Huge CVS news (crazy sales, deals and new products--pic heavy!)

CVS lovers, this is one of the craziest posts I've ever written about the sales, deals and new products I've encountered, so be warned that this post is long but packed with info! It's probably not a post you want to casually skim over because you might miss something that could be important to you, and I would NEVER want you miss out on these types of deals! So take a minute and try to read through it if you've got a CVS in your area. Consider yourself warned!

First: If your CVS sells Boots products, get over to your nearest location ASAP because look what I saw yesterday:

ALL BOOTS PRODUCTS ARE NOW 90% OFF! Remember last week when I was freaking out because the entire Boots display at my CVS was 75% off? Well most products (as you can see in this pic) are gone now, and they've condensed what was originally four shelves worth of products into ONE shelf and it's ALL 90% off! But here's the strange part--I went to another CVS location this weekend and their Boots display was still 75% off (with a much better selection still available) so CVS must be leaving it up to the individual stores as to when to slash the discount from 75% to 90%.

Anyway, I couldn't resist and purchased a few things that I'd like to share with you in case you want to take advantage of this CRAZY deal:

Clockwise from top left: Stay Perfect Lipstick in Under the Sun, Moisture Drench Lipsticks in Chic, Sugar Plum and Plum Beautiful (Retail price for all lipsticks: $9.99 each. Sale price: 99 CENTS EACH)

Can you believe I got these for 99 cents each when the normal price is $9.99?? Yeah, me either! I took a huge leap of faith with these shades because they were sealed and no testers were available, but I'm delighted to say that the colors are all very wearable, so I wanted to show you some swatches in case you see these at your CVS and want to take advantage of this deal:

From left to right in all three pics: Chic, Plum Beautiful, Sugar Plum and Under the Sun

I also snagged a bottle of nail polish and, even though it wasn't on sale, I finally found a bottle of NYC Starry Silver Glitter, which is always out of stock at my local drugstores:

Boots No 7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Rendezvous (retail price: $4.99, sale price 50 CENTS) , NYC Long Wear Nail Enamel in Starry Silver Glitter (retail price: 99 cents)

The Boots shade is just so pretty in person--it's a pinkish coral with gold shimmer. I just can't believe it was 50 cents! OK, we've got lots of ground to cover so moving on....

Would you like CVS to actually PAY YOU to try their new hair care products? Sounds good, right? Well here's how I actually ended up MAKING money!

When I first walk into CVS, I immediately like to play the "CVS Slot Machine". You know what I'm talking about, right? You run your CVS card under the little red scanner box and it shoots out coupons for you to use during your shopping trip. I've realized over time that they use an algorithm to determine what types of coupons they give you, based on your past purchases. So the more you use your CVS card, the better your coupons are going to get (meaning, they're going to be for things you'd probably already want to buy). It's sort of like how after you rate a bunch of movies on Netflix, the movies they recommend to you start getting better and better.

So anyway, I played the CVS Slot Machine yesterday and what did it shoot out for me? A candy coupon and a haircare coupon. LOL! But here's the thing--this particular haircare coupon was for $1 off any CVS brand haircare product. So luckily, I remembered that the new Bioluxe haircare is actually a CVS house brand, and that it's BOGO free this week. But that's not all...

I walked up to the Bioluxe display (FYI, if you haven't seen these yet, they look like they're dupes of Matrix Biolage products) and I see these little green tags on the conditioner bottles. CVS is offering customers a Visa Gift Card in the amount of $9.99 when you buy a Bioluxe conditioner!

Bioluxe Polishing Shampoo and Polishing Conditioner (retail: $9.99 each, 15.5 oz)

I love how right on the card it basically says, you'll get the gift card in 2-4 weeks, but if you DON'T, here's a direct number you can call. CVS, I tip my hat to you for that, because as many of us know, rebates sometimes take forever to get when they're from the manufacturer (I'm STILL waiting for my Organix shampoo and conditioners rebates from FOUR YEARS AGO! Organix, you suck if you're reading this because I know a lot of people who never got those rebates). So anyway, I commend you, CVS, for giving us a direct number to call if we don't see our Visa Gift Card after one month!

So if you didn't already do the math in your head, let me break this down for you: Bioluxe products retail for $9.99. This week they're BOGOF and also offering a $9.99 Visa Gift Card as a rebate for the conditioner. Plus, I had a coupon to take $1 off any CVS haircare product. So the total cost for me to try full size (15.5 oz bottles of shampoo and conditioner) Bioluxe products? NADA. ZERO. In fact, I MADE a dollar! CVS actually paid me $1 to try their new products. Whoo hoo!!! (Note: When I enthusiastically said to the cashier yesterday, "Hey, you're PAYING me to try this!" she didn't find it too funny. Oh well.)

So get over to CVS right away if you want to try Bioluxe, because even if you don't MAKE money like me, at the very least you'll end up getting a full size shampoo and conditioner for FREE!

Next: I spotted some new products to share with you!

Rimmel Lasting Finish Blushes (retail: $4.99)

I thought it was interesting that just two of the shades in this new collection have three strips of colors in the compact (sorry for the blurry pic):

You can't tell in this pic but the middle shade in each compact is shimmery while the outer shades are matte. Anyone try these yet?

Next, one of my lovely readers, Jakeline, informed me last week that CVS is now making their own lip products! I searched and searched and finally found the display in the SKINCARE aisle. Duh! I had been looking in the makeup aisle so no wonder I couldn't find it. Anyway, here it is:

Focus on Lips Collection, by CVS

As you can see, this range features a variety of products for plumping, exfoliating, moisturizing and wrinkle-reducing. The products vary in price from $5.99 to $9.99 so they're not cheap. But I have to say I'm captivated by the little mini lip version of the Scrublet (see pic on the far left). Also, from what I can tell, these look to be paraben-free (at least the two or three boxes I looked at were paraben-free).

Next, I spotted some new CVS generic versions of popular skincare products I wanted to share with you. CVS seems to be REALLY stepping up their game with generic versions of beloved products these days and I can't wait to try some of these:

CVS version of Neutrogena Wave (and refills)

CVS version of various RoC skincare products

CVS version of various Garnier skincare products, including a new version of the Garnier Anti-Puff Eye Roller

CVS version of Aveeno skincare products, including new verisons of Aveeno cleansers and moisturizers

WHEW! I feel like I have to take a nap after this post! I think that's it for now, but the moral of this story is, get your booties over to CVS and see if you can spot any of these deals/sales/new products if you're interested in anything I've shown you here today. And of course come back and let me know what you scored!

Oh, I almost forgot!! The infamous CVS beauty clearance is STILL going strong, and I was able to snag just one more of those wonderful Physician's Formula Oraganic Wear Superfruit Lip Glosses in a color that I that's been sold out everywhere (but miraculously was still in stock at a CVS I rarely visit):

Physicians Formula Organic Wear Superfruit Lip Gloss in Super Rose (retail: $7.99, CVS sale price: $1.99)

OK, that's it for now (really). For anyone who's keeping score, I spent $6.50 this weekend and snagged full size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, four lipsticks, two nail polishes and a tube of lip gloss. Not bad! As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts!