SEPHORA HOLIDAY FAVORITES SETS 2026! ARE THEY REALLY A GOOD VALUE?! Spoiler: not really

They are here. [music] The bestelling, sell out, viral Sephora favorites holiday sets have officially arrived. There's more than what I have just in my hand today. As you know, I'm going to cover mostly the makeup sets. There's actually less makeup sets than normal, unless they're going to come out with more. I only saw four of them and I didn't actually purchase the fourth one because I didn't really like it. But t the season, they're out, baby. We are in the thick of holiday sets. So, I'm kicking off my holiday sets video with my favorite sets, the sets that I recommend the most every single year because name another time that you can walk out of Sephora with 10 items for under $75. in some cases for under $50. It's just not possible for Sephora except during holiday season when you can get the kits. And I love the Sephora favorites kits because you can try some of the most popular, bestselling products across multiple brands without spending a ton of money all at once. So that's why I love these. That's why I recommend these. I'm coming from this from a lens of a person who doesn't try everything, who doesn't have everything. And I just know, you know, when I was in college or when I was in high school, these sets I would have coveted because they have the best most popular brands in here and there was no way I was going to buy all of these anyways. So that's why I cover them despite owning everything already. I say this every year, these sets are only a good value if you're interested in and are going to use the majority of the products of the sets. So, when I present the sets to you, think about each individual product. Are you actually going to use this? Are you actually going to wear this? And if the answer is no to the majority, then these are officially not a good value for you. But if the answer is yes, you're going to have to act on these fast because these do sell out every single year. In fact, one of the sets has already sold out and this one was one of the best. So, this is not an official holiday kit, but it did launch like a week ago. So, if you happen to see the Sephora favorites makeup expert kit come back, this is the best one. Seriously, if it ever comes back in stock, I'll let you know. But it already sold out. I covered this in my last trying new Sephora's video, but today I'm covering the holiday specific makeup kits. So, today we are going to deep dive into the cozy and clean set, the holiday lip kit set, and the holiday musthave set. So, let's get into it. We are going to go from most affordable to most expensive. So, this first one that we have is $45 with a $140 value. This is the cozy and clean set. They come out with this one every year. Now, all of the bags are super nice this year. They've come out with very flimsy ones in previous years, and when it's not holiday, they come in literally paper bags. So, that is another huge plus of these holiday favorite sets is they come in actual usable bags that you will use beyond finishing all of the products in here. And this one this year has like a cute little handle and it says Sephora. I don't think they've ever come out with branded ones before in previous years. So, instantly a huge bonus and an added value to the set. Uh, all of the covers are just going to be cardboard over top. And you know what? Even the zipper is branded this year. This This is really good. I really like this bag. By the way, ignore my very faux looking faux freckles. I tried a new freckle pen today that did not did not go over well. the ink just spread over my powder and like got big and huge. So, this is what happens when you test makeup every day. Your makeup cannot look good every day. But anyway, [laughter] so this is a set that you can get if you want to spend under $50. If you have a $50 bill and you want to leave with seven products, this is unreal. In this set, there are two mini sizes, two deluxe sizes, which is slightly larger than their sample size, and then three fullsize products, all for under $50. For minis, we have the SE glowy super gel lightweight dewy illuminator in the shade sunlow. I love this product. It is lightly hydrating. It leaves a gorgeous glow on the skin. I mean, I have this in full size and I am never mad to receive a little mini size because it is great for travel. And by the way, why I love these sets as well is the minis in here even though I know we are feing for the full size. I keep these mini products and I use them for travel. So that's why I keep them in my little mini makeup collection and I love these. Now, Sununglow is a pretty bronzy shade. So, if you have like a medium deep complexion, this will work for you. Or, you know, if your body is more tanned and it doesn't really matter that much because it just shears out very nicely. Uh, it's not my personal favorite shade, so I wouldn't be obsessed with this, but if you self-tan or anything like that, you will really enjoy this shade. And it just adds the prettiest, most natural glow that's actually quite beautiful on its own without any makeup. So, I love this product. Oh, and if I didn't mention it, this set is comprised of best sellers from the Sephora certified clean makeup brands. So, I mean, I don't really care about clean makeup brands or anything like that. I just want the products to be good, but in previous years, the Cozy and Clean have been my favorite sets. So, next we have the Kosas Soulgazer mascara. This is another mini size. If I'm being real with you, I don't love this mascara. This is a dud for me. It just doesn't do much for my lashes. It doesn't build very nicely for me. So, I'm not enthused about this being in the kit, but my lashes