Birthday freebie

One of the easiest ways to enjoy more freebies is to sign up for store's preferred customer programs (But always make sure there are no fees/drawbacks!)

I am a member of Sephora's Beauty Insider program, where you basically earn points every time you shop at Sephora.

Imagine my delight and surprise when I got an email from Sephora this morning telling me my birthday present was ready for pick-up at any Sephora store!

I love my birthday!

I love presents!
At lunch I wandered to the closest Sephora, and soon this little beauty was all mine, completely free of charge: It's a shampoo/shower gel from Philosophy called "Happy Birthday Beautiful!" It smells like vanilla birthday cake...mmm! And it's BIG. You can't really tell from this photo, but it's about the size of a can of soda.

Some of you will recall my short-lived obsession with Jessica Simpson's beauty line that smelled like baked goods. I can enjoy a cake-flavored soap from time to time...

Best of all - no strings attached on this freebie. All you have to do is sign up to be a Beauty Insider. I walked up, said I got the birthday email, and they scanned my BI card and handed me a free bottle of soap. No purchase neccessary - Happy Birthday to me!

Pythons, Peonies, and Pretty!

Makeup guru pal, L, has yet again passed along a fantastic freebie of this Bobbi Brown collaboration with stylish label Tibi - The Peony & Python Beauty Set!

THANK YOU L!!!!!!!!!!

The set will help me achieve one of my main goals for 2011: learn how to use bronzer, with the "Pink Peony Illuminating Bronzer" inside. If you see me looking more glowy than usual, it's probably because I've been "peonized" - hm. That doesn't sound good.

Also included in this amazingly cool-looking case:

-Black Mauve Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner (can't wait for my first foray into gel eyeliner!)

-Pink Lilac Brightening Gloss

-Two adorable mini brushes

And an additional mini-brush set that's perfect for work.

I'll review the SAG Awards fashion tomorrow, but for today...it's the return of the freebie!!!

Holiday Party at the Hilfigers

Is there anything better than an unexpectedly awesome in-store event?!?

Last night, talented showstopper pal S and I met on 5th Avenue in midtown to admire gorgeous holiday windows (see the 57th St star fully illuminated here):

Our other objective? Attend a mysterious "Holiday Party at the Hilfigers" at the Tommy Hilfiger flagship store on 54th St. This was one of those in-store events where all we knew was the date, time, and location.

Could it have been a bust? Absolutely.

Was it? Absolutely not! It was fantastic.

When S and I entered, they checked our names off the list and indicated that there was a photo booth downstairs on the "hipster clothing floor." We whisked down there and took a cool old school photo booth set of pics before the booth got infested with bedbugs from a zillion people sitting inside (Yes, I am that neurotic New Yorker!).

The party was in full swing by the time we grabbed our beverage of choice, a few yummy appetizers, and started to wander.

The event was co-hosted by InStyle magazine, which I will say ALWAYS seems to do a good job with in-store events. Here are my grades:

Food: A-minus. While it was very highbrow (veggie stacks of root vegetables, carrots topped with mushrooms, proscuitto wrapped pear) it was all lukewarm and very veggie-heavy.

Drink: A. They had sparkling water, sparkling cava, and a signature cocktail the "Pear Fizz" which was pear nectar, ginger ale, and Bombay Sapphire gin.

Activities: A. Between the photo booth, "day to night" dressing demo, and ample room to browse the wares, there was lots to do.

Swag: A. Getting a free photo booth strip is awesome - and they were thoughtful enough to print out two (one for each of us). While not explicitly swag, everyone was welcome to take a December 2010 issue of InStyle as they left the party, and that's a nice thing to have for the gym! Oh, and there was a really cute gift wrapping station that I snapped a pic of, which kind of counts as swag if you purchased something:

S and I both scored substantially discounted necklaces, purchased from a Swedish tour guide who was inexplicably ringing people up.

Don't forget to vote on the Quote Vote in the top right corner of the blog!!!

Free Hummus Party

I won a hummus party the other day.

Yep, a hummus party.

houseparty.com is a site that lets consumers apply to host free parties featuring vendor's products. I think it's halfway between an advertisement and a focus group. All you do is fill out a survey, and if you're the demographic host they're looking for, you get a party pack, invite your friends, and voila! Free party.

After many applications, I finally won a coveted host position! And it was a great product too - Sabra hummus, which I already believe to be the best store-bought hummus on the market.

I got a bunch of free Sabra hummus and Stacy's pita chips. I augmented with fresh veggies and bread.

I used it as an excuse to invite a few college friends over for a hummus party.

Hummus mini-reunion!

Total cost to me: nearly nothing.

Fun of eating hummus with old college pals: priceless.

houseparty.com provided signage:

And houseparty.com also sent prizes: coupons for the guests to buy more hummus, recipe cards, a trivia game about international cuisine, and "prizes" like a stone Sabra trivet, bamboo hummus paddle, and recipe holder stand (all pictured below):

So go to houseparty.com and start applying for your own free parties - They select hosts nationwide!

Holiday Sparkle

A very sweet friend who works for Bobbi Brown arrived at our apartment Friday, and gave me two fistfuls of BB freebies! Hooray for beauty freebies!

These are not-yet-available pieces from Bobbi's holiday 2010 collection, and they look divine.

I cannot wait to try a different clown look every day. I will use every set if it kills me.

Pictured:

modern classic lip and eye palette

day to night warm eye palette

day to night cool eye palette

sparkle glamour quad (eye shadow - this one looks awesome!)

lip gloss trio

THANK YOU, L!!!!!!!!!

Moon Cake, Schmoon Cake

A colleague just came back from China, and brought two boxes of moon cakes for the office.

I'd never had a moon cake before, so I ate one. I believe I got a chestnut-filled one, though there is no key a la Whitman's Sampler for these puppies.

All I know is it was dense, oily, and now I feel like I ate a brick. Not enjoyable. The outer dough is smushy and greasy, and the interior paste is dense, flavorless, and also (horrifyingly) oily.

There must be moon cakes out there that are subtle and sweet - the perfect holiday treat. These are not those moon cakes.

Does anyone like these things? Blech.

Well, first (and possibly last) moon cake consumed.