First, here is what the product looks like:
Sephora claims this $25 set to be a $90 value, so I thought I would break down what comes in the set and what the value truly appears to be.
Fresh Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment, 0.05 oz (full-sized product is $22.50 and is 0.15 oz)
Laura Mercier Bare Pink Lip Glace, 0.1 oz (full-sized product is $24 and is 0.15 oz)
Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in Dolly, 0.07 oz (full-sized product is $19 and is 0.15 oz)
Nars Turkish Delight Lip Gloss, 0.14 oz (full-sized product is $25 and is 0.28 oz)
Bite Beauty High Pigment Lip Pencil in Rhubarb, 0.05 oz (full-sized product is $24 and is 0.09 oz)
Tarte LipSurgence Lip Luster in Glitzy, 0.1 oz (this is a full-sized product and retails for $24)
I am not really going to keep you in suspense here...I wasn't a huge fan of several of the products in this box for various reasons. That said, it is ABSOLUTELY, hands-down, the best purchase I could have made on Sephora to get the free gift. I'll break it down for you in pictures.
This is my bare pout. It's kind of an odd-looking photo (I probably should apologize in advance because, until I want to pony up for a nicer camera, I am going to have to rely on my iPhone 4 to supply these pictures), but, as my step-father once told me when I complained about how ugly my first license photo was as a teenager, "if you take a picture of a barn, you get a picture of a barn."
I purposely listed these in the order in which they came in the box, from left to right, and will be testing them in that order as well.
This is the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment. It looked rather bright red in the tube, but it honestly was barely a lip tint. I left this on my lips for a half hour and, when I wiped my lips with a tissue when time was up, nothing came off. I thought it felt good on and actually didn't mind the slightly bitten lip look compared to an unnatural lip color, but I just can't imagine reapplying this every 15-20 minutes. I think the full-sized is a tad overpriced, but I am sure I can find some use for it, especially for the sun protection benefits (this product is SPF 15).
Besides looking slightly psychopathic in this photo, I also look exactly like I did in the Fresh Sugar, only this is the Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Bare Pink. It felt okay on the lips, but I think I could benefit for a less downplayed color. Personally, nothing I'd go out of my way to wear if I had other options.
The color of the Buxom gloss was super promising. It was just deep enough to make an impact, but not so bright as to overwhelm my face. However, it had a weird tingling thing going on (like peppermint chapstick) which I would have actually enjoyed, if it also didn't feel as though I had just applied melted caramel to my lips. It was the stickiest of the bunch and just made my mouth feel uncomfortable. I was disappointed at being in the bizarre position of having to choose between how much I loved the color and how much I hated the feel of it. In the end, I washed it off after ten minutes because it was freaking me out a little bit.
This is my best try at a "look how dumb this looks" face. I hope I nailed it. I will start by saying that I generally LOVE NARS products. I am pretty sure I could have loved this gloss as well if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't so much "Turkish Delight" as it was "near Ivory". Either way, it looked ridiculous on me. I am pretty sure this is for porn stores and/or women who hate themselves.
The Bite Beauty High Pigment in Rhubarb was a DREAM. It didn't feel like it was stuck on like a lip stain, but was tough enough that I took this picture an hour after I applied it. It is also, incidentally, the first red that I actually thought fit me well. This is something I would buy in full size. This is something I would ask for as a present. I honestly think that I cannot live without this pencil in my life from this moment forward. Given that this is a bit over half-sized, I'll throw a value of $12 on this pencil (half the cost of the full-sized product).
And this is the Tarte LipSurgence. I will reiterate that this is a full-sized product. I cannot choose between the Bite Beauty pencil and this pencil as my favorites in the box. What I can say is that the Tarte pencil is more of an every day type of lip product, whereas the Bite pencil is a date night/weekend type of thing. I suppose this is a good thing because the Tarte pencil is twice the size of the Bite product. This product is worth $24 on its own and, further, on Sephora, this color (Glitzy) is currently unavailable if ordering the full-sized product alone.
Really, this box was totally worth the price tag. I counted these all as half the value of their full-sized counterparts (with the obvious exception of the one full-sized product in the box) and came up with a value of $81.25. I'm too lazy to do the math of what each hundredth of an ounce of product would cost to give you an exact dollar value, but look, even at $80, I paid $25 for it. It's basically worth this much for the Tarte pencil alone and add the Bite pencil to it and it just makes it a no-brainer for me. That said, the other four products were mostly disappointing. I would have liked to see more variety in the color scheme instead of the box going from the lightest pink ever straight to the second lightest pink ever with one really gorgeous blush and a red thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure if the shades were chosen for any particular reason, but they nailed it on the last two.
Tomorrow, I get the task of reviewing the bajillion free things I got with this purchase (yes, a bajillion. It's a number now, even if spellcheck is telling me I'm a moron right now).
Anyway, there is no referral link here, just a straight link to the Sephora site for this set. Go here if you want to buy this lip sampler and be a rock star like me.
That's right...a 35 year old rock star. In jammies. Taking pictures with her crappy, outdated phone.
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