Buying things I shouldn't (in drugstore clearance sales)

Okay, I'm going to get back on schedule around here for real this time. I was swamped for a couple of weeks with a graduation (mine - you can call me Dr. Cheap now) and a wedding (not mine) in Canada, but now I have nothing to do but sit at home putting on makeup and being unemployed. That should mean more blogging for a while.

This is a short one. Just thought I'd show you what I got for about $6 at Walgreens today:

• e.l.f. Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal
• e.l.f. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade
• Milani Baked Blush in Corallina

All of these things were 50% off. Not a huge deal for the e.l.f. shit, since you can get it for that price regularly on their website, but I thought what the hell. I want to compare that Shimmering Facial Whip to Benefit High Beam, since it's supposed to be a dupe. I like the other Liquid Lipstick I have, so we'll see about this one. The Milani blush is a little more exciting. I've heard good things about this one, and $4+ isn't bad.

You can find very useful info about the Walgreens and CVS clearance sales on Nouveau Cheap. I went to CVS too, but didn't find much there except for some of the scented Revlon polishes for about $2.50. But no more nail polish for me. None!

Some good clearance nail polish deals at CVS

I picked up Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Crushed for 74 cents. Or 78 cents. I forget. Less than 80 cents! It's an almost-neon, almost-metallic orange. Really gorgeous. You can google swatches, but all the ones I found were really washed out. ETA: I found a great swatch on Pinterest (I should look there more often.) It's fucking bright. I'd take my own photos, but the lighting is not really sufficient  in my sad little apartment these days. At the CVS I went to, they didn't have any clearance stickers on the Sally Hansen polishes, but this was the only bottle I found that was cheap when I check it on the scanner.

There were 50% off stickers on some of the CoverGirl Outlast polishes (making them about $3), including the gorgeous Out of the Blue. I definitely recommend that one. You can see a swatch of it in this post.

Nouveau Cheap, as usual, has all the info about the drugstore clearance sales if you want to see what else you might find. I also picked up the Revlon Balm Stain in Darling, but didn't take a photo, because it didn't really show up on my lips. Seemed worth a shot for just over $2.

CVS tricked me into buying smelly nail polish

I had $2 in ExtraCare Bucks from CVS. Plus they have a BOGO 50% Revlon deal. And then I scanned my card and got a coupon for $3 off a Revlon product.

What could I do except buy two of the new scented Revlon nail polishes? I mean, I could buy something else, but it would be more expensive. As it turns out, I don't actually have a shimmery dark purple polish, so I was right to choose Wild Violets. I also got Watermint, which is a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream. I'm not going to post swatches, because I'm testing some nail strips right now, and there are plenty of swatches out there already (you can see these two at the link above).

I just wanted to post to let you know about the two Revlon deals at CVS. Scan your card and see what you get. And I wanted to tell you that these polishes are definitely smelly. Turns out I forgot that violet isn't my favorite scent, but it's not the worst. And the mint one smells like gum.

$2 dupe for Chanel Azure nail polish (picture heavy)

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link.
People seems to be pretty fucking excited about the new Chanel nail polish, called "Azure". It's a greenish-teal-blue metallic duochrome - which, frankly, is not an original or unique shade of nail polish. It could be that this is one of those situations where you have to see in person to appreciate it's super-specialness, but I seriously doubt it. I think instead that this is a case of Chanel bringing its trend-making power to making an already common type of nail polish trendy (redundant much?). And then charging $27 for it. The formula isn't even anything special, apparently.

But I have a $2 nail polish that is mind-bogglingly gorgeous, and it looks like a dupe for the Chanel polish - or close enough. Check it out:

How to get Revlon Lip Butter for 7 cents at CVS

CVS has its semi-annual cosmetics clearance going on now, and a few of the Revlon Lip Butters are marked down to $2.07, including Gumdrop, Brown Sugar, and Cherry Tart. If you have a CVS ExtraCare card, you can scan it at one of the boxes and (hopefully!) get a coupon for $2 off a Revlon product. If you don't get the coupon the first time you scan it, try again, until it tells you there are no coupons left. Even if the Lip Butters aren't marked as clearance, you can bring them over to the scanner box and scan them to check. At my store they had no labels, but they were marked down anyway. I did this just today, so good luck!

For more about the CVS clearance sale, check out Nouveau Cheap's master list.

Big fucking makeup clearance sale at CVS (50-75% off)

All of the things I got today were under $2.50 each. In fact, only two things were over $2 (the Revlon eyeliner and the Sally Hansen nail polish). Look at this shit:

THIS IS IMPORTANT: These things may not be marked down on the shelf. In fact, not a single one of the things I bought was labeled as clearance. And some things are marked down at some stores but not others. So you're going to have to take stuff to the scanner box thingy and check the price if you want to avoid surprises.

Nailed: Glimmery Zoya dupes(ish): Sienna, Meiko, Dannii, Charla

You can find dupes (i.e. duplicates) for expensive and popular nail polish colors all over the internet. Lots of bloggers will post comparison photos to determine if two polishes are really exactly the same or not. I’m not going to do that, because for the most part, I don’t buy expensive nail polish. I have an obscenely large collection (or at least verging on obscene), but it’s almost all drugstore stuff. The exceptions are a few bottles I got when Zoya and Butter London had their huge sales, or ones I got as gifts (I refuse to say “gifted to me”).

I had to stop looking at nail polish blogs every day, because doing so forced me (FORCED ME!) to make a list of polishes I want to buy, and it was getting really long. It was making me covet, basically. And I mostly can’t justify paying $8+ for a bottle of nail polish when I don’t have to. I’ve been able to cross four of the amazing glitter/shimmer (glimmer!) Zoya polishes off my list by buying cheap drugstore versions. That’s what I have for you today.

Note: I’m not too particular about whether or not these are exact dupes. To me, they are close enough, but they might be slightly lighter, darker, redder, bluer, etc. than the Zoyas. I’m posting pictures from reputable nail bloggers, so you can compare them yourself. What they all are is CHEAP. And BLINDINGLY SHINY.

Here are swatches of all four cheap polishes (3 coats each). From left to right: Wet ‘n’ Wild FastDry 9.0.2.1.Orange, dupe of Zoya Sienna (photo at The PolishAholic); Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie, near dupe of Zoya Meiko (photo at Also Known As); Spoiled Are Mermaids Real?, dupe of Zoya Dannii (photo at Scrangie); and Essence Choose Me!, dupe of Zoya Charla (photo at Scrangie). ETA: Essence Choose Me! is no longer available. See here instead! The first 3 I bought at CVS for 99 cents - $1.99 each, and the Essence one from Ulta in a mini bottle for 99 cents.

Direct sunlight: