Tag: Ulta
Merry 20% off Xmas to Me!
My husband and I have a unique arrangement. We tell each other exactly what we want for gifts and then go buy it. We occasionally surprise each other, but for the most part, we know what’s coming. He wanted a breadmaker, so I ordered it from Amazon, got it 2 days later and started making bread. I REALLY wanted the Urban Decay Vice3 Palette…and wouldn’t you know it, I just got a 20% off at Ulta coupon!
Since my husband is out of town fishing, I decided to “be nice” and go pick up my own gift today. I say “be nice”, because it really benefits me. I get to use my 20% coupon AND I get the Ultamate Rewards points. Of course, the first Ulta was out of stock. So I got to use my $5 off $10 coupon on Zoya Remove+ and some headbands.
I found success at the second Ulta though – they had at least 20 vice3 palettes. (I wonder if I have to wait until Xmas to use it? I bet I can use it tomorrow, since he already got to use his breadmaker…) I also picked up a 4 pack of $10 gift cards for teacher gifts. Since both Logan’s teachers complimented my nails during my last parent teacher conference, I think they’ll enjoy it…
I had to hit Bath & Body Works – I couldn’t resist $2.50 Hand Soaps, especially since they were only $2 with my 20% off coupon. I showed restraint and only picked up 16…which I will be sharing with my little sister.
I also hit Bed Bath & Beyond to use a 20% off coupon on a new ceramic skillet for my husband’s birthday. (I totally hoard those coupons. My sister and BFF even save theirs for me…let me know if you need one – I have plenty extra this year.) How lucky am I that he always wants kitchen stuff for gifts?
Merry 20% off Xmas to me!
Ulta Cyber Monday Bag
Online shopping orders are coming in! There were some smoking beauty deals on Cyber Monday…Ulta offered the choice of 3 different beauty sample bags with a $60 purchase and since I needed some gifts for my bestie, why not order online and get a gift for me?
I chose the pink glitter bag, mostly because it came with a sample of Benefit The POREfessional. This bag is LOADED with goodies!
Makeup: Benefit The POREfessional (my biggest beauty concern right now is my giant crater like pores); Cargo Swimmables Water Resistant Bronzer (Uh…no.); Bare Minerals 5in1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow (I’ve gotten this before and never tried it); Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm in “Nude Glow” (I’ve been wanting to try this!); Ulta Lip Gloss in “Charmed”; tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush in “Fearless”
Face: Hada Labo Ultimate Anti-Aging Facial Mask (with a $3 off coupon); Rodial Stem Cell super-food facial oil; Exuviance Daily Antioxidant Peel CA; Philosophy Purity Made Simple 3-in-1 cleanser for face and eyes
Body: Vitabath Body Wash “In Bloom” (Asian Orchid & Coconut)
Hair: Rusk glue (Deluxe sample!); Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Replenishing Shampoo and Conditioner (Anti-aging shampoo? Really?); Macadamia Beauty Deep Repair Mask
Fragrance: Dolce & Gabbana “light blue”; Dolce & Gabbana “light blue” Pour Homme; Marc Jacobs “Daisy”; Dolce & Gabbana “Dolce”
Other: Hollywood Fashion Secrets Fashion Tape (I actually need this – my boobs are always popping out)
Coupons: 20% off your next hair service at Ulta The Salon; $10 off Bare Minerals (online only); $15 off any online purchase of $75; $5 off any Ulta brand purchase of $10+
I chose the variety sampler and got Ouidad Moisture Lock (I don’t have curly hair) and a single use sample of Butter London Lippy Moisture Matte Lipstick in “Ruby Murray”. It was kind of a lame sample pack, but I don’t even care with all this other great stuff.
Thanksgiving Ulta Haul
That’s right – at 7:30 AM, as we were driving to the in-laws’ place for Thanksgiving breakfast, I was Ulta shopping on my phone…
I cannot share my whole shipment, because again – there’s a gift. I can share the Ulta Nude Eye Shadow Palette that I gifted to myself. I couldn’t resist – it was $6 – half price! (If you haven’t noticed, I am HORRIBLE at Xmas shopping – I always end up buying more stuff for myself than anyone else!) I tried it this morning and was suitable impressed with the quality. It’s a bit odd that all of the shadows are pressed together in the same pan, but they are domed, so they don’t really infringe on each other. The palette didn’t come with a brush – it came with a foam applicator, which I actually prefer for my crease. I was underwhelmed with the applicator for the rest of my eye, so I;ll probably use one of my other brushes going forward.
