Freebie | L'Occitane Hand Cream with November's Marie Claire

November's Marie Claire magazine - £3.70

November was quite a bumper month for great magazine freebies with InStyle's free Benefit make up products and then this gorgeous mini L'Occitane hand cream with Marie Claire.  I chose the Rose Petals fragrance which is gorgeous but there are a couple of other scents to choose from too.  I should have blogged this ages ago but just came across these snaps on my camera tonight, but hopefully you'll still be able to grab one at your local newsagent or supermarket.  The hand cream is gorgeously nourishing and worth much more than the cost of the magazine.  If you're stuck for cute Christmas stocking fillers these are a great idea and why not donate the spare magazines to your local doctor's surgery.

December's Glamour magazine comes with one of four Nails Inc polishes.  I went for a gorgeous pillar box red with a hint of pink duochrome - St. James, but there's also a pale pink (Elizabeth Street) and a dark blueish black and golden glitters whose names escape me.  Check out this great post from MakeupSavvy.co.uk on them.

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Free Benefit Products with November's InStyle Magazine

More about my blogging hiatus later, but for now I had to jump on here quickly to spread the blessed news that there is another Benefit/Magazine collaboration hanging out at your local newsagents.

You can choose from the classic lip & cheek tint Benetint, it's younger, hotter coral sister Cha Cha Tint or Benefit's newest golden-hued Sun Beam highlighter.  

I stocked up on a couple of Cha Cha Tints and a Sun Beam for luck as I have mini Benetints hoarded from its Glamour magazine hook up.  These little 4ml babies last a surprisingly long time and are great for travel, not to speak of great value.  For £11.40 (£3.80 cost of the mag x 3) you get 12mls of product, the same amount as a full size Cha Cha tint which is £24.50.  Nice.

Run, my pretties...

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Great Magazine Beauty Freebies & Ciate Bon Bon NOTD

Make up and beauty freebies for all readers are about the only thing that magazines still do better than blogs and this month there are quite a few fab finds on the mag racks and I'm bringing you a couple of my top picks.  

Glamour continued its glorious association with Benefit which is shaping up to be an annual event and this year brought us pocket-sized BadGal Lash mascara, That Gal primer and the one we've all been waiting for - The Porefessional!

If you haven't grabbed yours yet move fast as the shelves are emptying out.  I always find the mini BadGals to be a bit of a dud - while it's a full sized brush, the formulation is always pretty scarce and much drier than the full size.  I personally don't find That Gal much use as I need a primer to stop rather than enhance my...er...natural glow.  

The Porefessional is normally £23.50 for the full size 22ml which is for me is little eyewatering.  However having tried out this mini version I'd definitely consider buying it when I run out as it really does mattify and smooth your skin, drastically reducing the appearance of gaping pores.  I like it under liquid foundation but you can achieve totally passable skin with this and a swipe of something like MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural.  If you've got an eye for a bargain, picking up 3 Glamour Mags will get you 22.5mls of the glorious substance for the handsomely cheap sum of £6.  I've picked up about 7.

Marie Claire has bumped uglies with Ciate again to bring you two lovely shades, a lilac called Purple Sherbet and BonBon a taupey neutral the likes of which I cannot resist! 

What beauty freebies did you nab this month? 

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Glamour Mag + July = Benefit Goodies!

When Glamour do freebies they really do great ones - I'm still working through all the fab Clinique bits I picked up a few months ago.  It's looking like Glamour do Benefit freebies every summer - remember last year's full size It Stick, Eye Bright and BadGal? 

These free samples of Benefit's High Beam (normally £18.50 for 15ml), Benetint (£24.50 for 13.5ml) and Posietint (£24.50 for 12ml) are pretty tiny at 4ml, but I've had a bottle of HB for almost two years now which is still going strong.  These little beauties will definitely be coming with me on my hols this summer.

Below is Posietint, Highbeam and Benetint.

I'm considering picking up another couple of High Beams and Benetints but they'll be flying out of shops so if you're keen to get these move fast!  I'm loving cover girl Adele's eye make up :)

My Oral B Power Toothbrush giveaway ends tonight! Enter here

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The One Where I Bought 10 Glamour Magazines: Clinique Freebies Heads Up!

