Over the weekend when I went to the mall, I pre-bought two containers of my favorite face wash (reviewed here) since they were having a Lancome Gift with Purchase at Nordstrom starting Tuesday.
So on Tuesday afternoon, I went and picked up my face wash and gift. They don’t let you take the product home until the day of the gift starts. Another trip to the mall, sure, but I only live 5 minutes away so not a biggie.
The Bi-Facil blue eye makeup remover is the best stuff ever. It’s been around forever and the stuff works. Dare I say it’s the best eye makeup remover I’ve ever used and I’ve tried tons over my lifetime.
I was able to select 6 gift items from a list of about 12. I chose 3 cremes since they are generally very expensive and even a tiny sample is a great value$ in my favor.
And I chose this mascara
Normally I wear this mascara (reviewed here) but I will never say no to free Lancome.
And the makeup goodies all came in a cute bag with a brush.
From my last post about my Amazon Order and Ordering Online, it was fun to hear what, if anything, you buy online and what you buy in person.
Most of you said you wished you could be a little more organized and on top of things because you realize by planning ahead and being able to wait for shipping, by ordering online you can save money. And, you can also save time by having things delivered to your doorstep. The irony of that, since I made a second trip to the mall to go back for my free gift. Oh well, I live so close.
In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, drink a Green Juice
Or just skip the juice, and head straight for dessert.
Raw Vegan Almond Butter Cookie Bites
These are such a fast no-bake dessert/snack and I know there are just a few blog readers who go ga-ga for almond butter anything.
Questions
1. Do you wait for Gift with Purchase events when buying your makeup?
When I was younger and wore Clinique (pre MAC makeup days), I used to “play the field”. Like, I knew that in November, Macy’s would have a gift with purchase; in April Nordstrom would; in June I could get a gift with purchase from Bloomingdales. What can I say, free makeup was worth planning for!
Now, the only product I use faithfully that “qualifies” for gift with purchase is the Lancome facial cleanser, but I do love the MAC holiday gifts sets in December that they come out with! But those aren’t gifts with purchase. They’re holiday sets, i.e. something else to buy.
2. I’m thinking about setting up an Amazon Store. Should I?
I actually set up an Amazon storefront about two years ago but have done almost nothing with it. I know some bloggers have OpenSky stores and I tried it (here’s my OpenSky Store) but there were major limitations to it.
Pros:
It would give readers a place to see what products I use regularly and what I recommend. I would only promote products I personally have, own, use, and love.
For example, I recommend the spiralizer I have to at least 3 people a week via email. They want to know what I have, where I got it, how much I paid, and if I like it. An Amazon storefront would handle all of that. Plus, it would be nice to make 50 cents from those recommendations, so to speak.
Cons:
It takes lots of upfront time to set up a storefront with no guarantees of the store being useful to anyone.
There can and usually are little snags on anything tech-related which takes time to troubleshoot.
Would anyone actually buy from me, just to buy from me, because they want to be helpful or nice or show some support? A good thought, but I don’t think people really care or notice who they buy from. I think that most people buy on price and my prices wouldn’t be any cheaper than any of the other zillions of Amazon “store owners” that have Amazon storefronts.
What do you think? Would you enjoy seeing what I have, own, recommend in terms of products?
If you have an Amazon store, how is it doing$$ for you?
Was it time consuming to set up?
Would you be inclined to actually purchase anything from a blogger’s storefront?
Happy St. Paddy’s Day Everyone! Does anyone have any plans? I am off to an appointment so no, no St Paddy’s Day plans for me.
I have never purchased from a bloggers store.. which is why I haven’t set up my own yet…
I am probably more cynical that most people.
i love how lancome lets you pick what you want in your gift bag! clinique neverrr does that. haha i can’t wait for cliniques free gift with purchase next month! i usually wear prescriptives mascara but they just went out of business so now i have to find a new one that i’m not allergic to!
You should definitely set up a store! When I go to buy something on Amazon I look at my fave bloggers’ stores first to see if they sell that particular item — it costs the same either way and if I buy from a blogger’s store, at least they get a little bit of a reward for all the effort they put into entertaining me! :)
I have a store and I’m in the affiliate prgram. Can’t say as I’ve made a dime off either one, but I haven’t checked lately. The store seems cool, but you have to constantly link to it, which is annoying and can set people off. The affiliate prgram is better, but again, its a pain to always link the product pages through the program. a normal link takes seconds to set up, but through the affiliate prgram it is a few more added steps. Or there may be a shortct that I don’t know about….
I don’t wear makeup. :) But if I did, you better believe I’d wait for the free goods!
I just replied to others about affiliate vs. store.
like Heabs has a store on amazon. And I actually set one up too and will blog more publicly about it (once i make sure that things are set up properly and my sales$ are being credited to me)
https://astore.amazon.com/lovvegyogruna-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=1
So i don’t know how it differs if i am an affiliate vs. having a store…or what you do b/c i just went to your site and didnt see any amazon stuff or banners.
it’s all pretty confusing to me!
A reader was kind enough to be mine this morning w/ a purchase but so far it’s not showing up$$ in my reporting…lag time maybe?
Yeah, I probably won’t me making green juice, maybe green socca though and avocado pudding for dessert.
1. I’m pretty cheap when it comes to makeup, so most of the stuff I buy does not come with gifts. But I remember buying Clinique back in the day.
2. Hmmm, I rarely shop in specific Amazon stores, preferring to hit the general site, so I’m not sure how profitable it would be, but it could be good seeing commonly used products. I think you need a tax ID to collect profits.