are pretty weak, so your lashes might like it. Moving on to the deluxe samples here. I'm excited about this from CL because I actually don't think I've tried anything from CL. So, this is new and exciting for me. This is the Prime and Protect SPF 30 primer. Since it's my first time experiencing this, I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard great things about CL, so I'm excited about this. Then we have a deluxe size of the Lys No Limix cream bronzer in the shade courage. And this is a best seller, you guys, because it is one of the creamiest cream bronzers on the market. Now, this particular shade leans a little bit more towards contour. It's not super orange, which I think a lot of you guys are going to love. And this is a shade that's going to work really well for medium complexions. Obviously, it's not going to work great for deep complexions. said, even on my skin, like this is too deep for me. But I think that's great because normally these kits do cater towards lighter complexions. So, this set is looking like it's going to be fantastic for medium complexions. But this bronzer, you guys, is one of the most easy to blend bronzers out there on the market. And again, if you already have it, listen, now you can take this to travel. This makes so much more sense, and it's going to last you a long time with it being a deluxe size. And then full size products. We have one of my favorite blush formulas from House Labs. This is the shade French rosette. This is going to be a pretty universally flattering color. These are soft focus on the cheeks. They have a soft matte finish to them. And the range of colors in these blushes is phenomenal, but the one that you get in here, I think, is going to be flattering for just about everybody. Easy to use, easy to blend. You will like it. Then we have a full size of the Tower 28 Lip Softy in the shade Redbean Mochi. Honestly, I don't love this formula. I don't dislike it either, but I'm not jumping for joy that this is the full size that you get in this kit. It's fine. It hydrates, but I do think there's a lot better out there, but it's not a waste. I do like it. And what I like about these is they have a good amount of pigment. So, this particular shade is going to be flattering on just about everybody. It'll give a nice amount of pigment, but is it going to be the best lip butter balm gloss hybrid situation that you've ever used? Probably not. And finally, I'm really excited about this. I haven't tried this before. This is the Violet Plume Lip Feather. This is the Violet FR Plume Lip, which is a feather matte lip whip. And this is in the shade Cyra Fume. I butchered that, excuse me. So, this is, you know, a Korean style lip product and it's a beautiful color for the holidays and again is medium deep. Honestly, this is every skin tone friendly holiday shade. So, I'm excited about that. Again, haven't tried this one, so we'll have to report back. But overall, I think that this is a really great kit for it being the most affordable in today's video. I there's a lot of products in here I really love. Like I love the say you will love it. I love the Lys and I love the House Labs. And then for me I'm excited about CL and then the Violet lip product and then the duds if you will. And neither are bad. I'm just not excited that they're in here would be the Kosa Soulgazer mascara and the Tower 28. But this one is still very good. Just not the best out there. Overall for $45 definitely a solid kit. Next up, we have the holiday lip kit set. So, this one is another one under $50. It's $49 with a $145 value. Now, only pick up this one if you need to re up on your lip products. This bag in particular is red, very cute. So, in this one, you get nine products. Two are mini size, three are deluxe size. I disagree with that, but we'll talk about it. and then four of them are full size. Now, the critique that I've had with this set in previous years is I felt like a lot of the lip shades that they offered were too close in color. It was just the same shade along with the swatches. This year's is a little better. So, let's start off with the mini sizes. So, first you get a mini MAC lipstick in the shade Velvet Teddy, which is a classic neutral lip shade that looks good on so many people. This is a classic shade. I really like it. It's very flattering, great for everyday, and I think mini lipsticks are so cute. I just love throwing them in my purse. And then the other mini size, which I would argue to me this is like a deluxe size, is the Tarte Maracua Juicy Lip in the shade rose. And so here you'll see again this is why I feel like some of the shades in here are on the similar side. Now this one is more of like a sheer rosy glow. I just wish I don't know. This is nice. This will look good on everybody. It's almost sheer just with a little pinky tone here. It'll be very hydrating. It's a very popular color. I feel like I've gotten so many of these in these kits over the years. So, this is nothing new and not a very exciting formula either. Hold up. Rewind. Isn't it crazy that you can get MAC now in these sets since MAC is new to Sephora? So, I'm excited to see a MAC product. Okay, let's go to the deluxe samples because they say these are deluxe online. I fully disagree with all three of these. These are minis. So, first we have the Armani Prism Flash Lip Balm in number one. So, this is just a clear lip balm. If you look closely, there's actually some glitters in here. I haven't tried this formula, so I can't speak on it, but it's a clear lip gloss, but I do see those glitters in here. It doesn't feel like hard or chapsticky. It actually feels quite hydrating and cushiony, so that's good. But, this is not a deluxe size, nor is this YSL. Now, don't