I chose the variety sample pack and received L’Oreal Total Repair Extreme Reconstructing Shampoo, Conditioner and Emergency Recovery Mask; Biolage fiberstrong Intra-Cylane Fortifying Cream (huh?); and Amazing Cosmetics VelvetMineral Liquid Foundation in Medium-Beige (probably too dark). I’ll never need to steal hotel shampoo again!
Teensy Ulta Haul
This is the time of year with deals too good to pass up. A few weeks ago, Ulta was running a special that made most of their cosmetics $5 each. If you got 3 of them, you also got a free Ulta makeup brush. I decided to try Ulta Minerals Finishing Powder, Ulta Gel Eye Liner in “Peacock” and Ulta Double Duty Lip Stain and Balm in “Fantasy”. (I think I have ALL of the Double Duties now!) The free brush I picked was the large eye shadow brush.
There was also a Christmas gift in the order…shhhhh…
There was also a special $5 off $10 purchase coupon. On top of that – free shipping on ALL orders!
Even though I just got that huge sample set, I picked the free fragrance samples. I got another vial of Juicy Couture “Viva La Juicy Noir”, Gucci “Made to Measure” Pour Homme and Oscar de la Renta “Oscar”. I’m afraid to crack them open after yesterday;s migraine…
Le Poop and Le Barf
Puss has being absolutely BEGGING to be featured on my site and today, she wouldn’t take NO for an answer.
My son thinks he is a comedian. As I gleefully opened up my Ulta “Finishing Touches” Fragrance Collection, he asked if any of the perfumes were from France. So I started reading off where the perfumes were from and he says, “I thought so – it smells like Le Poop and Le Barf.” How can a 9 year old be so funny?
A few Saturdays ago, I was sitting at my daughter’s Gymnastics Class and got an Ulta email…The special of the day was 2/$40 on the “Finishing Touches” set, plus a free stainless steel 3 piece serving set. Why not? I can keep one and use the other for a white elephant gift. (I was a little perturbed when I saw that Ulta will have these for $14.99 on Black Friday, but then again – that would require leaving the house on the most dangerous day of the year.)
Inside the box: Bvulgari “Omnia Crystalline”, Calvin Klein “Endless Euphoria”, DKNY “MYNY”, Estée Lauder “Modern Muse”, Giorgio Armani “Acqua Di Gioia”, Jimmy Choo “Jimmy Choo”, Juicy Couture “Viva La Juicy”, Lancôme “La Vie est Belle”, Philosophy “Loveswept” (the only one of these that I already own – I got it for Valentine’s Day), Prada “Prada Candy”, Ralph Lauren “Midnight Romance”, and Vince Camuto “Femme”. The set also came with a refillable purse atomizer and a $5 off Fragrance Coupon.
I also picked the mystery sample pack – I got L’Oreal EverSleek Intense Smoothing Shampoo, Conditioner and Humidity Defying Leave-in Creme; Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream and Redken Diamond Oil. Interesting…
I can’t wait to try all my new fragrances – I hope I like at least one of them…
I Swear…I Only Went in for a Haircut
Really! I hadn’t gotten my hair cut since February, so I figured it was time…OK, I kind of knew that I would probably buy some stuff if I actual went to the salon in Ulta to get my hair cut. Shhhh,,,
Ulta was running a special on Zoya polish – buy 2, get a free gift – “A Matte Story”, which came with Zoya Matte Velvet Top Coat (I’ve been needing one!) and Whore Red Matte Velvet Lipstick. the two polishes that I got were Zoya Matte Velvet “Harlow” and Zoya “Remy”.
I went to the fragrance section to sample “Stella” by Stella McCartney. There was a placard for it, but no bottles. A clerk offered to go check the back and came back with a single bottle – saying they had discontinued carrying it. I made a split second decision to go for it and buy it…not realizing that it was the $72 50 ML size. Uhhhhhh…I got it anyway and in my excitement, I totally forgot to use my $3.50 off coupon. The blow was softened, however, by a VISA gift card I had gotten as a “thank you” from my AVP last week.
I was so excited, that I opened “Stella” in my car and started spraying. I LOVE the way it smells on me, but I was a bit disappointed in the scent’s staying power. It’s just a few hours later and I can barely smell it on me. I had read online that the new 2014 version has less staying power, so I guess I need to be on the lookout for one of the old bottles. Trader’s Village, maybe – or one of those Indian perfume places?
Halloween is Coming…
I didn’t mean to buy a bunch of Halloween stuff yesterday…but it kind of just happens sometimes.
