Beauty Products Haul & 1000 Plus Subscriber Contest!

Hello ladies!  I had a wonderful Sunday morning that started off right with a Pilates Ball class, a skinny vanilla latte and sausage, egg and cheese artisan breakfast sandwich from Starbucks (love!)

I then headed over to the Galleria Mall to use a Victoria's Secret coupon I got in the mail.  I got one that was $10 off of any bra and a free PINK ruched panty.  While there, I also remembered that I had a coupon in my email (thank God for iPhones!) that was for 8 pairs of PINK panties for $25.  Yay!  Right now they have a promotion where you get 7 PINK panties for $25 but if you are a member of PINK NATION you get 8.  You can sign up for PINK NATION here.

Here's a sampling of the designs I picked:

Pink and girly, of course!

...And now, I just have to share the BEST BRA EVER.  I have the black version of this bra and I have to say it is the best and most comfortable bra I've ever worn in my life. The fabric is like a very soft jersey/cotton- not the shiny material most bras are made of.  It is padded, but IMO, not extensively, just enough for shape and a small boost in size. I used my $10 OFF coupon to buy the nude color in this style bra because I wear it so often I needed another one. I feel kind of weird showing pictures of bras here, but this is too good not to share. I seriously cannot rave enough about it.  This is what it looks like:

It comes in a variety of colors too.  It's officially called the Body by Victoria Push-Up Bra and you can BUY IT HERE. 

My next visit was to AVEDA.  Remember when I talked about attending the Simon Fashion Now runway show a few weeks ago?  Well we got these incredible swag bags full of goodies, samples and coupons.  I think some people don't take the time to examine and use their coupons- but they really should!  I got a bottle of one of Aveda's fragrances for FREE ($20 Value) and I even got to pick the scent I liked best. I picked number 7, which is a sort of citrusy/minty combo:

The scent is really delightful.  I might be addicted already. I think they are scents derived from essential oils. I cannot wait to wear this scent! 

Then, I headed over to Bare Escentuals where I had another coupon from my swag bag to use!  It was for a free powder sample and $10 off of any product!  I got the eyeshadow in "Nude Beach" which comes highly recommended by one of my favorite YouTubers LisaLisaD1.  She is one of the sweetest YouTubers out there with such a positive spirit. I definitely recommend subscribing to her because she reviews so many products and is just always so happy and full of life.

This eyeshadow is so beautiful and shimmery and the perfect shadow for wearing on its own to give eyes sparkle in a subtle way:

I will post photos when I wear it!

I also stopped in at Ulta today where I picked up a few products.  I had run out of my Pureology Essential Repair shampoo so I picked up the volumizing formula which IMO has the best scent of the entire line (kind of minty and earthy- sort of like Aveda products). I also picked up a can of Neutrogena's spray tanner and some Redken All-Soft Treatment.

I visited a few more stores (Charlotte Russe- which had some really cute stuff, but I resisted; J. Crew, Zara)  and finally SEPHORA.

For the last few weeks, my Sephora has always had at least 5 Urban Decay Naked Palettes in stock. But not today. Ulta didn't have it either.  Sigh. I waited too long.  I might wait and get it at the F&F if they have it then.

I did end up picking up another NARS Laguna Bronzer though, because I'm running low:

I also got the Benefit packet as my Sephora VIB gift this time around: 

It comes with a mini High Beam and Posie Tint as well as 2 Bad Gal Lash mascaras!  I can't wait to try High Beam because I've heard such great things about it (uh, not that I need another highlighter...)

and finally....

I got a $25 Sephora Giftcard...not for myself, for ONE OF YOU!  To celebrate more than 1000 subscribers and the new template, I decided to pick this up so one lucky winner can get something they've been wanting from Sephora.  I always get SO stressed out when I try to pick stuff out for contests because everyone has different skin tones, hair types etc. So I decided a gift card was the way to go!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my wonderful readers who have made this blog such an amazing experience for me!  Here are the rules to enter:

1.  You must be a follower/subscriber of this blog

2.  Please only one entry per person.  You can write "enter me" into the comments and PLEASE INCLUDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS SO I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!

3.  The contest ends next week- I will accept entries until FRIDAY OCTOBER 1st at Midnight CST.

4.  I will announce the winner on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2nd and will choose the winner using random.org

Thank you again to everyone who has supported this blog and has been so wonderful throughout this last year!  Good luck everyone!

xoxo,

Veronika.

CONTEST WINNER & Some Weekend Shopping...Plus a Perfume Vent

I have to admit I was thrilled when RANDOM.ORG came up with the number "11" out of 169 because it saved me a lot of counting (and re-counting) as I only had to go 11 comments down (yay!)

...and the lucky winner is (and I  LOVE this girl- she is a longtime reader and commenter on my blog- and also has a fabulous blog of her own):

Olivea from The Sweet Life!!!

Congratulations! (isn't the spelling of her name so cute too!? I've always loved it!)

Here is the screen shot from Random.org. I always like to include it to show the drawing was random and fair (click to enlarge). 

Thank you to everyone who entered. I will try to have giveaways more often...maybe my fave product of the month or something. Even if it's something small, I like to spread the product love :)

Today Candice and I went to the mall to use our SEPHORA VIB promo coupons. I could NOT believe that Bare Escentuals was giving away 2 of their mineral eye shadows AND a good quality brush with ANY purchase (there was no amount you had to meet to be eligible.)

I've always wanted to try their shadows but never got around to it. The collection we got was the FOILED EYE one.  The two shadows are gorgeous, shimmery taupe-y neutrals. I swatched them when I got home because I just loved the colors so much. I might use them tonight in my eye look!  

The kit usually retails for $32.00! I feel so lucky that Sephora did this promo with Bare Escentuals because it has definitely made me want to get more of the shadows (I'll see how the wear when I use them, but so far from just swatching, I have a feeling they'll be gorgeous!)

I cannot wait to try them tonight!  I think you can wear them wet for a more metallic look. I'm going to use them dry for a more sheer wash of color (but it might be fun to try them wet as a metallic liner.)

The only other purchase I made today was this pretty skirt from Club Monaco. It originally retailed for $129.00 and I got in on sale for $39.00 (score!!!)

Oh and one more thing...this is what I bought at Sephora to get the VIB deal: Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume roll-on:

When this perfume first came out there was a lot of hype around it and I just didn't care for it...then for some reason I tried some on a couple of weeks ago and I was IN LOVE. I tend to forget to put perfume on in the mornings, so this is nice because I can keep it in my purse. 

I don't like heavy scents and I don't like when people wear too much perfume (in fact, I was recently APPALLED when a woman took a damn FULL SIZE bottle of perfume out of her purse and doused herself in it in the WAITING ROOM at my OBGYN's office.) I wanted to say something to her, but I restrained myself. Some people can have asthma attacks or worse from being exposed to strong perfume sprayed near them (and the room was full of pregnant women who I know can be super sensitive to scents.)

I had a college professor who was deathly allergic to many scents and we were even asked to never wear perfume or other strong scented products to class because her system could go into shock (like epi-pen style.) I know that's pretty rare but I also think it is really against common courtesy and etiquette to whip out your perfume in a doctor's office. It is absolutely unacceptable to me. 

Is there something beauty related that people sometimes do in public that annoys you? The prefume thing is definitely number one on my list. Trying on perfume at the mall, yes. Spraying several sprays of it in a doctor's office...NO. There is a time and place ladies, and it's not at the OBGYN's.

xoxo,

Veronika.