try before you buy: how to sample

Sampling products is an awesome way to both save money and explore a lot of options. So, no matter what product you're in the market for, it's always a good idea to see if you can sample it first. Here's how:

ONE:
Look for online stores that offer free samples with purchases. Kiehl's, for example, offers three free samples with every purchase. (I would recommend trying their dark spot corrector. It's amaze.)

Do: Ask for samples at cosmetic counters.
Don't: Simply walk up to the counter and say, "Hey, do you guys have any samples I can have?" This will make it look like you're just trying to get free stuff, and frankly, it's rude.
If you are truly interested in sampling a product, try saying something like this: "Hi, I've heard a lot about your product, (name of product), can you tell me more about it?" or "I'm looking for a product for (insert problem here - scarring, dark circles, etc.). Can you help me find something for that?" Then listen to what the salesperson has to say. End with something like, "Would you happen to have a sample that I could take home and try first?" In my experience, every one of the cosmetic counters at Nordstrom happily respond to this approach. In most cases, you're going to be spending a fair amount of money, so there's nothing wrong with making sure you love it first.

**Every week, Nordstrom has "Sample Saturday." Follow @nordstrombeauty on Twitter to find out which products they're offering each week.

TWO:
Shop for cosmetics when the counter is offering a free gift with purchase. By keeping track of which department store's Estee Lauder is "in gift", I have a huge amount of sample size products that are perfect for traveling and wonderful at introducing me to any new products I haven't tried before.

**The gift shown above is currently offered at Macy's with any $35 purchase.

Do: Regularly check with your local Nordstrom, Macy's or Dillard's cosmetic counters to see when they will be in gift.
Do: Try to save your purchases until the counter is offering a gift with purchase.
Do: Stock up on the gifts you get and use them for travel or for when you run out of a product and can't go straight to the store for a replacement.

THREE/FOUR:
Subscribe to a monthly sample box.
Bluum box: Luxury samples for mom and baby. Monthly plans are $12/month, quarterly plans are $33 ($11/month). (I obviously haven't tried this, but have found it's kind of a fun baby shower gift.)

Birchbox: Four to five deluxe samples per month. Yearly membership: $110. Monthly subscription: $10/month. I subscribed to Birchbox in December, and I've already found a few amazing products that I love. Products included in each box range from chocolate to perfume. It's like getting a present every month!

...so there you have it.
Happy sampling!

P.S. Friends, my blogging here has been scarce lately, and will probably continue tthat way as I'm leaving the country for two weeks, then immediately starting a full-time job at the magazine.
I'll stop by as often as I can. xoxo.

For the days when you just need to sleep an extra five

Some days, dry shampoo is my best friend. Other days, I wake up looking like I've been visited in the night by Freddy the Nightmare Hair Dresser whose signature styling is a head full of gnarly cowlicks (the only downside to super short hair) and the only solution is a complete, shampooed restyle.

Here are a few products I scouted out while weighing my options at Ulta and abroad.
I'm a big fan of the KMS Makeover Spray. It gets the job done and it's lasted me a while. (Mainly because Freddy has been stopping by a lot lately.)

Clockwise from left:
-- Suave
-- Klorane
-- KMS makeover spray
-- Big Sexy volumizing dry shampoo
-- Ojon Full Detox spray
-- John Frieda volume refresher
-- TIGI Rockaholic Dirty Secret

Back to basics and February's Faves

Hopefully you noticed that I've simplified the blog a bit.

The truth: I got sick of blogging. Then I remembered the days when I blogged because I loved sharing things I love, things I dream about, things I do and things I find that are awesome. Seems like lately I've been blogging more for what I thought other people would like, and not so much for myself. Shame.

So let's see if we can get back to the good ol' days of LifeDoneProperly, shall we?
I hope you'll enJOY.

