Tuesday, September 23, 2014

How I save money on the BEST hair and beauty products


Hey Bellas,
My blog started as Crystal's Curls & Q's; a hodgepodge, if you will, of hair and coupons and how I combine both to have the best for less.  I have changed the name of the blog, but my mission has not changed.

This post is all about how I just saved quite a bit on my recent purchase from skinstore.com and how you can save, too, when purchasing high dollar items at more expensive online shops.




As you can see below, I was trying to obtain some clarisonic brush heads in the 4 pack. Those are no longer available and I had to purchase (2) of the 2pack.  The highlight of this picture, however, is the pink banner below showing that there is a 20% off coupon STOREWIDE!!!!





The green bar at the top of this pictures shows that if you shop online at skinstore.com using EBATES you earn a WHOPPING 12% back.  
(This is a toolbar that I installed on my computer. Any website I visit that offers cash back through EBATES automatically populates the green banner to alert me to my savings. All I do is click the activate cash back button.) You can install the toolbar here: http://www.ebates.com/button.htm


Here is the screenshot of my final purchase showing what I paid and what I will save (remember the 4pack of brush heads were no longer available and I had to get (2) of the 2 packs.) 
The 4 pack sold for $75 which was $13 cheaper. But you can't win them all. LOL!!

You can see I saved $17 with the 20% coupon and I earned $8.44 cash back that will be deposited into my Paypal account at the end of the quarter. It's that easy. 
If you don't have ebates you can sign up here:
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=zuOItLmBEEBvtduAqE7UQg%3D%3D&eeid=26471


I even got FREE SHIPPING!!!!! 

Check out all the different places you can earn money through Ebates.

 If you have any tips you use to save, please leave a comment below or post on our Facebook Page



As Always,


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

My newest obsession

Prior to July 2014, I had NEVER tried Shea Moisture Body products. I am familiar with the awesome hair products and had fell in love most recently with the Noni & Monoi line.  However, while at the New Orleans Natural Hair Expo, I stopped at the Shea Moisture pop up shop.  While there, the superfruit line was launched and there was special promotional pricing on the items in the store. I believe it was 3/$25. I picked  3 items including the Superfruit masque and the body wash. (review of the masque later) I received the body lotion in a swag bag at the Brunch the following day. 





Well, ever since I have been home I have been in heaven in the shower.  First, let me share with you the background. The new Superfruit line is available exclusively in Ulta and SheaMoisture.com for approximately $10 each
The main ingredients are :
  • Superfruit Complex - A blend of Red Raspberry, Goji, Acai and Guava Extracts. Highly effective in promoting smooth, youthful skin. 
  • Mango Butter - A rich emollient that intensely moisturizes and rejuvenates for soft, supple skin. 
  • Green Coffee Bean Extract - Helps nourish, contour and smooth dimpled, uneven skin
                                                            (Info courtesy Shea Moisture)

                                


My impressions:
1. The product is insanely moisturizing.  I run everyday and the salt from the sweat leave me dry and itchy. After showering with the body wash and using the lotion my skin is uber hydrated.
2. The smell is FANTASTIC.  I LOVE the smell. I feel like I smell intoxicating and sexy.  I love to use this at night before bedtime and laying up under my husband. He always notices and mentions how good it smells. 
3. The price is not bad. Ulta is one of the stores that uses coupons and always has promotions so I know I won't go broke if I continue to purchase this line. In addition, there are other Shea Moisture Body lines available at Walgreens and CVS which I frequent alot in my couponing endeavors, so I plan to stock up.

In closing, I think that you won't go wrong trying this line. This is the only one I have tried and I was beating myself up for not trying any of the other ones sooner.  My final thought is that you should #getyousome. 




Sunday, August 3, 2014

Blogalicious 2014


I am so excited to announce:







Are you?

This will be my first time in attendance and I so super happy that the conference is here in my home town of San Antonio this year.  I am so excited to learn all that I can. I hope to see meet some wonderful influential bloggers there. Can't wait!!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Shepherd's Pie… It's what's for dinner!!

This evening (7/29) I made shepherd's pie using the Velveeta kit.  (I know I should not be eating processed foods so don't come for me)



                   



I have been cray busy lately and I needed to cook something because we have been eating out a lot lately and it is starting to take a toll on me.

Here are my impressions:

  • The potatoes were creamy (I didn't have milk, so I used the half and half that I had in my fridge)
  • I didn't like the dehydrated veggies.
  • The Velveeta cheese was hard to spread over the meat mixture, so I had to add shredded cheese to the areas where the cheese spread didn't make it.


All in all it tasted good. I used group turkey instead of ground beef.  Next time I will just make shepherd's pie the regular way I've made it before, using real cheese, and frozen veggies instead of dehydrated ones in a box.  I am sure it will be even more tasty and healthy.  My household drinks 1% milk which would definitely have less calories than half and half.