What’s new in Sephora Middle East – Spring 2016 launches

 

When I started blogging around 10 months ago, I never imagined that I would be lucky enough to attend an event organized by the French beauty powerhouse – Sephora.  So when I got the invitation to attend the Spring preview organized by Sephora Middle East, I was thrilled beyond words !

The event was held at the Frioul Bistro at Madinat Jumeirah.  The restaurant, with it’s chic French Riviera like feel matched the mood of the event perfectly where 10 brands (including Sephora’s in-house brand – Made in Sephora) showcased their Spring launches.

The event was very interactive and more enjoyable than most blogger events that I’ve attended.  The brands had set up little counters/booths and we visited each one while getting to know more about each product and try them out.

At the end of the tour we received a goody bag that contained a small selection of new releases, which I will be reviewing in the coming weeks!

What I got in the goodie bag!

The beautiful location where the event was held

Made in Sephora

The Made in Sephora collection includes a vast collection of makeup, skincare, brushes and accessories.  The quality of these products are absolutely amazing and very affordable as well!

The star of the launch was “The One” mascara.  A wonder product that promises to add volume, lengthen and define lashes while being long lasting. Hence the name “The One” !

For Spring, Sephora is expanding their fabulous line of brushes, including the nifty little Pro Contour Kabuki Brush (which you can use to both highlight and contour),  Pro Airbrush Blender, a Brow Defining set and a few more brush sets (priced very attractively).

Sephora seems to be embracing the Korean beauty craze wholeheartedly.  They are launching a Cushion Foundation Compact and expanding their best selling sheet mask range by adding lip & hand masks.  The foundation is quite amazing and has a lovely light weight texture and leaves a beautiful natural, skin like finish (the coverage is light to medium ).  This would be great during Dubai’s hot summer months and I believe will become a fast seller !

Another product that’s new to Sephora is the High Coverage Concealer.  That romises to smooth out imperfections while providing natural and long lasting coverage(10 hours).

Sephora is expanding their “Rouge Cream Lipstick” range (a hydrating lipstick with intense pigmentation) by adding 20 new shades.

The “Made in Sephora” line has many more new launches so I suggest you head out to your nearest Sephora to check them out.

 

 

Too Faced

Too Faced fans in the Middle East are in for a treat this Spring!  The brand is launching quite a lot of new products, including the Cocoa scented Melted Chocolate Liquefied Lipstick collection and the Chocolate Bon Bons Pallet.  Among the other new releases is the much loved Hangover Rx primer, 2 shades of Candlelight Glow highlight powders, 2 eye primers (Glitter Glue and Shadow Insurance) and 10 new shades of La Creme lipstick and the beautiful multi-tasking Mr Right Perfect Powder brush.

 

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Clinique

Well known for their “no nonsense” and straight forward approach to beauty, Clinique’s new eye cream “Pep Start” is a Sephora exclusive.

The cream contains a blend of peptides that instantly brightens and hydrates the under eye area and makes a great base for makeup.  The little ball in the end helps to massage the under eye area and improve circulation (it also has a slight cooling sensation).  And the non greasy texture is ideal for the hot Middle Eastern climate.  I loved this cream so much that I’ll be buying this when I run out of my current eye cream 🙂

Dr Jart+

The well known Korean beauty brand and one of the pioneers of the BB creams craze is finally coming to the the Middle East!   However, the brand is launching only their sheet mask range at the moment. (fingers crossed the full range is to follow).  And these will be available in individual packs.  Combining medical science with beauty, Dr Jart+ has a sheet mask for every skin concern from wrinkles, sagging skin to acne.

 

Caudalie

The cult French skincare brand Caudalie is launching their newest anti-aging range “Resveratrol Lift”.  A range that promises to reshape, define and lift your skin to leave it looking younger.   The range contains a serum,  eye balm, a day cream with SPF 20 and a night cream.   All the products have a light texture and a heavenly, herbal scent which I absolutely loved!   The day/night creams and the serum is definitely going on my wish list 🙂

The Caudalie Resveratrol Lift range

Caudalie Resveratrol Lift range

 

 Histories de Parfums 

This Spring, Sephora Middle East will be launching the luxurious French perfume brand Histories de Parfums new fragrance – “This Is Not A Blue Bottle “.

The creator of the brand, perfumer Gerald Ghislain compares his perfumes to a story told through a scent.  Just like words come together to tell a story , each note in his fragrances combine to evoke certain emotions.

“This Is Not A Blue Bottle ” is a beautifully crafted unisex fragrance, that comes packaged in a lovely blue coloured glass bottle.  Though it smells quite strong when it’s first sprayed, the notes mellow down quickly to a unique and sensual scent.  And it’s very, very long lasting !

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I love masculine scents and this is one scent I found irresistible !   This fresh fragrance will appeal to both men and women alike.

