Ooh la la, Rue la la!

Hey y'all! Today I want to share about my secret addiction to online shopping. Okay, it's not really a secret. The mailman DEFINITELY knows! One of my favorite places to browse online is Rue La La, an online sample sales website. The sales start at various times each day, and they show you which brands are coming up so you can plan to get on the computer in time. The site features designer brands at great prices. As a Southern girl, one of my favorite brands that is featured quite often is Lilly Pulitzer. Follow the link below to join and see for yourself! http://www.ruelala.com/invite/gspears04

The beauty world has been overrun lately by new "beauty box subscription services". There's Birchbox, Glossybox, Little Black Bag, and even options for the eco-conscious! The only one I have personally tried is Birchbox. I kept my subscription for about three months. For those of you who don't know, Birchbox sends you several beauty or skincare samples each month for $10/month. You can write reviews on the products you get to earn points. A certain amount of points gets you a discount on a purchase. In addition, you receive free shipping on all of the items in your Birchbox, so if you really love a product, you can buy the full-size! I had a great experience with Birchbox and their customer service (I had to call one time when my box never arrived). However, I ultimately cancelled because it was too much for me to keep up with all year and I wasn't getting products I really wanted. Some of the products I loved though were Redken's ShineFlash02 Glossing Mist, Philosophy's Purity Made Simple Cleanser, and Zoya nail polish. Recently, GlossyBox came to the United States. Previously it was only available in Europe. For $21 a month, you get a selection of luxury samples, including one full-sized product. I haven't tried this year, but I REALLY want too! It sounds like a fantastic idea. I wish they were let you pick the full-sized product though. I also joined Influenster, a site that lets you unlock profile "badges" that relate to your life. For example, I unlocked the Beauty Badge, College Student Badge, and several others. Every few months, Influenster sends out a box of goodies called a VoxBox. These are normally full-sized items for you to review. I recently got selected to receive the Summer Beauty VoxBox, my first box, and I am so excited about it! I should be getting it in the mail in early July, so look out for those product reviews! I would definitely recommend signing up for Influenster. Leave a comment if you've tried a sample subscription service or ever received a VoxBox!

Y'all may have noticed the shoes under my title. Those shoes are the Nine West Ambitious Pumps in taupe. After searching for the perfect pair of nude heels for over a year, I finally found these. And they are fantastic! The shoes are comfortable and absolutely gorgeous! In fact, they look very similar to the nude heels frequently worn by Duchess Kate! Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, has often been photographed wearing the LK Bennett Sledge 2 nude pumps. Unfortunately, however, these shoes retail for $325 at Nordstrom, somewhat out of my poor college student budget. The only noticeable difference between the LK Bennett's and the Nine West shoes is the absence of a platform on the Nine West shoe. Still, not too bad to look like a princess!

I started this blog to share with y'all some of the products I use. I recently received a pot of Olay Regenerist Night Cream in the mail. I had been searching for a good night cream because I read that a girl's anti-aging regimen should start in her 20s. Although I have only been using the cream for about three nights, I can already tell a difference in the way my skin feels, and to a lesser extent, looks. I had a few darker marks on the side of my face from acne scarring, and the night cream has lightened those quite a bit. I was able to get my Olay Regenerist cream for free through a website called Campus Live. The site aims to accomplish marketing research by college students playing trivia games. Each game has its own prize that a random winner receives. In addition, Campus Live gives you coins for playing games, which you can then use to buy items in auctions or purchase raffle tickets for prizes. So far the night cream is the only thing I've gotten, but I am building up my coin bank again to bid on another prize. If you are interested in joining, please use my link below. It's absolutely free and pretty fun too! http://www.campuslive.com/go/s_campuslive-9677955685