Finished in October

I am not going to do a monthly favorites post for October because there was really only one product I kept using, MAC's Face and Body Foundation, so I will do a separate review of that. But I did manage to finish 3 products last month:

1. Philosophy Purity Made Simple - My Holy Grail (HG) cleanser. This is the only cleanser that removes ALL traces of my face makeup, doesn't leave my skin feeling dry or like it has a film on it, and it just works. I professed my love for it here.



2. Phyto Phytodefrisant Botanical Hair Relaxing Balm - The last time I got my hair cut my stylist gave this to me to try out saying it is the best for calming frizzy hair. She is African American and swears by this product, and I thought if it works for her hair, it will definitely work for my hair! Wrong. My hair is really dry and this stripped all moisture from my hair, and it didn't add any softness. I didn't notice my hair being any straighter with this compared to my beloved Moroccan Oil, so back to the oil it is!

Holiday Present Packaging? To Keep Or Not To Keep?

Ok, so this was a present to myself from myself.....the Philosophy Gingerbread Man and Gingerbread Girl body washes....and the packaging is absolutely adorable!

The front opens up and it is like a little dollhouse:

How cute is that?!?! The material is a thick cardboard so it is pretty sturdy and if I keep the box closed I could easily use it to store small pieces of makeup or other tid bits, but where would I display it? Do I keep it hidden and use it just for storage? Do I display it all year round even though it obviously looks like it is for the holidays/winter? Do I chuck it? What would you do?

Exclusives - Nordstrom, MAC Dazzle Lipsticks, and More!!!

As of late everyone has been talking about the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale that starts in July, and I have already seen a couple of the beauty exclusives and I can tell you....if makeup was a food, my mouth would be watering!

All I can say is if you have a few favorite beauty brands, I recommend stopping by your local Nordies to ask the counters what specials they have for the Anniversary Sale or checking out the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Beauty Exclusives online . They are taking pre-sales right now and there are limited supplies of some of the best ones. Hello Bobbi Brown Full-Size Brush Set that is $75 (retail price $175) and my store said they are only getting 30 of them! There is another Bobbi makeup set, the Chocolate & Navy Set,  that is a great value, some fantastic Laura Mercier deals, good deals on Philosophy, including a large Purity Made Simple (with a pump!!), and of course, the ever popular MAC deals.

In addition to the usual MAC color and brush sets, Nordstrom is also releasing limited edition MAC Dazzle Lipsticks, which are creamy lipsticks that have high-shine and tons of sparkle. I was able to swatch these and although I like the sparkle effect,  I wasn't too impressed by the shades.

Here are the colors (I only swatched 9 of the 13, since 4 of them were missing from the display):

Top Row Colors: Naughty You, Win-Win, Troublemaker, Snazzy, Hot Sass

Bottom Row Colors: Baby's On Fire, Infused with Glam, Wham, Smash Hit

In the second pic you can get a better idea of the sparkle and shine factor. The colors are decent but they are very bright and I wanted a bit more variety. Since sparkle is hard to wear, most people might not want to do both sparkle and a bright color lip. In any case, I picked up Wham since I thought it would pair well with Indian clothes. I have enough dazzleglasses and the color variety of the new ones didn't do anything for me so I didn't even bother swatching them.

Another deal I wanted to tell you about is the MAC Lash & Lined Set from Nordstrom. This is a special set that Nordies created for their cosmetic trend show events, and some stores have extras so you may be able to find them, or you can purchase it online. It has full sizes of Zoom Lash Black, Prep + Prime Lash, Technakohl Liner in Graph Black and a travel-size Pro Eye Makeup Remover (1 oz.). Everything comes packed in a clear zip-around makeup bag that is perfect for the purse or travel.

Speaking of, have you been to a Nordstrom Cosmetic Trend Show? I am going to my first one this weekend and I will let you know how it is! BTW you can call your local Nordies to inquire about the trend shows at the stores near you.

Sephora 20% OFF F&F Plus an Extra 4% OFF!!!

Good morning sunshines! The Sephora Friends & Family sale starts today......wooohooo!!! Although it's only for those in the US....booooo. For my international readers, I feel your pain because I know there are so many European and Asian products that I have been wanting to try and they aren't even available here, let alone discounted.....but so is life.

So before I get to my recommendations, I just want to let you in on a little secret (don't you just love secrets....hehe). The Sephora F&F sale is for 20% anything online when you use the code FF2009.

The sale is only in-store if you are lucky enough to know a Sephora employee who will give you an in-store coupon. But what I am about to share with you will save you an extra 4%!! That's like getting everything at 3/4 of the original price...yay sales!!

So how do you save this wonderful 4%? It's through an online portal called Ebates. You simply register for an account, which is free, and then in their list of online shopping stores, you find the shop you want to shop at, i.e. Sephora, click on the store's link to start shopping, and the site will direct you to Sephora's site. Then you just shop as you normally would. The way it works is that when you click on Sephora's site through the Ebates site, there is a special tracking number that tracks your account. When you check out, Ebates tracks how much you spend, and they add a percentage of what you bought (in Sephora's case its 4%) into your Ebates account. Once a quarter (every 3 months) Ebates will automatically mail you a check, but you have to have at least $5 in your account. If you have less than $5, Ebates will wait till you accumulate $5, then mail you your check.

Ok, so my skeptics out there are wondering, is this for real? YES!!! I have been using Ebates for over a year, and like clockwork, every few months I get my check! They don't sell your email address or anything, there is no spam, no hidden weird things! They help online shops with their sales, and in return, we customers reap the benefits!

One more thing, when you register for your Ebates account, there is a field that asks if you were referred by someone. If you type in my email address kajalcouture@gmail.com then you will get an extra $5 in your account after making your first purchase with Ebates. Free 5 bucks is free 5 bucks! Gotta love it! There are TONS of online stores listed on Ebates, so I highly recommend using the site for your online shopping needs.

So now to my Sephora recommendations. I have been reviewing a few products over the past week, but in case you have extra money to burn (ok ok so thats wishful thinking) and want some ideas for what to get, here are some products I recommend, in no particular order:

1. Ole Hendrikson Three Little Wonders kit - I reviewed the serum here, and I recently tried samples of the 2 moisturizers and I am in luh-uhv...they totally cured the dry patches around my nose within 1 week!
2. Philosophy Purity made simple - check out my review here
3. Philosophy Hope in a Jar or any of the sets that include Hope in a Jar (I'm thinking the Makeup Optional sets, especially since they have different ones for each skin type)
4. Urban Decay Book of Shadows or any of their 24/7 eyeliner sets
5. Urban Decay Box of Potions - check out my review here
6. Anything by DERMADoctor - I reviewed their sweat wipes here, but I have also tried a couple other products, and I have so much faith DERMADoctor products actually do what they say. One of my recommendations, thought I haven't tried it, would be the POETRY in Lotion, because it contains Retinol, which I think is the best treatment for acne and aging
7. The Clarisonic skin care brush - a great deal at 24% off, and it is the best thing I have done for my skin in the past year
8. Holiday sets - they are already a good price and its rare to get an additional 24% discount so I highly recommend getting your holiday shopping done now
9. Anything else that floats your boat!!! =)

So what are you planning to get? I am going to get the Ole Hendrikson set, maybe some Philosophy skin care, and perhaps a holiday set or 2.