Dollar Tree Haul

Who doesn't love looking at a haul? I know that I do. I tend to get tons of ideas of what I want to get for myself by reading and watching them. But, when you go to your local Dollar Tree (or two), you tend to find hidden gems. Brands like ELF, Milani, Physicians Formula and Maybelline.

I guess you can say that I went a little bit wild getting some of these wonderful gems. Who says you can't build up a makeup collection on the super cheap? Plus, if you have coupons, you can get some of these items just for the cost of sales tax!

I've already been playing with some of it, and I am so glad that I do have these items to add to my collection. Not that my collection is huge or anything. It's really not. By most people's standard, it is large, but by people who LOVE makeup? It's really small.

Now, I found a happy mixture of everything, and all of it, I will use. I'm not getting it to just have a large collection. I'm getting it because I know I will use it. I will have pictures so you can see what I got. If you are wanting reviews, please let me know. Will try to incorporate swatches too.

Polish Swatches

I'm lucky because I got 12 polishes that are beautiful. Some great for Spring, some for Summer and the rest for Fall/Winter!

My wonderful, fun polishes are in a great variety of colors and name brand no less!

 Two face washes, a foot scrub and a lotion from Whit Rain. Will be trying these soon.

 ELF, Maybelline, Almay, L'Oreal, Milani......and Physicians Formula! Even some NYC glosses! Not too bad for a mini haul at the Dollar Tree!

So go take a look at your local Dollar Tree and share what you have found!

Review: Covergirl XL nail gel

Something new is out and it's part of the new collection that Covergirl launched. The XL nail gels. I am fascinated with gel polishes and while these aren't quite the gel I had in mind for polishes, since they aren't gel at all,
I can still say that I am very happy with them. I'm picky about how polish goes on, and it only took me TWO COATS to achieve the desired affect. And i can use my UV dryer to dry them 10x faster than just letting them air dry.

I got Plumped-up Plum and Whole Lotta Guava, a hot pink color. I have been wearing these for 3 days and only got ONE chip! They are holding up extremely well, and trust me, they go through a lot of abuse, with my being a mom. I'm always looking for something that isn't going to chip, and I actually thought I was going to have to shell out a lot of money to get the gel polishes. Now I've found something in a price range that I'm happy with. I bought these for $6.99, at Walgreen's, on top of a buy one, get one half off. So definitely a pretty dang good deal.

Covergirl came out with 9 new polishes that is part of the Covergirl Instaglam collection that features lip gloss, foundation, face wipes, mascara. I forgot to take a picture of the display, and I didn't catch everything, but I can't wait to go back to get some more. The names of the polishes even suggests glam. I think the names makes the colors stick out in my head more than some like pink or blue. Cause I always ask, what shade of pink? What shade of blue? See what I mean? You can put the name to the shades easier I think.

These polishes are 13ml,(.44 fl oz) 2 ml's more than the regular bottle at 11ml (.37 fl. oz). I kinda wish that Covergirl's regular like looked like this, but it's fun to have it in something like this. The quality is really nice, reminding me of some of the higher end polishes that I love. You can believe that I am going to go back and get the rest of them. I sure hope that they come out with  more colors. I figure that I'll take a gamble and try the new makeup too, so be sure to keep an eye out for a review on that. So go, run, walk, or skip and grab some of these polishes for yourself.

Late night rambling thoughts: Nail polishes

Ok, lately I've been wearing and collecting a ton of nail polishes. While I have given some away, I still have a ton of polishes. So my thought is this: when is too much, too much? I've had many questions as to how I use everything. Especially liquid foundation. But, right now, I am staring at a rack of nail polish and I honestly wonder if I am going to use every single one of them, or if they are just sitting there. I mean, I have colors that I know I'm never going to wear, but I got it because they appealed to me at that moment, not in the reality of what I like wearing.
For example, I hate orange. For reasons some know, but I really, really hate it. But guess what. I have 8 bottles of orange nail polish. Yeah. 8 of them. Reds? I have 14. Purples? 20! Now, while I do love a lot of the colors, most of these I probably wouldn't wear. Some of the purples, I got because they're an orchid color, and 2014 Color of the Year is Radiant Orchid. But the blues, greens, greys, black? I normally don't wear them. I am actually more into the nudes and reds. While right at this moment I'm wearing a shamrock green and bright yellow, I know that they won't last long. Just not my thing. But IF I want to keep up with YouTube and try new products, I have to wear the more daring colors. I just hope that more colors draw me to them. Maybe I just need to have a nail polish sale.......lol. We'll see about that.......


This is the most RECENT (as of 30 seconds ago) picture of the nail polish rack:

The picture below is right after I got done making the rack:

Couponing for makeup

Have you ever really tracked how much you spent on beauty products? I mean, this could be anything from lotion to makeup. I actually kept all my receipts for the entire month, and I was very shocked. Yes, I used coupons SOME of the time, but I didn't always use them when I went to CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and Target to name a few. Some places, like Sephora, they don't do coupons and Ulta usually has a $3.50 off of $10, but I rarely remember to use it!

