Sephora Invite !

Yesterday I get a call from Sephora that's at Orion mall. I know some of the people there (given that I have gone so many times with multiple people). The Shiseido guy was on the line telling me that the next day they were having a Shiseido facial-sample-hand-out kind of event and if I was interested. Hell yeah ! I politely told him I was and that 11AM sounded good (first slot and I was the first customer to book an appointment). Woohoo!

Went to the place and I actually reached on time ... But then I was like, what if the program has been cancelled ? What if I am the only one there like an idiot; and there are no there registrations ? OMG, am I lame for wanting to go for such a thing ? Then I was like, chuck it; lemme go grab a coffee and kill some time so that I don't appear tooooo desperate 😐 While I was sipping my cappuccino, the store called asking if I was coming over as planned :) :) yay, it was not cancelled 😜... 

The first thing the lady did - her name is Sahiba - (she was the Shiseido person who had come over), was talk to me about my skin care routine and if I had any skin concerns. After figuring out my main concerns, she put a sort of bib on me, and covered my hair :D

I found it super funny but it was effective. Here is a picture of what I looked like.

The chap who is usually at the store (the Shiseido sales person by the name of Salman - he is the guy who called me for this event) was also there - and let me tell you... He is very good. He understands the products and knows what will suit your skin - unlike the people at the Phoenix outlet who gave me a face wash (the Ibuki Purifying Cleanser) that was not meant for my skin and kind of broke me out as it was too strong (I basically over-exfoliated my skin). He was like you should have used the White Lucent Brightening Cleansing Foam I gave you a sample off, and also told me not to worry because I can use the exfoliating face wash once or twice a week as a scrub.

Sahiba (the Shiseido rep) first started with a simple cleanser which she softly massaged onto my face and then wiped off with cotton. After this she used a softner - both of these were from the White Lucent range. Then she massaged this amazing Ibuki sleep mask onto my skin - which was extremely soothing and smelt like oranges!! She explained that this is because the product contains vitamin C and vitamin E. Also, this product is supposed to help make skin look refreshed and give it that pick-me-up sort of effect. It can be used once a week like a mask which you wear over night. She left this on my face for around 10 minutes, and then gently wiped it off with cotton - you don't need to do this while leaving it on over night. The small granules in it just melt at human body temperature and the product just glides on to your face. I could immediately make out the difference in my skin after this. She then applied the White Lucent moisturising lotion on my face -to be specific she used the All Day Brightener SPF 36 (the link is for SPF 18, but she gave me a sample of 36). 

I then took a look at my face in the mirror and saw that my skin texture was pretty clean and smooth. After this she applied the Water resistant sun block - which did not leave a white cast. She used such a tiny amount and that itself spread very well. She also explained that if your face/body gets wet when this has been applied, the sub blocking abilities improve😎 So here is what I looked like after getting these beauty services done 😊 (sorry for the weird face :P)

After this she told me that the foundations are on sale, and I was like why not😈 She got a yellow, a pink and a neutral toned foundation for me to try. The product range that she was applying on my skin was the Synchro Skin lasting Liquid foundation - she said this would suit my combination skin the best (and it also has SPF 20). After a lot of patch testing we both agreed that the neutral shade number 4 (N4 - Neutral 4 to be precise) suited me the best. Im an NC35 from M.A.C in the pressed powder compacts. It matched perfectly when I did a swatch along my cheek and neck. However, I decided not to buy this product however because it was a whopping 3.6k. I was like, let me finish my Make Up For Ever HD foundation first before splurging on another high-end foundation.

I then told her that I wanted to check out a few lipsticks and that I wanted something in a neutral/nude shade. She applied the shade "RD 732" from their Perfect Rouge range. Apparently this shade is called Blush (I found out while writing this post 😊). It is a very light pinkish brown and it can be built up very easily on application.

I decided to pick up this colour and then proceeded to bill my purchases. Now, at Sephora you get points for your bill - kind of like every store currently gives. I got upgraded to a Black membership status a while back and now get 3 points for every 100 spent. Once you hit 250 points, you get 10% off on your next purchase. I was at 200 odd; so I told the lady to only bill the lipstick (that was already at 10% discount and was coming to around 1.6k) in one bill, I will hit 250 and then I can use the 10% discount on the face wash and sleep mask. Smart right ? Well, the servers decided to fail on me and they were not able to process the 10% discount right then and there (coz of some time lag in updating of the points). I ended up paying the full price for the products 😖

Salman (the Shiseido chap I have been telling you guys about), said he would make up for this, and what do you know !! I got a Dolce & Gabbana travel pouch 😁😁

Apart from this he and she (Sahiba) also loaded me with samples (white lucent lotion, softener, face cream with SPF, sun block, white lucent face wash travel size, and a Burberry Body perfume travel size bottle!!) and a Shiseido pouch to carry all my products 😍😍

All in all, a wonderful 2 hours spent at the store and being pampered... I spent around 5k, but I think the free stuff they gave me (especially the D&G bag), made up for this hole I burnt in my pocket 😄

edit : in the face pics you can see that pimple on the left top of my forehead right ? Well, it is not there this morning !! That sleep mask has worked wonders on my face - I swear !

My bag on my way home :)

A collage from this app called Layout!