Somehow, I scammed my husband into letting me run into Ulta before lunch, so I could grab some more Zoya Remove+. (I kind of freak out a little bit if I have less than half a bottle left, plus I didn’t know if the new ad would still have a $3.50 coupon.) After lunch, we all went to Five Below. In addition to Pink Flamingo Duck Tape, I couldn’t resist more Funky Fingers! I got 2 of the 2/$5 Halloween Glow in the Dark polishes: “Oogie Boogie” – iridescent yellow glitter in a neon green base – and “Dia De Muertos” – matte pink glitter in a baby blue base. I also got 3 of the regular 3/$5 Funky Fingers – “Unicorn Farts” – chunky metallic multicolored glitter, “Olaf” – white snowflake glitter – and “Elsa” – white and blue snowflake glitter. (Yes, I bought Frozen nail polish. Suck it.) Everybody got goodies. I got a SHENANIGANS T-shirt for my BFF. My husband got spiderwebs to decorate the house and a football. Logan got a gag gum snapper. Lily got a rubber chicken. Seriously…a rubber chicken. I can’t even explain why.
Five Below and Half Price Books were just too much fun for the family to handle, so while everyone else took naps, I went to Target to buy toilet paper and paper towels. Yeah, that was my plan when I went in there…
In addition to stocking up on John Frieda and Olay, I came across the new Halloween Beauty Books from e.l.f. ($6!) I picked up “Vampire” for my BFF, because the colors will be perfect for her Cruella DeVille costumes. I got “Wicked” for my Maleficent costume. I also grabbed bunch of plastic totes for my hair and face gunk – all of my tiny bottles where overtaking my husband’s side of the sink.
Of course, I got the new Caramel Apple Oreos. They’re just as weird as you would expect them to be. They did not have the Pumpkin Spice Oreos, which is probably all for the better…
Ulta Success!
Any excuse to go to Ulta, right?
I went to a different Ulta yesterday in search of Zoya Remove+ – success! They had a dozen bottles…but I just got one.
I also capitalized on Ulta’s 21 Days of beauty special – Butter London 2 for $15. I picked up “The Black Knight” – black, pink, blue, and silver suspended in a black base – and “Tart with a Heart” – pale pink parade of glitter carries a dash of grey.
I also grabbed a Ms. Manicure Buffing Block from the kiosks by the checkout. I LOVE those kiosks – they’re dangerous to me!
Fuck Traffic, Go Shopping
Right as I was packing up to leave work, my husband called to tell me that the highway was backed up – huge wreck. Sigh. When the going gets tough, the tough say “fuck traffic” and go shopping.
My backdoor route to avoid the highway conveniently brought me right past my Ulta – imagine that! The main reason I wanted to drop by was to pick up a new Zoya Remove+, but of course they are still out. My second choice was Orly Bonder, suggested by Angie as an excellent base coat. We shall see…
Although the clearance section has dwindled, I still had to look. I was excited to find Sparitual “Citrine” Luminary Matte Top Effect for $2.97. I was even more excited when it rang up for $1.49, especially since I paid $12 for “Opaline” several months ago!
Finally, I decided to try eos lip balm in “Blueberry Acai”. Erin raved about eos the last time we had a traffic chat, so I figured now was the the time. I was skeptical of rubbing that huge knob all over my lips, but it felt SO GOOD. I thought I would end up smearing it all over my face like Steve Buscemi in Billy Madison, but it only went on my lips.
The $3.50 coupon is back – I hate those 20% one item coupons! I’ll probably hit another Ulta tomorrow to look for my Zoya Remove+, plus Butter London polishes are 2/$15 tomorrow!
Monsters Ball
Remember when I said “Don’t try all the colors!” Don’t listen to me – I was clearly wrong.
This is a combination of some of the polishes I got in my last Ulta order. I totally feel like Lady Gaga…without the pointy witch nails, of course. I started with Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat and then 2 coats of Pixel “The Midas Touch” on all my nails. The polish was much sheerer than I expected, but dried quickly – leaving only 2 or 3 bubbles. I’ve never heard of Pixel Cosmetics before, but a quick Google told me that it is a newish line, exclusive to Ulta and similar to Prestige or Essence. I used China Glaze “Boo-gie Down” on my pointer and middle. No fishing glitter out of the bottle – it went on perfectly right out of the bottle. I want to put this polish over EVERYTHING to see how it looks. My pinky got China Glaze “Bat Your Eyes”. Again, this is a beautiful polish – black with different sizes of gold glitter. Both China Glaze polishes are from the Halloween 2013 Monsters Ball Collection. I’m excited to see what Halloween polishes China Glaze releases this year – for me…every day is Halloween!