Miss Dior Cherie for $0

There's nothing like the smell of an alluring perfume to subtly attract attention.

For me, the smell of the moment is Miss Dior Cherie.

Image Credit: Dior

Francois Demachy, the perfumer who conjured up this smell, says on the Miss Dior Cherie website that this is "a fragrance that smells like spring".

Other places like Sephora describe the smell like this:

Miss Dior Cherie combines pure couture spirit with the audacity of youthful, playful notes for a fresh approach to a timeless classic. Notes of chic, green tangerine, violette, and pink jasmine mingle with soft patchouli, musk, and delectably sweet strawberry leaves and caramelized popcorn.

Caramelized popcorn? Yes please!

Now Smell This, my favorite perfume blog, thinks that this is perfect for the younger 20s generation (where I am right now), and I have to agree.

But the perfume starts at between $60-70 for 50mL. I don't like spending so much money just to smell like a bunch of caramelized popcorn (and I'd rather eat it).

Three ways to get Miss Dior Cherie (and other perfume) for free

1. Ask at the nearest department store like the Bay in Canada. If carded samples are available (the sample vial attached to a paper card), the salesperson would be happy to give you one. If they don't have it right then, sometimes they'll have a sample of something similar that you can try, which usually works out really well.

2. Usually when a new perfume comes out, there's a lot of promotional material around it. Miss Dior Cherie came out in 2008, and the website was mailing out free samples for over a year! Keep your eyes open for more opportunities like this.

3. Sephora or Nordstrom are two stores which will not only give you carded samples, but will also make you samples if the carded ones are not available! This is a little-known secret, but the salespeople are so helpful and always glad to give you a sample of anything they have in stock.

Using these methods, I now have a nice little collection of perfume samples, which I use when I go out or want to smell nice at work.

Note that Sephora and Nordstrom don't stock Chanel perfume, which is too bad because they have some of the nicest fragrances and are one of the best-known perfume houses besides Dior. But other than that minor loss, I get my perfume for free. Sorry, LVMH.

Further reading:
Cuffed, high-waisted shorts for $0
Are you spending too much on makeup?
Why high-savings department stores are not your friend

Are you spending too much on makeup?

Some girls look great with makeup on.

Others just look like they overdid it.

Know what I mean?

I was helping a woman deliver a baby the other day in the middle of the night. The pregnant woman looked great - glowing skin, the full, fresh look that mothers have. But her sister was standing beside her, looking SO obviously made up with a full set of false eyelashes, dark smokey grey eyes, lipstick - the works.

At her sister's delivery?! Give me a break!

So, besides the obvious social detriments of looking like an Andy Warhol painting (and not the good kind), let's look at this from a financial and time perspective. Are you spending too much money and time on makeup?

Here are some things I think cause this kind of epidemic:

1. WEARING FOUNDATION. It makes you look so cakey. This applies to both liquid foundation and mineral foundation, both drugstore products and high-end products. Foundation makes your skin look ... leathery. And it's so obvious. Foundations cost upwards of $15, and I say save your money and buy a good concealer instead.

2. TOO MUCH MAKEUP. Period. Don't overdo it for the occasion. It will deplete your paint pots faster than you can say "cougar-like pedo-hooker".

3. BLUSH: Many people have naturally rosy cheeks, so this doesn't make sense at all. If you do have a blush, make sure you can double it as a rosy eyeshadow or a bronzer. Not worthwhile otherwise. Natural colored blushes also run quite expensive (like the Benefit blush boxes for $30!!).

4. "Brow kits". In my opinion, the perfect brow only requires three items: a tweezer, a brow color that matches yours (likely a light grey or brown) in powder or pencil format, and an angled brush (if you want to get fancy - otherwise just use the brown pencil). This together should cost you less than $10. You don't need designer brows.

5. Doubling up on concealer, eyeliner, etc. Do you own more than one tube of mascara? Ask yourself why. Products have an expiration date, and you're not helping yourself by buying more than one. You should treat your beauty products like you treat your groceries - respect the expiration date and increase longevity by buying only what you need. Would you buy 3 cartons of milk to sit in your fridge?

Makeup essentials

Girls love makeup.

It makes our eyes look bigger, our face look brighter, and can make our demeanor more seductive and sexy.

Some surveys suggest that men take women more seriously in their jobs if they wear at least a little makeup.

Personally, I believe girls should wear a little makeup. If you live in a big city and go out at night time, you already know that makeup is an essential for looking good at nighttime.

But go into a Sephora and you'll find everything costs $20 or more! Plus drugstore cosmetics sometimes just don't cut it, like for mascara, foundation, and eyeliner.

A look into a girl's makeup cabinet can reveal purchases totalling easily $300 or more. Budget-conscious beauties are going to wonder: What do you really need?

*Note: this is for my individual case, everyone should do this exercise for themselves.

The bottom line is that you should have the BASICS with a little FLEXIBILITY, and one DAY look and one NIGHT look.



1. Eyeliner ($15-20). Pencil, gel or liquid, and black or your color of choice.








2. Versatile 4-shadow palette ($15-20) with:
a) Black for blending eyeliner
b) Brown for shading, doubles as brow powder
c) White for highlighting
d) Color for fun





3. Concealer ($20). Some people don't need it but I have some rosacea (a red nose) so I need this cover.

4. A good eye makeup remover ($35)- to prevent clogged eye glands and nasty infections

If I go anywhere, I bring along these things and I will be fine. Sometimes I like to play around with other colors or combinations, but realistically, you don't need much else.

NIGHT LOOK EXTRAS

95% of the above makeup should also cover you for night. For smokey eyes, I shadow and define more with the darker colors. For the other 5% I like to add:

1. False lashes ($10). They just add that extra oomph, especially on people with smaller lashes like me.









2. Lipstick (Cheap to free). Bold lips work well with less-defined eyes, and soft pink lips with big shadowy eyes. I don't use lip liner, lip prep, lip gloss over lipstick or any of those other frills - I find I do very well with a moisturizing lipstick on its own or tinted lip gloss on its own.







3. Mascara ($20). If you're wearing falsies, wearing mascara is almost a must.










Assuming you are starting from scratch, this makeup basic set costs you $110. Let's face it, most girls have most of this already. If you go with drugstore brands (Maybelline, Rimmel, Revlon, Cover Girl, ELF, NYX), it should be even cheaper, almost by half.

I hope this helps as a guide for some of you, and for others to encourage you to cut back on your beauty-junkie habits.

Why high-savings department stores are not your friend

Right by the hospital where I work, there's a Winners. For those of you who don't know, Winners is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores - where moderately high-end products are sold at a discounted price, like Marshalls in the United States.

Bottom line, people shop at Winners because they feel like they can get a good discount, and they feel like they're saving money.

But is this really the case?

Case study: Beauty products

In many Winners stores, the first things you see are the beauty shelves. Mounds and mounds of makeup, nail polish, creams, lotions, powders, bath salts, and everything to tickle a girl's inner pamper. All of these products claim to be sold at a discount - for example, a Joico shampoo I saw claimed "$16.99 - compare to $22.00 regularly!"



Now I'm totally open to the idea of good-quality hair care products. I notice the difference in my hair texture when I use a $16 Redken shampoo versus a $2 Herbal Essences shampoo. But is Winners really the best place to go for bottomed-out prices??

While I was at the mall, I went to a hair salon on the way. They were selling the same shampoo for $14.99.

Key lesson here: don't think Winners has the best deals on products - in fact, most of the time you can buy products elsewhere for much cheaper. The only exception to this rule is the "Clearance" rack - where you can find products at a much more appropriate price range.