I feel as if I should admit to the fact that I do most of my shopping at Sephora in December. Aside from that, I usually only shop there 3 or 4 times throughout the rest of the year...but can you blame me? I really don't need any more make-up than I already have, and they release the most amazing gift sets near Christmas....

...so I had to pick up a few things for my friends. I've been really into skincare this year, so I went more for that over make-up, and I found that this year's sets were such a great value.

how adorable are these???

As you can guess....these two bags aren't cheap at all, but I don't know anyone that doesn't love Lindt, so I don't mind spending a bit more for quality chocolate ;A; The outlet store does have a lot of great deals on Christmas products during December, so if you'd prefer to do that instead of getting a grab bag (which never go on sale), I'd opt for that instead.

Sorry for making you sit through yet another long & blabby post. I've still got a few more Christmas gift posts to push out, I'm afraid!

Ah yes, it's definitely that time of year again- when my credit & debit card get so much use I'm surprised they don't melt, and my room becomes overly cluttered with Christmas gifts! To be honest, most of the time, I barely shop at Sephora more than twice a month, but come November/December, that's when my wish list gets a bit out of control (mainly thanks to pretty packaging- I'm drawn to products I don't need!) I was blown away when I found out VIB members would also be getting 20% off this year, so I quickly started browsing the site daily to see what I should stock up on. However, I reaaally didn't want to shop online despite them having better stock on there, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped they'd still have what I wanted in store.

Here's what I got in the end:

Last month, we were very lucky to have a new Sephora store open on Robson St- not just any Sephora store, but the biggest one in Canada! A big enough deal that even the amazing Coco Rocha attended the opening ;) Most importantly, the opening week coincided with Sephora's VIB sale, so when my friend Christina was invited to a VIB Rouge event, we decided to attend at the new store instead of the one in Pacific Centre. I'd walked by before, but had purposely avoided going in to make the event that much more special. When Christina and I arrived, we were absolutely overwhelmed, not just by the physical size of the store, but all the people rushing around with baskets and baskets full of products! There were also drinks available, and girls walking around with platters of Godiva truffles. "Oh, help yourself!" Well....don't mind if I do! Godiva truffles are a little taste of heaven, after all. There's a Bumble & Bumble hair studio ($30 for styling), a Sephora Skincare Studio, and also a Benefit Brow Bar. Upstairs is the VIB Rouge Studio, which provides services like makeovers for free....but exclusive for VIB Rouge members, of course.




It was hard to choose a place to start, so we just picked a corner and went from there. We were very happy to see an Armani display AND ALSO- a counter just for the Maison Martin Margiela Replica fragrances!!!! Ever since they'd been released, I'd been dying to give them a try, but none of the stores here stocked them. Christina & I instantly rushed over to go spritz-crazy. Originally, I'd had my eye on Flower Market- it sounded right up my alley, and one of my good friends who owned it had said she thought I would like it. However....while I did like the floral aspect of it- I found it a bit too musky for me. Instead, my favourite was definitely Sunday Morning (and upon returning to the store a second time, I found I really like Jazz Club as well!)





Originally, I hadn't planned on really buying anything for the sale, save for D&G's L'Impératrice, which had taken me a bit of time to actually consider spending huge bucks on, and by the time I finally worked up the courage, the Sephora at PC was constantly out of stock. If I had the money, they wouldn't have it, and when they DID have it, I would be broke. It's honestly one of my all-time favourite perfumes though, and Christina's only comment when I grabbed the box was, "IT'S ABOUT TIME, ROZ." Anyhow. After doing some browsing online the week before the sale, I figured that with a 20% discount, I might as well get some of my Christmas gifts out of the way...I typically rush to get all my gifts from Sephora in December anyway, and it's better to take advantage of the discount instead of paying full price, right?!

2014's "Pokemon"- gotta catch 'em all, right?

Exclusive to Sephora! Juliette Has a Gun is a fragrance line by Romano Ricci- Nina Ricci's grandson

I went on a little adventure Downtown today. I love Downtown adventures by myself at 9 in the morning (never mind the fact that i skip chinese school to go on these adventures :X) Only had $5 in my wallet, so decided to go to Sears and "window-shop."
I never knew they had a Papyrus section there! I remember going to the Papyrus store in Chi-town. Loooooved it. Next up, how could i resist? Hit the make-up booths. Estee Lauder, ANNA SUI, Lancôme, Chanel, i love you all! Felt frustrated, so went to withdraw some money, then had a grand time picking out chocolates at the Lindt booth. Mmmmmmm, creamy chocolate. Went to the Bay to get some food. On my way out, i noticed that there were opening a new store across from EB Games. I didn't make much of it at first, but when i saw it said "make-up", it caught my attention. I read closely and realized that they are opening the best place in the world in the summer. FREAKING SEPHORA. OMFG. FINALLY. I AM SO VERY EXCITED. I should start saving up now, haha!