I loved this scent!  Can’t you tell by my expression 🙂

 

 

Kat Von D

I think it’s fair to say that Kat Von D is one of the most popular makeup brands in the Middle East.  The quality of the products are fantastic and I have never been dissapointed in any of the products I have tried from her line.  So it’s no wonder that Kat Von D products go out of stock very quickly !

So Kat Von D fans will be happy to know that Sephora is launching her much loved collection of Metal Crush Eye shadows.  These are super pigmented and buttery smooth and comes in 8 stunning shades from a metallic gold (Trasher) to a iridescent mahogany (Raw Power).

Kat Von D’s Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in shade “Lollita 2” has become a bestseller ever since it was launched in the United States and now it will be available for her fans in the Middle East as well.  It’s is a beautiful warm terracotta shade  that looks perfect on any skin tone.  I own this shade and every time I wear it I get so many compliments.  It somehow has the ability make you look like you are wearing a lot of makeup even when you aren’t 🙂

I also got a chance to get my eye makeup done by the lovely Joy Acosta (Sales and Education executive for Kat Von D).   She gave me a subtle smokey eye using the KVD Shade and Light pallet and the gunmetal eyeshadow (Black No 1) from the Metal Crush collection.  I was amazed by the versatility of the pallet and the fact that even someone who’s not well versed in the art of makeup can use it to create pretty decent looks.   One more thing added to my wish list 🙂

 

Marc Jacobs

The Marc Jacobs counter was beautiful and looked like it came straight out of a film noir set !  And perfectly matched the new campaign starring Winona Ryder.

Marc Beauty is launching a collection of 3 mascaras inspired by the unique textures of velvet, feathers and lamé .  Add volume, texture and sparkle to your lashes with these new formulas – Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara, Feather Noir Ultra-skinny Lash Discovering Mascara and Lamé Noir Ultra-glittering Mascara .  Out of the 3, the Lamé Noir was my favorite.  It contains a blend of black and gold micro glitter that can be applied to the lashes to make them shine !

Also launching in Spring is the Fineliner – an ultra skinny gel eye crayon in two shades (black and white).  The liner has quite a sharp point and is quite easy to manage.  Specially if you love wearing winged eyeliner (or a cat eye), this is a great alternative to liquid eyeliner.

The 3 new shades of Marc Beauty’s “Enamored Hi-shine Nail Enamel ” seems to have been inspired by the fairy-tale Snow White.  The shades are White Snow (white), Blacquer (black) and Poison Apple (bright apple red!) and they come in a plasticized finish formula.

Star Skin

Sheet masks have become an essential product in our skin care regimes.   They are a quick and easy way to perk up your skin, specially when it’s looking dry or dull.  And they deliver instant results.  And with Star Skin’s  2 VIP masks, you can pamper your skin like a celebrity !  These bio-Cellulose masks (made with fermented Coconut water) – Gold ( with pure colloidal gold for revitalizing) and Diamond (ultra-fine diamond dust for illuminating) are available in Sephora stores in the United Arab Emirates (only).

 

 

Nails Inc

Unless you’ve been living in some remote corner of the world without Internet, you would know about Nail Inc’s range of spray on nail polishes – “Paint Can”.  When these were first launched in 2015,  it sent ripples of excitement through the beauty world.  People were so fascinated with this innovative product and there were massive waiting lists! And now fans in the Middle East can finally get their hands on these little cans, thanks to Sephora!

Apply a base coat and then just spray the polish over your nails and let it dry.   For a longer lasting manicure, Nails Inc advises to use a top coat over it.  Then use warm soapy water or a makeup wipe to clean excess polish from the cuticles and fingers.  It’s that easy!   For a clumsy person like me (who can never neatly apply polish) this is a godsend.

 

Formula X

Formula X – Sephora’s in house nail polish brand has quite a few launches in store for Spring (available in April).  “Delete All – 5 Finger Nail Polish Remover” – is a quick and easy way to remove nail polish.  This intensive nail polish remover comes in a pre-soaked five-finger sponge to dissolve all types of polish (even those pesky glitter polishes !).

The other new release from Formula X is the “The Fix – Nail Treatment” .  A 5 in 1 nail treatment that’s available in a iridescent wash of pink that’s flattering on all skin tones.  Formulated with pro-vitamin B5 and Pentavitin to resist breakage, the treatment corrects and blurs nail imperfections for an instant, soft focus look. It also protects against nail discoloration with innovative UV absorbents, and smooths the look of nail ridges.

If you are not familiar with Formula X , just try out their nail polishes.   They are amazing quality and one of the longest lasting polishes I’ve ever used.  And very chip resistant.

 

All of these new launches will be available from March 2016. So better hurry to your nearest Sephora and start shopping!

Thank you so much for reading and have a great weekend!

 

Related information

Follow Sephora Middle East on Instagram (click here) and Facebook (click here) to stay updated with all their new releases.