How I got $50 worth of stuff for free at The Body Shop

Last year when they proposed I join the Love Your Body Club at The Body Shop, I was a little hesitant. It costs $10 a year, and I don't usually pay for rewards cards. But at the time, I was buying a large quantity of stuff, and the 10% discount nearly covered the membership costs. Since then, I've saved a TON of money on my Body Shop shopping sprees and gotten some exclusive deals and freebies too. This was one of those times.

One of the perks is their point system - for every purchase over $20, you get 1 point. For every purchase over $50, you get 2 points. When you make 4 points (which means spending $80~100), you get $15 worth of store credit. When you make 8 points, you get $25 worth of store credit and free membership renewal. I made it to 8 points about 8 months into my membership, and had my $25 sitting there, ready to be spent.

Except I didn't really need anything, so I was holding on to it until the right moment. Well, that right moment came. I received a $5 (off $25) coupon in the mail, so now I had $30 in store credit. Not only that, but this weekend they had a secret LYB members only sale that got you 25% off any purchase of $20 or more - that's in addition to your 10% regular discount! So now I had to go!

I shopped online before I went, because I always seem to get there and blank on what I need. I've tried a couple Tea Tree products and liked them, so I decided I'd get the Tea Tree travel kit ($25) to sample some of the other products, the Tea Tree face mask ($15) and maybe pick up a body butter if I needed something extra.

When I got there, the salesgirl mentioned that for the price of the travel kit, I could get the three full-sized products for the same price! There was a promotion going on (that wasn't advertised very prominently) which discounted the full-sized items!

The breakdown:

Face wash $11
Toner $11
Face lotion $13
Scrub $13
Mask $15
Tea tree oil $9

Original total: $72


Promotion for set of 3 skincare: minus $10
8 point gift: minus $25
$5 off coupon: minus $5
25% off $20 sale: minus $8
10% off LYB discount: minus $2.40

Grand total: $21.60


I could have spent a lot less, but faced with all these cool tea tree items and a discount, I ended up getting more than I planned. But when it came time to check out, I actually stunned the salesgirl into speechlessness. That's right - my couponing skills are so amazing, I even surprise the employees, haha! She said she's never seen anything like that before, although I personally don't think it was that amazing!

Now I have everything I could possibly want from The Body Shop, I think it's time to lay off the shopping for a bit!

ELF Studio glosses are a lovely surprise! Plus a mini haul.

I did a little shopping yesterday for some necessities, and like always, I ended up buying a few items I didn't need.  Ugh this ALWAYS happens!  In this post I'm going to talk mainly about the ELF Studio lip glosses I found, but I wanted to show you the other things I got, too!

I'm kind of in the market for a new cleanser, although I should stick to what I know works for me.  I ran out of my Aveeno Positively Radiant daily scrub a couple weeks ago.  I have been using my Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel for about a week, but I think it's the reason I'm breaking out in a few areas (which is weird because when I tried it in a sample pack, I loved it).  Anyway, I saw this Aveeno Positively Radiant Brightening Cleanser at Target and picked it up.  I hope it'll be nice for a basic daily cleanser- I love this line of products!

The L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara I will review separately, but my first impression is good.  It gives a lot of length and definition without clumping!  

I was at my local HyVee grocery store and couldn't believe it when I saw an ELF Studio display!  They've always had the regular $1 line display (a four-sided turning stand), but I guess they just recently added one full of Studio products.  I'm not complaining!  They had a bunch of things I've seen online but never at Target- (all Studio line) small angled eyeliner brush, small precision eye brush, pigment eyeshadows, matte eyeshadows, matte lip colors, to name a few!  I was so excited.  The display I found was kind of picked over and some of the shades I wanted were out of stock, but I'll check back in a week or so and see.  I did pick up three things, a Glitter Gloss in Dazzling Diamond, Glossy Gloss in Funky Fuchsia, and Pigment eyeshadow in Innocent Ivory.
I'll talk about the Pigment eyeshadow in a separate post- for now, here are my thoughts/swatches/pictures of the glosses. :)

Glossy Gloss in Funky Fuchsia, Glitter Gloss in Dazzling Diamond, Pigment eyeshadow in Innocent Ivory

I'm totally loving each of these!
The Glossy Gloss in Funky Fuchsia is a gorgeous color.  I go absolutely crazy for shades like this (I love them on my fair skin!).  The formula is soft and smooth, and it applies evenly.  See the applicator below- it's a brush!

This makes it really easy to 'paint' on the lip gloss and get the color to exactly how you want it.  Both the Glossy Gloss and Glitter Gloss have this style applicator, by the way.

