What to Buy at the Sephora Summer Bonus Event 2019

08 • 21 • 2019

This wasn’t on my radar at all! There’s a surprise Sephora Summer Bonus Event happening NOW! This is the time to buy brands that are never usually discounted. There are two types of purchases I make during the Sephora events: 1) high-dollar staples that I always use up, and 2) pricey new things I want to try. Here are my picks for the Sephora Summer Bonus Event 2019:

Disclosure

Sephora compensated me to write this post. I am picky about the sponsorships I accept: I only accept sponsored post opportunities from multi-brand retailers that allow me to pick the products I feature and the subject matter of my post.

Details:

This time around the Sephora Summer Bonus Event is only open to the two top-tier levels, Rouge and VIB (i.e. Beauty Insiders do not get a discount). Here are the details:

• VIB Rouge Status (spend $1000+/year): 20% off August 19 – August 27 with code SUMMERSAVE
• VIB status (spend at least $350/year): 15% off August 20 – August 27 with code SUMMERSAVE

A few products are excluded from the Sephora Summer Bonus Event, including all The Ordinary products (but they are reasonably priced already!). You are limited to the purchase of one Dyson item, 3 Drunk Elephant items, five Morphe items, and 3 Tatcha items per SKU per transaction.

For more information on how to sign up for Sephora’s Beauty Insider program, go here: https://www.sephora.com/about-beauty-insider. Go ahead and sign up for the program so you can get discounts and perks like free makeovers and great deluxe samples!

SK-II Facial Treatment Masks

My #1 recommendation of this Sephora event is my fave sheet mask ever, the SK-II Facial Treatment Mask. I always stock up on my Holy Grail SK-II Facial Treatment Masks– I will probably buy two 10-mask boxes. These sheet masks are the absolute best on the market and will make you look 1000% percent better if you do one the day of a big event. You will look lifted, pores erased, brightened, and fine lines plumped. So much so that I promise your friends will ask you what you did different. The price is hard to swallow, but at $13 a mask, it is way cheaper than a facial! I wouldn’t ask you to spend money if I didn’t think it was totally worth every penny, and trust me, the SK-II mask is.

This might sound ridiculous, but a box of 6 sheet masks also makes an awesome gift if you want to spend around $100 on someone! You and your friends can all pitch in to give a box for a birthday or to the bride on her bachelorette party. And it’s like gifting a bottle of Veuve vs. a lesser known wine that costs the same- the gift will be more appreciated because they know it is pricey! Gauche, but true.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair

The Sephora event has perfect timing because I just ran out of Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair, my fave basic anti-aging serum on the market. It is so reasonably priced for a serum! Ever since I bought the jumbo bottle during last year’s event I have been using it more frequently, and I can definitely see a difference in my skin in terms of hydration and plumpness, probably within a week. I love to use it when I do my GloPro Microneedling Device (it works way better than the serum that is included with the device). There’s a reason Advanced Night Repair has been a best-selling serum for years!

Clarins V-Facial Intensive Wrap

Clarins has since changed the name and jar, but the mask is the same.

The other thing you need is my favorite depuffing mask, the Clarins V-Facial Intensive Wrap, because Sephora is the only place that sells it! Regular Clarins counters do not have it! I’ve been through numerous jars of this miracle contouring mask (I named it my #1 beauty product of 2016, full post here), and I will never be without it. If you ever drink alcohol or eat salty food and your face and jawline get puffy (a/k/a carb face) you need this! Trust me!

Sunday Riley Good Genes

If your skin doesn’t like retinoids (or you are pregnant or BF’ing), this product is for you! As I look back at reader emails I have answered, I see that I recommend Good Genes almost more than anything. It is a lactic acid serum you use before moisturizer at night to plump lines and even skin tone. Several friends I’ve turned on to this during pregnancy now say they like Good Genes more than their usual retinoids! And right now Sephora has a big value size bottle available.

