What's in My Makeup Bag (+ How I Scored a Deal on It!)

I'm going to start this off by saying that up until recently, my makeup bag consisted of a freezer storage bag filled with some broken blush, a couple of eye shadows, an eyeliner pencil, a blush brush, and a tube of mascara that should have been discarded many months prior. It's not that I don't wear makeup, because I usually do if I'm leaving the house for more than errands. The truth is that I'm just lazy. Whereas my beauty guru sister loves the process of applying makeup and experimenting with new products, I've never been a fan of the time it takes to put makeup on my face. It's kind of a lot of work. And I'm also cheap. Although I usually have a couple of splurge-worthy favorites, I tend to go for the inexpensive drugstore items, even if they're often less than stellar in terms of quality.

A few weeks ago, this all changed. I was feeling physically blah (this pregnancy has not been kind to my skin - lots of zits, eczema flares, and an overall dullness), and in an effort to do something for myself, I felt motivated to invest in a few good quality makeup items and refresh my makeup bag. I've always loved Sephora (they even did my makeup for my wedding), but as I mentioned above, I've usually gone for the cheap items I can quickly grab in the cosmetics aisle at the grocery store (because as much as I love shopping at high end stores, I rarely make purchases unless I'm getting a deal). Right around this time, I was introduced to a newly-launched site called Splender that offers special deals as well as cash back on every purchase from over 800 stores. I discovered that Sephora was one of the stores they feature, and it was the push I needed to do some shopping and get some new makeup goodies for myself. And I'm so glad I did.

The first thing I did after creating an account (which is totally free and took less than a minute) was to browse the site. I discovered that in addition to Sephora, Splender features some of my other favorite stores like Madewell, Free People, Anthropologie, J.Crew, and Nordstrom, all with special deals and cash back opportunities. It was really cool to see all of these great brands and know for the future that I can use Splender for shopping with them. After looking around for a while, I went to their Sephora page, where I learned that I'd get 10% cash back on my purchase (score!). I browsed through all of the deals and ended up opting for a coupon code that would get me a deluxe sample of Makeup Forever's Ultra HD Liquid Foundation with any $25 purchase. I clicked on the "Shop Now" button next to this deal and was taken to Sephora's website where it was time to shop. I ended up purchasing several new items (more on them below). The entire process is incredibly easy - you're able to quickly find stores without being bombarded with irrelevant ads and links, and shop on their sites the exact same way you normally would. You can also stack cash back, coupons, and offers to increase your savings, which enabled me to save even more on my Sephora purchase.

For those of you curious about how the cash back process works (I was), it's quite simple. You select a store at the Splender site, click a deal or offer you want, and you'll be transferred to that store's website, as I did with Sephora. You then complete your purchase on the store's website as you normally would, and the store pays Splender a commission for sending you there to shop. Splender then shares that money with you in the form of cash back that can be transferred right into your PayPal account. Pretty great, right?

And now for the goodies I scored and my new and improved makeup bag! (If only I'd snapped a before picture. Yikes.)  I carried over a few favorites that I already had: Urban Decay Eye Shadow in Blackout (1), Almay Intense Color Eye Shadow in Trio for green eyes (2), Urban Decay Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion (3), and Cover Girl Cheekers blush in Classic Pink (4). The fun part was the addition of the new items I purchased from Sephora via Splender. I nabbed one of my old favorites that I haven't allowed myself to splurge on for a while: Too Faced Lip Injection in Original (5; this stuff is so great). At the advice of my beauty expert sister, I also got Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (6), which is a miracle worker in setting my eyeshadow so it's even and crease-free. Another old favorite that I ran out of and am so glad to have back in rotation is Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer Pencil in FBI (7). This is the best concealer in existence, for real. I read several great views about the Sephora Collection Outrageous Curl Dramatic Volume And Curve Mascara (8), so I ditched my outdated tube of drugstore mascara and went for this in Ultra Black. And I love it. So much. I also picked up some Sephora Collection Tinted Brow Freeze in Medium (9) which has been wonderful for taming my crazy unruly eyebrows (I literally have to trim them weekly. The struggle is so real.) Perhaps my favorite new item though is the MakeUp Forever Ultra HD foundation deluxe (10) sample I got as part of my Splender deal. It is truly the best foundation I have ever used, and I will absolutely be heading back to Splender to get a full size bottle when this one runs out. Now my makeup bag feels all happy and fresh, as does my face. (It's the little things, guys.)

The next time you're in the mood to do some shopping, I highly recommend stopping by Splender first and seeing if your favorite shop is there. (Chances are, it is!) In fact, head over there right now and create your free account, and take a minute to browse. You'll be glad you did, I promise.

What's in your makeup bag? Do you have any favorites? Have you tried Splender yet?

Thank you for supporting Bubby and Bean by allowing me to post occasional sponsored content. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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