You can see by the swatches on my arm and lips below that these are also nicely pigmented.  I was afraid Funky Fuchsia would be really sheer, but fortunately the color stays pretty close to what's in the bottle.  The Glossy Gloss lives up to the 'glossy' claims- it makes my lips look healthy and shiny.  I'm really eager to try more of these!  

They both smell like Jolly Ranchers or some kind of hard candy, so if you're bothered by scents, I'd be cautious.  Thankfully they don't have a taste otherwise I'd lick them off right away. :)

The Glitter Gloss in Dazzling Diamond is just as pretty to look at.  I had a hard time capturing the glitter, but the bottle shots above portray it most accurately.  The glitter is intense, though!  I still find it easy to wear because its in a clear base, but I always love a sparkly gloss.  Dazzling Diamond kind of reminds me of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure nail polish in a lip gloss form.  It doesn't shine as many different colors, but it has that "glowing" effect.  

Glossy Gloss in Funky Fuchsia, Glitter Gloss in Dazzling Diamond

I couldn't capture the glitter in Dazzling Diamond with the flash on, so I had to take it off for that lip swatch.  I hope you can still get a good idea of how they look, though.  Funky Fuchsia is true to color.

Have you tried these lip glosses?  Have a favorite?  I'm absolutely loving them and how affordable they are!

Meow Cosmetics order, p.2

And the swatches continue!  This post wraps up the eyeshadow/blush/powders/concealer samples I got.  I'm in love, guys.  Now I know why on the Meow website they say "limit two samples per color"- I bet when people find a shade they like and don't want to dish out $10 for a full size, they buy multiple samples.  Which is probably what I'll be doing in the future...

Light Persian Skinny Dipper (contour powder), Shattered Equinox collection Deranged eyeshadow, LushBlush Hugs & Kitties

I really wanted to try one of Meow's "Skinny Dippers", their contouring powders, because I think the idea is really cool.  They coordinate with your shade of foundation so you get the right shade.  I haven't worn their foundation so I wasn't sure what color to get, but I definitely should have gotten the medium Skinny Dipper shade (I figured 'light' would be too light for contouring).  Light Persian might work for an allover powder, but I think it might even be too light, although I plan to work with it.  

Deranged is from the Shattered Equinox eyeshadow collection, and it's just awesome.  I love how it glows in the light.  

LushBlush is described as having a "creamy texture and dewy sheen" so I had to try one!  Hugs & Kitties is a really pale pink with lilac undertones that works as a highlighter on me. 

Crystalline Cat Glow powder, Top Cat finishing powder, Under eye concealer in 2 Frisky Persian

The Crystalline Cat Glow powder has really, really fine shimmer that is hard to detect when swatched or applied (and it didn't show up in my pictures!).   I haven't used this on my face yet, but I'm interested to see if it provides a "glow" at all.

The Top Cat finishing powder is supposed to help with oil control.  I haven't tried this one, either, but my quest to find a super-flattering finishing powder is always on!

The under eye concealer was kind of a shot in the dark in terms of color, but fortunately 2-Frisky Persian suits me!  It's a powder concealer that actually really helps conceal mild dark circles.  I used this today and really like it so far.

Swatch-tastic!

 Kept Kitty eyeshadow, I love you!

Thanks for reading!  Do you own any of these products or have any recommendations?  I'd love to hear them! 

xox

Meow Cosmetics order, p.1

The cat lover inside of me HAD TO TRY MEOW COSMETICS.  Maybe I'm obsessive, I don't really care, but as soon as I saw their cat-themed website my eyes rolled back into my head.  The names are seriously too cute.  Hugs & Kitties?  Kept Kitty?  And of course, my purchase came in cheetah print wrapping paper.  I'm in love.

For my first Meow Cosmetics order I purchased a bunch of samples, and with the two free samples they threw in, it came to a total of 15!  I was so excited to try these and swatch them.  I got mostly eyeshadow, but I also tried samples of their undereye concealer, finishing powders, and blush.  

This part of my order will feature most of the eyeshadows I got.  I'll do another post tomorrow showing the undereye concealer/powders/blush!  The post was getting kind of pic-heavy, so I decided to do it this way- I hope you all don't mind!

Egyptian Treasures eyeshadows: Obelisk, Nile, Ancient

Rainforest collection eyeshadows: Boa, Endangered, Piranha

ScandalEyes Jessica R., CatEyes Caffeine Buzz, IdealEyes Kept Kitty

Random pictures of pretty swatches!

