Mac Warehouse Sale Haul: December 3, 2010

Came home not too long ago from the Estee Lauder warehouse sale. This was the first day of the sale and I went in the afternoon around 1pm - no line-up (yay). For those of you that have never been to one of these sales, there are 3 different rooms to go through. The sample products are taped down onto tables with an associated "item number". You can swatch the samples and what ever you want, you write down onto your little piece of paper. You then bring your piece of paper to runners who will gather your products together and bag them. Brands I saw: MAC, Estee Lauder (lipsticks/lipglosses, skincare, fragrance), Clinique (eye shadows, lipsticks/ lipglosses, foundation, mascara), Prescriptives, Origins, Bobbi Brown (mainly foundation, concealer), Coach and DKNY.



Room 1: 
Skin Care ?
Face Powders, Blush $15
False eyelashes (#47, 40, 45,20), mini Estee Lauder lip glosses, eyeshadow wands, make-up sponges, pencil sharpener $4
Eye Shadow Quads $30-35
Perfume gift sets (DKNY, Tom Ford, Clinique, Estee Lauder) $25-40
Makeup Bags, Totes $12?

Room #1

I was quite disappointed by the skin care items they had because they were mostly for the body. A lot of these items were repeated in subsequent rooms as well. I didn't like that the products weren't grouped by category, so the skinfinish would be mixed in with blushes and powder. For those who don't know the product line very well, they wouldn't know if the item was for the cheeks or all-over. The line to hand in your slip was the longest in this room. I did see a few things from the "to the Beach" collection here. Most skinfinishes and powders were NW and the NC ones were sold out except for he really light or really dark shades. The $4 bins were also disappointing, there were only 4 different pairs of lashes and out of that 2 were extremely long & flashy. The Estee mini lipgloss shades were very sparkly and purply.

Room 2:
Eyeshadows, Pigments, Paintpots, Shadestick, Greasepaint stick $12
Brushes/ Brush Sets - Regular sized brushes include: #272, 184, 249, 189, 225, 179, 231, 165, 136, 192 $10-15 for eye brushes, $20-40 for face brushes
Foundation, Mascara $12
More perfume gift sets, MAC eye gift set (2 mascara, eye makeup remover, 1 brow pencil)
MAC Charged Water $12

I saw quite a few items from the "Libery of London" collection here. Foundation were mainly American Beauty, Bobbi Brown and Clinique. The common shades were almost gone when I went back a second time. Mascaras were mainly Estee and Clinique, no MAC from what I saw.

Room 3:
Nail Lacquers ?
Lipsticks/ Lipglosses $10
Bobbi Brown Cleansing oil 6.7oz $30 BOGO
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzing Palette $30 BOGO
More fragrance sets

I was disappointed to see that the lipsticks/ lipglosses were $10 and not $15 BOGO as in previous sales but that was the main section I was most interested in...so of course I bought anyways. I spent the most time here and there were a lot of things I liked. A lot of the shades were very wearable and they had a very large selection although not the ones I had written on my wishlist. The concealers were mainly the select cover-up and studio stick concealer. At the cash-out they had a mountain of the BB cleansing oil and Estee bronze palettes but I didn't get either. When I left you could hand in your ticket and get a free gift..."Nocturnelle" (black) Nail Lacquer which I wasn't too thrilled until I saw the gift that they handed out an hour later - 2 sponges. The charity bag was a good deal as usual, you get 4 random products for $5 and the proceeds go to breast cancer research.

Charity Bag #1

Charity Bag #2

Eyeshadow in Sassy Grass

Both charity bags have 2 brow pencils in Taupe and Blond (something I was looking to purchase). Bag #1 has an eyeshadow in Assemblage and Cremesheen Lipstick in Drive me Wild. Bag #2 has the green eyeshadow in Sassy Grass and a lipglass in A Quiet Roar. As I was waiting for my ride, I saw that other people got a #3 bag that has the 2 brow pencils, a sky blue eyeshadow and red nail lacquer.

All in all, I had a good time *edit* interesting first-time experience. I might rethink going to the next sale if the prices are going to be the same as this time around. The free gift was *wonk wonk* and the fact that they give out the same charity bags even if you buy 4 was disappointing. At those prices I would probably rather buy 1 of an item in the shade I love than get 2 discounted items of a colour i'm so-so about.

Tips:

•  Google search "mac warehouse"sale to see what was offered at previous sales
• make a budget - it's easy to lose track of your spendings (I did T__T)
• bring a pen & paper - you need to write down the numbers of the items you want and sometimes they run out  
• make a wish list before going - they most likely will not have even half of the things you wrote down but it's good to know what types of things you're looking for
• write down colour descriptions of items you're interested in - e.g. peach-y pink lipstick w/ no shine because if you write down specific names and don't find it, you won't be able to find a substitute that may be available
• when the runners gather your items, check to see they got the right items - I got two items that weren't the ones I wrote down (T____T)
• if you have a buddy, get them to line-up at the "gathering station" while you look at the items - the line can be ridiculously long (face powders & blushes section)
• bring a moist towelette to wipe your hand of multiple swatches
• if you're going back to a room, make sure to check items you've already picked up - it's easy to forget what you've already gotten
• Stand around the exit door if you want to trade a charity bag that you have duplicates of - there's a chance someone else may have gotten duplicates of something you want
• Watch when the cashiers cash you out - I got overcharged because the lady read 5x$15 instead of 3x$15
• if you're desperate for an invite, try hanging out around the parking lot - there was a lady who managed to get 2 invites...one from someone in the lot who happened to have extras, the other from the guy selling hot dogs at the entrance :S