Why Buy The Cow…

Until you’ve tried the milk?  Hmmm.  That sounds vaguely naughty.  Let’s put it another way – try it before you buy it.

Last week, my buddy Jen from Mythbuster Beauty asked if I wanted to participate in an online-freebie-blogger-deal.  I would receive a large kit of skin care samples for FREE, and the only thing I’d have to do in return is write a blog post about it.  Wave the word FREE in front of me, and you know I’ll bite – like a walleye after a minnow.  And bite I did, thus today’s post.

Tuesday afternoon, I got my kit in the mail:  the SkinCareRx Travel Essentials kit, full of products by Comptoir, Babor, DermaNew, Decleor, Obagi, Dermalogica, and more.  All sorts of delightful treats I’ve only read about in InStyle Magazine, but never had the guts to buy for myself.

Why?  Because they AREN’T CHEAP.  Any one of those products costs $20+, and I’m afraid to spend that kind of money on skin care, only to have it fail me in my time of need.  I can’t justify blowing $40 on a face wash that doesn’t work any better than a bar of 99 cent Ivory.  That’s why getting this kit is so flipping BRILLIANT.

Why, again (and aren’t you full of questions today)?  Because with this kit, I can try a whole mess of products (12, to be exact) to see which ones perform, and which ones aren’t worth the big-buck charge.  And THAT, my friend, is the beauty of sampling.  Try it before you buy, and save yourself the heartache of throwing your money away on something that you don’t like.  Or worse, makes you break out into hives.

How can you get your hands on beauty product samples?  That’s actually the fun and easy part.  There are tons of beauty websites that will alert you to product freebies, like Mythbuster and Bionic Beauty.   Or, you can go straight to the manufacturer’s site and see what giveaways they offer.  Better still, send them an email, requesting a sample of whatever it is you want to try.  Hey, all they can say is no, right?

Another great way to get samples is when you order products online.  Sephora.com will let you pick three free samples when you place your order.  They’re also running a sample sale (Right Now!  As I Type!) – for $40, you get a box stuffed with deluxe samples of either skin care, perfumes, you name it.  Go here for more details.

And then there’s the deal SkinCareRx.com is offering:

As of Monday, June 22nd, you can buy the Travel Essentials Kit – filled with 12+ skin care products, retail price of $90 – for $15 when you spend $100 or more at SkinCareRx.com.  That’s a savings of $75!  The Kit was created with busy summer travelers in mind.  It has everything you need, in the generous deluxe sample sizes from all of their top brand beauty lines.

So instead of spending $15 on something that may or may not work, you can spend the same amount on 12 or more large samples (no little single-servings here) to see if you like one of them enough to splurge on.  For example, I am now utterly hooked on the Barbor Hand & Feet Smoother.  One use, and my dry, cracked heels were cured, CURED I SAY.  Damn the cost, I’m buying myself a tube.

Well, okay.  I’ll buy myself a tube in October, AFTER my “no big splurges until Ren Fest season is through” shopping embargo is over.  In the mean time, I’ll hoard my precious sample.  No, you can’t borrow it.  Go get your own here.

Now let me ask you – what have you tried before you buy’d?