There are many reasons I feel disgruntled at no longer having Sephora beauty stores in the UK, and chief among them is the loss of the mini bar, the area at the checkout where hundreds of great products appear shrunken in size and price for the purposes of sampling or travelling light (like a luxury version of Superdrug’s excellent travel size aisle). As someone with a love of all things miniature, this is invariably where I lose all self-control and buy enough tiny products for my next 90 holidays. Now I can get the same thrill from my sofa.
Mail-order beauty retailer Feel Unique has just launched its brilliant Pick’n’Mix scheme, allowing customers to choose any five generous beauty samples for free, no purchase necessary (you pay £3.95 p&p in exchange for a same-value gift voucher to redeem against future shopping). The selection of samples is huge and impressive. Among my favourites are mini Iman foundations, Murad’s excellent sunscreens, Carita and Institut Esthederm moisturisers, Guerlain, Prada and Miller Harris scents, Ojon, Aveda and Phyto hair products, and hi-tech serums from Verso, Ren and Shiseido.
A new scent is the riskiest product to buy online, so specialist boutique Les Senteurs offers a great sampling service, selling up to four mini vials of perfume for £3.50-£5 each, plus postage – that’s far cheaper than buyer’s remorse (Les Senteurs’ beautiful selection averages at about £100 a bottle), and the high quality means samples should last well in their own right. You can, of course, attempt to score samples at beauty counters, though some brands are more generous than others. Kiehl’s wide distribution of free samples is central to its business plan, and always has been. Space NK is also good.
Other brands may not have pre-packaged samples to offer, but in my experience are usually happy for you to decant some skincare into your own pot to test at home (better this than a future refund following a reaction). It’s worth noting that Sephora does now ship to the UK, and at the time of writing one can add five free samples to any purchase. But do bear in mind that UK customs charges are woefully unpredictable, so there’s a chance you’ll get stung on the doorstep and your imported samples may, in real terms, end up costing more than full size.
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