I know it’s a bit late, but I’m sharing what I bought from the Sephora Holiday Sale!
I picked up a few things in store on the first day:
Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette – I know I’m super slow to buy this, but I’ve been debating which eyeshadow I wanted to get for years. I finally decided to get this one.
Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Custom Finish Powder Foundation (left – 220 Linen, right – 250 Sand)
And I ordered more online after browsing:
Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Custom Finish Powder Foundation in 250 Sand – I bought the shade 220 Linen for my mom during a sale last year. She hadn’t started using it until recently. She realized it was too light for her so she gave it to me and asked me to order a darker shade. So I chose 250 Sand. Comparing the two, 250 Sand looks lighter than 220 Linen – 220 Linen looks more orange. So I ended up returning 250 Sand and getting 310 Silk which looks a bit darker.
Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm Makeup Remover (variety size – 200mL)
Yves Saint Laurent Libre Eau De Parfum – I wanted to try a new perfume and I sprayed this one in person when I went to the store. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention because I sprayed the Eau de Toilette in the store. There was barely anything left in the bottle, so I didn’t notice the colour was different. I don’t know why, but I didn’t spray it on me and just decided to purchase it. This was a mistake lol. The Eau de Parfum is too sweet for my liking. It gave me a headache. I went back to the store and sprayed the Eau de Toilette, but it was a bit too powdery for my liking. I actually preferred the Gucci Bloom one, but I’m going to keep browsing until I make a decision.
Today, I’ll be reviewing products I received from BeautySense.ca! This post was sponsored by BeautySense.ca and the products above were sent to me for review, but all opinions are my own. The links below are NOT affiliate links.
Beautysense.ca is a Canadian-owned website that sells beauty and cosmetics products.
We have deep roots within the beauty industry operating successful spas and salons in Canada.
BeautySense.ca was launched in 2013 with a vision of providing Canadians with a trusted and reliable source of beauty products while contributing the same customer service and education found in our spas and salons.
BeautySense.ca currently offers well over 4000 quality products from top Canadian and International brands and we continue to add new brands every month. We cater to each of you, our customer, to reach a goal of 100% satisfaction.
They sell a wide variety of skincare, home, bath & body, makeup and wellbeing products.
Free shipping on all orders within Canada, no minimum!!
They have promotions every now and then. A free gift with purchase, discounts on certain brands, etc.
I don’t know if they have sales throughout the year, but I have signed up for the newsletter to email me. So I will update this post if I am notified of any sales throughout the year.
They have a loyalty program. Receive 1 point for every $1 you spend
BeautySense let me choose the products to try out so I went with a 3 products from brands I’ve never tried before and 2 products from amika (love the scent of their dry shampoo and soulfood nourishing hair mask).
Colorescience: Sunforgettable® Total Protection™ Face Shield Flex SPF 50 | $63
A lightweight mineral sunscreen with tinted color coverage immediately evens skin tone for a flawless look. Available in four uniquely flexible shades for a range of skin tones, it features innovative, tone-adapting pigments that offer medium, buildable colour coverage with a natural finish.
This is drier than I thought it would be. I think I could’ve tried the medium shade instead of fair because it’s very white on me. For sunscreen, I usually just squeeze it out onto my hand and then apply to my face, but I think maybe it’s better to do a little at a time for this one. Instead of trying the medium tinted shade, I think I would just try the original (non-tinted) one next time.
Amika: The Wizard Detangling Primer | $34.50
A weightless, multi-benefit priming spray that detangles, cuts blow dry time and protects against thermal and environmental damage. Leaves hair smooth, soft and radiant.
This detangled my hair so quickly and my hair felt smooth and sleek. It looked shiny and smelled really nice. It has the same scent as the normcore conditioner and dry shampoo.
Amika: Normcore Signature Conditioner | $26
Boost hydration, softness and shine daily with this everyday conditioner, loaded with vitamins and antioxidants.
I used to love the Perk Up Dry Shampoo, but I stopped buying products with aerosol cans. Since this has the same scent description, I figured this would be the same and it is. At the time, the shampoo was out of stock, but I would definitely get the shampoo. My hair is healthy because I don’t dye it and I don’t use styling tools all the time. So I usually stick to buying shampoos and conditioners from the drugstore. I have bought a few expensive shampoos and conditioners and I use them every couple weeks when I feel like a pick-me-up.
Jane Iredale: PurePressed Blush in Barely Rose | $41
A silky, easy-glide pressed blush that builds like a powder and blends like a cream for seamless, long-lasting color and a fresh, healthy glow.
