Bath and Body Works Haul & Savings!!

      Welcome to my first Christmas haul of the season! I checked five people off my shopping list, and spent less than $10 on each of them. Each candle retails for $22.50, and the soap gift set sells for $12.50. That puts my total at over $100. You better believe I didn't pay that!!

      Bath and Body Works had their 2 for $22 candle deal going on, plus a free shipping and $10 off any purchase over $50. Then, on top of that, I got an email from paypal saying that they would give me $10 off any purchase at bath and body works over $30. Sooo, my total added up to $39! I saved over $60, and I couldn't be happier starting out my Christmas shopping with such great savings.

Here's my review for each of the products:

Everyone I hear talk about the bath and body works Christmas scents absolutely loves them. I honestly wasn't too crazy about any of these. However, this was my second favorite candle. To me, it smelled like a cold glass of cranberry juice. The candle jar itself is gorgeous, and the lid has a plastic rim to keep the scent from leaving it, and keeps it from falling off so easily.

                        

I really didn't like this one. I thought that anything vanilla would smell good, but this proved me wrong. You can smell hints of vanillas, but it's a very natural, outdoors smell. The cover truly does look like what it smells, but I was expecting a warm smell... Which really doesn't make sense because it does have snow flake in the name. I hope its new home likes it more than I did.

                               

Everyone I know is crazy about vanilla bean noel. Not me. It has too much bean, not enough vanilla.

This one was definitely my favorite. It's actually the only one I would use for myself. It has a very warm, sweet, fruity smell. I just loved it, and really don't want to give it away. I'll probably give it to my favorite sister.

My brother has a wild toddler who I wouldn't let near a candle, but I still wanted to get all my siblings something from the same place. So, I found this and thought it was perfect. It's a soap and lotion set, and everyone uses those! Especially the hand lotion during the winter. I thought it would be perfect to sit by the sink, and a really good gift for someone who has it all like him and his wife. I actually really like this smell. It smells just like authentic gingerbread. I wish I would have seen this in a candle.

Well, there's my first round of Christmas shopping. Five people down, fifteen more to go. I hope to keep my Christmas budget under $150, and still buy nice gifts for 20 people. I will be sharing all of my purchases with you, so hopefully you can see me reach my goal!!

Thanks for reading,

Fran

Ipsy November Glam Bag Review

For those of you who don't know, ipsy is a $10 monthly subscription. They send you five deluxe to full sized samples. This month's theme was 'Girl Meets Glitter'.

I was so excited to receive my first nail polish after being a subscriber for four months! I'm a little bit of a nail polish addict. Of course with the theme, it's a very sparkly color called Guys & Galaxies. It looks like you could almost wear by itself, but it's not thick enough. It's a good top coat over a plain color. I'm not much on glitter nail polish, but I love the brand Nicole by O.P.I. 

This product retails for about $6

The next product is a liquid eyeliner by Elizabeth Mott called You're So Fine in the shade Glitterati. It's black with little glitter chunks in it. On Ipsy's website it said that it was a good product for new liquid eyeliner users. However, I had some problems with application. It's been a few years since I used liquid eyeliner, and I've really been wanting to start back. With the glitter I think I'll use it mostly for events like holiday parties. I found that when I touched my eyes with this product on, it simply flaked off.

This product retails for $17.99

Next, there's a Glamglow Powermud Dualcleanse Treatment sample. This product has 5 oz/15g of product in it. It actually doesn't seem like they filled this product with air like the next product on the list. I think I could get at least three good uses out of this. I'm really excited to try this product. I haven't yet; because, I have really dry skin that worsens in the winter. This is an oil treatment, and I don't have enough on my face right now even with moisturizing twice a day. I'm going to try and get my face in a good enough place to try this, then I'll give a proper review. 

This product retails at about $20

I was so disappointed when this came in the mail. It's a SeaRx Microdermabrasion Face & Body Scrub for preventative aging. It's halfway filled with air and the little message on the back kind of scared me from using this. It says that it's not for use for anyone under 18, pregnant, or nursing. There isn't an ingredients list, so who knows what's in it to make it so unsafe. I'm in the category to be able to use this and not have any side effects, but I'm not sure if I want to?? Again, I have really dry skin and haven't tried this yet, plus I'm kind of scared of it. We'll see if I get the courage later.

I couldn't find how much was in this bottle to determine the value of it, but 400g of this retails for $32

 I think that I was most excited to receive this product. It's CK One High-Shine Gloss by Calvin Klein in Tender. This sample has 0.17 fl oz / 5 ml. It's definitely a your lips but better shade. It feels really good on your lips,very soft and not sticky. I love it, but the staying power is quite lacking. I put this on, went to class, didn't talk/eat/do anything and it didn't last over an hour.

 I found a trio of this at ulta for $20, so that would put the retail price for one of these at about $6.60

In the end, there was only one product that I probably will never use (The SeaRx scrub.) So, I'm very happy with this month's bag! Not including the scrub, since I couldn't find a price for it, this bag retails for $50.59. For only $10, that's an awesome value. Can't wait to see what Ipsy delivers next month!

First Post! - How to Be Frugal in 5 Easy Steps

Hello everyone!

I've spent the last few years embracing how to be cheap without letting it consume my life. I believe I've found the perfect middle ground of getting amazing deals, and spending a minimum amount of time to do so.

1. Sign up for the annoying emails

This is the best way I've found to get the good deals from my favorite stores. 90% of the emails go into the trash, but every once in a while you'll get a great deal. I've noticed that this is a lot more effective, and less time consuming, than going to other websites to check on deals. So, if you can handle hitting the delete button a few minutes out of your day for a ton of savings, go for it!

2. BE PATIENT

How else can I put it? I won't buy anything full price, (other than groceries, and that's sometimes.) I always wait for the good deals. At least once a month a store will have a good sale. You don't have to wait for Black Friday to go shopping, just wait until you've found a price that you won't feel guilty about.

3. Be aware
After a while, you get to know a certain store and their common, great sales. For Bath and Body Works, it's their 2 for $22 candles, $3 lotions and wallflowers. For American Eagle, it's 40% off clothing. Then, there's some stores that don't hardly offer anything. Don't follow my first two steps if the purchase you're going to make is from one of those stores. If the product is worth it to you, get it. Don't sit around waiting for a deal that's never going to happen. But also don't be the person kicking yourself in the bum for spending $50 for two candles when you could have spent $22.

4. Never pay for shipping

I almost always order everything online. A mall is about 2 hours away from me, and it's almost impossible to get the time to go. Almost all good stores have free shipping deals multiple times a month. If you have to buy $25 worth of merchandise to get the free shipping, but only want $6 worth of stuff.. it can wait. You're wasting money without getting product in return. 

5. Don't spend hours looking for deals

 If there's something I want to buy, these steps might take a maximum of 2 weeks of spending 5 minutes actually reading my emails once a day. If you let deal hunting take over your life, you'll end up wasting more time than it's worth to get $20 off your purchase.