• The Director in Charge drooling over the Illamasqua blushes commenting that they were best, prettiest blushes in the store. The brand is the store’s newest edition and its bold colors and chic packaging was drawing quite a crowd.  What could be the love child of MAC and Shu Uemura,  Illamasqua is only available in about 20 Sephora locations on each of the coasts. Boston  – we have the Red Sox, some of the best clam chowder, Harvard, and a Sephora store that carries Illamasqua.
• Two other Sephora employees hovering over the new Illamasqua display talking (while swatching the glosses on their hands) about a customer from Dubai purchased over $800 worth of Illamasqua products for her sister who is a makeup artist in Dubai .
• A 30-something male professional with semi-severe acne and itchy, dry, flaky skin quietly seeking advice from a Sephora skin care professional for his conditions. With one problem solved, and the Peter Thomas Roth Acne Kit in hand, the rep next recommended DermaDoctor KP Duty Body Scrub for his itching and flaking.  He held the product in his hand, looking both confused and clueless. “Can I use that on my face?”, he asked. The Beauty Bug stopped dead in Her tracks. A body scrub on your face? Oh you silly man!
• A Sephora artist gushing over a certain Smashbox foundation, touting that it was the only foundation she could wear because it left her skin soft and glowing. Still continuing to eavesdrop, The Beauty Bug shot a glance her way and confirmed the claims. Her skin looked amazing! The Beauty Bug went over to check it out and to Her surprise, it was a powder – Smashbox HALO Hydrating Perfecting Powder. No chalkiness, no drastic matte finish. Sold.

Check out past Sephora rumblings here.

Exploring the vast hall that seemed like it went on forever, The Beauty Bug felt like She was in the shoes of brilliant beauty boss  Nicky Kinnaird of Space NK (check out her new blog here), searching and discovering brands that She’d love to see available for purchase in the US.

Here’s the photos The Beauty Bug snapped while She could (photos aren’t supposed to be taken in the store)…

A nail bar in the middle of  the store.

More photos after the jump…

For those that can read French, check out this brand.  The Beauty Bug was especially intrigued by their masks. Nicky Kinnaird, are you listening? Make some room on your shelves for these produce-packed products.

12.90 Euro for a bottle of OPI. Roughly $19.35. That’s one expensive bottle of Lincoln Park After Dark.

$52.65…for mascara.

Brulez vos soutiens-gorge translates to “burn your bras.”

Herborist. Another brand The Beauty Bug thinks belongs in Space NK. Just take a look at the mask below…

Roger Et Gallet. The Beauty Bug’s favorites were Cirton and Vanilla.

Skinvitals.

]]> http://www.bitbythebeautybug.com/2009/09/17/sephora-on-champs-elysee-paris/feed/ 1 http://www.bitbythebeautybug.com/2009/06/25/say-what-rumblings-at-sephora/ http://www.bitbythebeautybug.com/2009/06/25/say-what-rumblings-at-sephora/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:09:50 +0000 The Beauty Bug http://www.bitbythebeautybug.com/?p=1456 Call Her what you will, but The Beauty Bug loves to eavesdrop at Sephora. Today She headed over to the store during Her lunch break today to see what shoppers were talking about. When She was finally able to tear Herself away from sniffing FRESH’s new Citron de Vigne fragrance, here’s what She overheard:

• A mother and daughter testing the Sephora Brand Sweet Candy Glosses. The daughter tries on the Apple Pomegranate shade and mom tells her it look fabulous! Mom then begins squinting and straining, trying to read the name of  the gloss, only to realize that the name was right in front of her on the display, in bigger, easier to read font. Does the name matter anyways? If the gloss looks good, buy it.
• A married man shopping for fragrances. The Sephora rep recommends Vetiver by Guerlain, because it’s clean, fresh and woodsy. The conversation somehow turns to marriage, and the man says that he doesn’t make the mistake of shopping for his wife and vice versa. The Sephora rep, who is not married, confesses that the best piece of advice a friend gave her is that marriage only looks good on paper.  Sephora – now offering life lessons in marriage as well as fragrance recommendations.
• A 40-something year old woman, carefully carrying around 3 separate perfume strips (being careful not to let them touch or cross) and a CB radio on her belt that was obnoxiously loud and distracting, visibly put out when the Sephora rep tells her that they don’t carry Aveda products. The Sephora rep then leads her over to the No Frizz Living Proof products, saying that they are their best selling hair products right now. The Beauty Bug walked away before She could see if all this noise resulted in a sale. Breaker breaker, come in, we have a hot one on our hands.  Roger that.
• A 20-something female browsing the Tocca fragrances and a male Sephora rep telling her that they’re made from “great material.” His favorite of the line was Brigitte. Surely, it must be because of the ginger and Rhubarb “material”.

Stay tuned for more rumblings at Sephora…

The Beauty bug swears, this site is not turning into a mascara blog! However, since it’s been a hot topic lately, She figured, why stop now? If you’re looking for a new mascara, but still aren’t sold on the recent vibrating trend, pick up Sephora’s Lash Stash. At $25, it’s reasonably priced and allows you to try deluxe sample sizes of some of the top-selling mascaras. The kit includes:

• Benefit A Little Bit BADGal Lash
• Blinc Kiss Me Mascara
• LORAC Publicity Stunt Lashes
• Smashbox Bionic Mascara
• Stila Multi-Effect Mascara
• Sephora Brand Lash Plumper
• Two Faced Lash Injection

The best thing about these mini mascaras? The size of the brush head on these samples is the same size as the brush head on a full sized tube. Too many times The Beauty Bug has been given mascara samples where the brush head was resized to fit in the small sample tube, making the sample worthless.

In other mascara news, MAC is set to release Dazzle Lash, which is said to “create voluptuous curve” and reach “entrancing new lengths”. The Beauty Bug hasn’t been able to sneak a peak at the brush yet, but early rumblings say that the innerspring head is innovative and grabs and texturizes individual lashes. Details and an on-counter date are not confirmed yet.

The Beauty Bug does admit, Her question was a little on the silly side because what girl doesn’t shop on the weekends? So WHEN out shopping, make sure to stop at Sephora to grab on their new Fashion Week Live Makeup Sets – a very chic set used by Sephora makeup artists for Fashion Week Live. It includes a Stila Lip Glaze in Brown Sugar, Make Up For Ever Diamond Shadow in Diamond Black 307, Smashbox Mini Travel Photo Finish Foundation Primer in Original, Smashbox O-GLOW, Dior Diorshow Mascara in Black 090, Sephora Blush Me! Mono in Abricot Plaisir 6, all in a swank black sequined Sephora Brand clutch. Snag this limited edition set for only $79 – and enter FIFTY at checkout to receive free shipping.

And, in case you missed anything this week, The Beauty Bug

• showed off her Red Sox pride with her red lips
• kicked off the holiday season with a MAC Holiday giveaway – enter now if you haven’t already, winner will be drawn on Tuesday, 11/6 (this is the first of many MAC giveaways)
• wore the perfect Halloween mask
• had her office review the new Max Factor Vivid Impact Highlighting Mascara

The Beauty Bug and The Beauty Bug Boyfriend are off to get manicures – what a perfect start to the weekend!

Dear Beauty Bug:

When using multiple sunscreens, you are not raising your protection level – the SPF will be the highest of the 2 – 50 in your case. With regards to mixing sunscreen, I have nor heard of any definitive studies indicating that the stability of the sunscreen can be compromised, however it’s certainly possible. I prefer to use a single daytime sunscreen of SPF 30 for optimal protection.

Hmmm…not what The Beauty Bug wanted to hear…

The online component is seamless and easy – you can even track all of your purchases, both in-store and online, but something tells The Beauty Bug having an online record of all the damage She did in Sephora can’t be good. She just wants to shop, but never wants to know how much She spent in total!

But, unfortunately, it wasn’t FACE Stockholm, but a new skin care line that Sephora just launched a few days ago, FACE by Sephora. Included in the line are 3 face washes, 2 masks, several creams, makeup removers, 2 face masks, a concealing blemish pen, along with a few other products. I was intrigued because everything was very reasonably priced, the line is very extensive, and as explained above, the simple, clean, branding attracted me. The Sephora representative gave me a sample of the Deep Down Cleanser, a gel based cleanser and a mild exfoliant. I just used it before writing this post, and I don’t love it, nor do I hate it. It’s comparable to any drug store brand (Neutrogena, Clearasil etc.). It’s extremely mild and unscented and I like my face washes to have a very clean, strong, bold smell leaving me feeling refreshed. While this face wash isn’t a must have for the Beauty Bug, she’s looking forward to experimenting with the rest of the line – especially the face masks and the shea butter.

This just in!!! Breaking News!!

The Greatest Show on Earth is sueing Sephora, claiming they improperly used their circus trademarks, including the phrase “The Greatest Show on Earth”. If The Greatest Show on Earth get its way, Sephora will have to immediately suspend all advertising. They are also seeking 5 million dollars claiming they have lost business. You can read the full story here.

All of this and I didn’t even like this circus campaign. It was a bit too colorful – I mean, come one, who wears pink eye shadow now?

I must admit, I wasn’t loving the whole “circus” theme prior to seeing this, but now they’ve won me over. You can’t go wrong with the “kiss the frog he turns into a prince” theme.

To send it to a friend, click here. Also, watch the card play out in its entirety and sign up for a free delux sample of Lipfusion with any online purchase. Don’t you love the holiday season?