Exclusive to Sephora.

How do I start my day?

After dropping off my little girl, I come to the office and have a date with my computer and my coffee. I start by reading the bevy of beauty blogs and surf on over to Sephora.com and few other beauty sites.

Sephora has negotiated some excellent exclusive's this season, and I thought I would share a few of my favorites here with you.



Philosophy The Ski House - A wonderful little gift in the cutest ski house box. Indoors you will find everything to keep you warm: Double Rich Hot Cocoa 3-in-1 shampoo, shower gel, and bubble bath, a Marshmallow Body Souffle, and a Kiss Me Pink peppermint lip balm. $35

Smashbox Swingin' Scene Ultimate Beauty Collection  - What is there not to love about this $140 value from Smashbox. IT IS ONLY $59!!! Inside a chic carry-all bag is: a  layer lash primer,  that's a wrap mascara in black, the travel size Photo Finish Foundation Primer,  Blush/Soft Lights Duo in Action/Shot, 2 Lip Glosses in Location and Illuminate, and an Eye Shadow Trio in Freeze Frame. $59

Bare Escentuals Shake Your Tail Feather  - Another superb value ($131) from one of my favorite lines, Bare Escentuals. Shake Your Tail Feather is about luminous colors, and here is what is included in the beautiful bronze bag: All Over Face Color in Pure Radiance, bareMinerals Glimpse in Peacock, bareMinerals Eyeshadow in Pure Spice, a Big Tease Mascara in Blackest Black, Beautifully Luminous Lashes in gold, and a Lip Gloss in Dolly Buxom. This coupled with 2 full size brushes to help you apply makes this a generous offer. $55

 

In Search of More Pink.

So my daughter, Doodles, & I (and hubby too) were at the Mall Saturday night on a mission. First plan of attack was to use her expiring 20% off coupon at Limited Too (she is 11!) and secondly, I wanted to find a few more great "Pink Products" - meaning more beauty products that were in support of BCA.

bca_locc.jpgOn our way to the bigger and better Sephora store (they just relocated in the Mall) as we surpassed L'Occiitane, Doodles stopped dead in her tracks and asked if I knew about this one yet. I had not seen L'Occitane's BCA entry, so we entered the store. I was so excited to see that it was a limited edition Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream in which 15% of the purchase price of $36 was to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I made the purchase - yippe - it smells divine! So far, I have only tested it out on my hands, but I will be sure to post a full review soon.

Our next stop was definitely Sephora. As we entered, Doodles thought that the entire Piink collection from Sephora was for BCA, but as I quickly explained how that was just their little collection of Piink, she didn't quite care. "It is Pink, Mom", she was squealing, and went on how she needed something from here - so I let hubby stay by her so she could touch and try everything out, as this gave me a chance to roam around to find more of what I was really looking for.

Of course, I grabbed Philosophy's Shower for the Cure ($20) as soon as I saw it. I love their 3-in-1 shampoo, bath, body washes, but I don't splurge on them that often. Well, this was the perfect chance. I love the fresh, clean scent. I stopped by the end cap of Bare Escentuals and gave their Pink Passion ($48) set a good look-over, but having not been the biggest fan of their glosses, I decided to look around a bit more to see what else I may purchase instead. That is when I made my way to the Stila section to look for their BCA It Gloss Trio, but I soon found that they were sold out already. (Mental note to myself, order one tonight - they are still there on the website!) Across from Stila, was a huge collection of makeup brushes. That is where I found Sephora's bca_sephora.jpgBCA Mini Kabuki Brush ($10) - which I could always use! It is so perfectly hot pink - and a great size, so that was quickly added to my basket. Almost immediately as I turned around, a few lovely ladies were holding LORAC's Perfectly Pink Blush ($25). Seeing as that was on my list to look over, I asked where they found it, and I headed on over to grab one up. The blush is just too pink for me, but not for my extremely fair sister who looks awesome in a really pink blush. It will be one of her stocking stuffers (from her baby daughter). And that got me thinking back to BE's Pink Passion set, and how my Mom might really enjoy that. So I ran back and grabbed it for her. Ooh, another present down, and Christmas shopping was not even a thought when I got to the mall. That got me thinking - I always spend about $20 on a little trinket for each of my kids teachers - and what a better way than to grab something now that will benefit BCA too. I ran over to hubby with the idea, where he asked how much I was planning on spending tonight - geez, the nerve of him, and ultimately agreeed that it was a nice idea. So I grabbed 4 more Shower for the Cures'.

So I was done - or so I thought. Right next to the register they had tubes of a pink GoSmile Morning Rush Toothpaste ($5) that I just needed to add to my order. How sweet - I hope!

Done? My poor daughter. I guess that hubby had already explained that we were on our mission to get more pink beauty items and not what "Doodles wants, Doodles gets, totally unnecessary for an 11 year old items". So, yes, we were done! To the tune of $188 - not bad.

After the $36 at L'Occitane and this, I dared not ask hubby to step into Nordie's so I could take a look see at their counters. I also knew I'd be back during the week with no one in tow. ;)

Love to the Little Guy!

Have you taken a look at some of the smaller, independent beauty companies out there?

Well, they may not be so little. And by little, I mean it in the sense that we cannot find them at our major department store, Sephora, or beauty.com.

I want to spread the word about some great little beauty sites I discovered, and hope to bring you reviews of their products soon, if I haven't already.

Ooohlala of Beverly Hills - super cute bath and body sets, bath bombs, and candles
Bella il Fiore - fun makeup, polishes, and bath & body sets
Bath by Bettijo - a great selection of natural products - soap, scrubs, shea butter and lip balm
Renee Rouleau - unique skin care products for unique skin from a celebrated esthetician
ME! Bath - home of bath ice cream and shower sorbet - yummy
Piaffe Beauty - beautiful vitamin and mineral bases makeup and skin care
Urban Apothecary - artisan quality makeup and skin care

Let me know if you have tried anything!