Topstyler review, a few Target goodies and Julep mystery box reveal...

A friend of mine got remarried last night and now that I've stopped hiding, I'm happy to get dolled up and see people again. Her wedding was so much fun. She has four young girls and he has four teenage girls - so now with eight girls, that house is going to be jam packed with estrogen LOL. Poor guy. I pulled out my $22 "new to me" Tracey Reese dress topped with a studded skinny belt ($5 Nordstrom Rack), black 3/4 Halftee, new $3 H&M rhinestone stick earrings, thrifted $7 Via Spiga metallic snakeskin clutch and my $250 Louboutin highness pumps. I was surprised that I lasted three hours in my Loubs but after getting one heel caught in the bride's train when we were dancing, I took a header to avoid tearing her dress. I'm fine and my fall really wasn't all that embarrassing but I did stab my foot with my heel in the fall and I have a 1" cut on the side of my foot. The last hour and a half I went barefoot :)

Ladies and gentlemen, your Highness has arrived

I think the biggest complement I got last night was that I look the same as I did in high school. Pretty good considering not too long ago I was getting feedback like "what happened to her?" and "she used to be your hot sister." I'm not where I want to be but I'm working on it...

At Marshalls yesterday morning I found this product called the Topstyler for $29.99. The original retail was around $140 but it's now $40.99 at Target.com so if you can't find one at Marshalls you can always snag one online pretty cheap. I quickly googled reviews while I was in the store and they seemed decent so I went for it. I had purchased a set of hot curlers at Target earlier this year and I get pretty beachy waves for around 5 minutes...and then they fall out. I always believed that if I got a better set maybe it would work better. My vanity prohibits sharing what these did to my hair - I looked like a trussed poodle. After an hour of fussing with the Topstyler curlers, I pulled a couple loose curls out in the front and twisted my hair up into a messy low bun. All the reviews (and YouTube videos that I watched) indicate there is a learning curve - and I agree. Essentially you create finger curls with your fingers or with one of the two combs provided and then clamp them down with heated tourmaline "C-shells". The clips are strong and don't fall out like my other curlers and the curls (unfortunately) held all night. It has a great travel case with room for all the little pieces and a total of 15 clips which is pretty good (I think my set came with more like 20 so I'm not complaining). I'm going to try again soon - next time not right before an event...

Pretty hair clearly not included LOL...

In the spirit of not hiding I'm going to share a pic of me and my younger sister from last night. I wish I took more pics or even a full body shot so you can see my outfit but I'm usually the picture taker and hiding from the camera has become a bad habit.

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I quickly stopped in Target today and I picked up these polishes on the clearance end-cap. They were all around $1.50 each.

 My $25 Julep surprise box came today so this is what you missed out on if you didn't order. I got a total of nine polishes (the trio to the right was my $10 add-on), hand cream, face primer, lip gloss, eye pencil and a bunch of samples. I do like their polishes but post CVS makeup sale it does seem like a waste. The eye pencil is black on one side and a brown coppery glitter color on the other. Besides the polishes I think it's the one thing I'm most excited by. The lip gloss is a pale peachy color - nothing I would wear :(

My brand new $550 Tory Burch knee high boots just came in the mail ($10 score!) but I don't have time to take a pic. Stay tuned for next week!

Have a great weekend!
Love, Shoppinggal

75% off discontinued cosmetics at CVS!!!

Amidst the flurry of designer sales I've been keeping a low profile because I don't have the funds to splurge this year :( Every time an online friend posts their new sale Chanel bag I sigh a little. Maybe next year...

Luckily there are lots of cheap things to be found so I've been keeping busy with lots of budget bargains - which after all is my specialty :)

Last week I got a tip that there were markdowns at CVS and some items had been marked down to 50-75% off. After I hit the thrift store yesterday (nothing exciting to report) I passed a CVS and I figured why not? The key is finding a large CVS with very little foot traffic - that's where you can find markdowns several days into a sale. I grabbed a basket and went a little crazy. Here are some of my finds :) Everything was under $4 - the lip glosses were $.55 each!

Oh and don't worry V - I got you some stuff too!

So yesterday I got dropped from one of my Facebook designer BST (buy/sell/trade) groups. Honestly I have not a clue what happened and the mods won't even tell me why. I only sold one thing on that group a while back and I mostly chatted and shared my bargains there. Maybe they didn't like that I shared my blog? Maybe someone got upset that I mentioned I saw the same Balenciaga bag a woman was selling...earlier that day in TJ Maxx, probably for less. I don't know, but if you're reading this please take a minute to comment below - just so I know someone out there is reading (and hopefully enjoying) my blog. On the flip side I've had more time for some of my other online groups that I've been neglecting...but maybe it's time I make my own group/page :)

Anyway, hope you find some good stuff too! Happy shopping :)

My pretty awsome shopping week in review :)

This time of year I tend to shop daily. The bargains are everywhere and they are AMAZING! Today was just 15 minutes (despite popular belief I do not spending every waking hour shopping) but earlier this week I put in a little more time and I scored - big time!

Monday was markdown day in the shoe department of my favorite store :) I checked every tag on every shoe in my size LOL. These are my favorites:

From L-R Valentino, Stuart Weitzman, Diane Von Furstenberg and Coach

And this is what I paid :)

Insane, right? Now check out one of my receipts - yeah, there was more than one :)

I actually returned everything and repurchased with a $5 off coupon so this total was $68 - and I saved $2,578.80!

Then I ran to Kohls to spend my $30 Kohls cash (with a 20% coupon) and got these brushes for $6 out of pocket. These are the Real Technique brushes I blogged about the other day. I used them this morning and they're really good. I plan I buying more soon.

Pretty spectacular Monday, right? And then there was Tuesday...

Jimmy Choo baby!

Yep, you're reading it correctly - $10!

They also had some makeup marked down to $1! I got a couple of these eye shadow palettes as well as a bunch of others that I stockpiled for gifts.


On Wednesday I stopped at the Rack for kids markdowns. When I got there they had a bunch of $1-5 items. Hidden in the sale rack I found these gems for a total of $.07 - they were all marked a penny!!!

I did take a bunch of $1 items and this dress was probably my best find - retail $99 :)

Then I hit the mall to visit Macy's - Clinique is giving out free Chubby Sticks :) Just tell them you saw a commercial on TV for a free Chubby Stick.

I went to two malls to get each color. At the first one I had to sit for a 5 minute consultation and I got the red. At the second mall they just handed one over - she recommended the berry and I wasn't sure but I just put it on and I LOVE it! I may be returning to get more...

At the mall I popped into H&M - they have major markdowns from $1-$20. I got a cute top for $7 and earrings for $3. I'm hoping to go back tomorrow to take another look as I only had 10 minutes because I had to leave to pick up my sick niece from school. These days the malls are such nightmares that unless you're in there when they open you just don't go. I stopped at TJ Maxx to return something this week and the line snaked thru the entire store. I kid you not - it must have been over an hour wait to check out. So I left.

In all this excitement I haven't had time to thrift. Maybe next week :)