It took me a sec to adjust and realize that I was looking at row upon row of beauty supplies.  And not a mish-mash either, but an exquisitely laid out, color co-ordinated land of products.  Apparently this is the only Sephora near us (what a coup for Sherman Oak's Fashion Square!), the others in Southern California are in Thousand Oaks and the South Coast.  There are several more throughout the country, and I suspect they're expanding. 

Sephora is kind of like an old fashioned (eye)candy store.  The first thing you see when you walk in is their home scents area; an arrangement of soaps, candles, pot-pourri, sprays, oils and a mess of other crap arrayed in tasty looking displays.  And what's better is that everything can be sampled!  The bottle upon bottle of perfumes for men and women that line the outer walls, the mascaras in every imaginable  color, the nail polishes, the expensive creams and unguents, can all be tested out!  They have these inspired sterilization stations with all the tools you could ever need, plus brush cleaners, and alcohol, and disposable mascara wands, and Q tips, and everything you wish you had your vanity stocked with (like we even have vanities).

Sephora has their own line of cosmetics, tools and good smelling items, but they also carry all the hip and elegant lines as well.  Companies whose lines

you only find a smattering of at other stores are represented in full here:  Hard Candy, Anna Sui, Shiseido, Urban Decay, Shu Uemura and tons more.  It is a veritable bonanza of products.  And, with a little comparison shopping, I've found their prices are  the same as or cheaper than a lot of other outlets.

You can do your entire look for an evening: maybe start off with an insanely expensive Cellex-C serum and finish with a smattering of sparkly Tony & Tina dust.  When you go, give yourself a couple of hours to fully experience Sephora.  I mean, you have to see what you look like in red mascara, or how can you tell if the $54 Stila powder brush is just as good as the inexpensive Sephora knock-off if you don't matte finish your face into oblivion?

Hell, play it safe, leave your cash at home and just taste everything.  Or bring a little and treat yourself to a tiny bottle of $3 Sephora nail polish in any color you can think of.  The bottles are so cute, and such a good idea.  Have you ever actually finished off a regular sized bottle without it turning into snot first?  The funny thing is, I don't even wear much make-up, but I find myself giddy with girlish excitement just thinking about going back.  You've got to check it out.  It's awe inspiring, kinda like that one room with the chocolate river at Willy Wonka's factory.  And you don't get the runs afterward.