1. J.R. Watkins Lemon Cream body lotion -- One day, while waiting at Walgreens for a passport photo, I spied this stuff. I smelled it. I loved it. It came home with me. I placed it on my nightstand. It's now a nightly staple.
2. NARS lipstick in Schiap -- There's a reason this stuff costs $24 a tube, and I'll tell you what it is. It's amazing. As in, it's hyper pigmented and super long wearing. Even for a constant-lip-smudger like me.
3. Essie polish in Sugar Daddy -- (as seen before, here) This nude shade is flirty and classy and I just really like it a lot.
4. Coach Poppy purse spray -- My Valentine's Day gift from Justin (well, actually he bought me the roll-on kind. Same diff.) It's the perfect travel/purse size and it's got one of those smells that is so pretty it makes you feel pretty.
5. MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche -- Ashley introduced this book to me via instagram. It's written by a journalist, so naturally I love it.
6. West Elm alphabet tray -- Another nightstand accessory. (Mine has a 'J' of course. I wanted to specify that in case you ever visit my bedroom and are all, "Hey, that's false advertising! You don't have a Q tray!" Afterall, why would I have a try with a 'Q' on it? Honestly.) Anyway, it holds my watches and whatever else happens to land there.
7. J.Crew floral printed pencil skirt -- True to form, my husband picked this for me. I haven't worn it yet because I don't want to be too prematurely spingish, but I can't wait to break it out. Like, probably next week.
8. H&M Bright tights in any color -- I have a pair of bright reddish-orange tights that I wore, in pairing with a seersucker pencil skirt and mustard yellow top, to a family function a couple weeks ago. My grandma told me, "I looked at you and thought, 'what in the world is she wearing with all those colors and patterns??' and then I realized, 'hey that looks pretty good! She's a beautiful girl.'" Only Grandmas can tell you that you're dressed like a carnival and get away with it.

Happy Saturday, friendlies!! I hope you have big plans for the holiday weekend!
Today, Justin and I are wishing we could hop a plane to Washington. Sit on a driftwood-infested beach, eat a piece of fresh fruit, maybe buy a bouquet of peonies. You know, be tree-huggers for a day. *sigh* If only.

Blog resuscitation. Stat.

Oh. My. Word.
Remember that one time my blog stats full-on flatlined because I didn't blog for a month?
Heavens to Betsy. Sorry 'bout that, friendlies.
Life these days is a little bit on the chicken-with-its-head-cut-off-could-use-a-gallon-of-Xanax side. Nonetheless, still fantastic.

So I'm just stopping by to liven things up with the fact that I'm pinning all of the Fashion Week photos from elle.com. Here and here and here.

My favorites for Spring brought to you by Alice+Olivia:
(You know, Spring? That time where there's not so much snow, but also not so much deaduglyness?)

Oh, and if you're dying to follow me when I'm not here, I write lots for Salt Lake Magazine. Sometimes even about fashion stuff like florals and aztecs.

Utah 101 | A tidbit about my little ol' home state

Are you participating in the instagram January photo-a-day challenge? Obviously, as per above, I am. It's kind of fun.
Day One: Me (or rather the blue shadow on my blue eyes)
Day Two: My breakfast from the gas station on my way to work. The maple bar was from Banbury Cross. I could eat a whole dozen of those things. Seriously.
Day Three: Something I adore: The lavender I bought on our trip to Friday Harbor, WA
Day Four: My boring, boxy letterbox.

It was the letterbox that got me thinking. When I read the challenge for the day I thought, "Gee, I really hope that's the same thing as a mailbox." See, here in Utah we have special names for things. We call letterboxes "mailboxes." Letter carriers or postmen (politically correct, post people) are known as "mailmen."
We also have special accents.

So, for those of you unfamiliar with the Utah way of life, I thought I'd provide little lesson.
EnJOY. And you're welcome.

Utah 101

The things surrounding the Salt Lake Valley on all sides? Those are moun-ins. Not MounTains. We also have a city called Lay-uhn (not LayTon). At the Gateway mall there are foun-ins (not founTains).

Test number one. Translate the following sentence: "I colored with my crens. Then I had a nice warm glass of melk before I went to sleep on my comfy pellow."
Stumped? The answer is, "I colored with my crayons. Then I had a nice warm glass of milk before I went to sleep on my comfortable pillow."
I've also heard of crayons referred to as crowns.
Perhaps I should post a vlog of some sort, in order to assure you that this is not the way I speak and, in fact, it is one of my biggest pet peeves. Ever.

Next. SAHMs. That's an occupational abbreviation for Stay At Home Moms. These people are pretty freaking cool. They build playhouses for their kids out of cardboard boxes and they make dinner from scratch. From scratch, I tell you! And often, that scratch is organic.
It is not uncommon to witness a gaggle of SAHMs gleefully pushing their strollers down the street. 66 percent of the gaggle is usually pregnant. I witnessed this myself just this afternoon, as a matter of fact. Three SAHMs, two of them preggo, three strollers.

You may have heard that the majority of Utah's population is Mormon. Well, that's true.
Mormons don't have horns, but they do fancy jello with carrots and/or mandarin oranges suspended inside. Oh, and funeral potatoes. They fancy those as well.

Utah has a few Universities. The best one is the University of Utah. I've heard they have the brightest, most awesome students. I know for a fact that they have the awesomest professors.

Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was a party. It was pretty much impossible to get anywhere downtown with a car during that time so it was like living in NYC or something.
Salt Lake City is arguably one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities I ever have seen that isn't near a large body of water (great salt lake doesn't count.) It's smaller than most and it has a pretty much non-existant night life, but like I care about that when I lose energy at 9:00.

Southern Utah is breathtakingly beautiful. If you've never been to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon or Arches... you should.

I've lived in Utah all of my 26 years and I've been skiing once. Utah has lots of great skiing. I need to ski more.
The mountains here are gorgeous. You can travel 50 miles in any given direction from the center of downtown and see and do tons of awesome things. You could probably even take a sail on the Great Salt Lake. I've never done that, though because it smells out there and the beaches honestly give me the heebie jeebies.

The Sundance Film Festival is held in Park City. Park City is also where this year's HGTV Dream Home is located. Park City is the shiz.

Utah is a good place to visit, so look me up where you get here.

More things to love: Our Paper Shop

Once when I was about 7 or 8, my best friend and I found some old, faded construction paper in my mom's sewing room. Being the budding young entrepreneur that I was, (I also tried selling popcorn from a bowl, and I always used a muffin tin as my cash register) I put the paper in a fancy little crate and convinced my friend that we could make a killing by selling the stuff door-to-door.
So, out we went. But for some reason, each neighbor claimed to have no need for the paper, and our profit turned out to be a collection of puzzled looks and high-pitched remarks of "Aw, aren't you just the cutest things!?" And all I thought was, "Whatever, lady! To heck with being cute! Buy my paper! I know for a fact that my mom buys your kid's disgusting lemonade and crap! Buy my paper!"

I also loved going to the stationery store with my mom. After a while, I developed a moderate collection of pens and paper that weren't used for much more than looking pretty. I've always loved paper shops - the smell, the feel of the different textures, the colors and patterns, the innumerable options of things you can create.

Today, via twitter (love you, twitter!) I found a new paper shop. I can't smell it or touch it, but I can browse through it, and oh is it beautiful. Bre and Emma sure do know how to sell the stuff, because I want it all and it has nothing to do with their level of cuteness.

See for yourselves.

I also started following their blog and downloaded this desktop wallpaper. I love it.

The happiest new year

Yesterday, I got to do my favorite thing in the world. I spent the entire day with my best friend. Even better, we spent it in the company of some of our other best friends.
We ate Chinese takeout and chocolate licorice, we laughed until our heads and bellies hurt, and we braved heavy eyelids until the midnight hour came. And when it did, I kissed my best friend and we said goodbye to 2011. Then, I took him home, I put him to bed and I let him cuddle me until we fell asleep to the sound of nothing more than fireworks welcoming in the new year.

It was a night of auld lang syne. One that won't soon be forgotten.

when you live in SLC, you can't have too many winter survival guides

Winter has technically only just begun, so this may not be the last survival guide of the season. It surely isn't the first.

1. EOS lip balm in sweet mint -- a new favorite. I love that I don't have to reapply it every 10 minutes.
2. H&M Slouchy beanie -- Only $6 and super soft and comfy.
3. Tech-friendly gloves -- Necessary for people like me who use their phone for everything.
4. La Mer Moisturizing Cream -- Pricey, but - in my opinion - worth every penny. Especially if you live in a harsh, dry winter climate and have sensitive skin. (Upside: a tiny bit goes a very long way.)
5. Crate&Barrel Latte Mug -- Perfect size for any warm drink, only $5, and it is simply gorgeous.
6. Thick, warm socks -- I've made a habit out of borrowing my husband's. Extra thick and extra warm.
7. H&M Leggings for layering -- I even layer them over tights and under dress pants (I get that cold.)
8. Clarisonic Mia skin cleansing system -- A Christmas gift from My Love. After only 3 uses, I can already feel a difference in my skin.

Do you have any favorite things/tips to help you survive the winter?
I'd love to hear about them!

Committing an old fashion faux pas

shirt, leggings: Target | sweater: Banana.Republic | necklace: mom's | boots: Bulward(auction retailer)

Somewhere in the world, a middle-aged woman is clicking her tongue and shaking her head at the fashion crime I have just committed.
Yes. Yes, in fact those are brown boots with black leggings.
Thank you for noticing.

I'm going to eat a ton of sweets today, what are you going to do?

Merry and, um, Bright

beanie, shirt: Anthropologie | earrings: H&M | vest, watch, skinnies: Nordstrom.Rack | socks: Justin's | shoes: Famous

Merry Christmas!

(And suddenly, there is an overwhelming amount of yellow on this blog. Whoa.)