get me wrong, I've gotten smaller lipsticks, so their mini size is like this big. But from YSL, we have their Love Nude lip blusher. It's just a soft pinky rose shade. You see what I mean? Like, you're getting a lot of the same color in this set. So, if you like this family of tones, this year's is a little bit more pinky. I feel like last year's was a little bit more warm and red. If you like this family of colors, and like I said, you're going to use these, go for it. but they are pretty close. This is a nice Koreanesque style formula. I actually really really love this formula from YSL. It blurs over the lines of the lips. This is a newer formula that they came out with this year and it is phenomenal. So, I will give it that. And then this is a deluxe sample. I disagree with that. But we have the Glow Recipe Glass Balm in Watermelon Bing Sue. And I do really like this formula. I just wholeheartedly disagree with this being a deluxe size. And once again, it's just in that same color family, but this has good pigment. It's very hydrating. Uh, this is one of my favorite ones from like Sephora. It doesn't be like road or summer Fridays for me, but it still is a very nice formula. And it stands out to me in the pigmentation that you get with these. So, and it smells good, too. But let's get to the full size. We have an interesting array of lip liners. So, this first one is Sephora Collection, which we know is one of the most affordable brands at Sephora, but you know what? They have some really great lip liners. Let me I'm trying to open this. This one is in the shade molasses. So, this is a dark chocolate brown, which is actually quite ill-fitting, I feel like, in this set if you're going to use these lip colors together. And this is not a lip liner shade that I typically go for. It's a bit dark for me, a bit bold for me, but I do like this formula. I am so excited about this. This is a pretty new product, and I think it's a standout product. This is from Kofi. This is a full size of their lossy lips lip staining liner in one of the best shades, Tori Chi. So, what's cool about this is you get this color when you swatch, which looks pretty with the lip colors that they put in this set, but when you wipe it away, there's going to be a little bit of a stain, so it lasts extra long. I think this is one of the most unique products at Sephora, and it's pretty brand spanking new. So, I'm really excited that this is included in the kit. Then, you get a full size of the Hooded Beauty Faux Filler Jelly Oil. This is in the shade Juicy Goji, and I'll give it to this formula. It is very, very glossy. This is going to read pretty sheer on the lips. Honestly, very clear if anything, but it's very, very, very glossy, but you see that subtle pink tint to it. I like this formula. I don't think it's like a standout. And then lastly, I'm excited about this because I actually haven't tried this formula from Rare Beauty. This is their positive light luminizing lip gloss in the shade glimmer. And this is pretty. It has some strong rosy glimmers in there. Hopefully those will show up on the lips. Like I said, I haven't tried this formula, but I am excited about this. So, this year, here's the thing. Like, it's another year where I do feel like the shades are very close to one another, but this is a color family that's a little bit more in my comfort zone. So, last year, I felt like it was a little too deep and warm. This year, it's more rosy, which I think is a little bit more universally flattering. So, I think it's going to work on a lot more people. But again, I would have loved to have seen more variety. Give me nudes. give me reds, give me browns, give me pinks. Make this a full set that could complete someone's lip collection and it just doesn't. And I feel like some of the deluxe shades or all of the deluxe shades are actually just minis. I'm not in love with this set this year. However, I do like the colors that are in here there. But formula wise, what do I like? I like the MAC. I like the Tarte. I like the YSL. I like I like most of the formulas in here. So, the formulas are good. I can't tell you whether or not to buy this, but hopefully it laid out what you need to make your decision. And then the final set that I have is the holiday musthaves. This is $59 with a $191 retail value. Typically, every year the holiday musthaves is the best value. It is typically one of the more expensive ones, but you get a lot of bang for your buck with these. And the idea of the holiday must haves is it has best sellers across all categories. So, you got body care, you get hair care, you get skin care, and you get makeup in these kits. And it's typically typically my most recommended, I would say. This year, it's not as hot as it's been in previous years, but there are still some really good favorites in here. This year, there's only three full-size products and six minis, but I think the majority of the minis are they have a lot of product. Honestly, I'd argue some of these are definitely deluxe sizes. I'm actually not disappointed in the sizes that you get in the minis. Now, the bag for this one, it's also the cutest. It's the pink bag. I just love these little bags. Okay, so let's start off with the minis. This first one to me is not a mini. This is like the perfect size. It's obviously not full size, but you get the Soul Janeiro 59 body butter, which is one of my favorite scents, you guys. I'm going to put the notes right here because I'm not good at describing scents, but I know this is one of my all-time favorites from S de Janeiro. It's nice and sweet and vanillay. So, I'm really really excited about this and I think this is a great size to travel to throw in your bag. It's definitely not a mini to me. I