Sephora Love

If you knew me in my pre-Germany days, you knew that Sephora was one of my regular stops. I could "pop in" for just 5 minutes and walk out with spending over $200 easily. I received many a gift card there for birthdays and Hannukahs. When I moved to Germany, my beauty routine world came crashing down as I made the discovery that not only did Sephora not ship to APO addresses, but that cruelly, they also did not accept credit cards with APO addresses so I could not just place an order and have it shipped to a friend's house. For two years I lamented this fact. Germany does not have a Sephora, so whenever we traveled to a country that would, I would make it a point to stop in, then immediately lament how marked-up the prices there were. (I'm sorry but I refuse to pay 16€ for a bottle of OPI nail polish. On principle.) Lather, rinse, repeat. Fast forward to Fourth of July when Pametto Belle tweeted to let me know that Sephora now ships to APO addresses. Shut the front door. This changes everything. After posting many over-hyped facebook statuses and tweets about this (insert high-pitched sorority girl shriek here) I got to work. Have I mentioned that I had not been on the Sephora site in a few months? So I did not even know what they had. I was sad to see that they discontinued a few favorites. And equally intrigued by new products on the site.

After some recommendations from friends, I placed my order and stalked the delivery confirmation like a hawk. On Tuesday, I got a little ray of sunshine in my mailbox. My first Sephora package in over 2 years people. Thank you for making me feel a little closer to home folks.

Inside it:
*Bare Minerals foundation (I love this stuff and am running low on my foundation)
*Benefit Cosmetics Ultra Plush Lip Gloss in Dandelion (purchased on a recommendation from Chicago Prepster- immediately a new favorite in my makeup bag- thanks for the tip Carly!)
*Benefit Cosmetics Coral My World! set (I knew nothing about this and wanted to try the products- at $12, it seemed like a good way to try them out without investing too much money in things that I may not use a lot. I have yet to try them so no report for now.
*Beauty Insider Birthday Gift- I opted for the 2 mini lip balms from Fresh. I already use the lip balm and love it and am sad about just how not cheap it is, so it was awesome to get more, plus the minis are just so darn cute!)
*Bare Escentuals Finishing Touches Deluxe Sample Set (came with a mini Mineral Veil, mini mascara, and mini lip gloss)- again I already use Bare Minerals so it was great to get a mini size of the Mineral Veil to keep in my travel bag. The lip gloss is absolutely fantastic and a super flattering color (on me at least), so I will definitely be ordering a full size of it in the near future.
*Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Daily Face Peel sample (I feel like I may have used this in the past, but honestly can't remember now)
*Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating treatment sample- have heard nothing but good things about this product and wanted to try it out for myself
*Perfekt Lash Perfection Gel sample- I have no clue about this. I love Perfekt's Skin Perfection Gel (seriously amazing) so I decided to pick this as my third sample to see if it would be any good. Again, have yet to actually try it.

I placed my order on July 19th, and it arrived on the 24th. I am already planning order #2. If you have any product recommendations that you feel I need to try, please let me have them. Also, if you are at an APO address, note that not all products can be shipped to us- they cannot send anything with alcohol in it overseas, which pretty much rules out all of the perfumes and nail products. I'm not sure what else is affected.

ETA: +2 points to Sephora for offering free shipping to APO addresses with a $50 order. It really irks me when companies that offer free shipping to the rest of the United States charge for APO shipping. (I'm looking at you Vera Bradley and Lucky Brand Jeans.)