**REVIEW** Sephora Favorites Sampler (for her)

**Full name of product: Sephora Favorites Deluxe Fragrance Sampler For Her**

PRO: This is a nice gift to give someone who likes trying different fragrances. Here's the deal: You purchase a gift box containing various scent samples and a certificate redeemable for whatever amount you paid. I believe the prices range from around $40 to over $100. Once the giftee has tried the samples and chosen a favorite, they take the certificate into Sephora's for a full-size product.

Nice. Thoughtful.

PRO The gift boxes are very pretty and the samples are each adequate for several days' use. I looked up some info on the different sets offered and one thing I noticed is that they change quickly. For instance, I got my set for my birthday in June; I can no longer find a set advertised with the same set of fragrances. Here is what I received in my particular box:

COACH Poppy Flower
DKNY PureDKNY A Drop of Vanilla
DKNY PureDKNY A Drop of Verbena
DOLCE & GABANA The One
ESCADA Especially Escada
GIRGIO ARMANI Acqua Di Gioia
GUCCI Guilty Intense
JENNIFER ANISTON Jennifer Aniston
JUICY COUTURE Viva La Juicy
MARC JACOBS Daisy Eau So Fresh
MARC JACOBS Oh, Lola!

Let me just say right now that I almost picked (heh heh) the Marc Jacobs "Daisy" just for the cute name!

All the fragrances are actually nice, but I have a scent-type preference for perfumes in the "Woody/Oriental" family.  Think "Dune" or "Shalimar." Just for the record, I will probably go with the Escada.

CON: One minor gripe I have is that for the two DKNY scents, you better have a good nose since the samples are not distinguished from one another except by color: green or white.  Well, damnit, I can barely see the print on a STOP sign without my glasses, so I had to go outside, hold both samples up to the light and have a discussion with my alter ego before I figured them out. And - oh, yeah, I think you're supposed to just know that the green is Verbena and the white Vanilla, at least, that's what I came up with. (I have a disease that messes with my thought processes; you think I had fun with this little exercise?)

Now, like I said, this is a great gift idea, but (other than the DKNY trick), I have a couple problems with it:

CON - There are various sets in Sephora's gift collection (I saw a set with a lot of florals and another with a lot of "clean/cool" scents a'la Calvin Klein, etc.). I drooled over one box that included Versace's Yellow Diamond. CHOOSE CAREFULLY because the certificate can only be redeemed for a product represented by the samples in your set. (I have a problem with this because I feel the money that was paid should be applied any way I'd like.)

COND - If your sample box was bought at Sephora "inside JC Penney," that's the only place you can redeem your certificate. Not online or in a stand-alone Sephora. I don't know what that's about. Personally, it's a real pain in my patience to go to our local Sephora's. I'd rather go online and pay the shipping and handling.

A big "Plus" is, there is no time limit on redeeming the certificate. Good thing for me since I am having a heck of a time deciding on a favorite.

And, by the way, this review might sound a little harsh. I'm a little testy because of another issue I had with Sephora. Belonging to their little online "club" (or whatever it is), I was due a free birthday gift. When I went in to pick it up, the store had run out of whatever the gift was. They had me leave my name and contact info so that they could mail my gift. Yeah. Never heard a word from anyone at Sephora. They have no problem slamming my Inbox with their ads.. That's cool though, they did let me pick out some samples. I should have been greedier and chosen more than two. Hmph.

Peace
--Free

P.S.: I'm going to apologize for any incoherence in this post; I am having a rough day with the Sarc.