50 Words or Less Reviews, Vol. III: Samples

Monday, July 30, 2012

Time for another installment of 50 Words or Less Reviews! This time I'll feature things that I tried first as samples or minis and how they influenced me to buy the product (or in some cases, throw them away and vow to never waste my money).

1. Laura Mercier Eye Basics in Wheat. $24 for 0.18oz.
Wow. Didn't know a product could make my lids look weirdly peachy and patchy, eye shadow hard to blend, crease more easily and just generally make my eye makeup look pretty bad. But this product can. Toss!

2. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream. $28 for 6oz.
Perfume SA gave me a sample to increase longevity of perfume. I applied it on my neck, broke me out in huge cystic acne. As a hand and body cream, doesn't do much for me. Really prefer Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion, much less costly for better results.

3. Clarisonic Gentle Hydro Cleanser. $25 for 6oz.
I was pleasantly surprised to how much I liked this when a sample came with my Mia brush. Non foaming, watery cream texture. Gently cleanses my face without stripping or leaving residue. Actually bought a full sized bottle!

4. CLEAN Skin Perfume. $69 for 2.14oz.
I've waxed poetic about this perfume before. My point is, a SA gave me a sample and I absolutely fell head over heels in love at first sniff. It took me less than three days (for both me and the BF) to decide that I absolutely needed this. Full bottle? Absolutely.

5. Laura Mercier Foundation Primer. $32 for 1.75oz.
I like that this primer feels like a lotion, but that makes me feel like I could simply use a light moisturizer and it'd work just as well. Not so great at oil control, but decent for beautiful foundation application. Kinda pricey, so insert 'meh' sound here.

I feel really fortunate that here in the United States we have Sephora stores that are more than happy to provide us with samples! Not only that, but with orders we get to chose even more samples. It's a great way to test something out without the commitment of paying full price for something you might not like/breaks you out/smells like wet dog on you without the hassle of having to return it. That being said, we're also pretty lucky that a lot of stores have such generous return policies!

Have you tried any of these five products? What samples have you used lately that convinced you that you needed that product/never would buy it?

Products featured were given to me as samples as a part of being a consumer or purchased by me for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.