My first run in with Sephora Collection makeup was their liquid lipsticks. For my senior prom in high school, I wanted a really bright, blue based fuchsia color to match my dress, and I found one of the Sephora Cream Lip Stains in what used to be shade #06, but they have since added new colors, and I think this kind of shade is now shade #08. I haven’t tried that one to compare, because I’m still holding onto my original, though I should toss it. But I digress.
I fell in love with it and tried to get all of my friends on board, but they kind of shrugged it off, thinking it was lesser than some of the other brands Sephora carries. House brands tend get the reputation of being less in quality and worth, so I kind of felt like an outsider for thinking it was “good.” I thought that maybe I just hadn’t tried “good” makeup. But I kept picking things up from the brand and really enjoying them, but I never talked to anyone about them.
Fast forward to 2017 (sounds so futuristic, doesn’t it?), and you see Youtubers raving about Sephora Collection products, and it makes me so happy to know I’ve been using them for five or so years. So today, I wanted to go over a few of my favorite products from Sephora’s house brand, so you can experience the magic, too.
Cream Lip Stains: I’ve mentioned these before in past blog posts, and for good reason. They’re the first liquid lipstick I was ever introduced to way back in 2011. They’re not drying at all. They’re extremely pigmented and opaque. They stay on for hours. They’re just great all around.
My favorite shades: #01, #13, #24, and #25
Colorful Shadow & Liner: I have gotten a lot of the powder shadows from the line over the years; in the past I’ve gotten a lot of the holiday sets for Christmas, and I have found they’re hit or miss and generally not my favorite. However, I love these shadow pencils. There are a few different finishes including mattes, glitters, and shimmers, which is fitting for anyone. You’re sure to find something. They make creating a smokey eye really easy and a little less messy than working with powders. The formula is creamy, goes on smooth, and is nicely pigmented. Aside from creating looks with these, I like using the white or black shade to create a base for other shadows to amplify the color.
My favorite shades: #36 (matte), #09 (shimmer), #04 (shimmer), #22 (shimmer)
Colorful Face Powders: The range on these powders is great, and there are shades intended for contouring, highlighting, and add a blush to your face. I like using the blush toned shades; I haven’t really used the highlight or contour shades, just because I have highlighters and contour powders I like better, but I’ve used a few and they’re good too. But for blush, I LOVE these. They’re pigmented and glide and blend into the skin nicely, and stay on for a good amount of time throughout the day.
My favorite shades: #27, #07, #13, #11, #01, #25
House of Lashes x Disney False Lashes: The Tinkerbell collection of lashes from House of Lashes and Sephora is so good. I love them. I like false lashes, but I don’t like when they are too glamorous and big, because I feel like they end up taking over my face. The Tinkerbell lashes are natural looking (there’s a glam pair that I don’t use), and are comfortable on the eye. The only downside is that these are limited edition and online only.
My favorite lashes: ‘Neverland’ and ‘Forever Tink’
Retractable Waterproof Eyeliner: I always have a hard time finding eyeliners that work on both my upper lash line and water/tight line. I tear up a lot throughout the day–like sob watching Law & Order, it’s an issue–so I don’t penalize the eyeliners usually, since it’s my fault they don’t last. However, these do better than some of the others. The next best thing for me are the 24/7 liners from Urban Decay. I love the color range for these liners, and they don’t tug or pull at my eyes.
My favorite shades: #01, #06, #08
Brow Thickener: I love brow products. For the most part, I don’t have to do much to my brows, but I love them. This is sort of like the Gimme Brow from Benefit, but a little different. Instead of having fibers to create thickness like the Gimme brow, it’s a fine powder product. I like to use this one of two ways. I’ll either fill in my brows with a pencil and go over top of this to fill in any places I may have missed with the pencil, or I just use this on it’s own if it’s a no fuss kind of day.
My shade: Medium
Radiant Luminizing Drops: As you know, out of this world highlight has been all the rage through 2016, and while it may die down a tad in the new year, I’m still loving it as of now. I love these, and I find them fairly comparable to the Cover FX drops but cheaper. I like to drop the product onto the back of my hand and then go in with a brush or my finger to apply it to the face. It adds a fantastic glow to the cheekbones or works well blended into foundation to add a really luminous finish to the full face. I also like adding a teeny tiny amount to my moisturizer if I don’t plan on wearing any makeup that day.
My favorite shade: #03
Color Switch: I’m one of those people who tries to use as few tools to do my makeup as I can, mainly because I don’t like cleaning my brushes and less I have to clean the better. That’s why I love this. It isn’t a replacement for cleansing, unfortunately. But it does clean off your brush before you go in with another color. This works really well if you’re doing a smokey eye and don’t want or don’t have a lot of different blending brushes to work with.
Sheet Masks: I love face masks, and I probably use them 4-5 times a day, including sheet masks. I get the most instant gratification from sheet masks, and while I love various types that are more high end, I really think the Sephora brand masks do a pretty great job. I use them on my face, eyes, hands, feet (yes, I love the feet sheet masks).
My favorite masks: Green Tea Face, Pearl Sleeping Mask, Avocado Face
#79 Pro Contour Brush: I like a lot of the Sephora collection brushes. They’re soft, and effective. The shape of the one is perfect for creating a harsher contour in the hollows of your cheeks, but it’s soft enough to blend it out so it’s not too harsh.
#90 Featherweight Complexion Brush: This is one is big and fluffy and so so soft. It’s good for anything from applying foundation to setting with powder. I use in to for foundation generally, but I have used it for setting powder and blush.
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