would say this is like a deluxe size. So, I'm excited about this skincare. Now, this one is a true mini from Tatcha. This is the dewy skin cream, which this is in like almost every kit that they put in with skincare involved. But you know what? I love these. You guys know I travel quite a lot. I go to Spain quite a lot and other places. So like this is what I take with me to travel. This is nice. It's lightweight. It's hydrating. I think it's a really great consistency for oily skin as well. So this is great. It's small, which is disappointing valuewise, but I use these a lot. And then this next skincare product I think is a deluxe size and this is very very popular. This is from Glow Recipe and it's their bestselling watermelon glow port toner. And I love Glow Recipe. I love their toners. So this is great. Smells fantastic. It's extremely popular. So I'm sure a lot of you already have this in your routine. And again, travel and you guys keep these. You refill them up. So next time you travel, refill this. Is it possible to do that? Maybe not. I mean, I think you take this stopper off and you fill in. There's there's things to help you do that. But anyways, these are great to reuse for travel as well. So, that's it for skin care in this set. And then for hair care, this is an extreme bestseller. It doesn't work for my hair, but it works for everybody else's. And you know what? My hairdresser swears by it. She uses it on my hair, too. This is the Color Wow Dream Coat Supernatural Spray. I just don't notice a difference when I use this because my hair is so naturally frizzy. Like that's my texture. It's frizzy. It doesn't just get frizzy with humidity. Without any humidity in the air, my hair is still frizzy. So, I feel like this doesn't do much, but so many people love this. It's a bestseller for a reason. And I've seen so many people swear by this. It's a little bit of a smaller size because I think you use a lot of this in the hair, but still fantastic and an extreme bestseller. All right, now moving into makeup category where, you know, I have the most expertise. We have a mini size of the Huda Beauty Easy Bake setting spray. So, this is one of the first setting sprays that had this is one of the first setting sprays that had come out with powder, but there was an issue with the nozzle and it was squirting dots of powder on the face. And I was just going to comment on how I wonder if this is the new nozzle. It probably is the new nozzle because she did repackage it. So, it's supposed to work now. And I haven't tried the new nozzle, but the new nozzle broke. [laughter] I probably just need to press this back on. But that's funny that I was about to make that point and it just fell out. Hold up. I don't know. I don't know. I don't even know if this is good or not. If I'm being honest, I think the idea, the concept's great, but since I got the bad packaging first, I can't even tell you if it works. I also couldn't fix it. Next, [snorts] there's a true mini size of the Ilia Limitless Mascara. I swear, is this the only mini mascara to exist? because these are also in every single one of these sets. The Tatcha I get all the time. The Ilia I get all the time. I've definitely gotten the Color Well before. I've definitely gotten the Glow Recipe before. We're getting a lot of repeats here with this one, which I don't love that one. This is definitely my least favorite year of the holiday must haves. Okay, and then let's move on to full sizes, which all three products I highly recommend, which is exciting. And I do believe if you buy all three of these, you've already spent more money than just getting this kit, which is great. Two blushes. First one is the Merit Flush Balm in the shade Postmodern. These are a more sheer formulation, but this is going to give the most pretty natural flush. This is going to give that Victoria Secret flushed cheek look. Oh, you will love this. And this will work on a lot of different skin tones as well. Don't be scared because it looks red. It's actually going to look even more natural, like you just spent some time out in the snow on the face. And then you get a full size. So, this is going to last you forever of the Rare Beauty blush in the shade encourage. I mean, this is like a bestseller at Sephora and it's been for years. And this one is a gorgeous mauvey tone. Very different from the Merit blush, which is exciting. A little goes such a long way with this blush. And I love this color as well. So, that's very exciting. And then lastly, you're going to get a full size of one of my favorite items from Fenty Beauty, their gloss stick in the shade, is it fussy? This is just like a really pretty mauvey rosy shade. And I like this because they're pretty full pigment and they look like a gloss, but they last a long long time. So, this is a great formula. If I am being honest though, this is one of the more disappointing years of the holiday musthaves. Normally, I feel like I'm obsessed with them. This year, there's some good items, but there's also a lot of repeat items, I feel. So, it's just okay this year, but once again, if you're going to use the majority of these products, it's going to be a fantastic value for you. But I feel like this was like the least amount of sizes as well, but the sample sizes are really big. Anyways, those are just the three that I picked up. I want to talk about a few more sets that are available. If you just go type in Sephora favorites at Sephora, it will take you straight to all of the kits. They even still have the summer kits available now. I will link it down below for you as well. But there was one more makeup kit that I saw on the website, the holiday musthaves value set. Now, this one was only $25, which is incredible. You