Cheap makeup for mom from the P&G estore...

Last Saturday night was Mike's annual Christmas party. This party is my one chance of the year to really dress up and look great. As usual, I was way overdressed, but it was really a lot of fun. I got to wear my very favorite tights, which are Christmas red. I really enjoy not looking like the boring housewife that I am in my day to day life.

One thing I wish I were able to do better though, is makeup. I've never been much of a makeup wearer, and have really never learned how to do eyeliner at all. I was thinking about all that when I saw the options for the P&G estore promotion in which I'm participating. CoverGirl has a whole set of stuff specifically set up to do smokey eyes (of course they do, right?) If I were buying, and I might be (see specials at end of post) I'd get the following:

CoverGirl Smokey ShadowBlast in Silver Sky
CoverGirl LashBlast 24HR Mascara in Very Black, tho I am curious about Black Gold
CoverGirl Liquiline Blast Eyeliner in Blackfire, for every day I'd want to try the brown one. And then pay someone to teach me how to use it.

Now why would I buy this stuff online instead of at Walmart?

FREE SHIPPING with a $25 purchase!
15% off your first purchase with code A9Z-MN5-KY3-ISA
FREE samples with every order!
FREE LashBlast 24HR mascara with $25 purchase with code LASHBLAST8
PLUS when you click through to some of them, there are coupons! Like a free Nail Gloss with the mascara if you check the box. Or $1 off your purchase.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that you don't want to buy $25 of makeup to get a free mascara. You don't have to! You know what else they sell? BATTERIES. And since it's Christmas, I KNOW you need batteries. AA for the Wii remotes? AAA for the Pillow Pets Dream Lites? I think we spend as much on batteries as we do on gifts some years.  So go buy some batteries, and while you're there, pick up some cheap makeup!

CoverGirl Blast Flipstick Lipcolor

I've recently been evaluating my hair and make up routine in an effort to look like I put a few minutes into it. I've admitted to myself that except for special occasions I'm just not likely to get up and put on my entire FIVE MINUTE LONG makeup routine. So I took the time (like, 10 seconds) to figure out which items had the most impact and decided I'd try to use them daily. In my case (and I suspect many women's) this turned out to be mascara and lip color. Then when BlogHer offered me the chance to talk about a P&G product, I thought it was the perfect excuse to spend my hard earned $8 (that's over an hour working at Kmart!) on a new lip gloss. 

The product that I chose was CoverGirl Blast Flipstick Lipcolor in "stunner", which is a coral/pink solid with a goldish/brown shimmer. The idea is that you can make it your own personal color by layering the two different ends. I tried it out in the car immediately and my first thought wasn't so favorable. It goes on a little gritty, which is unpleasant, and I didn't love the color. I had also bought a second, different, lip gloss, so I wiped it off and used the other. Then while I was at my mom's I decided to give the flipstick another chance and discovered that if you don't wipe it off immediately the grittiness goes away and it is fairly smooth feeling.  And perhaps it's the lighting difference between a car and her bathroom, or perhaps I got the right combination, but it was actually fairly flattering this time around. So, opinion revised and I would recommend the flipstick.

If you'd like to try one out, P&G is offering 10% off on all items purchased with the above link through August 31st and free shipping on orders over $25.  PLUS, if you buy though this link, I get a small commission, yay! And you don't have to buy $25 worth of lipgloss, so go ahead and take this chance to stock up on diapers and shaving cream and cold medicine! Please! (If you'd like to pass this deal on to your friends, please do so, but send them back to this post to click through, or I don't get the commission!)

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

You may recall that this is the year that I'm reading all of Janssen's favorite books from last year. I'm doing pretty  good with her list on my own, but when BlogHer book club offered me a chance to review one of them for you I couldn't pass it up. I don't know that I've ever read an amnesia story before (despite my love of romance novels, tyvm), but since Janssen loved it, I had to try.

So, Alice falls off a bike at the gym, hits her head, and wakes up ten years in her past. She doesn't remember her children (oh this killed me to imagine, but Moriarty does a good job of balancing being sad at not remembering and not really being affected, cause DUH, she can't remember them!), she doesn't remember why she's on the outs with her sister, she doesn't have a clue why she's divorcing the husband she's madly in love with, and she's shocked at her 39 year old self. What Alice Forgot is both funny and heartbreaking, often on the same page. It really makes you (made me, anyway) think about what your choices do to you. Little things add up until you become a person you can't imagine being and might not even like, if you weren't her.  At the same time, it's chick lit- it's not heavy and slow and full of tremendous imagery.  It's a serious situation but still manages to be fun and romantic. (When is Janssen gonna start replyin to my posts with "I told you so" is the only question I have now.)

This post is a sponsored review from BlogHer Book Club. To see more opinions and discussions please click here. All opinions in this review are my own.

Find new iPhone apps with appSmitten

Ok, so you know how I'm always asking for suggestions for great iPhone apps for kids? I think at least three times I've mentioned wanting to find better apps that my kids can use. They are obsessed with my iPhone.  Recently, BlogHer asked if I'd be interested in telling all of you about appSmitten, which is an website that suggests popular, useful, terrific apps for iPhone, iPad and Androids. They have an email newsletter that you can sign up for that sends you suggestions for the best apps out there.  If you're interested, you can use this link to sign up.  I just spent a good bit of time poking around on the website, so I was excited to sign up for the newletter. Now I can quit bugging you guys!

Here's what the newsletter says about itself:
About appSmitten:
*appSmitten hand-selects the best apps and sends recommendations directly to people's inboxes
*appSmitten focuses on finding the apps that are worth downloading - the ones that will keep you organized, entertained and productive
*There are over 1 million apps out there and finding the best ones is like finding a needle in a haystack so appSmitten is doing it for you.
*appSmitten is a free newsletter that covers the best apps for iPhone, iPad and Android
*appSmitten offers bite-sized app recommendations from a trusted source so you don't have to go hunting to find good apps.

I am really excited to have great suggestions coming to my inbox. So often I wish I could find something new and fun, but all I find are things with no good ratings or that let you get a free trial and then pay way too much for the full app. I hope this makes it easier.

If you're interested in signing up, just follow this link, enter your email address and set your preferences. Takes two seconds.

This is a sponsored post, and I am compensated for each person who signs up, but I'd have signed myself up anyway.