I hate powdered blushes. Always have and most definitely always will. Having skin au chocolat, powder blushes just look horrible and obvious. Gel blushes simply look natural and goes on easier for me. In my early teens, I altered between using Bonne Bell Blushing Gel, bought for a dollar, at King of Cosmetics in Scarborough, (I still have the tube and admittedly still use it 7 years later) and pinching the apples of my cheeks for a quick fix.
Last year while at my uncle's house, my cousin and I were talking about make-up and she mentioned a cool new blush that she knew I might like. That product? Smashbox's O-Glow Cheek Colour. She brought it out and told me to hold out the back of my hand as she put a tiny dab on. I watched amazed as the clear gel slowly started to turn into a pinkish hue. I rubbed it in and loved how quickly it dried, how perfectly it suited my skin tone and how silken it felt afterward.
Of course I asked her where she got it, because I knew in my head that this magic thing would be a godsend to my makeup collection. She said she got it at the Sephora near her and as soon as I got back home, I went online to find out more. Staring at the price, it was obvious to me that with no job or even with a job, I wouldn't shell out $25+ for that, let alone any item of makeup at this point in my life (I am a frugal fashionista). So I pushed this miracle product of Smashbox's to the back of my mind and carried on using the probably-over-expired-maybe-discontinued-but-hey-no-adverse-skin-reaction-here! gel cheek tint I've had for so long. Until today.
I have a PayPal account. And PayPal just happens to flash *!!eBay!!* in my eyes. What a coincidence! I happened to have had a few dollars through my PayPal account, from projects I do from time to time. Anyways, I remember that this product existed and headed over to eBay to search for it and see the prices. I scrolled, mouth open in shock, as some of the starting bids were almost as much as buying it in store. I almost gave up when my luck renewed itself and I spotted an eBay seller who had one with the current bid of $2.50 US! Amazing. The end date of the auction was to end in a day, so I decided to watch it and when the last few minutes begin to put in a bid before the auction closed. 8 hours later, with still 2 hours to go, I checked back and nearly cried as I saw that the price had jumped to over $7! It may not seem like much but with shipping and handling plus converting to US dollars from Canadian, it's a bit much. I left that auction.
In the mean time, I spotted a Smashbox lip gloss in a beautiful pink shade that was sheer, not available in Canada, and started at the reasonably low price of 99 cents US (In store normal price is $12) . It had no current bids and I wanted it. 6 hours later it was mine, for 99 cents US. Shipping and handling to Canada was an extra $4.50. I was about to pay for it and then at the bottom of the page I saw the ever elusive cheeky tint blush going for $1.13 + $3.50 in shipping charges but with no current bid and it just happened to be from the seller of the lip gloss. Clicking to the blush's page I saw that the seller would offer a discounted shipping price if purchased with other products they sold. Like I mentioned earlier in this post I'm very frugal so any way for me to save a few bucks I'll get in on it :). I quickly messaged the seller and told her that I have my eye on the blush and that I was the one of the winners of an item she sold. She messages me back saying that if I were to win the blush, I would get an overall discount on both items. Yay! Let the watching begin, I had 2 days.
Day One of watching this thing like a hawk went by easily. There was one bid on it, but it was just the starter bid someone had put in. It was nothing to stress about but I was kind of upset with that bidder, (although I had no idea who the bidder is. It's confidential) most people know the trick of eBay was to wait until it was almost over. Why they had bid with a day to go I had no clue. Back to waiting.
By the middle of Day Two, the price went up again to $2.50. I started to stress out a little. I had until 2am before this auction ended and I was wishing that I would be one of the only ones watching and bidding on this. 10 minutes to go, and my palms were starting to sweat. I refresh the page and it bumps up again to $3.45. "WHAT THE HELL!!" I shouted at the computer. There was no way I was going to go past 5 dollars with this. On top of that I had a few days left to pay for the lip gloss and if I missed this auction and waited for the next one, I would lose the lip gloss and my eBay rep would drop a point. I would not let this little item slip past me again.
5 minutes and the bid held steady at $3.45. 4, 3 and then 2 minutes go by and the price hasn't budged. Things may be looking up for me. With a new refresh, I had 1 minute to go and according to eBay the next bid had to be $4.50. Alright. I refresh again and notice I had 50 seconds to go. When I was bidding on the lip gloss I noticed that it took about 7 seconds for the page to load before I found out I won the gloss. So when there was about 20 seconds left and anxiety filling my body, I put in my bid of $4.50 and hit enter. I also had to confirm the bid and that took an extra 4 seconds. I was the Current Highest Bidder. The site moved me to a page where, with a live countdown clock, I could keep refreshing to see if I was still on top. 5...4...refresh (and hoping another bid didn't sneak in, and.... nope still safe)...2...1.....I waited a nanosecond before refreshing again and seeing the words all eBay bidders hope to see: "Congratulations! You are the Winner of this Auction!" I squealed with joy and did a little happy dance on the chair.
I emailed the seller and told her I was done bidding on items and that I would like to pay and asked for the total including the discounted shipping. Grand Total for both items with the new shipping and converting to Canadian: $16.30. Not bad...All I had to do now was wait. 10 days later and Smashbox's O-Glow Cheek Colour with Goji Berry Extract, is now in my hands, on my fingers but more importantly on my cheeks! :)
[Photo: stylephox.com]
By the way, yes, they were both brand new and unopened. The only used items I would buy via eBay would be vintage clothing, but that's another story.
