Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Target Beauty Bag

A couple of weeks ago I received my Target Beauty Bag in the mail, and boy was I excited-- check out the goodies!

I love the cute striped cosmetic bag they came in! I'm using it to keep my sunglasses in my purse. And below are all of the great samples that came inside.

1. Pantene Color Preserve Volume Shampoo

2. Nivea Extended Moisture Daily Lotion

3. Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

4. Target Coupon Booklet

5. L'Oreal Paris Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer

6. Neutrogena Visibly Bright Daily Facial Cleanser

I think my favorite product is either the Nivea Extended Moisture lotion or the Neutrogena Visibly Bright cleanser (consequently they are also the two that I purchased full-sized bottles of). The Pantene shampoo is okay; it didn't seem to lather particularly well and I needed rather a lot of it. I only used it once. The Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes are pretty nice! I've used them several times to remove a full face of makeup, which they did both effectively and fairly gently. I have somewhat sensitive skin so it's always good to find something non-irritating, although I'll probably continue to use my L'Oreal makeup remover (it's also less expensive). Honestly I don't think I used the L'Oreal Magic Lumi the way I should have. I applied it to my face over my moisturizer, and it gave my face a shimmery sheen but I wasn't really impressed with the look. So, I thought, "Primer? Let's find out!" and then applied my Revlon Colorstay foundation over that-- not a great idea. It made my pores super visible, and definitely doesn't work as a *primer*. I think if I had used it as a highlighter over my foundation, that would have worked out much better. But, I really love my Physicians Formula Happy Booster Powder as a highlighter (and it smells fantastic!) so I don't feel the need to re-purchase/retry the L'Oreal.

Also included was a wonderful little book of Target coupons for each of the products/brands included as well as a few others. So far I've only used the Neutrogena & Nivea coupons, and I seem to have misplaced my booklet for now so hopefully it turns up so I can try more stuff!

I love this moisturizer. Granted, I am a little obsessed with hand and face moisturizers in general, but the Nivea Extended Moisture works really well! It's extremely hydrating and long-lasting, and it's basically unscented so there's no, "I'm just not into smelling like raspberry pie mojitos right now" dilemma. The one thing I did notice though is that the formula of the sample and that of the mini tube are totally different. The sample was a little runny and took a little while to absorb fully, where the mini tube is much thicker and absorbs better. I like both-- they both work the same for me, I just wonder which one is the real formula. Observe in the photo below these contrasting creams:

The other product I couldn't live without was the Neutrogena Visibly Bright cleanser. Again, I just really love facial cleansers, but look-- there is gold shimmer in there, whaa? It doesn't show up on my face after I rinse, however, I love this shimmery gold soap. It also has a subtle and pleasant citrus smell that is delightful, and, oh yeah, it cleans my face pretty well, too! So, admittedly, I don't have truly convincing reasons for loving this cleanser. I don't see a dramatic change in the brightness of my face, but it certainly makes my skin feel refreshed and clean and kind of blingy, even though there really is no bling. It washes right off. (Do I want to cover to my face in gold shimmer now? Yeah, kind of. A little.)

Target actually just announced their Summer Beauty Bag giveaway yesterday, and sadly they are already all gone. So hopefully those of you who wanted one were able to grab it. After many attempts I was lucky enough to get one, so I'm looking forward to what this next one will have in store!