Sephora & Ulta - 2017 Free makeup birthday gifts with swatches

I do this post every year, and I'm so excited about the 2017 free makeup birthday gifts! I love getting makeup freebies, plus I have a February birthday so I'm happy to share swatches & my thoughts early in the year. It's snowing like crazy today in Boston, so no outside pics this year.

Sephora 2017

Sephora has three birthday gift choices for the year of 2017. I saw two available in store in the Boston area. The options are:

1. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Paaarty & Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint in Birthday Suit
2. Caudalie Vinoperfect Radiance Serum and Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet 
3.  Jack Black Deep Dive Glycolic Facial Cleanser and Clean Break Oil-Free Moisturizer. This one looks like its online only, but let us know if you see it in your local store!  

As always, I did no photo editing so you can see the most accurate color - I only edit to add watermarks and shade labels. The Paaarty blush (why couldn't they just name it Party?!? Tarte makes me feel like a grumbly old lady) is matte and is a peachy nude. A+ for choosing a matte shade, I rarely wear shimmery blushes because they look horrible with pores/skin texture.

For context, I swatched this shade next to some shades you may be familiar with. I threw in Bobbi Brown Pale Pink on the end so you could see it next to an actual cool toned shade for reference. Compared to Tarte Thankful, one of the most basic warm pinks ever, you can see Paaarty is more nude and peachy. NARS Douceur, my favorite nude blush, is more plummy and brown. In case you thought Paaarty was too tan, I swatched NARS Laguna at the other end for reference.

On my fair cool toned skin, Paaarty shows up and looks pretty, but it isn't my favorite. I personally prefer cooler toned pinks, but I could see this shade working well for most fair-light-medium skintones. If you have skin deeper than a medium tan, I doubt this would work at all.

Free makeup birthday gifts 2016 - Sephora, Ulta, Urban Decay

We all love birthday gift freebies, so as someone with an early in the year birthday I wanted to share what I got! Sephora, Ulta, and Urban Decay all have rewards programs that offer birthday perks.

Sephora birthday gift 2016

Sephora offers two choices for your free 2016 birthday gift - a skincare set from Fresh or a makeup set from Marc Jacobs. Normally I choose the Sephora makeup set over the skincare, but this year's Marc Jacobs duo didn't interest me. I prefer thin eyeliner pencils over the thicker gel pencils to get a precise, thin line or to tightline and I prefer tinted lip balm or lip gloss to full on lipstick, so I went for the other option.

I was really excited to try Fresh minis of the rose face mask and soy face cleanser - I have loved everything I have tried from Fresh in the past, especially their lip treatments. I am pleased to report both of these are quite nice and don't irritate my sensitive skin. My favorite of the two is the rose face mask - it smells like real roses! Neither product is a game changer, but I enjoy using them.

I didn't love either one of last year's NARS pencils (Rikugien was fine but nothing special and Cruella was crazy drying on me), so 2016 is a step up.

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara - review & lash demo

I adore trying new mascaras, especially free samples that come with online orders. I got a sample of Urban Decay's new Perversion mascara from Sephora awhile back and I have used it for almost three months. Perversion mascara is an extension of Urban Decay's Perversion line that contains pencil, liquid, and gel eyeliner. Apparently Urban Decay needed a break from milking all possible dollars from their Naked line, so they picked another faux scandalous product name to milk. True to the original Perversion eyeliner pencil, this mascara only comes in one shade - advertised as a true dark black.

Perversion mascara retails for $22 for 12ml / .4oz of product. An Urban Decay Perversion mini mascara is also Ulta's free birthday gift for July, August, and September 2015, so if you have a summer birthday you are in luck!

Sephora vs. Ulta 2015 birthday gift comparison

I have had the Sephora and Ulta free 2015 makeup gifts for a little while now, so I thought I would do a comparison smackdown post. The 2015 Sephora gift is two NARS lip pencils - Cruella (velvet) and Rikugien (satin).  The 2015 January, February, & March Ulta gift is an Ulta store brand complete eye palette in Indie.

So which one is better? 

 Left: Sephora 2015 birthday gift, Right: Ulta 2015 birthday gift

Ulta Q1 birthday gift 2015: complete eye palette in Indie

Ulta's free January, February, & March 2015 birthday gift is an Ulta store brand complete eye palette in Indie. The Ulta complete eye palettes have five shades and look like they are being repackaged. The old layout is a bullseye format palette and the new style is a traditional quint layout. The new layout makes more sense to me because there is enough room for your brush in each pan.

The free Ulta birthday gift changes quarterly - Q1 was the palette in Indie, Q2 was an Urban Decay eyeliner mini in Voodoo, Q3 is a Urban Decay Perversion mascara mini, and I haven't heard yet what the Q4 gift is. If you know what the Q4 gift is, please leave me a comment and I will update the post!

Ulta 2015 birthday palette in Indie

Indie has five shades: a satin champagne in the center, a satin lilac taupe at 2 o'clock, a chocolate brown with red glitter that swatches suspiciously matte at 4 o'clock, a matte medium brown at 8 o'clock, and a satin rose gold at 10 o'clock. The palette retails for $12, contains 9 grams of eyeshadow, and is free for Ulta rewards members with an email coupon. Unfortunately, you may not choose your complete eye palette - everyone gets Indie.

Ulta 2015 birthday palette in Indie, back

Sephora birthday gift 2015: NARS Rikugien & Cruella

Sephora's 2015 free birthday gift for Beauty Insiders is a NARS lip pencil pairing - Rikugien and Cruella. NARS satin lip pencil in Rikugien is described as a "rose pink"and contains pearl. Cruella, a velvet matte lip pencil, is described as a "scarlet red." I was really excited to receive my birthday gift - NARS lip pencils are cult products and I have never tried the formula before.

Sephora Beauty Insider 2015 birthday gift


Happy birthday to me!