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Drugstore Beauty: Mobile Coupons + 5 Blogs to Follow Now

April 26, 2013

I’ll admit it: my makeup collection desperately needs an overhaul. Even the boyfriend’s noticed my lack of lipsticks. It’s true: I’m a frugal girl so I like to stick to what works and I rarely let myself linger too long at the makeup counter (once you throw one eye shadow into your basket, how can you help but snatch them all up?) The good news: there are some fabulous, inexpensive drugstore makeup brands that work just as well as department store makeup and it’s much easier and much, much less expensive to do a makeup bag makeover at Target than it is to revamp your collection at MAC. I’m really into e.l.f. makeup brand; items typically run from $1 to $3, which is a total steal. The products are of pretty stellar quality, so, today, I can splurge on makeup like it’s 20 years ago and Bonnie Bell lip glosses and Wet n’ Wild nail polishes are the thing. Only e.l.f. products are a little more sophisticated, and I don’t feel quite as much like a first grader as I would expect to, paying $1 for lip gloss.

Don’t believe me? Don’t take my word for it. If you want to explore the drug store makeup counter more thoroughly (without being one of those people who open products up, stick their fingers in, and then leave the leftovers for no one to buy) check out these amazing frugal beauty bloggers, who test out drug store makeup and post really thorough reviews, so you only leave CVS with the best of the best!

Makeup & Beauty Blog: Karen from Makeup & Beauty Blog writes such a comprehensive list of beauty product reviews and she demos each product with delicious photography that makes you want to eat all the nail polish and bronzer up! She also does drug store beauty reviews, especially for Sonia Kashuk products from Target.

The Budget Beauty Blog: Jennifer from The Budget Beauty Blog writes really awesome reviews of drugstore brands (like e.l.f.) and goes the extra mile to compare drug store brand items to their department store counterparts. I love Jennifer’s honest advice and the scope of her reviews; check out her Wall of Mascara for a really impressive visual that will change the way you shop for eye makeup forever!

Nouveau Cheap: G. from Nouveau Cheap totally speaks to me. Her blog is beautiful and her philosophy that one should never have to spend more than $10-$20 on a makeup product is something I seriously believe in. She regularly posts drug store makeup sale alerts and discovers drug store dupes for popular department store makeup items.

The Frugal Model: Ashley from The Frugal Model does more than write about frugal beauty; she’ll teach you how to basically live your life. From tax prep tips and frugal traveling how-to, Ashley is basically the really smart, gorgeous, put-together big sister you (at least I) never had.

The Budget Socialite: Scarlett and Trinidad from The Budget Socialite put together amazing drug store makeup tutorials and reviews; they’re general, all-around, effortless frugal living experts and their blog is full of practical living advice, like how to put together mason jar meals.

Headed to the drug store to revamp your spring makeup collection? Make sure you SnipSnap some mobile coupons first! Right now, there are tons of wonderful makeup deals for drugstores like Walgreens in the app!

Mo’ Money’s Top 5 April Fools Food

March 27, 2013

It’s almost April 1st! Do you have any pranks in place? I’m still trying to find the best torture tactics to trick various friends and family members, but I think food jokes are always a great place to start. When I was a kid, I used to April Fools my parents by telling them I ran my bike into the car or threw the houseplant out the window. But, now, in the Pinterest age, there’s plenty of creative inspiration for artistic, culinary pranks that are safe and won’t get anyone too upset (turns out, dads are very protective of their cars). I found a lot of really convincing food swaps on Pinterest and some of my favorite cooking/crafting blogs so, to make your April Fools Day that much more entertaining, I present my top five fake food finds!

1. Meatloaf “Donuts” and Gravy “Coffee”: Jill from Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons came up with this awesome donut/coffee combo which is much more savory than sweet! The donuts are made out of turkey meatloaf and mashed potato icing.

2. Peach Halves and Yogurt “Eggs”: Charissa from Colorful Palate has a super simple, healthy recipe for a peach and yogurt parfait that perfectly resembles sunny side eggs. If you want to pull a prank but still serve a delicious, healthy breakfast, this is the recipe for you.

3. “Snow Cone” Cupcakes: Liz from Hoosier Homemade has a pretty mean recipe for cupcakes that masquerade as snow cones. This is such a cool idea for April birthday parties!

4. “Spaghetti and Meatball” Cupcakes: Sara and Kate from Our Best Bites recreated some really fun cupcakes recipes from Hello Cupcake. Among them are these pretty sweet “spaghetti” cupcakes with Ferrero Rocher “meatballs.”

5. “Hamburger Cookies”: These may be my personal favorite because I have a mild obsession with both Nilla Wafers and Keebler cookies, which (along with some red and yellow frosting) are basically all you need to create these mini faux hamburger sweet treats from Recipe Shoebox.

Want to go out for some real food this April Fools? Make sure you follow me in the SnipSnap app and subscribe to my restaurant coupon bundle – so you don’t have to pay the real price.

YouTube’s Top 5 DIY Spring Manicures

March 21, 2013

It’s spring time! Hooray! I’ve been snipping a lot of beauty coupons in the SnipSnap app lately, because I’m getting ready to revamp my nail polish collection with some bright, neon warm weather hues. I’m not planning on visiting a salon for my spring manicures/pedicures. You can do a perfectly good paint job yourself with the right tools and some creative inspiration. What do you need to do the job? A nail buffer, a nail clipper, some inexpensive Sally Hansen nail polish, and coupons, to make the inexpensive nail polish even less expensive. It’s that simple.

Today, I’m bringing you Mo’ Money’s Top Five DIY Spring Manicure YouTube Tutorials. So sit back, soak up the creativity and snip a coupon. It’s way more fun to do your own nails, and you can pocket the fifty bucks you’d spend at the salon to spend on clothes that will last a whole lot longer than seven days.

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