The Benefit of Benefits

With the economic times the way they are, retail stores have been trying to appeal to consumers with various sales. A common one that doesn't undermine a stores' ability to earn a profit is to offer free gifts...after a certain purchase, of course.

While these often sound very tempting, I always try and take a step back and make sure I both enjoy the products that are in the gift and am not buying anything I really don't need just for the sake of getting a gift.

So, for example, when I received an e-mail alert from Sephora saying "Get $113 worth of makeup -- free!" I was instantly enthralled. I clicked on the ad, and saw that with any $50 Benefit purchase at Sephora, I could get a gift worth $113, which, even for a free gift, is pretty crazy. So let's take a look inside, shall we?


The gift includes: a Luscious Lana beauty bag, a Bathina shower cap, a tube of California Kissin' lip gloss, Benefit's Bad Gal Mascara in blue, and a Rush Hour lip/cheek colour. The good thing about this bag is that things are full size. The bad thing...the only thing I'd really want in it is the Rush Hour lip/cheek colour, and even that is a little on the plummy side for me. Another unfortunate thing is that I can't really think of $50 worth of Benefit products I'm really craving right now.

While that was all kind of sad, because free gifts are usually quite fun (and I don't mean to put down Benefit at all, I'm just not really in need of blue mascara or blue lipgloss or a bathing cap or a beauty bag right now), here's an example of a gift I'd really enjoy.


This Clinique bag + goodies comes with any $21.50 Clinique purchase. This free gift appeals a little more to me because its "price" is quite a bit smaller. Though that means the gifts themselves are smaller, I usually appreciate the mini-sized goodies that come with these things because it gives me an opportunity to try new products without feeling compelled to use up a full size. Sometimes, the goodies inside a bag are not always that worth it, but these definitely look good; the offerings are: Youth Surge SPF 15 Age Decelerating Moisturizer, Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, Lash Doubling Mascara in Black, and then, depending on whether you pick the "Rose" bag or the "Natural" bag, you get the a Blushwear Cream Stick in Rosy Blush or Glow, and a Different Lipstick in Ice Bloom or Rose Taffy.

I might actually go and grab this in the next few days! As always, because this is the economics of fashion, I'll try and be as economically savvy as possible, and try not to over-buy simply to get the gift. My suggestion? The set of 3 skin items for $24.00, because Clinique is known for its amazing skincare. This picture is of the "Oily" set, because I've got some pretty oily skin. Plus, this set comes with the Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, which is one of my absolute favourite Clinique products.