Now, don't judge me, but I use to coupon ALL the time! I've really slacked off since I've moved to Oklahoma. In Idaho, it was quite honestly, our livelihood. But here, I never felt the need to get back into couponing until recently. Yes, we make great money, but until our house closes, we are paying $300 a week for the hotel! For the next  5 weeks, we will have paid $1500! So, here again, couponing has came to the forefront of mind, so that I KNOW we have things to wash with, and that we have food in our bellies.

But enough of that, I'm writing on couponing for beauty products! Granted, it may not be Urban Decay, Lorac or Tarte, but all beauty products that you can get for cheap or free, to me, work as well too! Granted, I'm more careful now than in the past. I look for OIL FREE products now and I make sure that the stuff is going to work for me or others in my household.

On any given Sunday there are 1-3 inserts in the paper, and just as many coupons online! I will not however, promote going through dumpsters and garbage to get coupons! I believe that is so gross and unless you are buying for a shelter, it's going to go to waste. So no point in that.

Now, most people have a basic understanding of how coupons work, but most also, once again, use them that same week instead of looking for sales and holding onto them. I'm not saying to a binder. I don't. I keep them all together like I got them. Then when I find a sale, I clip what I need and put in an envelope. Now, sales are usually repeated every few weeks, but there are times when you find something on clearence or drastically marked down. That's when you get them super cheap. But you actually have to look, and not all the stores will have the same items.

Let's start in the obvious, and that's Walmart. Yes, some Walmarts have clearance. Sometimes, you can find beauty products on the cheap. But most of the time, you get a cheap price originally, and than add the coupon. Always a good go to place, but they really don't have a great selection.

Now then, Walgreens. They have a point system that does help get the products super cheap. They also have regular clearance items. I LOVE it. I've gotten more things for free or super cheap at Walgreens than Walmart. But, you have to be strategic about it. Walgreens also has a monthly coupon book, so all you have to do is watch. I just got Almay concealer for 89 cents. All by seeing it was marked down to 1.89. I had a coupon for a $1.00 any one Almay product. So, it came to be 89 cents! Not too bad, right? So, it's about being vigilent.

Let's go to CVS now. I ADORE their extrabuck rewards. I have gotten things that I don't have coupons for with the extrabuck rewards. But as far as beauty products, again, they are limited, like Walmart. (Walgreens has the best selection, besides Ulta.) But, they usually have like spend $12, get $4 back in extrabuck rewards. You can actually save those up for a bit, but be careful, they do expire! There are times, where I've gotten foundation, face wash, eye shadow, and diapers with those extrabucks. Plus, CVS has a BeautyClub membership. It is FREE, but for every 50 you spend, you get 5 back. This last bit, I ended up getting 40 back in extrabuck rewards. I love it. But, again, it can get some getting used to.

Now that we went through the 3 major contenders, I will say that I love Walgreens for the selection and clearance items, but I like CVS because of the extrabuck program. So essentially a tie.
But, I almost forgot! Dollar Tree takes coupons, and a lot of times, you are able to get things flat out for free there! You have to be vigilant though.

Websites to print coupons:

www.redplum.com

www.smartsource.com

www.coupons.com

www.couponbug.com

www.couponnetwork.com

**Remember, you can always go to your fave grocers website, and if they have a loyalty card, you can download coupons too!**

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YouTube Beauty videos

Ok, for those that don't know I am on YouTube. I am doing my best to compete with all the GORGEOUS women on there, where as I think I'm rather average looking, and I don't know if I'm making an impact. I hope that I am, but maybe I was expecting something faster, but then again, I haven't been on as long as they have, lol.  Still frusterating.

You ever have a wish you could change something about yourself? I do. I wish I had better skin, better features, better everything, but its not gotten to the point where I am happy with who I am, but it took a long time to get there.

Remember this ladies, your looks are your own, even with plastic surgery, it doesn't shine on who you are inside and I know a lot of men who would rather have the inside than the outside, but with all the awesome fun products out there, we can enhance our best features.

Makeup at Dollar Tree

Ok, I've been watching YouTube enough to notice that no one actually mentions that they an get brand name makeup at the dollar store! Plus, they take COUPONS!!! So most of the time, it makes for FREE makeup! Take tonight, I was at the dollar store and I saw TONS of Milani makeup, Maybeline,  and even Covergirl. It's not all LAColors or anything like that. I've actually picked up Revlon nail polish, Sinfull Colors nail polish (knock off brand of Revlon) and yes, even Rimmel nail polish, shadows, lipsticks and foundation.

Now for those that do coupon, like myself, this is a good alternative. But, sometimes, even the nicer stuff if fun to have too.  I have coupons for all the brands and you can bet your butt I'm gonna be there getting some makeup and only paying sales tax as soon as I am able to. Just remember, they can sell out, but keep checking! Their stock is always changing!