Glamour Magazine is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a range of 10 fabulous mini Clinique freebies to collect!

My local Tesco only had the liquid facial soap left, but the lovely man at my newsagents went through three boxes of Glamour he had stashed under the counter for me to pick out the bits I wanted.  The other customers thought I was nuts - even the drunk who came in and loudly slurred that I 'had loadsha money' because of all the (credit and store loyalty) cards in my wallet! But at least one woman caught onto the fever and picked up a mag even though she only meant to top up her Oyster!

It's the April issue with Fearne Cotton the cover.  It's still only £2!

Here are the freebies to choose from...or collect all!  I passed on the lipglosses and mascara as I can take or leave Clinique makeup.  But the all about eyes cream? Sign me up!

My top picks are the eye cream, take off the day makeup remover, the lipstick and 7 day scrub cream.

I've been meaning to repurchase this eye cream ever since I finished the full size tub, which lasts forever and is extremely gentle on the delicate skin around your eyes. You get 5mls with this cute little sample.  

I almost skipped this lippy, but I'm delighted I didn't as it's a fantastic colour - 17 Rosette.  Modeled for you below by a very knackered Kat!

This was the first duo-phase make up remover I ever used and it's pretty much along the lines of Lancome's Bi Facil and No7's eye make up remover which you must shake to mix the two parts together before using. You can use this one elsewhere but I save it to take off stubborn eye make up.

This is a fabulous promotion and no doubt all the good ones will fly off the shelves.  I'm not convinced I'll be able to resist picking up a few more eye creams.  The miniature size of these products is ideal for your holiday toiletries bag and you when can pay well over £2 for miniature 'cheap' brand toiletries in Boots and Superdrug why not hook yourself up with some lovely Clinique bits for your next getaway?!

Free Nails Inc. with December's Glamour Magazine

Yet another nail varnish magazine give away that I had every intention of resisting (I'm looking at you Maire Claire & Ciate ¬_¬) but got to the shop and broke down...

December's Glamour magazine, with Charlotte Church (love her make up) on the cover comes with one of four Nails Inc. polishes: Jermyn Street, Saville Row, Hampstead Heath and I don't know the name of the fourth but it is a light baby pink which probably goes on very sheer.  I have a very similar one to it called South Molton Street which I picked up with a previous Glamour mag.

I mainly had my eye on Jermyn Street.  It's like a more intense version of 'London' which was one of the free Diet Coke promotion shades.  It's a taupe-greyish-brown.   Compared:

Hampstead Heath reminds me a lot of Picadilly Circus which Glamour gave away around this time last year, it's a dark red raspberry colour.

Saville Row is a dark black cherry/purple colour, I wish I'd had it for Halloween!  Dark shades don't often work with my pale freckled skin, but this one does.

Each polish is worth £11 each and Glamour is £2, so that's a nice little saving.  I wouldn't fork out full price for Saville Row or Hampstead Heath, but would for Jermyn Street.

I've said it before but I'll say it again - I LOVE Nails Inc., let me extol its wonders:

* Fabulous colour range and very beautiful and non-tacky shades.
* Great quality of brush (unlike MAC polishes)
* Very fast drying
* Chips the least of any other brand I've tried
* Two coats and your DONE: beautiful opaque, almost 'plastic' looking coverage
* Glossy finish
* Love the branding - I love London and all it's places
* Sleek and stylish bottle design
* I have a some bottles which are a couple of years old and they haven't gone gloopy.

Magazine Freebie: November's Marie Claire - Ciate Paint Pot in Dangerous Affair

The November issue of Marie Claire comes with a free Ciate Paint Pot in Dangerous Affair, the one I picked up, or Mistress, a classic pillar box red.  Ciate Paint Pots normally cost £9, but you can get Marie Claire for £3.50.  Dangerous Affair is a beautiful, glossy deep raspberry shade, perfect for Autumn.  The picture above is a two-coat job.

I adore the bottle, compared to Essie or OPI it's far more elegant and has a slight curve.  You know me, anything with a bow!

Two coats, no flash

One coat, no flash on left, flash on right.

There's also a couple of offers inside: 25% off at Ciate.co.uk and £10 off Molton Brown products.

There's still quite a few mags left in the shops (not like the Glamour-Benefit hook-up in June!).