I don’t have an Amazon store but I do their affiliate program. If you do set up a store, I’ll be eagerly watching – you must let me know what you think of it! (You like being my guinea pig?? ;)) As for makeup, I was just in Sephora today. I do often wait until they e-mail me a coupon or some fancy free promo thing.
I just replied to another commenter about affiliate vs. store.
Here’s what i told her:
affiliate vs. store.
like Heabs has a store on amazon. And I actually set one up too and will blog more publicly about it (once i make sure that things are set up properly and my sales$ are being credited to me)
https://astore.amazon.com/lovvegyogruna-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=1
So i don’t know how it differs if i am an affiliate vs. having a store…or what you do b/c i just went to your site and didnt see any amazon stuff or banners.
it’s all pretty confusing to me!
but glad to be your guinea pig :) A reader was kind enough to be mine this morning w/ a purchase but so far it’s not showing up$$ in my reporting…lag time maybe?
I hardly ever wear makeup anymore, as evidenced by my dull pics, LOL. I hp through phases where I am nuts for it, and now this phase which has lasted YEARS where I wear little to none. I think I’m starting a new phase soon.
I have an Amazon affiliate account, but I hardly ever bother with it. I don’t do a lot of things that I probably should, LOL. Too much on my plate if you know what I mean, and I’m sure you do busy mama!
“I don’t do a lot of things that I probably should, LOL. “–
amen girl.
I sent you an email about it all. If you have any insights, holla! :)
I plan my purchases around free gifts all the time. I just picked up my Clinque today at lunch time with my free gift. Now I think I need to go hit Nordstrom’s for the free Lancome gift. I have never tried Lancome, but I think I may need to just to get the gift! Thanks for the recommendation on the face cleaner. What else do you purchase from Lancome?
just their face wash.
for my makeup, i am loyal to MAC by and large. but i never say no to anything free!
That’s the facewash you recommended to me for post-heated yoga class while I was doing my teacher training last year!!! :D It worked miracles for preventing breakouts, and I love the smell and feel of my face after using it!
I’m curious to hear the feedback on Amazon. I have also considered setting up a store, but I just don’t know how often people buy 1) through Amazon in general and 2) through a person’s Amazon page. What were your thoughts on OpenSky? I have also thought of starting something up there.
xxoo
Heather
opensky…tons of work, for me personally, very LITTLE return. You literally have to be Kath to make money at it. I had lots of sales and honestly, they paid like $3 dollars when I sold a $500 vitamix. Not kidding. And I sold like 10 vitamixes. And on things like protein powder, i made like 22 cents. I mean…not worth the time :)
face wash…i dont even remember rec’ing it to you, but glad you loved it and it worked :)
Thank you Averie – totally appreciate the honestly!
$3 for a Vita Mix?!! That is ridiculous!!
I have an amazon affiliate which has been doing pretty well lately and I have a store too (it’s really the same thing, just formatted differently). I like how you can get higher commission based on clicks. Not really rolling in dough but considering the small amount of work it’s not bad. I feel like people shop on Amazon anyhow so it’s not asking them to do much more.
thanks for our email chat and any more insights, throw em my way :)
amazon affiliate
AND
store
same thing but formatted differently…that sheds light!
And higher commission based on clicks..you mean if you have a banner ad on your site and someone clicks thru to buy something from amazon, not even from your store per se, but they arrived there from your site you get a commission on that purchase? is that rate any diff than what you’d get if you also happened to carry that specific product in your own personal store?
There are so many combos/permutations…
should be the same rate for store or ad. the rates can go up longer you do it, and based on if it’s a direct amazon store or a third party.
I am going gaga for anything almond butter PLUS any no-bake dessert!
enjoy :)
oh, i am with you on the love of lancome: i ONLY use their eye makeup remover, the resolution face cream and the hypnose mascara. have tried other brands and nothing measures up. the #1 for sure is the eye makeup remover.
i do try to time my purchases so that i can get the gift-with-purchase bonus. for example, i have not bought eye shadow in 5-10 years because i just use the ones that come with the bonus! same with makeup bags.
no st patty day plans! i am going out for a walk now, thru the university district, to see what kind of shape the kids are in! eesh!
I’m an Amazon affiliate if that’s what you mean..but I have a feeling opening an actual store is different. Sounds like a good plan, though!
affiliate vs. store.
like Heabs has a store on amazon. And I actually set one up too and will blog more publicly about it (once i make sure that things are set up properly and my sales$ are being credited to me)
https://astore.amazon.com/lovvegyogruna-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=1
So i don’t know how it differs if i am an affiliate vs. having a store…or what you do b/c i just went to your site and didnt see any amazon stuff or banners.
it’s all pretty confusing to me!
:)
Nothing’s on my site because I didn’t find much benefit of the affiliate thing. It was too much work and I felt like I was constantly pushing people to buy things which wasn’t fun, so I’m still an affiliate..but I’m not really enforcing it.
I always wait until it’s free-gift time! hehe. Now that I’m running out of eye cream from Lancome, I can go to Nordstrom to get more, YAY :)
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I used to work for Macy’s and I remember these pre-sale events — they want you to come back to buy more and more and more :)
Honestly I would buy from your amazon store — that is, if there is something I want/need — but I appreciate your reviews of products very much! And especially if you find good products that are maybe cheaper through Amazon than through someplace else — I’m all for that! I love deals. I have no clue how much work they take though.
thanks for LMK that you would buy from me, holly! you’re the best :)