Cosmetics Outlet Shopping!

If you can't tell, I am a major shopper! I always look forward to the big 3 day weekend/holiday sales here in the US, since I usually end up with great deals. Unfortunately, I was unable to go shopping (due to various reasons) for Presidents Day and Memorial Day this year, so was determined to hit the malls for the US Independence Day (July 4th)!! Not only did I make a trip to a mall in San Diego, but I also stopped by the outlet stores in Carlsbad! Ok, so I bought mostly baby clothes because I have a lot of preggy friends who are due in the next couple months, but I did find a few other steals.

I ventured into the The Cosmetics Company Store and to my surprise they had some great stuff! I used to think that cosmetics outlets had old products that I would not want anywhere near my skin. Ok, so they might not be the latest collections, but I found that most of the items were from the Christmas timeframe! And seriously, even if some of the products were a few months older, they were all brand new and packaged/sealed, so they were all new and untouched. If you bought a beauty product last year, chances are you still have it and are using it, so what's the harm in buying something a few months later, right? So after I got over that "old product" fear, I decided to look around.

As always, I checked out the MAC display first. It didn't occur to me to take any pictures, but I can certainly talk about the stuff. They had some great deals on shadow palettes from Christmas and the Cult of Cherry collection, all around $22-$28, which is a great deal! Usually the palettes are $36-$38 and are considered a good value at that price, so $22-$28 is even better! It comes out to around $4 a shadow, which is almost a third of the price if you were to buy the shadow in pan form from MAC. Ok, so great deals, but also great colors. They had a great smoky eye and lip "trip" collection palette from the items they sell at international duty free shops, some Fafi blushes and quads, and Holiday 2009 brush sets and palettes. My best find was the Holiday 2009 Viva Glam Warm Lips palette shown above. I recently finished my tube of Viva Glam V lipglass, and I thought, for $14 I can get a new gloss, or pick up this palette, which comes with Viva Glam V lipglass and Viva Glam V and VI lipstick, for $15.75! I was sold!