So gorgeous together!  I'm totally loving these eyeshadows, they swatch beautifully and have great pigmentation.  I love the multicolored glitter they have, especially Kept Kitty (that insane gold!).  It's beautiful!  

As much as I love the colors and insane variety they have, I'm not sure I'd buy full sizes.  You can either buy a sample baggie ($1.00) or a 10g jar ($10.25).  I wish they had an in-between size!  

Right now they have an awesome Christmas in July going on- you can purchase from the LE holiday collections this weekend only, and get free shipping (I believe it's US no minimum, international $30+).  I'm tempted..

Stay tuned for part two! :)

Darling Girl Cosmetics order and swatches!

I've been eagerly awaiting my first order from Darling Girl Cosmetics for awhile now, and when I received it yesterday in the mail I couldn't wait to try everything out!  This was my first experience with an indie makeup company, and I am hooked to say the least.
I placed my order during Susan's first sale, which was over Memorial Day weekend and it was Buy 2 Get 1 free.  It was also my first time using Paypal, so I really didn't know what was going on, haha.  It turns out my order got lost (as I can imagine how crazy busy she was with all the orders), but Susan was more than courteous despite the mix up- she included a few extra samples and a Liquid Kisses lip gloss which was so sweet!  I wasn't expecting that as I didn't even really know how the whole ordering process worked through Paypal and Ecrater (the website her store is hosted through).  I also got my package two days after she emailed me about the mix up.  Consider me impressed!
Anyway, onto what I ordered :)

Look at how cute the packaging is!  She wrapped my petit eyeshadow/blushes in the green tissue paper, my blogger sample pack in a little box, and my free samples+Liquid Kiss in the zebra packet.  She also includes a card along with it.  So nice!

Samples (eyeshadows unless otherwise noted), Top L-R: Belle, Sugar Minuet, Cider, Scarecrow

Bottom L-R: Dulce de Leche, Candied Apple (Kiss Me tinted lip balm), My Little Pony, Masquerade

Petits, Top L-R: Hollywood, Cydonia, Snuggle

Bottom L-R: Paradise Pink blush & Yes, Virginia! blush

Fuchsia Flush Liquid Kisses lip gloss

Liquid Kisses gloss in Fuchsia Flush

Samples (all eyeshadows):

L-R: Belle, Sugar Minuet, Cider, My Little Pony, Scarecrow, Masquerade, Dulce de Leche

Petits (eyeshadow unless otherwise noted):

L-R: Cydonia, Hollywood, Snuggle, Yes, Virginia (blush), Paradise Pink (blush)

Kiss Me tinted lip balm in Candied Apple

The sample baggies come with 1/8 of a teaspoon ($.60 each), and the petit sizes are mini jars with 1/4 teaspoon ($2.00).  Full sizes come in jars with 3/4 teaspoon ($4.00), although I didn't purchase any this time- I will in the future! :)  I do think the pricing per quantity is very affordable, though.  I also like that everything comes in different sizes so if I'm not sure about something, I can get either a sample or a petit jar to try it out.  And the full sizes are still a great deal so I don't feel bad buying everything in that size!

This is my first time doing swatches for a mineral makeup company, so I'm pretty sure my swatching  didn't do the eyeshadows justice (they were all done using a damp brush).  Since I will be purchasing from DCG in the future, I plan on trying the Stay the Day eye primer to help make them more vibrant.  I got so many compliments today when wearing them (see the quick EOTD at the end of this post), and each eyeshadow has so much dimension that I couldn't capture in pictures.  I love how pretty and soft the colors are, though, and how great their lasting quality is.  My eyeshadow looked just as fabulous tonight as it did at 8am this morning when I applied it.  They all have beautiful shimmer.

I love the blushes I tried- Yes, Virginia! is a gorgeous violet pink, and Paradise Pink is a light peachy pink that I will be purchasing as a full size.  The two I got are not quite matte, but have a slight sheen that gives a nice finish- easy to wear and my personal favorite.  They also lasted me all day, which was a pleasant surprise!  I wore Yes, Virginia today with My Little Pony eyeshadow and the Fuchsia Flush gloss for a pretty, girly look.

For lip products, I got to try one of the Kiss Me tinted lip balms in Candied Apple, and the Fuchsia Flush Liquid Kisses gloss.  The tinted lip balm is just that- a slight tint, but glides on just like a moisturizing balm.  The Liquid Kisses gloss leaves a subtle amount of color that is nonsticky and smooth.  These don't last too long on me, but I love the shine they give off (check out my lip swatch!).

Quick EOTD using Snuggle, Cydonia, and Masquerade eyeshadows

Overall, I'm more than pleased with my order and think that Darling Girl Cosmetics is a great little company.  I can't wait to make another purchase in the future!

