Sephora US Online Haul and My Ordering Experience

The recent hype in the British beauty blogging world has to be Sephora US is finally shipping to England! Yay! Although there are lots of restrictions of what can or cannot be shipped  (like can’t ship nail polishes, perfumes and a handful of specific brands), it still opens up a whole new world of products that we British beauty bloggers can only dream about, unless we get on a plane and hop across the pond.

This post I want to share my ordering experience and of course what I bought!

THE ORDERING PROCESS

The ordering process is not that difficult but there are a couple of points that are worth noting.

• Start with going to Sephora US website, add products to the basket.
• When finish, click checkout and there is an option to choose “SHIP INTERNATIONAL” (Note 1 – If ordering on-the-go, I couldn’t find this button when ordering from my iPhone, but it worked fine on my iPad), you click that and choose “United Kingdom”, then the price of your order will be displayed in GBP. 
• If you have spent over £75, shipping costs will be at a flat rate of £10.
• Note 2 - You will also notice the tax has been added too! Tax is calculated at this point so that no more surprises when you collect your parcel from the post office. (I ordered £80 worth of products, my tax came to £18)
• With every order you can choose 3 free samples. As you will see from my order below, America has some really good samples!
• You will also get points with your spending. The amazing thing is – you can use your points right away to exchange a selection of luxury samples, yes, within the same order (even you haven’t really paid for it yet), no need to wait for next time!!
• Lastly is to put in all your delivery details and hand over you credit card number. (OUCH!!)
• Note 3 – Confirmation emails will be sent in the name of “Borderfree”, the official agent to deal with Sephora’s orders in the UK.

(Jane from BritishBeautyBlogger has done a brilliant YouTube video about her ordering experience)

After about a week of waiting, my parcel has arrived! (I ordered on a Thursday morning, the parcel arrived on the following Wednesday morning by DHL, which is pretty quick I think!)

Now to the exciting bit – this is what I have ordered and all the samples that come with it!

I purchased 4 items:

Marc Jacobs Eyeshadow Palette in Lolita (US$59/ £37.71) – I’d never thought that I would be holding it in my hand. I have seen so many people raving about it. The packaging is super luxury, the colours look brilliant (it does remind me about my Bobbi Brown Rich Chocolate palette that I bought last year, which was a limited edition). It is expensive, but I am super happy.

Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation in Fair-Light Neutral (US$36/ £23.01) and its Airbuki Brush (US$26/£16.62) – I can finally try something from Tarte! I was drawn to this product ever since Essie Button mentioned it. On choosing the colour, each shade is given a description. For my Fair-Light Neutral, the description is “fair to light skin with yellow and pink undertone”.

Sephora Event Entry Palette (US$5/ £3.20) – This is “the candy you picked up while queuing for the cashier”. I did not plan to get this at all, but as I was checking out, a picture appeared on the side saying “reduced from US$11.00 to US$5.00. today!” I was like “oh, 8 Sephora eyeshadows! US$5! Sounds like a bargain!” That is how this little palette ended up in my basket. When converted into GBP, it was only £3.20! When I have the actually palette in my hand, I am not disappointed. Eight neutral colours in a black glittery folding compact, all looking gorgeous! Already loving it even I have not yet tried it. And it’s only £3.20! BARGAIN!

Three Free Samples

As I mentioned earlier, you can choose 3 free sample with every order. I have chosen:

Clinique Acne Solutions Clinical Clear Gel – I have a couple of spots keep popping up, so I thought this sounds perfect to try out.

Anastasia Brow Powder Duo – I love her tinted brow gel, and I have heard so many good things about the brow powder, so I am really excited to give this try!

Benefit The Big Easy Liquid Foundation in All 6 Shades – I am a big fan of Benefit’s products and this liquid foundation is their latest release. And this sample has not just one, but with ALL 6 SHADES!! I can match my own shade in the comfort of my room! Marvellous!

Free Gift with my Points

As mentioned earlier, every pound (or dollar, actually) you earn points, and you can use the point in the same order to exchange for extra samples. I must have spent about US$100 so I had 100 points, with this I managed to exchange for a mini tube of Glam Glow YouthMud mask! The tube looks small but only needs a tiny bit each time, so I believe I can get a few uses out of it. (I probably will use it on my T-zone area to clear up the pores)

Total costs of products £80 + Taxes £18 + Shipping £10 = total order comes to £108

I am generally pleased with the whole experience, and I got all the products that I really wanted. As you can see, my order was pretty much on the dot to benefit from the flat rate shipping. It is the added that pushes up the price quite a bit.  But for a once or may be twice a year treat to get a few US-only products, I think it is worth it.

Are you planning to try out the new Sephora services? What is your Sephora shopping list?