Sephora Canada - Ranting about Rewards

I need to rant about Sephora Canada rewards. 

I feel like I’m stuck in a bad relationship but because I still have some fond memories of the good old days, I haven’t been able to muster the balls to cut ties with them. Not to mention, Shoppers Drugmart is slowly but surely creeping up on Sephora’s territory with their Beauty Boutiques constantly adding new brands, NARS being their newest acquisition. Plus, Shoppers Optimum points are about a million times more useful than Sephora’s points will ever be because THEY CAN BE USED TO BUY THINGS I ACTUALLY WANT, YOU BLINDING NEON NARDS!

It’s no secret that Sephora doesn’t really give a red cent about its Canadian consumers.

Oh, I should also mention that Sephora are now adding MAC to their rolodex, so now I’ll be able to buy it in not one, but THREE different locations in my same mall. So, thanks, I guess?

You guys remember how things used to be for us Canadian shoppers, right? Sure, before Sephora opened their Canadian warehouse we’d have to put up with long shipping times BUT the rewards options alone were worth the wait. So, what the hell happened?

These days, the rewards are totally bogus. There used to be a section specifically for Canadian Rewards – which, by the way, Americans used to still be able to access and apply to their orders, as if they didn’t get every perk already! -  and the rewards were actually things worth getting. Nowadays it’s like, how many perfume samples does one person need?

Up until two weeks ago I’d been sitting on over 1000 points for over a year because the rewards weren’t even worth the tiny bottles they were packaged in. Don’t even get me started on any rewards worth 750+ points which are sold out in the blink of an eye.

You can imagine my surprise when a couple weeks ago I was browsing the Sephora site and noticed a ton of 100-point rewards I’d never seen before. Drunk Elephant, Bite, ABH, Caudalie, Dr. Dennis Gross, Fresh – my eyes just about jumped outta my damn head! I couldn’t let this pass me by and placed an order just so I could use up all of my points, because who knows when Sephora might bless us with table scraps again?

And wouldn’t you know it, out of curiosity, I checked the site the next day and all but two of the rewards were gone. Sold out. Who would have guessed people would be interested in items other than single-use foundation samples? If I hadn’t checked when I did, I would probably still be burdened with unusable points myself.

As much as I’d love to say that I’m done with Sephora, I know that isn’t true. However, this post is me letting go of any hope that they might do right by their Canadian customers.   

Stila's Eyes Are the Window Palette in 'Mind' | Review & Swatches

It seems like every time I turn around I'm being bombarded with images and videos and pre-release "reviews" (more like ads, amiright?) of the next biggest palette.

Cool ones, warm ones, smokey ones, the only palette(s) we'll ever need or desire! There's a million to choose from. And we want them all, don't we?

Never mind that all of the most popular palettes are warm and "bronzy" which actually only look good on about a third of the people who buy them BUT that's a rant for another day...

Now, I'm no stranger to the palette hype, I get sucked into their vortex all the time! But one thing most of my palettes (and probably everyone else's) have in common is that about 90% of their shadows are entirely shimmery. Oh sure, most brands will throw in the conciliatory matte blending shade or two, usually some form of brown or cream colour. But the reality is two mattes don't cover all your bases, especially if said palette is claiming to be "everything you'll need" to create complete looks.

So when I was given a Sephora gift card last Christmas I knew an ALL-matte palette would be just the thing to round out my shadow family. Surprisingly, finding a GOOD matte palette is harder than you would think, almost impossible it seemed. But after much digging I finally found the one...

Oh you fancy, huh?

Enter in Stila's Eyes Are the Window palette in 'Mind'. There's actually four palettes in the "Eyes" range but I believe that Mind is the only all-matte of the four.

Look at that packaging! So gold, much fancy! Not to mention the mirror included is huge, which is a giant plus if you do plan on having this be the only palette you use or travel with. In fact this actually was the only palette I used for close to two months; I was that obsessed!

You might be thinking: "But surely you can't use ONLY matte shadows day-to-day! If palettes have taught us anything it's that we must constantly glitter like the night's sky!" and there was definitely a time when I would have agreed to you.

If you've never experimented with all-matte eye looks you'll quickly realize that crease colours and blending like a pro are EVERYTHING. All-matte eye looks somehow come off as super effortless and super polished at the same time. It's like a whole new world of possibilities for your eyes!
Colour (and blend) me impressed!

My favourite is second from the left!

I feel like while the 'Mind' palette does tend to lean on the warmer side of things there are still enough nude/purple/grey shades to make some pretty decent cool toned variations. I mean, there are some shades which I hardly touch (like that orangey brown bottom centre) but that's pretty par for the course in most palettes, isn't it? I have to say my favourite shade in this entire palette is the bottom left shade, a pinky brown. It's my go-to crease colour hands down.

As far as colour pay-off goes, they're pretty good. A few of the lighter shades are a bit chalky but nothing a half-way decent primer can't fix. Plus, you can already tell how much I enjoy that
cream colour since I've already hit pan on it.

This palette was a little on the pricier side at $59.00 but I do truly feel like for a good all-matte
set of shadows that you'll get tons of use out of it's not so bad.

Stila's Eyes Are the Window palette in 'Mind' get an 8.5/10.