CVS Beauty Sale update and some swatches of sale items

I've received lots of questions since my last CVS beauty clearance post, so I'm going to try and answer them all here in one neat and tidy post. If you're interested in this sale, take a minute to read through this and hopefully I'll be able to answer your questions!

I thought it might be helpful for some of you if I showed you swatches of the things I bought at the CVS clearance sale (in case you want to grab them for yourselves). PLEASE NOTE: The CVS I went to did NOT have clearance stickers on ANY of their products and there were no sale signs in the store either. I cannot stress enough that if you walk into your CVS and you do NOT see signs or clearance stickers on products, this does NOT mean the sale is not going on! You just need to bring your items to the scanner and check to see if the sale price is in the system. This is what I did for all of the products below, and they all came up as 75% off even though there were no stickers in sight.

If you haven't seen the sale at your local CVS yet, click here to see what other readers have seen on sale and click here to see pics of things I have personally spotted. Make a list of products you're interested in, take your list to CVS, and scan the products to see if the sale price comes up! Most of the time the sale price will already be in the system (as I found with the products below) but I did notice that, at some of my local CVS stores, the L'Oreal Infallible lip colors did NOT come up in the system with the sale price. So again, all CVS locations may vary, so scan before you buy!

A few readers have asked if clearance products count toward earning Extra Bucks (for example, if CVS has a sale where you get 5 Extra Bucks if you buy $20 worth of L'Oreal products, can you buy clearance products to get your Extra Bucks?). I haven't tried doing this, but my best guess is: no. I don't think it will work, but if you have received Extra Bucks after purchasing clearance items, please leave a comment and let us know!

Also, I wanted to tell you that, in my limited experience, most CVS locations will accept manufacturer's coupons (printables, tear-pads and newspaper coupons) in conjunction with this sale. At a few locations, I had absolutely NO problem when I handed the cashier my coupons. BUT, I did come across one CVS where the cashier was very adamant that I could not use my $1 off NYC coupon (tear-pad from the Shock Value display) toward a nail polish I was trying to purchase. Here's the deal: the NYC coupon states that it's good toward any NYC product that retails for $1.99 or higher. The cashier at CVS told me that the price of this polish was 49 cents, so the coupon was not valid. I told her that 49 cents was the SALE PRICE, and that the retail price is $1.99. But she argued that since the price in the system is 49 cents (75% off) that this is the price they're using and the coupon cannot be used. This was the first time I had ever encountered someone telling me this, and I wasn't in the mood to try and argue over a 49 cent bottle of nail polish, so I let it go. BUT, I will tell you that I've had NO problems whatsoever using coupons during this sale at other locations, and I know that MANY of my readers haven't had a problem using coupons during this sale either. But I just want to put it out there that it really varies from store to store. So you've just got to try and see.

Also, the reason some stores may not have stickers on their sale items might just be that they haven't received their stickers yet. Or, the staff might be busy and they just haven't had time to sticker everything yet. So don't let the absence of stickers stop you. Remember: scan before you buy!

Here are the products I purchased over the weekend:

My total before coupons was $8.11 for $32.46 worth of products. BUT, I also had a $1 NYC coupon, a $2 Revlon coupon, a $1 L'Oreal coupon, and one CVS Extra Buck (from my Green Bag Tag) which brought my total down to $3.11 before tax. Not bad!

I am VERY happy to report that I'm pleased with all of my purchases! The Infallible concealer was almost a perfect match for my skintone and I've been using it all weekend. It blends easily even though it's on the dry side, and it really does last all day. It didn't settle into my fine lines and it provided light-to-medium coverage (of course it didn't completely cover my dark circles but I wasn't expecting it to). You can build for more coverage without it becoming cakey, and again, it's really easy to work with. I'm super impressed, so I really hope this isn't being discontinued.

As for the Revlon Creme Gloss, I knew going into it that this is a heavier gloss. These are super pigmented (more like a lipstick) and they're quite sticky/tacky. BUT, for a gloss-eater like me, sometimes I need a heavier gloss if I'm trying to make it stay on my lips for a longer period of time, and this one stays on longer than most glosses in my stash. So if you like very opaque, pigmented glosses (and the sticky factor doesn't bother you), you might want to check one of these out.

The NYC Color Wheel in Beyond the Sea was my very first Color Wheel purchase. I've seen mixed reviews of these so I honestly didn't know what to expect. I will tell you that without a good eye primer, forget about using one of these. They're super sheer, not very pigmented and they don't have good staying power. But WITH a primer, I was able to get about six hours of wear out of these shadows, and I think they make for a very lovely, sheer, shimmery wash of color on the eyes.

In these pics, I paired Beyond the Sea with my new Cover Girl Liquiline Blast eyeliner in Silver Spark. I ended up really loving this look!

Not bad for 25 cents, right? (It was 75% off, which brought the total down to $1.25, plus I used a $1 NYC coupon).

And finally, I want to show you the other Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine I purchased (click here to see the first one I got, Flair):

Sally Hansen Glossy (CVS sale price: $1.62)

Glossy is right! I didn't even put on a top coat and this polish was so shiny that you can see my camera reflection in all of my fingernails! Glossy looks black in dim light but under direct light, you can really see the crimson shimmer. It makes it look like this color is glowing from within. I love it.

Whew! I hope this helps some of you who are looking to get some goodies during this sale. And don't forget to click here and tell us what you've spotted, or just read what others have spotted on clearance (note: that page is for ALL beauty deals, not just the CVS clearance, so if you've got a tip about another great deal, leave it in that post. Thanks!)