Cheapies and Freebies - A Roundup Haul

Since I blew most of my seasonal budget on The Makeup Show, I've been trying to stay thrifty with my makeup spending in the last month. I did manage a small haul by taking advantage of GWP offers, Optimum points and some drugstore deals.

This is just a quick pull from my Instagram featuring some of these finds, more in-depth reviews (or at least swatches) forthcoming.

From my local Jean Coutu drugstore, I picked up these Jumbo Glossy Balms from Marcelle. They were discounted 50% off from 12.49$, so 6.25$ each. A little bit less than comparable stick glosses from Cover Girl and Revlon at full price, and I'd been eyeballing that display for weeks.

Also from that same Jean Coutu, I noticed a limited edition nail polish display from Maybelline. Half of the polishes were this polka dot type texture, and the other half were holos. (HOLOS, people. Though  they looked almost like a cross between duo chromes and holos.)

These weren't on sale, but at 3.49$, it was a nice option to temporarily curb my lemming for the Illamasqua speckled polishes. Because I desperately want nails that look like bird eggshells.

And from my local Pharmaprix drugstore, I hauled these goodies - for free, y'all. God bless their Optimum Points program, especially the Beauty Bonus Splurge days. I turned in my points for some lemmings  and impulse try-outs. I saw Caroline from beautymouth.com ardently recommending the Hydraluron Moisture Booster (which is like a super shot of hyaluronic acid to put under moisturizer), so when I spotted it I almost squealed. And I had to try some Shiseido after watching Dick Page's inspiring seminar.  So 90 000 points later, I had me some hooch!

The other day I received an email from Sephora, informing me that as a VIB I could get a free, full-size Bare Minerals duo (The Perfect Storm) with a 35$ purchase. Faster than you can "lunch break" I dashed across the street. I've been wanting to try the Bare Minerals concealer (especially since I'm on a concealer kick with the non-sleep I've been getting), and this gorgeous hot pink (what else??) lipstick also sucked me in.

The duo itself is very nice, with a satin-finish white and a grey-taupe matte, both pigmented like crazy, so it was 30 minutes and 50 bucks well spent. If you can't get to a store, use code VIBREADY to add the duo to your cart.

And also at Sephora, I raided the Charlotte Ronson end cap over the past month to get ALL THE PALETTES, as the whole line is now discounted. (These went from 26$ to 18$, though a few of them were 10-15$. Those the SA actually had to look for in the back, since they weren't even on display any more.)

So all in all, not a bad month for me in terms of getting the most out of my beauty dollar!

What about you guys? Did you come across any great savings or deals? Or conversely, did you haul big?