beauty bonus

I really hate shopping online for beauty products and clothing.  I'd much prefer smelling it (beauty products-not jeans), feeling it and trying it on to see if it works.  Shopping online eliminates all that reassurance. It fills me with anxiety until the item arrives at the mail room. With our current mail system I have no way of returning items that don't work so I have to positive that I love something and avoid buying anything too risky (like those $200 J Brand skinny jeans that look awesome on the model but who knows how they'd look on moi).  My clothing ordering is another blog post entirely.

What I really wanted to talk about was the sweet little treats that come with ordering beauty products online.  I'm pretty sure I'm the last woman alive to learn this amazing fact but; you can get free stuff with your order, yo! I've purchased beauty products from Nordstrom.com and Sephora.com and they both let me choose free samples with my order.  For free!  For reals!   I've received a tiny version of Cliniques 3-step skin care system (perfect for travel), hair nourishing oils, and Fresh Sugar lip treatments (which has to be the nicest feeling and smelling lip balm I've ever used).Above all else, I love choosing the perfume samples. It reminds me when I was younger and I'd go to the Nordies perfume counter and collect samples to bring home! I've bombed on a few picks but I just pass them on to Eneye and she comes in to work smelling like a dream.  It's win win because sometimes I really get a good one.

My box from Sephora arrived the other day with my magic elixir from Philosophy. (I have to give my dear friend Melinda a huge thank you for helping me trust in Philosophy-she's practically their spokeswoman).  Anyway, my skin is dewy again.  Thank the heavens.  But the best little treat was the minuscule box containing a miniature bottle of Especially Escada by Escada.  It smells gorgeous and it was totally free.  I am most impressed with this sample's packaging.  Most perfume samples I've received come in those tiny little spritzer tubes attached to a folded card.  This Escada sample is an itty bitty (0.06 oz) version of the real you-have-to-pay-for-it bottle!  It's so adorable and petite and it came in a pretty little one square inch box.

Heck, if I can get wee bottles like this one, I might even agree that ordering online is fun!