Makeup and skin care haul from Sephora Middle East: Part I

You're thinking, "That is all she bought, after all her claims?" This is the first of the makeup and skin care hauls made over the Holiday season from Sephora Middle East. I've got separate haul posts for lipsticks, nail polishes, Soap & Glory, Benefit and Boots No7. Detailed reviews and swatches will be posted later. And yes, I did buy 25 nail polishes and quite a few lipsticks, but this post will become longer than The Iliad unless I split up my haul!
There are eight countries in the Persian Gulf with Sephora stores, with eight Sephora outlets in the UAE alone. You can sign up for the Sephora White Card, which is the Middle East's equivalent of the Beauty Insider loyalty card programme and earn points and get gifts. And once you have 2,000 points like I do now, you can trade it in for a black card. I'm now going to show you the palettes, eye creams, blush and brushes I hauled across brands from Sephora.
Click the video to see the detailed haul post of what I bought. Please subscribe to my video channel and give it a like if you liked the post.

Although definitely nowhere near Sephora USA where generosity with samples is concerned, Sephora Middle East is far more generous than Sephora Singapore (a bag and a pouch; no samples) and Sephora Europe (four perfume vials). I didn't really ask for samples, but ended up with these samples from Dior and Lancome and a perfume vial of a Dubai-based brand.

The SA at Givenchy gave me samples from the Hydra Sparkling and Vaxin ranges, most of which were eye care products.

The cards contained an eye gel sachet, a bit of serum and some day cream. Oh, and unlike Sephora USA, you can't return anything if you've opened or swatched it.

And, they gave me seven vials of perfume. Unfortunately, they neglected to label them and I have absolutely no idea as to which perfume is in which vial. I think the pink one smells like Miss Dior, since I have it already, and one of them is Viva La Juicy, I suspect. I remember the SA saying two of them were Chloe. But this is absolutely ludicruous.

Finally, they gave me a lovely brush pouch and a handbag at checkout. Here's the brush pouch which is proving to be very useful - it can store 12-15 brushes, all protected by flaps, and there's a zipper compartment for the Beautyblender or something else.

Best of all, when you sign up for your card, you get a welcome gift. I showed them my welcome email and they gave me a full-size Sephora Supreme Body Lotion 125ml - no parabens - as a welcome gift! Now that I've crossed 2,000 points, I have been upgraded to a Black Card (VIB equivalent) and I'm getting a prestigious brand gift! I'll also get a birthday gift every year, and "trial packs during high-profile product launches", whatever that means :) Sadly, the points on my Beauty Insider card remain unredeemed and my birthday gifts remain uncollected since 2010.

I apologise for my somewhat amateur video attempts. My hero Gramps (those of you who've been reading my blog for a while will know he was diagnosed with the hateful "C" in May, thankfully early stages) gave me some money as a Christmas prezzie and I bought a Sony Handycam with it - this video is the first to be shot with it! I will do voice-over and better videos once I find my way around the camcorder (proving easier than photography so far. At least I know which end faces where). Stay tuned for the next haul post.