Until then, what are your favorites from DCG if you've tried them?  I'd love to know!  Or if you haven't yet, what are some of your favorite indie makeup brands?  I think I'm hooked. :)

ELF part two: miscellaneous (eyes, face)

I love ordering from ELF.  Usually there are one or two things I'm not thrilled with, but for the most part I like everything and it's just exciting to see what's new.
ELF has a bunch of new products and colors lately!  I tried out one of the new Studio Radiance Enhancers in the shade Sunrise, the $1 Smudge brush, Studio blush in Twinkle Pink, and then two of the new-ish cream eyeshadows, Dawn and Bronzed.  I'm planning on another order as soon as ELF restocks some items, but I hope this post helps those of you who have been curious about a few of these! :)

ELF Studio Radiance Enhancer in Sunrise

I really don't need more highlighters, but I love click pen applicators (for some reason!) so I wanted to try this out.  Sunrise is the second shade of the new Radiance Enhancers.  I thought from the online pictures that this would be lighter and more gold, but it's a rather deep rose-gold shade.  On my skin it leans bronze, as you can see in my swatch.  Blended out it's very sheer and leaves a subtle glow- perfect for anyone who likes a little highlight but nothing over the top.  I'm not sure I'll get much use out of this just because of the shade, but it'll make a nice base for blush.

ELF Smudge brush

I've been wanting a brush in this style for awhile now; it appeared to be perfect for applying color to the lower lash line.  As it turns out, it is!  There are a few comments on the product page online that the bristles aren't dense enough, but I've had no problem.  A few have shed on me already, but for $1 I'm not complaining.  It makes applying color close to the lash line really easy.

ELF Studio blush in Twinkle Pink

Twinkle Pink is one of two new shades of the Studio blushes (Giddy Gold being the other).  The shade is really gorgeous, and is a slightly pinker version of the blush side of the Studio Contouring Blush/Bronzing Powder.  I'll compare these in another post- they look quite similar in the pan, but swatched you can see their differences.  Anyway, Twinkle Pink is pretty powdery and glittery but it's a gorgeous color.  I have so many of these peachy-pink shades that I think I've hit my limit, haha.

Left: Dawn, Right: Bronzed

ELF Studio cream eyeshadows in Bronzed and Dawn

First of all, the packaging with these cream eyeshadows is just as bulky as everyone says it is.  In terms of product, however, I just love these.  They don't crease and make for great bases for eyeshadow.  Bronzed is a bit smoother and more pigmented than Dawn, but they both blend easily and are overall great quality.  I hope ELF comes out with more shades, because I'd love to try more!

I also purchased the small size of the Mineral Booster, which I'll review in a separate post once I've tested it a little longer.  I was hoping for it to be a good dupe for my loved Mineral Veil, so we'll see how it goes!  

If you guys haven't entered yet, there's one week left to take part in my giveaway.  Thanks for your continued support that has allowed me to do this! :) xox

My ELF order arrived! Part one: lip products

I had been wanting to order from ELF for the longest time, but for a number of reasons didn't get around to it until last week!  At first I was waiting for new products to come in, and then when they did come in the other products I wanted were out of stock (and ELF takes forever to restock things it seems).  A few weeks ago Total Beauty featured a daily deal (which I posted about) that was $10 for a $25 voucher to ELF.  I purchased it right away, and that kind of gave me the push I needed to finally place my order.
So, exactly a week after ordering, my package arrived.  Yay! :)

I apologize in advance for 1) the lighting of the first few pictures, and 2) that I didn't take pictures of a few of the products before using them.  I wasn't able to open my package until late last night, and I couldn't get very good lighting for pictures.  And there was no way I was waiting until today to try out the products... haha.  So I'm sorry for that!

Everything together!  I will be breaking it down into individual posts, so today will be lip products.  I'll go into detail about the rest of the things I got in a separate post. :)

Essentials lipstick in Nostalgic, Mineral Moisturizing Lip Tint SPF8 in Rose, Mineral lipstick in Natural Nymph

Essentials lipstick in Nostalgic

I've never tried any of the $1 lipsticks before, but as soon as ELF put up the new colors, I knew I had to try this one out.  I noticed my package had been opened (the lipstick was untouched, but the plastic packaging was ripped open) which was weird, but the product hadn't been opened anyway.  My initial reaction is so-so.  The bullet sticks up a little farther than the top of the tube, so I nicked the lipstick right away.  The reviews on the website are right- this lipstick is really fragile.  The color reminds me of my Revlon ColorBurst lipstick in Fashion's Night Pout, but maybe a tad peachier.  

