Birthday Freebies

One of the things I look forward to every July is the slew of e-mails that show up in my inbox, filled with awesome coupons and promises of freebies. Why July? Because it's my birthday! As much as celebrating with a big party and cake can make me feel loved and appreciated, I honestly look equally forward to my yearly ritual of parading around the mall, collecting my free little treats. Maybe I'm just an introvert, but the gift of me-time is perhaps my favorite thing to give myself (you know, along with some chocolate and a bath bomb). To keep you guys in-the-know, I thought I'd round up a list of my favorite birthday freebies, both beauty and non-beauty, so you too can get in on all the goodness.

Birthday Haulin'

When it comes to birthday presents, I'm one of the easiest people on the planet to please. If it smells nice, tastes good, or looks pretty I'm probably going to love it. And when in doubt, the gift of shopping never fails to put a smile on my face. It also so happens that by being born on a holiday weekend, there are almost always amazing sales that I can take advantage of during my self-gifting birthday binge. While I did do some serious damage at the mall earlier this month, this haul is truly a collection of all the beauty shopping I've done both since and before my birthday. After all, if I'm going to write up a haul post, I might as well show you everything new I've been trying and loving as per late. If you caught my wish list post from a few weeks back you'll probably recognize quite a few familiar things in the picture above. I really don't waste any time when it comes to making good on said types of lists, apparently. So, without more rambling from my end, let's dive right in.

ULTA & CVS Haul

When you write a beauty blog, there is ALWAYS something out there you can't wait to get your hands on. Whether it's that cult favorite eyeshadow everyone's been raving about for years, or a brand new product launch, you've just got to find out for yourself how it measures up. Of course, us bloggers do have budgets, so we're always on the lookout for coupons, discounts, and other ways to get the most bang for our buck. Between a 20% off coupon at ULTA, an in-store sale on Rimmel, CVS Extrabucks and manufacturer's coupons, I was able to get this stash of beauty goodies for less than half the price. Here's a closer look at what I bought for testing and reviewing!

Spring 2014 CVS Haul

So...I've been a bit naughty.

I mostly blame CVS for having such ridiculous sales and an amazing customer loyalty program. You could say it would have been more naughty for me to pass up the opportunity to get some of these products at the prices I did.

Whichever way you want to look at it, I've amassed a little collection of new beauty products since my last drugstore haul post. Here's a rundown of these new goodies I'm putting to the test.

Winter 2014 Drugstore Beauty Haul

Despite my uber strict budget, I'm surprisingly not so well-versed in the latest and greatest of the drugstore beauty world. With saavy shopping, gift cards, and of course, the occasional splurge, I've somehow managed to make the majority of my beauty purchases from prestige brands. While high-end beauty certainly has its perks, that's not to say that there aren't some true gems on the shelves at CVS. Realizing that it has been a long time since I'd gone treasure hunting, I clipped some coupons from the Sunday paper a few weekends ago and went shopping. I was really happy with my purchases, and thanks to the sales and my coupons, I was able to get all of these products (a $40 something value) for less than $25.

(I believe they call that winning.)