Previously I was switching every other night between Good Genes and a retinoid, Differin, to fade my melasma and fight fine lines. Then I got brave one night and I decided to experiment by using the Differin, and then layering the Good Genes on top. My skin looked AMAZE in the morning! Brighter, the melasma patch looked faded, and my fine lines were visibly plumped in one night. [Note: I would not recommend layering these two until you are sure your skin is used to each one because it might be too active and cause irritation.]

If you want to dip your toes in first, try the Power Couple Duo that has smaller sizes of Good Genes and the Luna Night Oil, which is also an excellent product. I’m thinking about getting my husband on this since he has absolutely no nighttime skincare routine as of now.

Drunk Elephant C Firma Serum

Everyone should apply a Vitamin C serum every morning underneath sunscreen. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that prevents environmental damage (from pollution, etc.) that ages skin. A good vitamin C serum will also fade dark spots, keep melasma at bay, and generally even out your skin tone. If I go on a long trip and stop using my Vitamin C Serum for several days in a row, I notice my melasma getting worse. So I know it truly works! I have experimented with several different brands of Vitamin C serums, and my favorite is the Drunk Elephant C Firma serum. It is a very close dupe to Skinceuticals C E Ferulic, in fact so dupe-y that Skinceuticals (owned by Loreal) is suing Drunk Elephant for patent infringement! (To read up on the lawsuit, click here).

Another great antioxidant is Sunday Riley CEO. I go back and forth about whether I prefer CEO or Drunk Elephant C Firma. Generally I think Drunk Elephant is better for firming skin and improving skin texture, but the CEO is better at fading existing spots. Also CEO smells like oranges and C Firma smells like hot dog water.

Dyson Hair Dryer

If you’ve been wanting to try the super-fast drying Dyson hair dryer, the Sephora event is the time to buy. And they have a Mother’s Day set that includes a comb and a brush for $399. The Dyson does speed up my dry time a bit, and I immediately noticed my hair was more shiny.

During the last Sephora event I actually purchased both the Dyson hair dryer and the Dyson Air Wrap (pictured above). The Air Wrap is supposed to curl and dry your hair at the same time, and did produce very bouncy curls. But ultimately I ended up returning the Air Wrap because it was just too time-consuming and difficult to use.

FYI you are limited to the purchase of one Dyson item during the event.

Try Some Charlotte Tilbury

Newsflash: Sephora carries Charlotte Tilbury now! If you were interested to try this brand, do it now at 15-20% off! My top Charlotte Tilbury picks are (in descending order of awesomeness):

1. Airbrush Powder (I wear shade 1)
2. Filmstar Bronze and Glow
3. Lipstick (my fave shade is Kim KW)
4. Pillow Talk lipliner

Charlotte Tilbury also just released a bunch of new shades of Hot Lips lipstick. I am dying to buy Dancefloor Princess (light peach-pink nude), but every time I have checked at the store it is sold out! All her lipsticks have fantastic formulas and are worth the splurge. Here I am wearing Matte Revolution lipstick in Super Cindy:

Concealer

I’m buying two of my long-standing fave under eye concealer, Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. For reference, I wear Vanilla. Nars recently added a bunch more shades to the line, so if you had trouble color-matching before, it is worth another look!

I have also been experimenting with the new Fenty Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Concealer and I’m going back for another shade. The Fenty Concealer does seem to last incredibly well, so it’s perfect for around my nose where my concealer tends to rub off. I’m continuing to experiment, but it might give my beloved Nars concealer a run for its money.

Here are other random new products I purchased during the Sephora Summer Bonus Event:

—Becca Anti-Fatigue Under Eye Primer

–Nars Lipstick in Sexual Healing (soooo pretty, a sparkly sheer mauve!)

—Supergoop! SPF Scalp Powder (to protect my scalp when I wear my sun visor!)

—Farsali Unicorn Essence Primer (a repurchase item)

xoxo,

@kathleenjenningsbeauty