Mineral lipstick in Natural Nymph

Having heard so many good things about the mineral lipsticks, I knew I needed to try one!  Natural Nymph has been on my wishlist for a pretty long time.  It's definitely a 'concealer lips' color, and makes for a great nude lip base although it's a little patchy on me.  The mineral lipsticks feel so much better quality than the $1, from the packaging to the product itself.  I'll definitely try out more of these in the future- I have a feeling the deeper shades would apply better.

Mineral Moisturizing lip tint in Rose

This was one of the products I was waiting for to make my order, and unfortunately by the time I actually placed my order, most of the colors I wanted had gone out of stock.  I love this, though, especially being someone who doesn't really like lipstick.  It's pigmented (as you can see in my lip swatch), and gives my lips a lovely rose-y berry color.  I can't wait for these to come back in stock, because I'll definitely order more!

Mineral lip tint in Rose, Mineral lipstick in Natural Nymph, Essentials lipstick in Nostalgic

Stay tuned for the rest of my order, where I'll cover the new Studio Radiance Enhancer, blush, and cream eyeshadows, along with the new smudge brush (I'll be reviewing the Mineral Booster in its own separate post).  

Thanks guys! :)

Bath & Body Works Hello Yellow sale haul!

Okay, I couldn't resist - as much as I didn't need ANYTHING from Bath & Body Works, I had to go check out their Hello Yellow sale.

The only thing I really wanted to get was the Black Amethyst eau de toilette, but the Signature Collection stuff was B3G2 - not that great a deal, as I'd still have to pay the retail $29.50, plus extra things I didn't necessarily want. So I think it was a personal gift from the shopping gods when I found a lonely box in the way back on the 75% off table! It was the old (and pretty ugly) bottle design, before the revamp of the Signature Collection, but the scent is the same! Best thing - it was only $7.37!

Select scents of the Pocket Bac hand sanitizers were 8 for $5. I'm addicted to these things, so I snapped up a bunch, as well as a holder for only $0.25! I also picked up three bottles of hand soap in some yummy flavors, as they were only $1.25 a bottle (down from $5).

Finally, I had a coupon for a free travel sized item with purchase, so I got a cute Dark Kiss body spray (regularly $5) for free.

My grand total was only $16.37 for almost $80 worth of stuff!

$118 worth of The Body Shop stuff for $18!

I got a super deal at The Body Shop the other day by stacking sales and coupons - I left the store with all of the above (plus a gift set not pictured) for only $18!

The first reason I came into the store was for a little event they had not advertised well (I went in the evening and they said I was the only person that day who knew about it!) where they introduced their new bronzer products and could give you a makeover using the products. I declined the makeover, but they showed me all the cool new items. Love Your Body members got a free lip gloss just for participating!

I still had another Groupon that I wanted to use before the end of the month, when it will drop in value from $45 to $40. They were having a buy-2-get-1-free promo for skin care and makeup, so I decided to use my Groupon for some random things. I got some Nutriganics eye cream and a Tea Tree night lotion, and grabbed one of the new Honey Bronze dry oil, which is a light shimmer oil with a hint of color. I got the Honey Bronze oil for free since it was the lowest priced item.

I also picked up a lemon body scrub, which was marked down from $16 to $10, and a cherry lip butter which was on clearance from $8 to $2.

The total worked out to be less than $50 after my LYB discount, so the cashier told me I should buy one more small thing in order to push it over $50, where I'd get a bonus LYB point. So I raced around the store trying to find one more thing, when I realized I needed a last-minute birthday present for a friend, so I scooped up a Hemp Skin Essentials gift set for $20.

Freebies:
1) Hemp hand protector from the Princess Bag (worth $10)
2) High-shine lip treatment for participating in the event (worth $6)
3) 50mL sized body butter from a coupon in the mail - free mini body butter with $10 purchase (worth $6)
4) Honey Bronze dry oil after B2G1 free sale (worth $14)

Paid:
1) Nutriganics eye cream $20
2) Tea Tree night cream $18
3) Lemon body scrub $16 $10
4) Cherry lip butter $8 $2
5) Hemp gift set $20

LYB discount: minus $7
Groupon: minus $45

The total price of everything I left with was $118, but after my Groupon, I ended up spending only $18, for a total savings of $100 or 85%! Of course, the Groupon itself cost $20, so I really spent $38 out of pocket. I made it to 8 LYB points though, which means I get a free membership renewal ($10) and $25 towards anything in the store. What am I going to buy with that $25?? I am so stocked up with products now, it's kind of scary!