offers

I love a freebie with a magazine.  Glamour and InStyle have been leading the way in recent months, with Glamour giving away Benefit products and Nails Inc polishes, and InStyle giving away Nails Inc polishes too (what is it with Nails Inc?!).

InStyle are giving away the Body Shop's Lip & Cheek Stain in a choice of Bronze Glimmer or Rose Pink, worth £9.50 each, with their September issue.  The Rose Pink variety looks to be a good dupe for Benefit's cult stain, Benetint, which I never quite got round to buying, mostly because of the cost and very large bottle.  I'll definitely be picking up an InStyle to try out the Rose Pink variety.

If you want to find out more (not that there's much more to it than that!), information can be found on the InStyle site.

Illamasqua are now stocked by BeautyBay.com, one of our favourite online beauty stores.  As a special opening offer, they are offering a free nail varnish in Boosh with any two Illamasqua purchases.

With the current slew of money off deals from the brand, and their move into online beauty emporia (unusual for a high end boutique brand), I'm wondering what the future holds for them.  Either they're on a major expansion kick, looking to get their products into as many makeup bags as possible... or their sales figures are looking a little weak and the company is trying to drive them up.  I'm hoping it's the former; despite thinking that the products are a little overpriced, I like Illamasqua as a company and think it's great to have a unique British brand with such a strong identity in the market.

The number of deals and offers out on Illamasqua products recently, I'd be surprised if anyone's paid full price in quite some time!  As well as the infamous Makeup Amnesty, Illamasqua are also selling off soon-to-be discontinued products at 50% off.  Some highlights include shades of Intense Lipgloss for £6.25, lipstick for £7.50, and a great many shades of Powder Eyeshadow for £7.50.

The picture on the left is of Filth lipstick.  Who doesn't need a lipstick called Filth?!

Will you be indulging?

A few bargains and deals on the Internet for your delight and delectation.

• Aromatherapy Associates are offering a free Renew Rose Hydrating Body Gel worth £25.75 with all purchases made online from the Renew Rose range, until 15th August.
• St Tropez are offering a special Holiday Set exclusively online, which includes an applicator mitt, self tanning mousse, gradual every day tanning mousse, and a wash off instant glow lotion, for £40 - a saving of £15.  Available until the end of July.
• Debenhams are offering Duty Free prices on 100 beauty essentials online and in store until 28th July
• Illamasqua are having a makeup amnesty... Trade in your unwanted product for a discount on new ones, until 31st July.  

This has just landed in my inbox, and very welcome it is too - our favo(u)rite US online store are running another of their 20% off sales, adding an extra dose of discount to their already very reasonable prices. Use the code GRS20 at the checkout to take advantage.

Our pick, as ever, are the NYX Round Lipsticks, currently $2.25 each. If you're browsing the site, check out the Summer Sale they're currently running too.

Click on the picture to be taken directly to the Cherry Culture site.

Look what we found in our local newsagent! Benefit have sold their souls to Glamour magazine (or vice versa) resulting in a cover gift of one of three full size eye pencils. If you see this issue (which has Lily Allen on the front, looking like she's overdone it with the Bad Gal), pick it up quicksmart.

You get either Bad Gal, It Stick or Eye Bright with each issue. Glamour are encouraging you to collect all 3, and with a cover price of £2, I see no reason why you wouldn't provided you can find enough copies of the magazine. It will definitely sell out very quickly.


The products, then;



Bad Gal - it's a black eyeliner. If you don't have one, or you want one that looks a bit funky, pick this. It doesn't have any special powers besides being awesomely chunky. It will smudge and fade like any standard black pencil.

Eye Bright - a bit more sophisticated and definitely my pick of the bunch. A pink pencil with subtle shimmer to cheer up the inner corners and brow bone. This is a good one to keep in your handbag as it definitely does perk up the look of the eyes when quickly applied in the ladies' loos.

It Stick - a creamy concealer pencil with high coverage. Great to have, but only if you have pale or light-medium yellow toned skin. It is VERY yellow-toned, so if your skin has a neutral tone, blend very well. If you're cool-toned, approach this one with caution.

I feel sorry for my wallet.  Run, don't walk, to get 25% off NYX products at CherryCulture until 25th May.

Just a quick post to let you know that SpaceNK are currently offering free delivery until midnight Thursday with the code "MAYDAY".  Given that their delivery costs are usually rather high, this is a great opportunity to pick up a few things if you live too far away from a store.

Note that the link above is an affiliate link; if you buy something from SpaceNK after clicking it, we receive a small commission.

I've just learned via Vex In The City that Models Own products are to be stocked at Boots and are already available online via the Boots website.

As well as the flagship nail polishes (pic to the left shows the Neon PM trio) there are new products including lipstick, 10 new powder eyeshadow duos, face paints, mascara, lip balm, blush and a range of brushes. You can also find pre-existing products including the powder eyeshadow and eyeliners, lipgloss, and their Benetint-a-like lip and cheek stain.

As ever, all the products cost just £5 each or less. I'm not sure yet whether the multi-buy offers from Models Own's website will apply at Boots, however.

The timing couldn't have been better for those curious about Models Own - this weekend Boots are holding a 10 points-per-£1 offer when you spend over £15.

My recommendations are - Nail Polish in Beth's Blue, and the powder eye colours. I expect after I've done a bit of shopping this weekend I'll have some more favourites to add to the list.

It's lovely when magazines give away full size beauty products.  Having given away four shades via Glamour last year, Nails Inc have teamed up with InStyle to create three exclusive colours:  InStyle Beach, a hot coral; Instyle Candy, a candy pink; and InStyle Mink, an on-trend greige.

Worth £10.50 a pop, the shades are available with the June issue, which is available on newsstands now for £3.60, and also includes a 20% discount of both Nails Inc online purchases and manicure and pedicure services.

Wahanda Mobdeals are going from strength to strength, and today's is even more of a cracker than usual.

Sign up before 12.00 tonight to get a Dr Alkaitis Skin Food Facial or Deep Tissue Massage for only £20 (RRP £75) at Content Beauty and Wellbeing in the West End.

Content have their own beauty boutique as well as offering treatments, so you may end up shopping away what you've saved once you start browsing their various natural and organic lines. Don't say we didn't warn you.