only get five items, but there actually is a full-size item in here. The Lanz glaze craze lip serum, which I really like. And then you get a small mini rare beauty blush, which that one is very, very pigmented. So, that one will last you a while. Lash latex mini mascara. It's going to be quite small from YSL. That you won't get many uses out of that. I 10 peace out acne healing dots. I love these. I don't think this is considered full size. You'll go through these really quickly, but I do love those. And then the Benefit 24 Brow Setter, which is a decent size and you'll get a good number of uses out of those. Honestly, this is a pretty good kit for $25. I didn't pick it up cuz it was just so small and it didn't come in the fun reusable bag. But this is like a good stocking stuffer, a good secret Sienna item. Also, the advent calendar. This is not yet available until September 22nd, but I did one last year and I really didn't like it. Let's take a look at what we have here. There's just like a bunch of minis. Barely any full sizes. I'm not even seeing any full sizes in this one. I don't know if I'm going to do a full video on this this year. I do love this body butter from Josie Moran. Haven't tried the color. Wow. Haven't tried the Moroccan oil. They do have the corresponding scent, the 59 in the body scent. I just didn't love this last year. So, I don't know if I'm going to love this this year. Looking at the items, they do have my favorite moisturizer in here. Anyway, so that will be available soon. Now, what they also have are kits dedicated to different categories. I just covered makeup mostly because I've tried everything so I can give you some insight, but there also is the skin care musthaves gift set, which looks like a lot of minis. You do get a biod mask, cyclar, edom, green tea hyaluronic cream from inis free, youth to the people, Dr. Dennis grass. Oh, there is also a soul de janeiro in here as well. Lanes, kotali, fenty skin, biosance, and beauty of Josan. Some really great brands. We have some Korean skincare brands. $60 with a $198 value. That's actually the highest value cuz there's nothing at $198 even near in the kits that I have today. I think skincare kits are difficult though because everybody has a different skin type. So do keep that in mind. Look at the products, see if they will actually work for your skin type. Also, if you're a hair girl, they do have the holiday hair must haves gift set. $49 with a $144 value. I'm not a hair expert by any means. I just I feel like my hair is so different. So, a lot of these products wouldn't work for me, but they do have my favorite curl cream in here that I've been using. The Fenty Hair Curl Defining Cream. I didn't love the Brioio Scalp Revival. I see a full-size AMA leave-in conditioner. Just some other little products to try. Living Proof Dry Shampoo is really, really nice. I think this would be great to get some travel size items from. There's also this one I like cuz it's a bit more curated. the hair hydration gift set. It's only $34 with a $96 value and you're getting all products dedicated to hydrating the hair. And I feel like who doesn't want their hair to be super hydrated? I feel like that's one of the probably biggest problems that people have when they look for hair products. So, you have the MEJ hair oil. I don't think I've tried anything in here if I'm being honest, so I can't say much, but all of these are dedicated to hair hydration, and that's a really great set. And then I also really love and highly recommend this Sephora favorites perfume sampler set. And this year they have one with floral and vanilla perfumes, which I'm big on vanilla. So this is exciting for me. So how it works, it's $98 with a $164 value. And you get a bunch of different samples. I think this year it's 10. And it's going to be themed around floral and vanilla perfumes. and whatever is your favorite, you take it into Sephora and you get the full size at no extra cost. So, you can sample all of these and then pick up a full size. Now, the catch with these is you got to make sure the one you want is in stock because I know I've heard some of you guys say like they're never in stock of the one that you want, but I think that this is a great great great gift for somebody, you know, that likes perfume because then they can go into store and choose what one they want for them. So, I think that that's really awesome. So again, I will leave the links to the other kits and all of the kits down below. I hope you guys enjoyed this video and found it helpful. Let me know your thoughts on the kits this year. Honestly, like I'm not obsessed with this year's sets. I think my favorite is probably the cozy and clean. In previous years, this one has been my favorite as well. I'm the most disappointed in the holiday musthaves, I think, just because it's normally a lot better. But as I've been saying, if you're not going to use like 80% of the products in these, these sets are not worth it for you. But if you're enthused about the products in the set, oh my god, what a great deal. And these do sell out every single year. Come time for the Sephora savings event. Within the first few days, these are going to be sold out unless you go into store. So, these will sell out at midnight online and then you're going to have to go in store and cross your fingers. But I do always highly recommend these during the Sephora sale because you get a discount on top of already discounted value. So maybe you want to hold off for that. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this video and found it helpful. Let me know your thoughts on these kits down below. And I will see you guys in my next one. All right, guys. Have a good one. >> It's delicious. [music]