My 30(ish) Minute Beauty Getaway

My husband and I live in the suburbs, but we continue to see a dentist in the city.  It is truly a pain in the neck to go to appointments, but she is really good, so, several times a year, we schlep downtown to see her.  As long as we are making the trip into Chicago on appointment days, I do take advantage of knowing that a Sephora flagship store is close by the dental office.  I usually have my appointment first while my husband uses his “parking spot karma” to find a parking place, and, weather permitting, I go outside and walk during his appointment.  The weather was beautiful during our recent visit, so, outside I went once he went into the dentist chair. I enjoyed a wonderful walk down the street, and, once I arrived at Sephora, I just had to enter!

After wandering around for a bit, I did ask an associate if the store still offers free mini facials and make-up lessons.  I had those done in the past at this and other Sephora branches, but, you never know when things might change.  (I don’t make assumptions, just educated guesses.) I was in luck–the store still offered them. Since my teeth were gleaming white, I opted for a mini “peel to perfection facial.”   My whole face would sparkle by the time I was done with the day! I planted myself in a chair while Frankie gathered the products he would use. As the process started, although I was just sitting in a store, I felt like I was enjoying a brief stint at the spa! My home skin regimen is very basic, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy being treated like royalty and having lots of nice products applied to my face. Let me say, it felt WONDERFUL! Not only did Frankie explain everything, the process of what he did felt SO good and relaxing.  I enjoyed a facial massage as part of the whole process. I could have sat in that chair for hours. (I may have looked ridiculous, but that really did not matter to me at that moment in time.) The products he used on my skin are listed below (alphabetically, not in the order they were applied).  I was also very glad that after the facial, Frankie sprayed on a final product which included sun protection. (I was extremely happy about that. I would have found it very ironic if I was given good skin care but no sunscreen. I may not use many products in general, but I always use sunscreen, and I know how important it is for healthy skin.)  The store sent me an email after my facial listing and showing photos of the products used. It made my job easier; I did not have to try to remember anything. I did not take “before and after” photos of myself since my visit to Sephora was a relative sudden one in a limited time frame. Just trust me when I say that I LOOKED (and felt) FABULOUS afterwards! If you have a chance to stop by a Sephora store, let the associates take care of you!  I truly believe that they enjoy it (either that or they fake it well; the ones I have met in the past do have backgrounds in the beauty industry), and you can learn something new while enjoying yourself! (They will also give you samples of the products they use so that you can try to replicate the process at home.)

I admit that I do not spend a lot of money on skin care products, and I did not purchase any of the items used on my face that day, but I felt as though my time at Sephora was 30 minutes very well spent on taking care of myself!