So I caved and braved the masses of people & the elements to cross the make up and beauty threshold that is the Sydney Sephora store in Pitt Street Mall.
I had originally planned on going to the opening on the Friday, but I decided against it due to the fact that it would have been total chaos (as expected.)
Myself and my exceedingly patient man friend waited in line for about 5 minutes, which was totally unexpected, and when we got inside, it was totally packed (again, to be expected.)
I managed to find a small space of free floor to snap my basket
There are two levels in the store, lower level is make up and fragrance, top level is skin care and hair care; I spent roughly an hour in the whole store.
Impressions on the general store and layout
- considering the amount of crowd control they would have had to manage, the staff & security did well with controlling the flow and amount of people inside the store. They had ropes and a line in front of the store, but I was only waiting to get inside for about 5 minutes which I thought was really fast considering horror stories I had heard in previous days.
- the store itself was well laid out, with plenty of wall displays, four sided island displays, as well as many other isolated displays around the columns inside the store. Their displays were well stocked, however the amount of people crowding around each display made it awkward to try and see all the products, but you can't really gripe about that considering the sheer volume of people.
- the cash registers were upstairs which made it much easier to get in and out.
- trying to look at products was definitely an issue only due to the amount of people in the store.
Product impressions & collections
It really irks me to say this, but I was a little disappointed with a few things. It might have been my own lack of research, but the kinds of brands and products that were available at Sephora were lesser than I expected. This is not to say that I felt like today was wasted; I was really happy to see the variety of individual products, especially in the Sephora collection.
They have brands like Tarte Cosmetics, Make Up Forever, Cover FX, and the Kat Von D make up collection to name a few, which weren't available in Australia previously, however it was more the Urban Decay, Too Faced and Nars I was more interested in seeing. (as it turnes out, those brands have an existing contract with Mecca Cosmetica and Mecca Maxima stores, but even then less than half of their usual products are available in stores at any given time, so shoppers like myself and others tend to buy such products online instead.)
Whilst seeing some overseas brands were good, a lot of the brands and products available in store were ones that were already available in department stores like David Jones and Myer. These department stores often have a huge variety of brands and products, like Lancome, Dior, YSL, Marc Jacobs, and Clinique to name a few. I felt as though a good portion of the brands and collections available, I could have easily gotten through the department stores, and the exclusivity of it was gone. I felt it was a waste to go into the chaos that was Sephora today when I easily could have gone to the Myer or David Jones, less than 5 minutes away, and looked at the exact same brands and collections there.
Probably the biggest disappointment for me was all this talk of the Australian stores price matching the US stores, and this of course wasn't the case. I understand the US do things differently with regards to taxes on top of the product price, etc, and there's going to be conversion rates based on the strength of the AUD and all these other taxes, but I was shocked to see brands like Tarte Cosmetics and Make Up Forever foundations retailing for $50+ and simple CC creams going for around $30+ a pop.
Here's a link that compares the differences between the US and Australia stores, and I feel this is pretty on point with the vast difference between prices. My usual drug store is Priceline, and they have great products like Revlon, L'Oreal, Rimmel, Maybelline, Covergirl, Prestige, and Eco Tools to name a few, however if I was looking for a foundation that wasn't high end, such as Nars, MAC, Clinique, Illamasqua, Chanel, etc, I would be totally shocked to see a foundation retailing for $50+ when it's not really considered "high end."
That all being said, I was really happy with my purchases for the day, and stuck to the Sephora Collection, as I felt as though they were far more reasonable in price - foundations, brushes, & powders were around the $20 mark, face masks were a very cheap $4, and the nude eyeshadow pot was around $18 (that one was definitely a lot more pricey, but I liked the shade and felt I saved enough on my other products to spend a little more.)
The experience was really exciting, and I know if I had more time (and patience), I would have had some products tested on me and had my make up done.
Here's a snap of my haul:
Sephora mineral powder brush, Sephora smoothing primer, Sephora Brightening and Hydrating Foundation in 'medium,' Sephora Job's Tears Whitening and Moisturisng mask, Sephora Microsmooth baked compact, and lastly, Sephora Colorful matte eyeshadow in 'Secret Boudiour No. 73."
This week I'll be posting my recent make up haul including this Sephora haul, as well as recent clothing purchases, and what I'm taking away with me during my three week holiday in New Zealand over Christmas.
x
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