). I don't understand why a Sephora rep wasn't there orchestrating this thing. At this point, it is unlikely that I will be returning in September. 

[sp1771]

@shopaholic15You summed up the evening quite well, I agree 100% that it was an event that needed better organization. 
 

The Caudalie store is has a small storefront, with the back opening up to spa rooms for treatments. I’ve been to this store before, so I know there’s limited space, but I figured there would be more space in the back to accommodate the event today. Upon arriving there I noticed a huge crowd of people, a good portion of the individuals there were the Caudalie associates though. I spoke to one of the SA’s there, her name was Susan, and it turned out that she was actually from the Sephora Yorkdale location and they had been asked to help at the event at the Caudalie store today. She was very knowledgeable about the products and offered a mini facial to me, which I accepted. Since I was interested in the new Vinopure producuts (and suffer from acne prone skin) she gave me a demo and used the products on my skin. Though I have sensitive skin, I did not have any reactions and my skin didn’t feel irritated. I felt the new serum / moisturizer and toner were very light weight and my skin absorbed them quickly. 

At this time, Mathilde came to the store and began speaking about the Caudalie brand and some of their best selling products. The discussion was focused more on the history of the brand and how the company began. 

• In the early 90s Mathilde and her boyfriend (now husband) met a Professor who told them of the benefits of grape seeds - PCOs can be extracted and used for skincare, and have more benefits than vitamin E. 
• Using natural and organic ingredients is an important point for the brand, as they grow they want to use more natural ingredients and find substitutes for otherwise chemical ingredients. In the new Vinopure line, the salicylic acid is derived naturally from Wintergreen plants as opposed to synthetic salicylic acid. 
• The brand's focus is more on skincare rather than makeup, and it will most likely be this way for a while. Using natural ingredients for makeup is a lot more complex than it is for skincare.
• Mathilde’s ‘desert island’ product is the Premier Cru Cream.
• Caudalie is considering having a men’s line, with skincare geared towards men.

Once Mathilde finishing speaking, there was a bit of chaos and fumbling around as most people were unsure of what to do, or where to go.  @Anewxacame to the rescue and flagged down a Caudalie manager, and explained the whole situation of the Sephora BIC community being invited. After checking with some of the other employees, we were told that Mathilde would do a small introductory session for the Vinopure products for us. We were all taken into one of the spa rooms in the back where Mathilde told us more about the new line and how it can be incorporated into our skincare regimens. As we were heading out, one of the Caudalie employees gave us a drawstring bag with some Caudalie products inside. My bag contained 4 deluxe size samples: two of the moisturizer, one of the toner and another of the serum.

The highpoint of the evening was meeting @shopaholic15, @Anewxa and a few other BIC members. It was great to see everyone in person and talk to each other! 🙂 

Though the event was a little lacklustre and could have used better organization and planning, I did like hearing Mathilde talk about the brand.

Some pictures of the event:

 

[sayarida]

I agree 100%. This event was extremely underwhelming and awkward. Myself and 3 other BIC members didn't receive any samples at all, we must've missed when you guys went into the back room. Kinda upset I missed out on that part but it doesn't sound like it was anything special anyway LOL

[bonafide11]

Eek! I’m sorry it turned out to be a mess. This should have been an amazing opportunity to meet Matilde. I usually expect these events are not Sephora exclusive and it is actually PR event for influencers with a few spots for Sephora. But still...that’s no excuse for bad organization. Really disappointing that anyone could have just walked in.

Glad you and the other BIC ladies at least found each other. I’m wondering if the Master Class at Yorkdale was better organized since it was in a regular Sephora. Thanks anyways for sharing with us @shopaholic15

[shopaholic15]

Any details about tonight? 

[sp1771]

@shopaholic15I just heard back, there are no further details for the event, I guess we just show up at the Caudalie Spa in SG 🙂

[shopaholic15]

Thanks for the update! I'll see you tonight 😄

[GG84]

Does anyone want my spot? I'm quite ill and won't be able to make the event. Please message @TayBT

If you'd like to attend! 

[bonafide11]

Hope you feel better soon @GG84