A Few Good (Free) Things

Can't beat that price!

Half the fun in building your cart.

On the off-chance you’re engaged in some sort of pre-holiday no-buy, I think I’ve found you a loophole. (If you are already in shop-mode, the loophole still works, but you are also legally required to tell me what you’ve been buying in the comment section).

Last Sunday, a friend texted me an invite code to the shopping app Flip. At first, I thought it was a scam. After first ignoring her and then inquiring if it was, indeed, a scam, she sold it thusly: “Remember when all the VCs were pouring money into super-fast grocery delivery apps and they were subsidizing purchases in order to sign up tons of users? This is that, but there’s makeup.”

Flip is like TikTok and the Shop app had a baby. You can scroll through intentionally under-produced, UGC video reviews of products and then immediately purchase them. Or, you could invite a few friends to the app, rack up the coupon codes each invite earns you (up to $15,000 of free money, if the earnings thermometer is to be believed), and then spend that free money on Pat McGrath foundation.

I do not know if the world needs Flip. If I continue to use it once my coupon codes expire is anyone’s guess. But if you’re craving the rush of online shopping and want to maintain your no-buy virtue, I don’t think I can find you a better deal.

So far, I’ve copped a Pat McGrath Skin Fetish Foundation and Hourglass Vanish Concealer, plus a Misen bench scraper just in time for Thanksgiving prep.

Some notable things I found on Flip, should you be curious:

What first caught my eye was the Wonder Valley assortment, from their Olive Oil Cleanser (my second favorite oil cleanser, after the new Isla launch) to their straight-up olive oil (for food, not faces). A great gift for anyone on your list!

In addition to the Skin Fetish, Pat’s got the Mothership palettes on there, the Divine blush (my favorite powder blush at the moment), and the Under Eye Powder, which is next level. While I went with the Skin Fetish, I was also very tempted by the Chantecaille Future Skin Foundation, about which I’ve heard very good things for years.

There’s a few very cool Troy Surratt products, like the Artistique Liquid Blush that comes with a sponge-top applicator and my preferred eyelash curler in matte black.

You can get a whole suite of Avène skincare, whether you’ve got dry skin, your acneic skin, or anything in between.

I was very tempted by the Kopari Ultra Body Butter (in the original coconut scent, or Tahitian Vanilla) that I consider buying every time I go to a Nordstrom Rack.

I’ve also got my eye on the Dieux Forever Eye Masks, as well as the Auracle Eye Gel — I swear no pun intended.

A Hanacure set, including the crazy mask that makes you look old that I still haven’t tried.

An Esker Body Plane for…cellulite? Lymph? Luxury? All works for me.

Happy Sunday!

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