The blush is a pretty pink shade that looks like a natural blush to my cheeks. I did notice that the blush had faded by the 6 hour mark though. I purposely applied more blush than usual just to see how it wore throughout the day. So, by the 6 hour mark, it was no longer noticeable and by the 9 hour mark, it was definitely gone. I used a cotton pad to wipe the makeup and no blush came off.
Blinc: Ultravolume Tubing Mascara – Black | $32
Whether your daily activities take you from the office, to your sweaty workout then out to dinner, Blinc Tubing Mascara Ultra Volume will make your lashes look as good in the evening as they did when you first applied it in the morning.
I have typical Asian lashes that don’t keep a curl for very long so I was surprised at how well this mascara kept the curl. I was wearing the mascara for about 9 hours and my lashes were still curled. They might’ve gone down a little bit, but they definitely had a curve to them still (not sticking straight down). I did notice a few flakes on my eyelid and under eye by the 9 hour mark. I think I may have touched my eye at some point. The mascara removes easily with warm water. I would say to remove the mascara with warm water before removing the rest of your makeup. So the tubes don’t get all over your face.
They have a number of brands that I’ve never tried, so I’d be interested in buying those in the future and reviewing them on my blog.
For me, they all performed about the same. I don’t wear waterproof mascara or eyeliner, so I can’t say how well these cleansing balms work for those. I cleanse with a regular cleanser after using the cleansing balms, so I don’t mind if there’s a film from the cleansing balm.
Texture
Youth to the People (YTTP)’s cleanser is the most crumbly and it’s not as emollient as the others. Due to the texture being more crumbly, it didn’t remove my makeup as well. I had to work it in longer than the others. The Inkey List one comes in a tube, so it’s a more runny texture. I have to make sure to massage the tube first before squeezing any out. I was sent the Juno & Co cleansing balm and it came melted . They sent me a new one, but I’m worried about how easily it melted.
Comparing the textures to food: The YTTP one is like mashed potatoes (with nothing added in). The melted Juno & Co one was like melted butter that had cooled down a bit (still runny, but not completely liquid). The new tub I was sent still wasn’t as solid as the other ones.
Packaging
The K-beauty cleansing balms come with spatulas, while most of the others don’t come with one. Glow Recipe wins for best packaging since it comes in a glass jar that closes nicely. I wish the spatula could fit inside the jar, but I understand why they have a larger one since the jar is quite deep. I keep all of my spatulas in a little glass container, but it’d be nice to have it in the jar if you travel. The Youth to the People one also comes in a glass jar, but when I unscrew the lid, it doesn’t feel as smooth as the Glow Recipe. The Clinique, Heimish and Banila Co. cleansing balms come in sturdy, plastic containers. When you open the lids of the Heimish and Banila Co balms, there is a spatula inside. The Juno & Co one is a cheaper container that I sometimes have trouble closing if the inner lid isn’t perfectly aligned. The Inkey List one comes in a tube. This is my least favourite packaging since the cleansing balm is already more emollient than the others. I would not travel with the Inkey List or Juno & Co ones. A few times, I’ve had to wash off both of them because the products got onto the packaging.
Cost
In the table below, I’ve calculated the cost per mL for the cleansing balms I’ve tried. I also added others that are available on Sephora and K-beauty ones I want to try.
Price (CAD)
Size
Cost per mL
Packaging
Banila Co. Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm (Original) - 100mL
25
100mL
0.25
plastic with spatula
Banila Co. Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm (Original) - 180mL
Youth to the People Superberry Dream Cleansing Balm
45
100mL
0.45
glass jar, no spatula
Looking at the cost per mL, I was surprised which ones were more expensive. The Drunk Elephant one actually isn’t the most expensive one on the list.
The Clinique one was the first one I tried. I finished it before trying other ones, so I wasn’t able to compare them side by side. I liked it a lot because it doesn’t have a scent and I don’t remember it having a filmy feeling after using it. I will buy it again once I’ve finished my current ones and update this post with a final verdict. For now, I will exclude it from the ranking. My favourite is the Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet Smoothing Enzyme Cleansing Balm. It is on the more expensive end, so for the lower range, I would pick the Heimish All Clean Balm. It doesn’t have any added fragrances and you get more in the tub (120mL vs 100mL for most of the other brands).
Have you tried these cleansing balms? Which is your fave?
Love,
Products marked with * were sent to me for review.
